The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-08-19
rnr AnrrnIrlN nruNsoNs.
Traditions Concerning Their Origin,
 By Myron A. Munson.

grated to this country. We may re- view the traditions under four heads,
 I. Whence did the family come and of what nationality were they2
 One tradition speaks of 0 German ori- gin; Baron Won Munson was sent as an ambassador to England. and subse- quently settled in Devonshire; a son of this family ran away upon the sea and eventually settled in America. This tale appears to be a pure fiction.
 Two traditions speak of a French orl gin; one assigns to the Frenchman an English wife; the other represents that brothers eInigrate to England and thence to this country. Neither story appears to have any basis whatever.
 Various traditious some fourteen of them speak of an English origin; there were brothers from England, is the saying of six; brothers from the north of England, says one; brothers from London, says another; brothers who belonged to the respectable yeomen class in England says another; young men by the name Of NIuuson from Eng land; Joseph (S) and brother from Eng land; Samuel CD, and, again, Levi (5) from England; Joseph K. 60 and brother from England. Tho testimony of these traditions is of slight value, That Joseph K. (6) and Samuel (5) and Lieutenant Levi (5) were natives of England is discrcdlted by the known fact that they were born here, as were three or four generations of their an cestors A North of England origin and London origin are contradictory. That English-speaking colonists bear ing English names were of English ori- gin, is what would be conjectured or assumed by persons making conjec- lures and assumptions; accordingly, unsupported by extra traditional evil Gence, these traditions have slight value as testimony Doubtless the Munsons are English; of course they are English; why not? The ease with which one forms this guess, or, adopts this assumption, eliminates from the traditions any valuable significance which they might otherwise. have.
 Twelve traditions ascribe to the fam fly a Welsh. origin or Welsh connection of some sort; and these traditions are found among the descendants of at least five Of the grandsons of the pio- neer, namely, Samuel. Thomas, Theo- philus, Joseph and Caleb; the descend ants of John and Stephen have not re- ported them. Robert M. Hartley, who married Catharine, daughter of Reu- ben (6), a member of Clan William, states in an autograph that Reuben (6) twas of a respectable family of Welsh descent" Owen E Case remembers that his mother, Laura (S), of Clan Waitstill, said that her ancestors came from Wales. The writer's grandfather, Daniel CD, of Clan Obadiah testified that his first ancestor in this country was 8 Welshman. Rev Frederick. of the same clan, observes: My grand father (Ephraim (6) used to say that we were Welsh' And again Frederick says: "The earliest known ancestor of the Munson family in this country was ani emigrant from Wales" Alfred CD Munson (of another clan) who was well acquainted with Ephraim (6), also re- ported him as saying that our ancestors came over from Wales. Henry (7), of Muskingum Ohio, remarked to me- My father (Frederiek A. (6), of Clan Theophilus) used to say he was partly Welsh" Charles F. (S). a native of Canada, writes: The tradition our brother Jared, of eeliingwood, Ont, re- ceived from father (Warren (7), of Clan Ephrairn) was that brothers named Munson came from Wales.' Charles F. elsewhere informs us that his mother reported his father as saying that his family was from Wales. Several tradi- tions are contributed by Clan Moses to the same effect Thus, Norman E. Miller, of Vermont: Tradition says the Munsons were Welsh" Frederic CD, of New York: We Munsons are descended from brothers who came from Wales" The family of Frederick T. CD report that his father Thomas (6) used to say that his ancestry came over from Wales. And Mrs. Mary F. Hen- derson, of Ohio, also states that her first American ancestor emigrated from Wales. Now as no one would dream of ascribing to family of English speech and name any connection with Wales, traditions affirming such a connection, converging from five of the seven great groups of Munsons, are most signifi- cant, and indicate incontestibly that our ancestry had some connection with the little land whose leading products are slate and consonants. Doubtless, however, we are of English nationality, a branch of the ancient Lincolnshire family, the connection with Wales be- ing merely residential, Yet our pioneer may have married in Wales.
 II. What was the number of Nun sons who immigrated?
 Angeline (S) Munson reported the family tradition that all our Munsons sprang originally from eight brothers living in or near New Haven, Conn. This view is probably genuine inheri- tance, and essentially authentic as far as it goes, but extending only to the grandsons of the pioneer; there were eight of these who lived to maturity and had families. Mrs. Mary E. Hen derson has the tradition tn ~~h her great grandfather or great at-gTeat-grandfath- CT t3) emigrated with, seven sons, from whom sprang all the Munsons in this country. This also appears to be a genuine inheritance, and in main fea- lures correct, though it does not reach the beginning. These seven sons are the grandsons of the pioneer, those sev- en which became heads of the great branches of the family. (One of the eight families mentioned moment ago became extinct presently.) The same tradition comes from another part of the same clan, except that the father of the seven sons is denominated doctor.