BEGINNING THE JOURNEY

The songs of our ancestors are also the songs of our children ~ Philip Carr-Gomm

Ken and Helen Mohney West

Following in their Footsteps

In this blog, we will trace the paths of our ancestors as they arrived, settled in, and moved across America. We’re going to explore four hundred years of American history as our forefathers and mothers lived it.

We begin our journey in the early 1600's when thousands of families left Europe for a new life across the ocean. The result was the creation of a new nation whose history contains elements of the good, the bad and the very ugly.

Note: There are over 8,000 people in our family tree.  While I won’t be writing about each and every one of them, we want to have a way of identifying the ones who do make it onto these pages. I will use simple abbreviations in parentheses after each name. The base generation for these relationships will be the West kids, Mike, Kenny, Nancy and Hana.

Key:

(GF) Grandfather

(GGF) Great-grandfather

(2GGF) (3GGF) (4GGF) 2nd Great-grandfather, etc.

(GM) Grandmother

(GGM) Great-grandmother

(2GGM) (3GGM) (4GGM) 2nd Great-grandmother, etc.

(A) Aunt

(GA) Great-aunt

(2GA) (3GA) (4GA) 2nd, 3rd, 4th great aunt, etc.

(U) (GU) (2GU) Uncles, etc

Note: In these posts we go all the way back to our 11th great grandparents. A good rule of thumb is to add 2 to that number to figure the generational distance. That means that our 11th great-grandparents are 13 generations removed.

For cousins a little explanation:

1st cousins are children of aunts and uncles regardless of generation.

2nd, 3rd 4th, etc. cousins are children of cousins.

Removed = how many generation apart

(C) First cousin ~ Gina's relationship to Mandy

(1C1x) 1st cousin 1 time removed ~ Siena's relationship to Mandy

(1C2x) 1st cousin 2 times removed ~ Siena's children's relationship to Mandy

(2C) 2nd cousin ~ Siena's children's relationship to Madison's children

(2C1x) 2nd cousin 1 time removed ~ Siena's children's relationship to Madison's grandchildren

Note: Sadly, in the West/Mohney family we have a dearth of cousins so we have to use hypothetical children. In the Ybarra family, there are no end of examples!

(HA) (H1C2x) (W3U) Husbands and Wives of aunts, uncles and cousins

Note:  I’ve been delving into our family ancestry for 7+ years!  Hana can confirm that I go the extra mile to ensure every member on our tree is there “beyond a reasonable doubt.”  Ancestry is not an exact science but, with many hours of research and extremely careful scrutiny, I feel confident that the people remaining on the tree are, in fact, our family.  Although there are only a few connections where circumstantial evidence outweighed actual proof of relationship, I will disclose those details when we get to those family members.

before we travel back 400 years to colonial America, a little family orientation:

Helen Blanche Mohney, mother of the West clan, was born in Vandergrift, PA in 1916.  She died in Redlands in 1973.

Helen’s father was Cleo Mohney (GF), born in Sligo, PA in 1891.  His family was mainly of German origin.  The earliest Mohney immigrant came to America in 1741 from Alsace Lorraine, France, where large numbers of people with German ancestry lived then and still live.  Grandpa Cleo died in Redlands in 1944, before any of the West children were born.

Grandpa Cleo

Helen’s mother was Mary Grace White (GM), born in Apollo, PA in 1892.  Grace’s grandfather, George White (2GGF), came to Pennsylvania from West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England sometime between 1871 and 1895.  Grandma Grace died in Redlands in 1967. (Sadly, we have no pictures of our Grandma Grace.)

Kenneth Eugene West, father of the West clan, was born in Santa Ana, CA in 1922, though his family lived predominately in Redlands, CA.  He died in in Redlands in 1991.

Ken’s father was Oliver Alexander West (GF), born in Dazey, ND in 1889.  Oliver’s parents (GGP) came to North Dakota from Norway in 1881. Oliver died in Redlands in June 1947, three months before Mike was born.

Ken’s mother was Lila Mildred Covington (our Nana) (GM), born in Redlands, CA in 1893.  Nana died in Yucaipa in 1990.

Nana and Grandpa Oliver

Nana’s father, Stephen Wall Covington (GGF) had ancestors who came to Virginia in the early 1620's.  Nana's mother, Esther Matilda Parrish (GGM) had ancestors who came to Massachusetts Bay in 1630. 

Grandma and Grandpa Covington

Nana's ancestors on both sides of her family came to America during a period called the Great Migration. They are our earliest immigrant ancestors. Fittingly, we'll begin our journey with this branch of the family.

Next up: The Great Migration