Question:
How to find where my family immigrated from?
cutiepie14
2009-09-04 18:49:24 UTC
ok so i have this project that's due wed. I have to find out when and where my fam immigrated from. I have only to my great-grandmother/father and they both lived in Texas. I've looked on like a million websites (i mean this literally) and I cannot find anything.

What I have so far is that my family's last names are Taylor on my father's side and Summar on my mother's side. If anyone has any info they can share or can tell me how to find it, it would be very helpful.

Thanks,
Clueless
Seven answers:
Tina
2009-09-04 22:54:24 UTC
Social Security Death Index

about Lonnie R. Summar

Name: Lonnie R. Summar

SSN: 460-58-7185

Last Residence: 76240 Gainesville, Cooke, Texas, United States of America

Born: 28 Aug 1940

Last Benefit: 76265 Saint Jo, Montague, Texas, United States of America

Died: 26 Oct 2002

State (Year) SSN issued: Texas (1954)

http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&new=1&MSAV=1&msT=1&gss=angs-g&gsfn=Lonnie+Ray+&gsln=Summar&msdpn=46&msdpn__ftp=Texas%2c+USA&ne=2&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=60863274&recoff=1+2+3&db=ssdi&indiv=1



Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997

about Lonnie Ray Summar

Name: Lonnie Ray Summar

Date of Birth: 28 Aug 1940

Gender: Male

Birth County: Lubbock

Father's Name: George Robert Summar

Mother's Name: Elsie Smith

Roll Number: 1940_0008

http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&new=1&MSAV=1&msT=1&gss=angs-g&gsfn=Lonnie+Ray+&gsln=Summar&msdpn=46&msdpn__ftp=Texas%2c+USA&ne=2&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=3235979&recoff=1+2+3+34&db=TXbirthindex&indiv=1



U.S. Public Records Index

about Lonnie R Summar

Name: Lonnie R Summar

Birth Date: Aug 1940

Address: 3400 Fallmeadow #311, Denton, Texas 76201-0201 (1993)

[2 Rt 2 Pob 403, Denton, Texas 76201-0201 (1989)]

http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&new=1&MSAV=1&msT=1&gss=angs-g&gsfn=Lonnie+Ray+&gsln=Summar&msdpn=46&msdpn__ftp=Texas%2c+USA&ne=2&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=117156766&recoff=1+2+3&db=USpublicrecords&indiv=1



That's a start. Will pick up on that tomorrow and if anyone wants to go ahead and look for census data which might give immigration information, I will check other posts.
Ashley
2009-09-04 19:10:15 UTC
Wow, five days isn't a lot of time to find that kind of information! Especially if your family has been here for a while. I've been researching my family for 25 years, and I still don't know where they all came from! Your teacher is asking a lot.



Normally I'd give you a bunch of tips about how to trace your family... but since you're in a big rush, maybe some of the experts here can help you out. If you'll post some more details about your great-grandparents, we'll see what we can find for you. Include as much as you know: their full names, approximate date of birth and death, the city or county where they lived in Texas, and anything else you might know.
sophieb
2009-09-05 12:45:59 UTC
the latest census record online is 1930 so if any of them were around in 1930 then you should be able to start your search from there. Since you have a couple of odd (not meant in a mean way) names there to search you should be able to come up some info quickly. For someone to do the research for you it will cost you money especially since the last names are common ones and a lot of comparing is necessary. The last time I searched something was for a cousin of mine who wanted research done and found him two new relatives and I did a "quick" comprehensive search and it took me a full 10 hours to do (usually about $10-$12 fee per hour). But if you could find just one set on the census records say 1920 or 1910 that will tell you where they are originally from.
2009-09-04 19:21:03 UTC
We can look them up if you can tell us some things. The more of these the better:



1) Your great grandfather's name, birth date and place, marriage date and place, death date and place.



2) Same for great grandmother, but maiden name.



3) Their children's names, with birth dates for the dead ones.



Dates in the form 12 June 1877, not 6/12/77.



Places of the form town, county, state; "Mesquite, Apache, Texas" (I made that one up) or {name} County, State ("Apache County, Texas") for places outside of towns.



Many of us have an Ancestry subscription, which lets us look at the US Census 1790 - 1930. That in turn may have their birth country or their parents' BC.

===========

Added later:



http://www.tedpack.org/grandpa.html

tells how your much better birth dates are than saying "my great grandfather".



Charlie James Hutson and Thelma Lee Brown had a child in 1957. He is probably still alive, so I won't reveal any more than that. That in turn means Thelma was born 1917 - 1937, probably, and must have been born 1910 - 1943. In any event, they are not on the 1930 census as a married couple, which means I can't find their parents' birthplaces.



Ancestry.com does not have any records for anyone named Weschey in Texas or Arkansas.



There are three Texas Birth records for Taylors with mother Hulda Lydia Weschke, Hulda Weschke and Hulda Lyda Weschke. Their years are 1933, 1936 and 1949. So, that narrows her birth year down to 1904 - 1917. (1949 - 45 = 1904, 1933 - 16 = 1917.)



This looks like her.



1930; Census Place: Precinct 7, McLennan, Texas; Roll 2374; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 58; Image: 875.0.



(Name, age, relation to head of household, birthplace, father's BP, Mother's BP)



August Weischke, 33, head, Texas, Germany, Russia

Johnie Weischke, 29, wife, Texas, Texas, NC

Verdell Weischke, 1 9/12, daughter, Tx, Tx, Tx

Minnie Weischke, 55, mother, Russia, Russia, Russia

Hulda Weischke, 23, sister, Texas, Germany, Russia

Clara Weischke, 18, sister, Texas, Germany, Russia



I'd be willing to bet large sums at long odds that Minnie was one of those "Germans from Russia". Write to me via my profile if you are interested.





There is no Alfred Taylor in McLennan county in 1930. There are too many in Texas to make a good guess.
2016-03-02 01:51:49 UTC
England, Scotland, France, Ireland & Germany. My Scottish roots immigrated in the 18th century, not sure about the others.' I also have Seminole Indian in me
jan51601
2009-09-05 00:00:52 UTC
Is this your mother's great-grandfather?? http://www.familysearch.org

Homer CAVENDER

Birth Date: 20 Jul 1912

Death Date: May 1973

Social Security Number: 455-30-0877

State or Territory Where Number Was Issued: Texas

Death Residence Localities

ZIP Code: 75436

Localities: Detroit, Red River, Texas



http://www.ancestry.com --1920 United States Federal Census

Name: Homer T Cavender

Home in 1920: Garvinsville, Red River, Texas

Age: 7 years

Estimated Birth Year: abt 1913

Birthplace: Texas

Relation to Head of House: Son

Father's Name: Arthur L

Father's Birth Place: Texas

Mother's Name: Lou L

Mother's Birth Place: Texas

Marital Status: Single

Race: White

Sex: Male

Household Members: Name Age

Arthur L Cavender 34

Lou L Cavender 28

Herbert L Cavender 10

Homer T Cavender 7

Loyd H Cavender 3 2/12

Mary Deaton 70 (listed as "Boarder", meaning she rented a room at this house)



Texas Death Index, 1903-2000

Name: Homer Cavender

Death Date: 26 May 1973

Death County: Lamar

Gender: Male

Marital Status: Single



Homer's father:

ARTHUR L. CAVENDER--b. Dec 1883, Texas. His parents' names: J.W. (b. Jul 1864,Tenn.) & ADA (b. Missouri). His siblings --ages are those in 1900 Census:

Alma (or Alicia) Cavender 11

John Cavender 8

Hosea Cavender 5

Mary Cavender 3

Willie Johnston--5 (b. 1895 in Indian Territory, Oklahoma) listed as STEPSON to J W and Ada listed as his Mother.)

J W's occupation was a FARMER.

J W must also have been married before and the children above are his from that first marriage. On 1900 census it shows "Years Married: 0 " --meaning he and Ada were newly married when the census was taken.

1900 Residence: Justice Precinct 3 (West Part), Red River, Texas



World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

Name: Arthur Little Cavender

County: Red River

State: Texas

Birth Date: 27 Dec 1883

Race: White

FHL Roll Number: 1983580

DraftBoard: 0

Nearest relative : wife LOU

Height: Tall ; Build: Slender ; Color of Eyes: Blue; Color of Hair: Dark brown

Occupation: Farmer

Date of Registration: Sept. 12, 1918

(on the original view, it looked like it said he was from EASTLAND, RED RIVER COUNTY, TEX. However, Eastland is a county name, and it is not listed as a city in Red River County--unless they were combined at one time).



Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997

Name: Alvin Ray Taylor

Date of Birth: 21 Jul 1933

Gender: Male

Birth County: Erath

Father's Name: A L Taylor

Mother's Name: Hulda Weschke

Roll Number: 1933_0007



http://www.ancestry.co.uk/facts/Cavender-family-history-uk.ashx

Cavender Name Meaning and History

English altered form of Irish Kavanagh.



http://www.ancestry.co.uk/facts/Kavanagh-family-history-uk.ashx

Kavanagh Name Meaning and History

in Wexford, an Anglicization of Gaelic Mac Caomhánach ‘son of Caomhán’ (see Kevin). MacLysaght says that this is a famous branch of the MacMurroughs. The name is said to have been acquired from the first Kavanagh having been fostered by a follower of St. Caomhán.

Anglicization of Gaelic Mac an Mhanaigh ‘son of the monk’, from manach ‘monk’, a rare Mayo surname.



http://txgenweb6.org/txredriver/cems/bethel2.html

LAST NAME --Cavender

FIRST NAME --Homer Travis

BIRTH --Jul. 20, 1912

DEATH --May 26, 1973

COMMENTS--husband of Margaret E. Cavender

(married Nov. 4, 1932 )

LAST NAME --Cavender

FIRST NAME --Margaret E. (Jewett)

BIRTH --March 4, 1916

DEATH --not stated

COMMENTS-- wife of Homer Travis Cavender (buried together)



http://files.usgwarchives.net/tx/lamar/vitals/births/1948/lamab48a.txt

Cavender--TRAVIS LYNN--b. Sept. 9, 1948

Mother: MARGARET E. JEWETT

Father: HOMER TRAVIS CAVENDER



http://www.angelfire.com/ar2/CeeDeesPoems/MemorialWall2.html lists this:

Alvin Ray Taylor~ d. 01/01/2002
Shirley T
2009-09-04 20:06:03 UTC
It is possible that none of your ancestors were immigrant but colonial. I consider my ancestors who came here before the country was founded as colonials. Those that came after were immigrant. If you consider the colonials immigrants then you have to consider the Native Americans as immigrants as they came from East Asia. Actually in that sense people are descended from immigrants everywhere.





This is the type of information that probably is fairly easy for those who are descendants of immigrants from late 19th century and onward. However, if a good part of your ancestry is colonial, they could have come from places all over Europe(not necessarily what had been termed the British Isles) and your family has lost memory of them. There are teachers who don't understand this. Perhaps because they came from a background of descendants from those immigrants. In many areas of the Northeast particuarly, they lived in their own neighborhoods, married among their own and naturally they know quite a bit about the origin of their ancestors. I know a man who grew up in the Northeast(he is in his late 70s). He said when he was growing up the saying was, "stick with your own kind."



If your ancestors have been in Texas since around 1900, they no doubt started in Virginia or the Carolinas and migrated in different generations, maybe through Georgia and Alabama before coming to Texas. Back then they were too busy to keep records where grandma and grandpa came from. Vital records weren't kept by many states and counties until the first part of the 20th century. It was all in the old family bible. Still a mother after her first child was born immediately made records of that baby, by the time she got to her 9th, she had so much to do, that child might be almost grown before she found time to put the information in the family bible. Now if they wound up in the central part of Texas they might have been German. In San Antonio, they might descendants of the Spanish colonials that settled there in 1731 when Texas was still under Spanish rule. Also some might have been Native American.



My maternal grandmother was 100% Southern American colonial. What I have found is that she not only had ancestors at the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, Jamestown, Virginia(that was before the pilgrims came over on the Mayflower). She had ancestors from Northern Ireland. She had some that were Alsatian German and French Huguenot and some that came from around Pomerania, all before there was a United States of America.

It take awhile to come up with all of that information.



Taylor is an English names but that doesn't mean all your ancestors on your father's side came from England, no way. One thing the root person of your surname was a taylor.



Ancestry.Com states Summar is an English variant of Summer.



This is what they have about Summer



English and German: from Middle English sum(m)er, Middle High German sumer ‘summer’, hence a nickname for someone of a warm or sunny disposition, or for someone associated with the season of summer in some other way.

English: assimilated variant of Sumner.

English: assimilated variant of Sumpter.

Irish (Leinster and Munster): Anglicization (part translation) of Gaelic Ó Samhraidh ‘descendant of Samhradh’, a byname meaning ‘summer’. The Gaelic name is also Anglicized as O’Sawrie, O’Sawra.

German: from Middle High German summer ‘woven basket’ and, by extension, a measure of grain; also ‘drum’, hence a metonymic occupational name or nickname from any of these senses.



Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4



This is what they have about White



English, Scottish, and Irish: from Middle English whit ‘white’, hence a nickname for someone with white hair or an unnaturally pale complexion. In some cases it represents a Middle English personal name, from an Old English byname, Hwit(a), of this origin. As a Scottish and Irish surname it has been widely used as a translation of the many Gaelic names based on bán ‘white’ (see Bain 1) or fionn ‘fair’ (see Finn 1). There has also been some confusion with Wight.

Translated form of cognate and equivalent names in other languages, such as German Weiss, French Blanc, Polish Bialas (see Bialas), etc.



Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4



This is what they have about Cavender



English altered form of Irish Kavanagh.



Dictionary of American Family Names



This is about Kavanagh

Kavanagh Name Meaning and History

in Wexford, an Anglicization of Gaelic Mac Caomhánach ‘son of Caomhán’ (see Kevin). MacLysaght says that this is a famous branch of the MacMurroughs. The name is said to have been acquired from the first Kavanagh having been fostered by a follower of St. Caomhán.

Anglicization of Gaelic Mac an Mhanaigh ‘son of the monk’, from manach ‘monk’, a rare Mayo surname.



Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4



This is about Hutson



English (mainly Lincolnshire): patronymic from the medieval personal name Hudde (see Hutt 1).



Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4



They have nothing about Weschey



You need to put this on your teacher's desk and if you are a parent of a child, give it to his/her teacher. We find teachers give outrageous assignment to kids for this type of thing and sometimes they are guilty of intrusion when they ask kids to do their family history.



Names in themselves do not tell the origin of someone's ancestry.



Edit: If your ancestry goes back to colonial times you won't be able to find where they originated by census records, because the census records before 1850 only list heads of households and do not show the place of birth. It might take you 10 years just to find the place of origin of one ancestor.


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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