User:Trentf

I am originally from Oregon but currently living in Connecticut, not too far from where some of my ancestors lived (Dutchess and Ulster counties, NY, Eastern CT, RI, MA, NH and VT). My mother (User:LadyK) has accumulated a lot of information, which was, in turn, compiled by other family members. She put it all into her PC back in the 90's, imported it here, and have gone far beyond.

While I have decades of experience on computers and the internet, I really have no clue about genealogy, but I figure this is a good place to learn. I really want to get this information sorted out for my daughter.

If you really want to know more about me, see my web sites http://veganmilitia.org and http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~trent/

Update 2025: I first wrote the above over ten years ago. There are two things I have learned since then: Wikipedia is the best thing the Internet has ever done. Much of the genealogy work out on the internet is crap, utter garbage. The only way to produce something useful, is to collaborate widely and insist on well cited and sourced information; always seek constant incremental improvement. This is the only place that does that for genealogy.

My Family

Here are some other people I am researching. It appears I have connections to each of them, though it will take some work to put together decent trees.

• Theodore Felix Thomas Sr. -- my friend's father
• Donald and Sharlene Wood -- The parents of a long lost friend from my childhood (my searching for him turned up information on his parents and grandparents, and off we go...)
• my ex-wife's father -- unsourced family trees link him to a common ancestor!
• Clifford Simak -- The sci-fi author
• Gary Gygax -- creator of D&D
• Howard Scott -- Founder of Technocracy, Inc., probably no connection, and I suspect he fabricated his personal details, which may make this near impossible.

Interesting ancestors:

• Fr. Urban Fischer, O.S.B. -- My great great uncle was a priest, professor and helped found the church in my home town.
• Theunis Eliasen Van Bunschoten -- my seventh great grandfather, came to America before 1671.
• Captain Gerrit Thyssen -- my eighth great grandfather, and possibly the earliest to come to America, before 1649.
• Major Elias Van Bunschoten -- my sixth great grandfather, served in the 'assault on Canada'.
• Aaron Van Benschoten -- my fourth great grandfather, served in the American Revolution.
• George C. Benschoter -- my second great uncle, served in the Civil War and died within a year of enlisting.
• Hiram Way -- My third great uncle, I believe he was what southerners refer to as a "carpetbagger".
• Samuel Gorton -- my eighth great grandfather, founder of Warwick, Rhode Island.
• Dr. John Maplet -- my ninth great uncle, Personal physician to Charles II.
• Samuel Gorton -- my fifth great grandfather, a revolutionary war soldier.
• Isaac Cummings -- my ninth great grandfather, came to America before 1641.
• Ebenezer Cummings -- my fifth great grandfather, he was in Capt. Samuel Greeley's company, sent to Concord and Lexington April, 1775.
• Philip Crose -- my fifth great grandfather, a revolutionary war soldier, fought at the Battle of Guilford Court House.
• Captain John Cole -- my fifth great grandfather, a revolutionary war soldier, fought at Bunker Hill and Saratoga.
• Sarah Alsbee -- the second wife of my ninth great grandfather, accused of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials, but acquitted. The same happened to his brother's wife.
• Jason Harrington -- my fifth great-grandfather, a revolutionary war soldier, (Capt. Marion's Co., July 23, 1779 to Apr. 28, 1780). As was his father (enlisted from Weston, Mass., Aug. 18, 1774), his brother (militia of the town of Weston, Mass., Aug. 18, 1774) and his brother-in-law (who marched on the alarm at Battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775)
• Thomas Colburn -- my sixth great uncle who died in the Battle of Bunker Hill.
• Jerathmeel Bowers -- my eighth great-grandfather, whose house is still standing.
• Samuel Armstrong Cheney -- my 4th great uncle, served in the Civil War, was captured and spent 9 months in Andersonville Prison.
• Thomas Cheney -- my 5th great grandfather, a revolutionary war soldier.
• Solomon Holman -- my 7th great grandfather, was seized by a press-gang and served on a man-of-war, he escaped in New England and settled in Newbury in 1693.

Task List

The GEDCOM file I had had no sources and a number of other problems, and it was very difficult to collaborate with my mother, therefore, I am uploading whatever bits I can bring sufficiently up to snuff. Here are my current plans:

• Enter all relevant information from the Van Bunschoten book and any related information I can find.
  • I am starting with my earliest ancestor: Person:Theunis Van Benschoten (1) and working towards the present.
  • Upload the Van Bunschoten part of my GEDCOM -- DONE 28-Dec-14
  • It seems that several people have ancestors to here, I already resolved the dups on Theunis Eliasen, but here are some other possibilities:
    • Person:Margrieta Wels (1) and Person:Margaret Wells (22) -- DONE 1-Jan-15
    • Person:Anthony Van Bunschoten (2) and Person:Anthony Van Buns (1) -- DONE 1-Jan-15
    • Family:Anthony Van Bunschoten and Margrieta Wels (1) and Family:Anthony Van Buns and Grietje Wels (1) -- I think the latter is incorrect (what are the odds that two sisters should marry and almost identically named man in the same town on the same day?) and should actually be removed. -- DONE 1-Jan-15
  • Suspected connections to the Van Bunschoten tree:
    • Person:Gertrude VanBenscoten (1) -- husband's name matches, not much else to go on
    • Person:William Van Benschoten (3) -- almost certain match to 4289
    • Person:James Benscoter (1) -- not sure about this one
    • Person:Ida Van Benschoten (1) -- 4084?
    • Person:Hendrick Schoonmaker (1) -- his granddaughter married Solomon Van Bunschoten?
    • Person:Abigail Van Benschoten (1) -- 1560
    • Person:Elizabeth Van Benschoten (3) -- 1538
    • Person:Henry Van Benschoten (1) -- 190, grandfather of the author of the Van Bunschoten book! -- DONE
    • Person:Elvis Presley (1) -- Supposedly one of his ancestors is Theunis Eliasen Van Bunschoten, I suspect via his youngest daughters both of whom moved into the South. I suspect Tunis Hood connects to Elvis' grandmother Minnie Hood.
    • James Terwilliger -- one of the founders of Portland, OR. Might be related via distant cousins.

• • Fix up the tree of Sara Janse based on a footnote in the Van Bunschoten book, and this passenger list: http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/nnship24.shtml. There are a bunch of suspected dups:
    • Person:Matthys Blanchan Or Blancon (1) and Person:Matthieu Blanchan (1) and Person:Mattys Blanshan (2)
    • the rest of the dups flow from that one
  • Which Issac Van Bunschoten got this patent? http://www.google.com/patents/US11979. A quick search leads be to believe it's person 1091 on page 369
• Enter all information I have about the Holman family (MySource:Trentf/The Holman-Benschoter Family).
  • Upload the Holman part of the GEDCOM upload started on 5-Jan-15, accepted on the same day!
  • A cousin has dug up further information: http://www.jillholman.com/genealogy/. In particular, this page: http://www.jillholman.com/genealogy/holman-timeline-for-four-generations/
  • There is a family legend that this family (or perhaps the Van Bunschoten) connects to a Mayflower passenger
  • Information about Abrigail Harrington's ancestry? http://myplace.frontier.com/~chucknan3/
• Enter all information I have about the Way family‎ (MySource:Trentf/Way Family Tree)
  • Upload the Way part of the GEDCOM. upload started 28-Dec-14, upload denied :(
  • User:LadyK My mother entered almost all of this manually.
  • Some intersecting information can be found at http://blackburn-tree.org/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I45839&tree=blackburn
• Enter all information I have about the Fisher family (MySource:Trentf/Fischer Family Tree).
  • Upload the Fisher part of the GEDCOM. (it's doubtful it would be accepted due to the lack of places and other specifics, not going to bother)
  • There is a legend that someone in this family tree was hanged.
  • Some Czech birth records can be found at http://www.portafontium.cz/register/soap-pn/stankov-25
• Dig up whatever I can about the Vopalensky family
  • a likely cousin has her research at http://www.vopalensky.biz/genealogy/index.php
  • Some information can be found in Source:Larry Rocha; Nancy Rocha. Saint Wenceslaus Catholic Church Centennial History Book
• Dig up information about my Wife's Family
  • Scottish side: Elsdon, Buchanan (several generations on P.E.I.), Scott, Hall
    • I think cousin has researched that side of the family. I have gotten one part of that: MySource:Trentf/Annie Come Home though it entirely lacks dates and some key names
    • It is said that Sir Walter Scott connects in there somehow.
    • Some resources for the Buchanan side:
      • http://www.islandregister.com/
      • http://www15.pair.com/buchanan/genes/index.htm -- lots of info on the Buchanan families from the other end of P.E.I., not sure if there is any relation at all
      • http://www.gov.pe.ca/parosearch/main-search/main-search/search/true
  • Italian side: Fattorusso from Naples area, Matteo...
    • Records are very spotty, but I have no idea how to research the family in Italy.

• Build up a list of places to visit related to various ancestors (e.g. graves, home sites, churches, etc). My wife wants to do some road trips, so I may as well work some of these destinations in.