Even Jesus had ancestors with less-than-pristine backgrounds
Reprinted Column by Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck: 25 December 1993
The Christmas story will be one of the most widely read texts in the world today, and genealogists are a few of the people who actually take time to look at all the “begats” set forth in the Scriptures.
Descendants always are excited when their ancestors have been recorded by someone else. Sometimes, however, the printed accounts do not agree. In the gospels are two accounts of the lineage of Jesus Christ. Matthew starts with the earliest ancestor, Abraham, and traces the descent to the birth of Jesus 41 generations later. Luke, on the other hand, begins with Jesus and extends the pedigree backward through David to Adam and finally to God in 78 generations.
In genealogy, it’s never an easy matter to resolve conflicting reports. Sometimes relatives will caution a curious family member not to investigate their background because of dubious ancestors. You just might find that proverbial horse thief.
Saints Luke and Matthew were male chauvinists, but Luke had some redeeming qualities. He managed to mention five women in Jesus’ ancestry. Besides Mary, there were Rahab, Ruth, Tamar, and Bathsheba.
If you are familiar with the history of these women, you might not want some of them as ancestors. The genealogical lesson here seems to reassure us that if there were women in the lineage of Jesus Christ who had moral lapses, then perhaps we mortals should not be uneasy about whom we might find in our background. It also admonishes us to report the truth.
Olivia Harrington has compiled her findings about her own and her husband’s ancestors. The Burton, Bridgeforth, Harrington, Hustead, Jeffus, Pitt(s), Pierce and Whiteside Families includes more than a dozen other families. This 238-page hardcover book incorporates accounts of the family which are not likely to be maintained in the form of oral traditions. Photographs provide descendants with an opportunity to see just how much they have in common. The sources for the accounts are given so the reader can return to the original records. Copies are available for $40 from the author. Soft-bound copies may be purchased for $32.
During the 18th century, more people from Germanic Europe migrated eastward into the Russian Empire than to North America. Catherine the Great, a German princess, became Empress of Russia, and she encouraged a large-scale resettlement of her adopted country. Later, these Germans also migrated to Poland, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, Latvia, and Estonia. Eventually many came to America. This two-step removal does complicate the research process.
Bruce and Edward R. Brandt have complied Where to Look for Hard-To-Find German-Speaking Ancestors in Eastern Europe. It is an index to 19,720 family names in 13 books mentioning 23,796 individuals. The authors describe each of the 13 books which they have indexed by describing from what parts of Germanic-speaking Europe the emigrants originated and their destinations in the East, the size of each settlement, and the predominant religious affiliation. The authors offer photocopy and translation services for these difficult-to-find books with instructions and costs for doing so. This 148-page paperback sells for $18.50 plus $3 handling.
Edward R. Brandt also has written Contents and Addresses of Hungarian Archives with Supplementary Information for Research on German-speaking Ancestors From Hungary. This 88-page paperback is the starting point for researching German-speaking ancestors in Hungary during the early part of this century. The addresses of more than 70 Hungarian archives at various governmental levels as well as their genealogical holdings are noted. Maps, statistical tables, a chronology, and a select bibliography are also included. It sells for $15 plus $3 handling. Both of these are available from the Clearfield Company.
Source:
Copyright 1998 by Dallas Genealogical Society, from “Family Tree” Weekly Newspaper Columns from The Dallas Morning News 1991-1996 by Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck
