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This website is dedicated to our families and those who gave birth to us. It is centered around the LAFFERTYs and BRIGGS, but our ancestors and cousins include FISH'S , FRAIRs, FINNEMOREs, AUSTINs, RASZMANNs, HAMMERSCHMIDTs and hundreds of other families.
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| THE ROOTS OF THIS WEBSITE | ||||
| In rural Allegany County, New York, it would be impossible to throw a stick without hitting some of my relatives, according to my mother, whose ancestors arrived there in the early Nineteenth Century from Rhode Island and Massachusetts to displace the Iroquois Indians, mostly the Seneca Tribe, who had inhabited the land for centuries. The first FISH swam over from England in 1643. Most of the BRIGGS' immigrants, and their spouses, came from England about 1640. Susannah and John, Jr. were born in RI in 1642. The RASZMAN and BUCHHOLTZ grandparents arrived from Germany in the Nineteenth Century and settled in Erie County, New York. Meanwhile, the LAFFERTYs, and AUSTINs, were busy populating neighboring Cattaraugus County. With a name like LAFFERTY, we usually hear the remark "Irish, huh?". Probably, but John LAFFERTY, the Revolutionary War ancestor, was born in NJ in 1755, and I haven't been able to "dig up" his parents. By 1946, we were just plain Yankee. Moving to Arizona in 1958 added a little Confederate spice, and in 1979, we spliced on a tiny branch of Chinese, just to make things interesting! Thank goodness, at this late date, we are 100% American. Ancestors have served in the Prince Philip uprising of 1676, the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, World War II and Vietnam (my oldest son). Alex Haley's "Roots", which was shown on TV in the 1970's, sparked a germ of curiosity for many people, I am sure. That's what started my quest for ancestors, and it was at that time that I berated myself for not paying attention to Grandpa BRIGGS in the 1930's. I remember the incident perfectly, although it happened some 70 years ago. We were walking together, when Grandpa said, "Did you know that you had great grandmothers whose maiden names were: HONEY, GLIDDEN, PEET and GURNEY?". Years later, when I tried to research those surnames, I found the HONEYs and GLIDDENs in England, just where they should have been! But those last two names evaded me, even with the advent of computers, software programs, the Internet, Roots Web, Ancestry.com, etc., until the spring of 2005 when a genealogy program steered me to a distant relative who led me to Phebe PEET who led me to Richard WARREN, who came on the Mayflower, and Anne HUTCHINSON. I have found GURNEYs living in MA in colonial days but no connection to me yet. There are too many "Unknown" maiden names; we women weren't important in those days. In 2012 I found my ancestor, Daniel FRAIR, Jr. in the Revolutionary War files. When I married into the LAFFERTYs, in 1946, if I had known how prolific the early generations were, I might have reconsidered either the marriage or the Genealogy research. Of course, once I started, I discovered that some of the BRIGGS' clan had ten or fourteen children, as well. At this date we have unearthed 8097 names; I would love to have more! So that my descendants will have a starting place, this is a record of the work that has been done by many people; a glance at the list of surnames will verify that! Anyone who is brave enough to check these files is encouraged to contact me with any additions, subtractions, or incorrect data. That is the real purpose of making these files public. It's definitely a work in progress, but as you know, if you are reading this, the word "Finished" can never be used. I am forever grateful to my third son, Daryl, who wrote the programs that created this web site, and to Benjamin Bates, for the web design work. Visit my daughter-in-law's web site for the WIDENER and FLANAGIN genealogies. Eloise Lafferty April, 2012 It saddens me to report that my Mother-in-love passed away in February of this year. If you have any questions, comments or corrections please contact me at: dianna@richardlafferty.com. December 2017
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