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Cumberland Lookup Requests / Re: The Neville/Westmorland Name Connection
« on: Thursday 15 March 18 11:12 GMT (UK) »
My grandfather Howard C. Foster began his Westmoreland research in 1912 and here I am over one hundred years later still looking for an authentic source.
Actually, the nobility tales did not enter into my Spartanburg County, South Carolina branch of the Westmoreland line until 1937 when Benjamin Perry Robertson first published his claim to be a descendant of the "Nevill family." This must have been quite a surprise to his South Carolina cousins who thought their ancestors were three brothers who were farmers and had immigrated from Scotland. Robertson claimed the three brothers were Nevill descendants.
Prior to this a Tennessee branch of Westmorelands paid a genealogist named Edward A. Claypool in 1908 to try to find a connection. When he could not find one he said:
"This son is not mentioned in Burke's Peerage, but strong tradition says that "Thomas Fane, a son of Lord Westmoreland, emigrated to America in Colonial Days...where he assumed the name of Westmoreland... He was accompanied by a son of Lord Percy and his family..."
Over the decades as the nobility tales fell short they were rewritten by those who tried to make them read less laughable. Instead of sources they added pictures of castles to their books for a more fairytale effect.
For a more scientific approach, one of my cousins, John S. Westmoreland, has taken a Y-DNA test. The upper haplogroups are I-M253 and I-P109. It refines to I-S14887. Maybe someday we will find the true connection in Europe.
There is a Facebook Group run by Will Westmoreland who encourages Y-DNA tests.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/thewestmorelandfamily/
I hope this helps.
Robert Foster
Actually, the nobility tales did not enter into my Spartanburg County, South Carolina branch of the Westmoreland line until 1937 when Benjamin Perry Robertson first published his claim to be a descendant of the "Nevill family." This must have been quite a surprise to his South Carolina cousins who thought their ancestors were three brothers who were farmers and had immigrated from Scotland. Robertson claimed the three brothers were Nevill descendants.
Prior to this a Tennessee branch of Westmorelands paid a genealogist named Edward A. Claypool in 1908 to try to find a connection. When he could not find one he said:
"This son is not mentioned in Burke's Peerage, but strong tradition says that "Thomas Fane, a son of Lord Westmoreland, emigrated to America in Colonial Days...where he assumed the name of Westmoreland... He was accompanied by a son of Lord Percy and his family..."
Over the decades as the nobility tales fell short they were rewritten by those who tried to make them read less laughable. Instead of sources they added pictures of castles to their books for a more fairytale effect.
For a more scientific approach, one of my cousins, John S. Westmoreland, has taken a Y-DNA test. The upper haplogroups are I-M253 and I-P109. It refines to I-S14887. Maybe someday we will find the true connection in Europe.
There is a Facebook Group run by Will Westmoreland who encourages Y-DNA tests.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/thewestmorelandfamily/
I hope this helps.
Robert Foster