Resource Christopher

[chrstdvd]

Hello, I am David M Christopher and I live in Virginia USA.  I am reaching out to you today in hopes someone can help me discover where my ancestors came from in England.  I am working with a Genetic Scientist who I am related to by YDNA from about 3500 years ago. (We share terminal SNP’s and are in haplogroup R-FGC14161 et all.
 
I can prove that I am descended from a Nicholas Christopher born between 1670 and 1683 (using my YDNA and comparing it to other living descendants of Nicholas two sons William and David, but cannot prove his date and place of birth.  Many trees here and in Australia have a pedigree that goes beyond Nicholas all the way back to 1385.  The problem is that not one of those trees have any sources to prove any connection to my 5th Great Grandfather.

I also have a YDNA match but from farther back in time than my US matches who lives in Sydney Australia.  He has a solid paper trail to his ancestors who come from Somerset and Wiltshire Counties in England.
 
My cousin, Andre the genetic scientist, says this about the names and dates of the trees that claim to go back to 1385:
“” The Christopher Kent, UK lineage is too precise with DOB, marriages, children in order and exact deaths to be fiction... this comes from a book or one hell of a serious genealogists....somehow this ended up on Ancestry.com and from there someone plugged in James Howard Christopher and William Nicholas Nicholas ... that's where it turns to crap, but the original document is what you need to find the source for, it's out there somewhere, you may need to contact some people about their sources...this may lead to James Howard Christopher somehow and why 98% put Nicholas with Ann Philips and the Evans and the Stokes and the Taliaferro etc...

There is no pulling this out of a hat, no way, not with this much detail....and similarities with naming children. “”

The mystery starts with the James Howard Christopher born 1640 Kent, England or Middlesex County, Virginia. I can find no sources of him in Middlesex, Va.  Using my cousin from Australia credentials, I can find nothing about him in Kent, England either.

My question for now is:  Is there a way to find out if James Howard Christopher was born in Kent, England (or even existed) and maybe follow his line back in time?

Here is a link to a tree from Ancestry.com.au
http://trees.ancestry.com.au/tree/87517310/family/pedigree

I can show 50 trees from the US and AU and not one has any source other than someone else’s tree.

Would appreciate help in locating any true Sources about James Howard Christopher. 

Another thing that bothers me is I was told by another genealogist at Wiki that people born before 1700 did not have middle names.  Many trees in America give my 5th Great Grandfather a name William Nicholas Christopher, and when I checked sources I have, sure enough, only Nicholas Christopher is listed.  Makes me skeptical of chasing down a James Howard Christopher b 1640.

Thank you
David M Christopher

[polarbear]

Hello and welcome to RootsChat  .

Looking at some of those trees, it appears that they have ancestral lines coming from Kemsing in Kent. I was wondering if you have looked at the parish records for there? Seems to me this would be a reasonable place to start if you haven't looked there yet. It may only serve to rule out some people but that can be an important part of the process. Transcribed records for the parish are apparently available on microfilm or microfiche and should hopefully be available to order through your local Family History Center (the familysearch folks). Here is a link with some info....

https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/635185?availability=Family%20History%20Library

You also mentioned holding off on a world sub at Ancestry for a bit on another thread? You might check if your local public library subscribes to Ancestry Library Edition. This would give you access to available British records. The library might also have access to the Findmypast website. And... your local Family History Center may have access as well.

PB

[BumbleB]

Welcome to Rootschat 

May I ask how much of your tree on Ancestry have you researched for yourself?  I can easily pick out some anomalies, and I've only looked at it for the last 5 minutes:

John Christopher - born 12 July 1653 - Kemsing, Kent (elder brother Robert - born 4 March 1653 - Kemsing, Kent) = dates are probably baptism dates
John marries Ann ?  at some time
John junior - born 16 January 1669 in Maryland, USA = father aged 15 

[BumbleB]

Oops, and then John, born 1653 in Kemsing, Kent, having had son in 1669 in Maryland, finally dies in Kemsing in Kent on 13 July 1721.

Plus he has an elder brother called John - 8 February 1645 in Kemsing, dies 1700 (no date) in Middlesex, Virginia.

My apologies David, I think you really need to do your own research!

[chrstdvd]

@ polarbear - thank you for the reply. I will check out the link you provided to Family search. And Check my local library for what services they offer. Especially for the Find My Past.  I went ahead and subscribed to Ancestry International, and done som research.  I have to get used to Brittish records now. Thank you.

@ BumbleB thank you for replying too. The link to a tree I provided is not my tree, rather it was an example of what most all trees look like.  As I said none have sources, links to official records, and when they do have one it usually turns out to be for a different person.
As I said above, I went ahead and purchased the International edition and have started doing my research. I Found several trees that sayJames Howard Christopher (JHC) had 4 brothers John 1645, Richard 1645, John 1653, and Thomas 1659. I find nothing for John 1645,  Richard 1645 has 10 sour e trees one skips his father and says his father is who really is his grandfather. 3 say his father is James and the other 6 say his father is John. They all have the correct mother except the first one. None of those trees go to a living male descendant but they get into 1900's and continue with daughters. But it is possible that the sons had prodigy once I research them.
The 1653 John has a tree that does go to a living male and I sent the owner a message. I have found nothing on the 1659 Thomas.  I got tired and quit after that.
I do not know if you can see my tree, but my username on Ancestry is chrstvd and the tree I am working is YDNAExperiment, if you can do a member search and find it.  Then you can see that I do my own research and ha e sources to back it up.

Thank you David

[BumbleB]

Very strange but I can no longer seem to find your tree YDNAExperiment - which is where I took my examples from. 

[chrstdvd]

It is this living in different countries stuff of Ancestry.  Email me at ^(*) and I will use your email
Address to invite you to that tree. I know that works because a cousin in Australia has access to it as I have his.
Dave
Oh, when you get access to it, everyone above my 5th GGf is experimental and subject to deleation, if I can not find sources to prove them. 

(*) Moderator Comment: e-mail removed in accordance with RootsChat policy, to avoid spamming and other abuses.
Please use the Personal Message (PM) system for exchanging personal data.

[BumbleB]

According to:

http://www.kemsingheritagecentre.org.uk/Surname%20A-D.htm

there are 5 entries for the surname Christopher in the parish registers:

CHRISTOPHER   John   Baptism   1646   
CHRISTOPHER   Nicholas   Baptism   1623/4   
CHRISTOPHER   Robert   Burial   1714   
CHRISTOPHER   Widow   Burial   1698   
CHRISTOPHER snr   John   Burial   1690/1   

with more details shown in a different section of the site.

[chrstdvd]

Thanks, I will check that out.  I have been at this for about 5 hours now. Reviewing countless trees so I can get as many first names in my head as possible and who may have married whom and has which children.  Then I started a search on a William Christopher 1569 to 1624 who is supposed to be James Howard's Great Grandfather.  The first thing on the list was a story which turns out to be a list of Christopher Wills.  Going to sponsoring profile and then Googling William listed on bottom, I found an Index to Kent Wills.  Eventually I kept clicking through the links and found the pdf of the Wills.  http://vulpeculox.net/history/wkw2016/pdf/XCDEF.PDF The Christopher's are on pages pages 132 - 171.  I am pretty sure this group stops around where my tree begins With the series of Williams.  I am going to have to study it after I rest up and clear my mind. 

Tell me what you think about this.

Dave