I am trying to connect various members of the Heard family from Cornwall (UK) with their descendants, and possibly also ancestors in the USA.
I know for a fact that some members of the Heard family emigrated from Cornwall in the late 1800s and early 1900s, arriving in New York and settling in South Dakota and Montana. For example, Frederick John Heard travelled in 1902, arriving in Ellis Island, New York before going onto South Dakota. He travelled with his cousin Thomas Danning and they were both to meet Frederick's brother, who was already in the US. I believe this brother was Stephen James Heard, who emigrated in 1899, although it seems he later returned to Cornwall. Others from that family who emigrated to Montana around this time include Alfred George and Albert Richard Heard. It is certain that the descendants of these first Heards remained in the USA for at least several generations, most likely to date. What I am wondering is who the first were and how early the first Cornish Heards arrived in the US.
I found someone's family tree which listed Mary Jane Danning (born Heard in 1840 in Cornwall), mother of Thomas Danning and aunt of Frederick Heard, mentioned above, as a daughter of Senator Thomas Jefferson Heard of Georgia and granddaughter of Governor Stephen Heard. I am certain this is incorrect, as Mary's father and grandfather were both named Jacob, and also because Thomas Jefferson's Heard's other children were all born in Georgia, but I do wonder if there is any connection, such as a common ancestry or any other family link, between the Heards of Montana/South Dakota and those of Georgia/Virginia. I do recognise that these are far apart geographically but, as they had already travelled across an ocean, it is not inconceivable. Do any of you have any data that might help me connect these two family branches, if indeed any such link even exists.
