The Latimers
The Latimers
Robert Wallace Avent
Introduction
Prelude

Not being a professional genealogist I rely on the findings of others, mostly genealogy enthusiasts, like myself, on the internet. However, I do make an effort to follow the tenets of professional genealogists with one ‘unforgivable’ exception; for expediency, I do not follow the ‘rule’ of documenting my sources. Instead I try to rely on facts that are corroborated by others unless I do find a source that explicitly proves a fact or assumption incorrect.

One observation I have noticed over the years is the tendency of many to connect family ancestors to either indigenous natives of the Americas, famous personages (see ‘Convoluted Cousins’ below), historical events or to the Huguenots. These I take with a very critical eye and will not ‘follow’ that line unless sources are well documented.

Even though my family line shows numerous ancestors of royalty, nobility or notoriety I do not imply that their “aura” of fame settles upon our family’s heads, especially mine, and understand that to proudly proclaim so bares one’s pure hubris, for:

'Honour and shame from no condition rise; Act well your part, there all the honour lies.', Epistle I—Alexander Pope

'Tis only noble to be good.
Kind hearts are more than coronets,
And simple faith than Norman blood.', Lady Clara Vere de Vere—Alfred Lord Tennyson

‘Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors’—Dr. Jonas Salk
‘Mules are always boasting that their ancestors were horses.’—Proverb


Explanations:
¬ Convoluted Cousins: These are individuals who have NO bloodline connection to the family but do have a relationship through marriages. I find these individuals to help ‘relate’ to history and also use this as my way of demonstrating with ‘tongue in cheek’ in how contorted the relationship has to be to connect to them.

¬ Heraldry Shields: Knowing that in heraldry a crest is only granted to an individual and not family or their heirs I nevertheless have used them as a technique to designate the various ‘houses’ of Europe or clans of Scotland, thus noting the numerous family alliances made through marriage for the purpose of increasing power and prestige.

¬ Flags: These represent the geopolitical location of a person at the time of their birth. For instance, someone born in Germany in the eighteenth century should show the flag, not of current day Germany, but rather that of the Holy Roman Empire. Another example, if a person was born in New York before its capitulation to England I show the flag of the Dutch West India Company, not of England.

¬ Geopolitical Names: My intent is to use the names of locations as would be stated at the time. For instance, when referring to a Dutch colony I use the name of Wiltwyck, Nieuw-Nederlandse, but if I use the current designation of Kingston, Ulster County, New York, then one knows it is now under English authority.

Counties are more problematic in that their names often change over time or boundaries are realigned. I try to use the designated county name at the time of an event. A quick ‘Wiki’ search of a county can clear this confusion for the user.

¬ Sooo…Many Cousins: While my initial intent in developing a genealogical history of my family was primarily for my two aunts and cousins I realized that many others could benefit as well. But to enable others to connect to the family I decided early on to add the names of all children of a family event for those most ‘removed’ hoping someone would find that person on the internet and ‘hook into’ the family and thus provide additional information, pictures, stories and more importantly, corrections.

Please contact me with any errors, omissions and additions.

NOTE: I would very much appreciate viewers email me photos, stories or documents so that I may continue to build and enrich its contents. For its my hope to not just provide a list of names, dates and places but add dimension and color to our ancestors’ life history.
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Belden, MS, 38826-9780