Martha Swaim

Ancestors

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Biography

I started genealogy while helping Mom move in 1998. Found Dad's family bible in a box in the garage and input "Tanton Swaim" on Genealogy.com and found Lloyd Swaim, who sent Tanton's ancestors back to Thys Barentson who came to Staten Island, New Amsterdam from the Netheralands aboard the Brother Jonathan in 1654. My husband, Don Wycoff grew up in foster homes. I input his father's First, Middle, and Last name on Genealogy.com and learned that his father had died, age 61, but before he died, he re-married and had three daughters. We were able to meet Don's three sisters before Don died, age 62. When I first met Don, I felt like I knew him from somewhere before, but he moved here from several hundred miles away and we had never had the opportunity. I joked years later that maybe our ancestors met. At that time we knew we each had one early American immigrant, one from Virginia and one from New York. Since then, I have found 18 times and places where our various ancestors were in the same place at the same time as they criss-crossed America from Virginia and New York to New Jersey, Ohio, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, and California. Unfortunately when Microsoft discontinued XP, I was unable to move my files to Windows 8 or Windows 7 (home premium or professional) or Linux. I am going to try Windows 10 next. At about the same time, Ancestry bought Genealogy.com and my on-line family tree disappeared. So, in the meantime, I am trying to re-construct from memory and from what I and others placed on Find a Grave. I have had some help with that since joining WikiTree. I did manage to salvage a spreadsheet of my census records and some other documents I emailed to others over the years, but it will take time to pull out my other information and references. Your patience is much appreciated.

Sources

• First-hand information. Entered by Martha Swaim at registration. Swaim-Snider-McConnel Family Bible