I am of German heritage with a little English and Scottish tossed in

 Growing up, I was always told that my heritage was German. But my last name didn't sound German at all. "Oh, yeah - Dad has some English and Scottish in his background. That's where your name comes from, but you are mostly German." That could be true as my Dad was half German and my Mom was all German, but what wonders I found when I explored that tiny bit of English heritage.

I can understand why my parents didn't emphasize the English lineage. The family history passed down to me stopped at my grandmother's father, Sylvanus Basil Southworth. His wife was unknown and so nothing much was thought of this line of descent.

It's always gnawed at me, so when I find time I have always gone back to there and searched for hints on Ancestry.com. About 5 years ago, I stumbled on a record noting his wife as "Fannie". Helpful, but nicknames are difficult to tie to other records and it stayed that way for a few years. A couple of years ago, I found a record that her real name was Frances Florilla Taylor. I entered that, but no further hints came up and so it seemed another indication that there wasn't much to see here.

A few months ago, a hint came up for Sylvanus that led me back to the Spencers of Hartford, CT. That was fun research and filled out my tree sufficiently that hints came up for Fannie. I took the time to trace those back through genealogies supported by record references and found that these Taylors trace their lineage back to the Mayflower and earlier. Specifically to John Alden and Priscilla Mullins. So my great-grandmother could have been a Daughter of the American Revolution! I don't know if she was or why she didn't register if she wasn't. Maybe somewhere along the line, this wasn't passed down from generation to generation.

I am grateful to the tools, such as Ancestry.com, available to us now to research our past and for the hours of volunteer work put in make historical records available on-line in searchable databases. I look forward to bolstering the research that places me in this proud lineage. One-eighth of my heritage were Pilgrims and came to America when the colonies were just forming. They witnessed the Revolutionary war first-hand and lived through some very exciting times. It's a pretty impressive 1/8th now that the shrouds of the unknown have been lifted.

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