The First part of the Broyhill Family
History is tentatively sub-titled The Early History of the
Broyhill Family. when completed, it will trace the family's
history from the dark ages through the American Revolution, ending with
a detailed biography of James Broyhill .
The Broyhill name is exclusively American and
came into being when this James adopted the present spelling around
1806, about the time he moved from Virginia to Wilkes County, North
Carolina. All available
evidence suggests that every natural born Broyhill in the United States
- and thus the world - descends from James. Although they are
not "natural-born" Broyhill, this section attempts to list everyone
who has carried the Broyhill name. These include wives, adopted children
and their descendants).
Our family name began
abut the same time as our country and its history is very much a part of
our nation's history: the early settlements, the western migration, the
wars in which our men have served. They are very much a part of each
other's epic story.
It somehow seems proper that this work be
published on the brink of our nations and our family's 200th
anniversary.
The primary functions of this Second Part of
the Broyhill Family History are to account for all known descendants of
James Broyhill, show how they are related, and to provide a genealogical
history of each. By fulfilling these requirements alone, this book
stands as the most complete and comprehensive account of the family ever
written.
However, I look upon it more as an outline than a completed
work. Over the coming years, I hope to expand the biographies, so
that we may know more about our ancestors than simply their name and a
few dates. I would like to tell the story of each, but to do so
requires a lot more information than I have now. It is hoped that the
publication of this book, along with the names and addresses of family
members, will stimulate interest in our history, resulting in a great
deal more information becoming available.
Toward achieving the above goal, copies of this
book will be placed in genealogical libraries in hopes that people
interested in our history will contact the author.
For the most part, the information herein is as
accurate as that obtained by me. Articles have been cross-checked again
the original source material, but the logistics involved have made
sending out working drafts to family members or cross-checking
information against civil records all but impossible. Information
has been obtained from hand-written records and letters, microfilms, and
photocopies that often were illegible. Also it came from
conversation with family members, thus its accuracy is only as good as
memory and the transcript. Thus this work may very well contain many
mistakes and it is hoped that they will be called to the author's
attention so that corrections may be made in the supplements.
The family is growing larger each year and each new
generation will add its own members and their stories. Our history will
continue for as long as a family member lives.
In some cases, my research into a particular
branch took place a half dozen or more years ago and may not be up to
date. For these reasons, its probably more realistic to look upon
this First Edition as a First Draft. As biographies become more
detailed, new information is obtained and mistakes corrected,
supplements will be printed from time to time.
In script writing, I go through many drafts and
the procedure that works best for me is somewhat standard in the film
industry. Simply replace pages that contain changes. The
format for this book was selected with that in mind and this is the
reason you will some pages only half filed with information.
At present there is no predicable time for issuing
supplements. No doubt it will depend on the time it takes to obtain
enough information to justify one. Each supplement will begin with a
Print History page, which permits you to know at a glace if your copy of
this book is up to date.
The Alphabetical Index of took four months to
compile and type. In was completed in December of 974 and does not
reflect information obtained since then, although people may be listed
in the text. Rather than delay publication, a new index will be
provided with the first supplement
The Chinese have a tradition of recording all genealogical
information with an official in the province of the family's origin.
Even when families move away, the send back the information each adding
it own story. It is not unusual for a Chinese family to trace its
family back a thousand years or more. It would be nice to
establish a similar system for our family records. Any ideas.
Your comments on this book as well as
suggestions as to how it can be improved will be appreciated. |
It's now been thirty
years since I wrote the above. In reviewing it, I find that most
of the issues are still applicable.
As far as mistakes, there were surprisingly
few. There were two mistakes in articles pointed out to me by family members and I discovered
another. Their was surprisingly little interest in the family
history, so I saw no point in continuing to compile information on
descendents. Thus there were never any supplements. My
research efforts went toward compiling Volume I - The family's ancient
history, which was published in 1993 and appears herein.
In the introduction to the long delayed
Volume I, I wrote that since 1976, a great many family members have died
and an entire new generation has been born and some of its members
already have children of their own, so an update is long overdue.
A major obstacle to compiling one was the difficulty of obtaining and
checking so much information. The Internet provides a wonderful
media for accomplishing that. Thus the decision to publish this
book as a web site. |