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Broyhill Family Tree |
How this Section is
Organized
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Content |
This web site is devoted to the Broyhill Family and
its goal is eventually provide accurate, up-to-date information on every
person who has ever carries the name. The information is presented in the form of
articles and the amount of space that will be devoted to each individual
will be very largely determined by the number of people who can benefit from
the information. There is little point in writing
a detailed biography of a man who died a hundred years ago without
issue. But yet his brother may have sired a large family and today he
may have many, many descendants. Obviously the latter will receive far more
attention than the former.
Each article contains a short section titled, "About the
Kids," that contain a brief summary of the children and their families.
Many children are the subject of their own article. In general, these
are those who have children that carry the name. Most are men, but a few
women passed their maiden name on to their children. Toward eventually
providing a more complete Family Directory,
I plan on having articles on contemporary Broyhill women if the information is
readily available.
Although the daughters are deeply loved and
appreciated, when they marry, they adopt their husbands name and, from a
genealogical standpoint, they are members of his family. Since
they carry a different name, finding information on them is often very
difficult. The logistics of trying to follow the descendants of
daughters is demonstrated by the following:
1 - Father - a Broyhill
2 -
Daughter - Adopts husbands name.
3 - Grand Daughter - Not a Broyhill
3 - Grand Son - Not a Broyhill
2 -
Son - Keeps Broyhill name.
3 - Grand Daughter - Marries. Adopts husband's
name.
3 - Grand Son - Keeps Broyhill name
Assuming an equal ratio of sons and daughters, it becomes apparent that
in each generation there are four times as many non-Broyhill descendents of
James I then there are Broyhill descendents. There have been or are
several hundred Broyhill men and that's a lot of articles. If we
multiply the number of descendents in each generation by four, then the number
of pages quickly climbs into the thousands - far beyond the scope of this
work. Accordingly, this work will not attempt to follow the descendents of
the daughters unless they carry the Broyhill name. However, as other
families establish their own web sites, then links will be provided.
I plan on
eventually adding a few pages on the wives. Over the years I have
researched many of their families and think that most family members would
like to more about the wives of early ancestors, such as James I,
John Norman, etc. Such articles will be limited to tracing the roots of those
who have left a great many descendents. |
Format |
Each page is an Article on one person.
It is intended as a brief overview. It begins with a heading
citing his name, date of birth and death, and name of father, the
latter being a link to his page. If living, their last known
address and phone number is listed.
This is followed by a short biography, a
list of his children, and a brief overview of their families. When
detailed biographies, photographs, etc are available, they will be compiled
into a second page that can be easily accessed through a link. In cases where children have
their own page, a link is provided. |
Numbering System |
Organizing so much material for the 1976 book led to the development of a
system whereby every descendent of James is assigned an identification number. James is
not assigned a number as he is the beginning, but each of his children
are assigned one in order of birth. John Norman Broyhill was the
oldest, so he is assigned "1."
Next came Polly, who is assigned "2," then William, who is
assigned "3" and so on. Note that all are one digit.
In the next generation, the children are identified
by adding a digit to the parents number, alternating numbers and
letters. John Norman's children are thus assigned "IA,"
"IB," "IC", etc., again in order of birth. In
a few cases, there are more than nine children, so I revert to letters.
For example, James H. Broyhill and his wife had thirteen children.
Mary "1A9" is followed by Kattie Jane, "1AA."
The same system is repeated for the next
generation. My ancestor, William Broyhill is "IE,"
so his children are assigned another digit, this time a number,
resulting in "IE1", etc. My genealogy and the
assigned numbers are as follows: |
James Broyhill
(no number)
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1 |
John Norman Broyhill |
1E |
William A. Broyhill - my great, great grandfather |
1E2 |
Thomas Jefferson Broyhill - my great grandfather |
1E2-E |
Marvin T. Broyhill (Sr.) - my grandfather |
1E2-E1 |
Marvin T. Broyhill Jr. - my father |
1E2-E1A |
Marvin T. Broyhill III - Me |
1E2-E1A-A |
Marvin T. Broyhill IV - My oldest son. |
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This makes it very easy to trace a person's
genealogy. Using the above example, start with me,
get my number, and drop the last digit from it to get the one for my father. Drop another digit and you have the one for my
grandfather. On the other hand, it can be used to work
forward. All descendants of Thomas Jefferson Broyhill will
have a number beginning with "IE2" The number of digits
tells you how may generation a person is removed from James and
comparing the numbers of any two Broyhill will reveal the common
ancestor.
For example, Richard Albert Broyhill of Hopewell,
Virginia is assigned IE2-B3A. We both have the same number of
digits and are thus of the same generation. Both numbers begin
with "IE2" thus our common ancestor is Thomas Jefferson
Broyhill. In fact, Dick and I are second cousins, were both born
in 1941, and graduated from Fork Union Military Academy together in
1959. His grandfather was Ruel, who was Thomas Jefferson
Broyhill's second child. My grandfather was Marvin Sr.
James Edgar Broyhill of Winston-Salem, North Carolina
is ID2-G3B. Again, we are the same generation, but he descends
from "1D" - John, son of John Norman Broyhill, whereas I
descend from his son William. That makes us 3rd cousins.
Roger Allen Broyhill of Peoria, Illinois is assigned
3F2-A1. He has one digit less than me so we're separated by a
generation, which is surprising as he was born 1946, five years after
me.
His number begins with a "3", which means he descends from another
son of James, other than John Norman. In fact he descends from
James' second son, William, and he is William's only living male
descendant. He and my father (same number of digits) are 5th cousins.
Although this numbering system was originally
developed for a print version of the book, it is now being used to
number the web pages. In this case, all files have a six digit
prefix. If the person's identification number contains less than
six digits - as most do - the missing digits are filled in with zeros to
keep consistent length. This is followed by their name. Thus
John Norman Broyhill's page is 100-000-John.htm |
About Dates
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Exact dates are often unknown. They do not appear in court
records. Although they sometimes appear in marriage registers,
birth and birth registrations were not widely used until the early
20th Century. Prior to that, the only reliable source for this
information was the family Bible. However, dates are important
to establish a frame of reference. By knowing approximately when
a person lived, it makes it easier to find information on them.
This work expresses dates in the following formats:
1821 - No Question mark. An exact date, such as April 1, 1821, is proven
by records.
1821? - One Question mark. Approximate date is established by records. For
example, the 1850 Federal Census lists a person as being 29 years old.
Thus he was born around 1821.
1821?? - Two Question marks. An estimated date based on other information.
For example, a man marries in 1841. Assuming he was then 20 years old,
he would have been born around 1821. Such dates can be inaccurate by ten
or more years.
1821+ Plus Sign, meaning after. Used to indicate the last
year that a person was known to have been living, but certainly could
have lived many years thereafter. |
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