User:Dontiknowyou

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dontiknowyou
User dontiknowyou is a member of the Guild of One Name Studies. On Family Tree in FamilySearch this user has made over 13,000 new person profiles and attached over 100,000 sources. Most contributions are on German surnames Centner, Czentner, Jentner, Gentner, Genthner, Sentner, Tzentner, Zehentner, Zehntner, Zentner; also English surnames Clough, Verry, Yarrall. This user is especially interested in breaking through intercontinental immigrant "brick walls".

Intercontinental immigrant brick walls
Surname tables on this page show data from FamilySearch Family Tree and Search. Indexed historical records divided by Family Tree profiles gives a very rough estimate of the completeness of a surname study. The estimate is not intuitive. A large ratio usually means many profiles have yet to be created. However, a small ratio does not mean the study is complete. There are surnames for which many profiles exist but almost no historical records have been indexed by FamilySearch; in this case the ratio is less than 1. It has been my experience with some rare surnames that when all historical records are linked to profiles, there are about 7 records per profile. That is, the sweet spot is 7.

Genthner
Immigrants from Germany to the United States. Most notable of these is a family of colonial pioneers in the Waldo Plantation, now Maine. Historical records are abundant but there were many persons of the same name, often in the same generation; this presents interesting challenges for the genealogist.

Susan Genthner born 1820's
In the mid-19th century in Waldoboro, a town of about 4000 residents in Maine, United States, there lived three cousins named Susan Genthner, all close in age. The 1850 United States census helpfully records all three Susans.


 * In 1850 Susan C. Genthner 1827-1913 [Family Tree person ID GC44-TZD] was in the household of Betsy McClintock Genthner. In 1880 Betsy was in the household of Susan's husband Rufus Benner;  although recorded as "Gd Mother", all other evidence points to Betsy being Susan's mother.  The presence of Betsy and Susan in the same household 30 years apart establishes Susan's family of origin.


 * In 1850 Susan Genthner 1828-1912 [LVGG-RM5] was in the household of her husband William G. Waltz. Her death record names her parents, giving her family of origin.


 * In 1850 Susan M. Genthner 1825-1986 [K69M-BJW] was in the household of her husband Solomon Genthner. Her marriage record identifies her as Miss Susan M. Genthner, of Waldoboro, so we know she was born a Genthner but her family of origin is not known.

Gardner Schwartz
Several persons of this name, and Family Tree hints indicate crosslinking. Persons include:


 * GC4C-SR6 Gardner Schwartz 1863- son of William Gardner Schwartz and Eleanor Genthner
 * M486-8HN Gardner E. Schwartz 1864-1934 son of Daniel Schwartz and Delia ?

Isaac Genthner families
Detangling is in progress. One of several Isaac Genthner families:

Clough
The surname Clough is not rare and has many known variants. Numerous villages in Ireland and England are named Clough and in northern England the word clough means a steep sided valley.

By this table FamilySearch Family Tree has over 40,000 profiles with surname Clough but neither standardized place names nor historical records attached. However, the worldwide number of records divided by profiles is near the "sweet spot". This suggests nearly all profiles relating to this surname already exist in Family Tree, but most profiles have not been reworked since the mass import circa 2012 of legacy trees into Family Tree. This situation begs for a community project. Many hands make light work.

British Colonial America
At least 6 men named John Clough are known to have immigrated to British Colonial America in the early 17th century, departing from ports in England. For the most part their birth places and families of origin are not known.

In England there are many candidate families of origin. Attaching to Family Tree profiles all indexed historical records of men named John Clough (or variant spelling) in England circa 1550 to 1650 should help to find these families. Some of this work has been done but there is more. Y-DNA analysis may also help, and on FamilyTreeDNA two projects have Clough participants: Northumberland and Clewis-Clough.

Heads of tree in Massachusetts:


 * John Clough (about 1613 – 26 July 1691) of Salisbury L2VM-FFH. In the early 17th century a young single man named John Clough was among the first English settlers in what is now Salisbury, Massachusetts.  His descendants have a large genealogical society.  In early 2020 on Family Tree almost no profiles on John Clough's descendancy tree had historical records attached. By early 2021 that task was nearly complete for at least the first 4 generations.  With so many hints resolved the tree now is much more stable.


 * John Prester Clough (13 January 1587 – 18 May 1642) GW7R-1NQ evidently immigrated to America with at least two of his children, who settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. Some of his descendants have records to attach;  see his Family Tree descendancy tree.


 * John Clough (about 1621 – 26 May 1691) K644-TGB in Boston.


 * John Clough (about 1635 – Deceased) MKW9-XBV in Boston.


 * John Clough (about 1660 – Deceased) GCWR-5TF is father of Martha Clough (1691-, born in Salisbury).


 * John Clough (about 1750 – Deceased) MKCZ-49W married in Boston in 1769.

Heads of tree in Virginia:


 * Reverend John Clough (– 15 February 1684) KZML-ZRB.


 * George Clough (2 April 1704 – Deceased) LZFJ-7SL parents unknown.


 * Richard Clough (23 July 1607 – about 1671) L11P-LSZ born in England, children born in Virginia, but evidence scant.

Veterans of the Revolutionary War:
 * Aaron Clough
 * Abner Clough
 * David Clough
 * Humphrey Clough
 * Joseph Clough

Recorded surnames that may be variants:
 * Clow, 161 records; some are at least deviants (transient spelling variations)

Verry and Yarrall in New Zealand
Verry and Yarrall families were among the first immigrants to New Zealand; there is good documentation of these families in New Zealand but their origins in England are uncertain or unknown. Numerous genealogists have worked on tracing back the Verry line, so far without success.

An alternate spelling of Verry is Verrij; FamilySearch exact matching does not distinguish these spellings.

The number of profiles in England, New Zealand, and the United States combined do not approach the number of profiles worldwide because most profiles lack standardized place names. Place names not standardized causes undercounting and, more importantly, poor search results.

Forebears.io reports that today the surname Verry is most numerous in the United States, France, Indonesia, and New Zealand, in that order. It is likely of French or Dutch origin (Verrij). Per Forebears.io, Yarrall is most numerous in New Zealand, rare in England and Australia, but variant spellings are possible.

Goals
Verify the English family of origin of early New Zealand immigrant Thomas Verry (April 1798 – 28 June 1861), which is questionable.

Find the English family of origin of early New Zealand immigrant Ann Verry (1817 – 9 April 1906), wife of Thomas Yarrall. It may be that she is not a Verry at all.

Build trees of English families named Verry and Yarrall, and try to link them to each other.

Try to link American Verry and Yarrall family trees to trees in New Zealand or England.

Tasks
Standardize placenames and dates. Standardizing greatly improves the quality of hints and helps to resolve duplicates and improve searching. To find profiles in need of standardizing, on Family Tree search for the exact surname and a country where the surname is not known. Try Verry in Argentina

After standardizing, work Family Tree hints, attaching historical records to trees.

Look through attached records and work any unfinished attachments. This finds new clues, makes the tree stronger, and links the tree to other trees.

Among the earliest settlers from England in New Zealand were putative descendants of John Verry 1770–1820. Expand the family in England.

Two later settlers from England in New Zealand are descendants of Richard Verry (1 October 1854 – 24 February 1928). Could this family be related to the earlier Verry settlers? Expand the family in England.

Find parents for these Verry persons in New Zealand:
 * George Verry 1833 – 1908 GCWL-QWM
 * Mary Jane Verry 1857 – 1920 GCW2-NG8
 * Alice Verry January 1874 – 1874 GCW2-75P
 * Nelson George Verry 1890 – 10 October 1957 GCWK-RBK
 * George Nelson Verry 1907 – Deceased LTQD-SZK

Look for families of origin of Verry immigrants in the United States: John W. Verry (1808 – 9 March 1862) and his older children.

John Verrie 1628–1669 of Hereford, England has many descendants with Family Tree hints: see his descendancy tree.

Report progress.

Ask for help.

Have fun!