Introduction
I have been working on my family tree since the late 1970s. I decided that the best way for me to pass my research on to future generations would be to create a web site. This has an advantage over publishing a book in that I can continue to make changes.
The information presented here may be freely copied by genealogists as long as the following two guidelines are followed: 1) give me credit if my narrative is used, and 2) relationships or dates that are not definite should be labeled as such and not as fact.
MATERIAL IN THESE WEB PAGES MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORMAT FOR PROFIT.
I have tried to include as many sources in my reports as possible. Click on the superscript numbers to see the information in the endnotes.
Click here to see my family tree
GIFFORD family
My connection to the GIFFORD family does not appear until my great-great grandmother, Achsa Cornelia GIFFORD. Nevertheless, I became especially interested in this family because of Achsa's father, Freeman GIFFORD. Freeman's mother bound him out at a young age to a shoemaker. Since I could not find a father for him, I wondered if he might have been illegitimate. DNA to the rescue. I located two direct male GIFFORD descendants of Freeman who were willing to have their Y-chromosome tested. They matched other descendants of William GIFFORD of Sandwich MA, proving that Freeman's father was a GIFFORD.
Most people who have researched the GIFFORD family have seen the excellent article on William GIFFORD of Sandwich MA that appeared in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register beginning in October of 1974. I did not duplicate information from this article in my GIFFORD reports. Instead, I included links to all of the pages.
One of the main reasons for creating my GIFFORD reports was to correct a lot of misinformation that is floating around the Internet. Corrections and additions are always welcome. With the help of other researchers, I hope to make the reports the "bible" for GIFFORD research.
DNA testing on descendants of both men has proven that Stephen GIFFORD of Norwich CT was NOT the son of William GIFFORD of Sandwich MA. Stephen was also not mentioned in William's will.
A special thanks to Paul M. GIFFORD of Flint MI, descendant of William GIFFORD and expert on the GIFFORD family. His research and help have been invaluable in producing the GIFFORD reports.
BURROUGHS family
Burroughs family text goes here
WILLIS family
WILLIS family text goes here
MELBYE family
Melbye family text goes here
Swedish roots
Sweden text goes here
Norwegian roots
Norway text goes here