I was so close

[Deleted]

I have some ancestory posted on my web site and yesterday Cornell relative from the East Coast pointed me to a database that takes our famly back 15 generations to 1516 and a George Cornell, born in Saffron, Walden, Essex, England. The family was arond that area until coming to American about 1640.

I check on the location of Saffron, Walden and discovered that when we were in Cambridge a year ago, we were only 12 miles from my family roots. Sure wish I could have gone there and got to photos.

Wayne

[PeterW]

Congratulations on an exciting discovery, Wayne.

Saffron Walden in north Essex is, as you say, only a few miles south, or slightly south-east, of Cambridge. It is a really beautiful town, one of the best preserved examples of a medieval market town in the UK.

The centre with its narrow streets and medieval buildings is largely unspoilt, and the town council goes to considerable lengths to ensure that it will remain so.

I believe there was a settlement there back in Saxon times, and the Walden part of the name is said to come from a Saxon word meaning a wooded den or valley. There are several other very old towns in the UK with Walden as the second part of their names. You sometimes find them in old gazeteers listed as Walden, Saffron or Walden, Kings with a comma but the town name always has the Walden as the second part and the first word as a sort of qualifier (no comma).

The saffron part of Saffron Walden I think came from the dye saffron which was harvested from extensive crocus fields around the town, and on which the prosperity of the medieval town was founded. I wonder if George Cornell was engaged in this harvesting?

If you ever go there with your D300 you'll need either a very large memory card or a laptop to download pictures. I'm sure you'd shoot hundreds.

For a few pictures of the town have a look at
www.eppingforest.co.uk/Saffron_Walden.html

PeterW

[doubs43]

Wayne, that's a marvelous find. Knowing your family history is exciting and educational. The pictures of Saffron Walden are beautiful and I'll bet Peter is correct: You'd surely take many hundreds of pictures there.

British names in my own family include Giles, Adams, Loving and Wright with possibles being Carey, Everly, Burch and Wills. I'm fairly certain that Smith is also from that area. There are also many German surnames in my family. I've not been able to make the connection back to a specific area or areas of Great Britain but I do know that a Giles came to Jamestown, VA, in 1619 on board the ship Triall. They were noted for having bright red hair, a trait that still shows itself in some of my cousins.

My sons have added Irish (McGinn) and another German (Morgan) to the mix. My wife added Filipino and European Spanish. The Spanish names include Castro and Montemayor (Sp?).

We're the American melting pot for sure!

Walker

[Deleted]

I've contacted my brother-in-law at Lakenheath (about 30 miles away) and asked him to include the town in his wanderings and get me some photos.

This information has opened a lot of doors. Thomas Cornell, son of the first cornell to settle in America, was executed in 1673 in Portsmouth, R.I. for allegedly murdering his widowed mother. The main evidence was testimony from his mother's brother that he had seen the crime in a vision!

Thomas' 4th great grandson, Ezra Cornell, dontaed the money to start Cornell, University. And oh, yeah, another descendant of Thomas is Lizzie Borden, of "gave he mother 40 whacks," fame!!!

[doubs43]

That's great, Wayne. I still find the lyrics from a folk song of the 1960's to be quite funny. Partly, they went: :"Close the door, lock and latch it! Here comes Lizzie with a brand new hatchet!"

The poem, of course, came first.

"Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks.
When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41!"

For anyone into early American Frontier history, I'm reportedly a descendant of Daniel Greathouse.

Walker

[herron]

I think it's neat to be able to trace your family back that far, Wayne. I've traced mine back to 1736 (Mother's side) when one of her father's ancestors landed in Philadelphia (from whatever Germany was at the time).

My father's side I can find back to an ancestor who came from North Carolina to settle in Tennessee in 1740. Where he was before that, or where his parents/grandparents were from, I have no clue.

Have not been able to find Herron (or Herren) references beyond this shore.

I do know that there is a lot of German ancestry ... names like Clouse, Schleiger, Herren -- but there is also some English ... Randolph and Nash.

[Deleted]

Ron

We might be related. One branch of my paternal grandmother's family, came to Pennsylvania about that time--Emerich. Married into the Miles family. I believe there still is a Milesburg in Pa. Also the Armagosts.