American Pioneers since 1609
My family history research as revealed that my first ancestor in the New World probably came with one of the early Jamestown expeditions. By 1617 another branch had arrived and by the mid-1630’s another branch had arrived in Massachusetts and another had arrived in what was then known as New Amsterdam by the early 1640’s. Others came between the dates, with the very last arriving by the early 1730’s. My last direct ancestor to be naturalized was in the late 1840’s
They were farmers, merchants, ministers and government officials and almost always among the first to move westward as the country grew. From Virginia, New York and Massachusetts they moved westward into Kentucky and Ohio, then Indiana and Illinois and then to many other points throughout the nation. In my early research I discovered members from two different sides of my family had been early pioneers of California and were located in many of the same communities throughout central California.