Parallax — perspective changes everythingThe Parallax Identity

Working notes · companion to the book

Ancestor Stories

Stories, not bloodlines. Each fact is marked: Record (public history), Family tree (your records), or Family tradition (told, not proven — write it as such).

Family Descent

How the stories reach you. Where a generation hasn't been traced, the gap is shown rather than filled in.

The Buckner line (through the Street line)

Your tree places John Buckner as your 8th great-grandfather, reached through the Street line. The generations between him and you are in your tree but not yet copied here.

  1. John Buckner, clerk of Gloucester County, printer of Virginia's laws · 1631–1694 Family tree
  2. Seven generations between Buckner and you · c. 1660s–1900s Not yet traced
  3. KW Norton Record

Sources

  • Lawrence C. Wroth, The Colonial Printer (1931) — Buckner, Nuthead, and the 1682 suppression.
  • W. W. Hening, The Statutes at Large of Virginia, vol. 2 (1823) — Berkeley's 1671 answers to the Lords of Trade.
  • Executive Journals / Minutes of the Council of Colonial Virginia — Buckner before the Council, February 1682.

The Hendrickson line: from the Dutch admiral to you (mother's side)

Fourteen generations, as recorded in your tree, running from a Rotterdam admiral and a New Netherland chartmaker through Chester, the Appalachian frontier and the Boone family to your grandfather Street. Modern generations after him are kept private.

  1. Lambert Barentsen Hendrickson, "Mooy Lambert", Dutch vice admiral, Battle of Gibraltar 1607 · 1550–1625 Record
  2. Capt. Cornelis Hendricksen, sailed the Onrust, charted the Jersey coast and the Delaware, 1616 Figurative Map · 1572–1650 Record
  3. Trintje Van Dyke · 1620–1715 Family tree
  4. Capt. Albertus Hendricks Hendrickson, settler at Chester, Pennsylvania · 1641–1716 Family tree
  5. James John Hendrix Hendrickson, Indian trader · 1667–1741 Family tree
  6. Rose Ann Hendricks Linville · 1692–1784 Family tree
  7. William Linville, explorer and long hunter · 1710–1766 Family tree
  8. Nancy Anne Linville · 1744–1814 Family tree
  9. Elizabeth "Betsy" Boone, of Daniel Boone's family · 1765–1855 Family tree
  10. Hettie Boone Copher · 1803–1842 Family tree
  11. William "Boone" Berry, Civil War · 1822–1913 Family tree
  12. Sarah Elizabeth Margaret Boone Berry · 1857–1921 Family tree
  13. Manley Floyd Street, your grandfather · 1886–1973 Family tree
  14. Later generations (kept private) Not yet traced

Sources

  • John Lothrop Motley, History of the United Netherlands (1867) — Lambert Hendriksz at Gibraltar; via Wikipedia, "Cornelius Hendrickson."
  • Report of Cornelis Hendricxsz to the States General, 18–19 August 1616, with the Figurative Map; C. A. Weslager, Dutch Explorers, Traders and Settlers in the Delaware Valley (1961).
  • Generations from Trintje Van Dyke onward: KW Norton's family tree. Geni and FamilySearch compilations differ on the link between Cornelis and Albertus.
  • Stories worth telling: a ship built at Manhattan after Block's Tyger burned; three Dutch traders ransomed from the Susquehannock; a long hunter on the frontier; the Boone kinship.

The West line: from Lord De La Warr to you

Thirteen generations, as recorded in your tree. One link carries a caution: the parentage of Lt. Col. Anthony West is widely published, but historians dispute whether he was Lord De La Warr's son. Write that step as "family tradition holds."

  1. Sir Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, first governor of Virginia · b. Wherwell, Hampshire · d. at sea near the Azores on the voyage back to Virginia · 1577–1618 Record
  2. Lt. Col. Anthony West, immigrant (son of Lord De La Warr, per family tradition) · 1605–1652 Family tradition
  3. William Henry West, "the Rebel," Bacon's Rebellion · 1645–1708 Family tree
  4. Capt. Thomas Oliphant West, burgess 1702–1706 · 1664–1740 Family tree
  5. Thomas H. B. West I · 1675–1750 Family tree
  6. George West · 1699–1756 Family tree
  7. Elijah West, Revolutionary War · 1736–1791 Family tree
  8. Henry Harris West · 1776–1850 Family tree
  9. Irwin Casey West, Confederate, 39th Tennessee Mounted Infantry · 1819–1867 Family tree
  10. Milton Brown West, Union, 129th Infantry · 1845–1900 Family tree
  11. William Milton West, your grandfather · 1872–1946 Family tree
  12. David Royal West, your father · 1917–1998 Family tree
  13. KW Norton Record

Sources

  • Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "West, Thomas, third Baron De La Warr" — Jamestown, June 1610; death at sea, 1618.
  • Generations from Anthony West onward: KW Norton's family tree. The Anthony West link is a published tradition, disputed — not proven.
  • Two stories worth telling: a rebel in Bacon's Rebellion (1676), and a Confederate father whose son fought for the Union.

A documented branch that reaches the Wests

One chain into the West family is already well supported in your records: the Newtons of Sudbury, Massachusetts. (Not Sir Isaac's family — that link in the online trees was a merge of two different Richard Newtons.)

  1. Richard Newton of Sudbury and Marlborough, Mass. · c. 1605/9–1701 Record
  2. John Newton · 1641–1723 Family tree
  3. John Newton · 1667–1754 Family tree
  4. Ruth Newton · 1702–1777 Family tree
  5. Eames → Fairbank → Robison · 1700s–1800s Family tree
  6. West Family tree

Sources

  • Douglass Richardson, New England Historical and Genealogical Register 143 (1989), 325–331 — Richard Newton's Suffolk origin.
  • Ermina Newton Leonard, Newton Genealogy (1915).

8th great-grandfather · Street line

John Buckner

b. 2 Feb 1631, Oxfordshire · d. 10 Feb 1694, Marlfield, Gloucester County, Virginia

Brought the first printing press to Virginia and printed the colony's laws so ordinary people could read them.

  1. 1631 / 1694 — Birth and death dates as recorded in her tree. Family tree
  2. 1671 — Gov. William Berkeley writes that he thanks God there are no free schools nor printing in Virginia. (Context: before Buckner's press; Berkeley died 1677.) Record
  3. c. 1680 — Buckner, clerk of Gloucester County, brings a press and the printer William Nuthead to Virginia — the first press in the colony. (Massachusetts had one at Cambridge from 1638.) Record
  4. early 1682 — Prints the laws passed by the 1680 session of the General Assembly. Record
  5. Feb 1682 — Called before Gov. Lord Culpeper and the Council; made to post bond and print nothing further until the King's pleasure is known. Record
  6. 1683 — Royal instructions to the next governor forbid any printing press in Virginia. (Exact wording: check before quoting.) Record
  7. 1730 — Virginia's next press: William Parks, Williamsburg. Record

Writing note: Say "first press in Virginia," not "in America." Called before the Council and bonded — not arrested.

Richardson line

Sir Thomas Richardson

1569–1635

A judge among those who ruled that English law did not allow torture.

  1. 1626 — Becomes Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Record
  2. 1628 — After John Felton assassinates the Duke of Buckingham, the judges rule that racking him is not lawful under the common law. Record
  3. 1631 — Becomes Chief Justice of the King's Bench. Record

Writing note: Your exact descent from him is from your tree; the story stands as history either way.

connected family on the Rappahannock

Colonel John Catlett

d. 1670

Surveyor and justice who drew lines across unmapped land, killed defending a frontier fort.

  1. 1650s–60s — Surveyor and justice in the Rappahannock region of Virginia. Family tradition
  2. 1670 — Killed defending a frontier fort. Family tradition

Writing note: Comes from published family histories; check the fort and date before printing.

Taliaferro line · lands near Marlfield

The Taliaferros

1500s (Tudor court) → 1600s Virginia

Italian musicians who crossed to play at Henry VIII's court; the name later appears beside Buckner's in Virginia.

  1. 1530s–40s — Italian (largely Venetian) musicians, including Taliaferros, play at the Tudor court. Record
  2. 1600s — Taliaferro family in Virginia, with lands near Buckner's Marlfield. Family tree
  3. link — That the Virginia family descends from the court musicians. Family tradition

Writing note: Write it as "family tradition holds…" — no need to prove each generation.

7th great-grandfather · Street line

Rev. Nicholas Street

b. 29 Jan 1603, Bridgwater, Somerset · d. 22 Apr 1674, New Haven

Oxford-educated minister of the first-settler generation at Taunton and New Haven.

  1. 1603 / 1674 — Birth and death as in your records (death entry names "Queenapick" — Quinnipiac). Family tree
  2. 1638–59 — Minister at Taunton, Plymouth Colony. Record
  3. 1659–74 — Minister at New Haven, alongside and after John Davenport. Record

Hendrickson line · 12th great-grandfather in your tree · father of Cornelis

Lambert Barentsen Hendrickson, Dutch admiral

b. 1550, Irlen near Solingen · d. 1625, Utrecht (tree)

Nicknamed "Pretty Lambert". A friend of Admiral Jacob van Heemskerk, he commanded De Tijger at the Battle of Gibraltar.

  1. 1550 / 1625 — Birth and death as in your records. Family tree
  2. 25 Apr 1607 — Commands De Tijger at the Battle of Gibraltar under Van Heemskerk, who dies in the battle (Motley, History of the United Netherlands, 1867). Record
  3. link — Father of Cornelis Hendricksen (Wikipedia, citing Motley). Record
  4. career — Known in Dutch naval history as Vice Admiral Lambert Hendriksz, "Mooy Lambert"; said to have served the Admiralty of Rotterdam some 40 years and led campaigns against Mediterranean corsairs. (Research notes; check a Dutch naval source before quoting.) Family tradition

Hendrickson line · 11th great-grandfather in your tree

Capt. Cornelis Hendricksen

b. 1572, Utrecht · d. 1650 (tree)

Dutch captain who sailed the little yacht Onrust out of New Netherland and charted the Delaware River system on a 'Figurative Map' — one of the first maps of the region around Manhattan's colony.

  1. 1572 / 1650 — Birth and death as in your records. Family tree
  2. 1614–16 — Explores the Delaware Bay and River in the Onrust, built at Manhattan by Adriaen Block. Record
  3. 18–19 Aug 1616 — Reports to the States General: lands, a bay and three rivers between 38 and 40 degrees, with the Figurative Map. Signs as Cornelis Hendricxsz of Monnickendam. Record
  4. 1614 — Charts Barnegat Bay, the Toms River and Great Bay on the New Jersey coast (Wikipedia, citing Ocean County records). Record
  5. 1650 — Dies in Utrecht (Wikipedia), matching your tree. His 1616 report signs him 'of Monnickendam', probably his home port. Record

Hendrickson line · 9th great-grandfather in your tree

Capt. Albertus Hendricks Hendrickson

b. 7 Nov 1641, Leiden · d. 20 Jan 1716, Chester, Pennsylvania

Born in Leiden; died at Chester on the Delaware, the river his ancestor first mapped.

  1. 1641 / 1716 — Birth and death as in your records. Family tree
  2. link — Your tree places him as son of Trintje Van Dyke (1620–1715), child of Capt. Cornelis. (Compiled online records name a son Daniel instead; the tree is followed here.) Family tree

West line (father's side) · family claim

Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr

1577–1618

Arrived at Jamestown just as the colonists were abandoning it, and turned them back. Delaware carries his title.

  1. June 1610 — Arrives at Jamestown and stops the colony's abandonment. Record
  2. link — Descent from this family to your father. Family tradition