Virtual Genealogy Project (Pennington Family) for Ruth Paget and Florence Paget by Ruth Paget
One of the skills I learned while studying for an MLIS in Library and Information Science at San José State University in California was how to do genealogical research using public records such as newspaper obituaries and death notices.
A librarian’s rite of passage prank is to have a newbie open a tightly coiled microfiche film container and put it into a reader only to have it fly half way across the library, because you failed to “firmly hold the microfiche on one side” while feeding it through the reader.
The second rite of passage is recoiling the microfiche and trying to find the needle in the haystack obituary for an approximate death date of “sometime in 1898.” Once you find the obituary, you have to tightly recoil the microfiche to fit in a small tubular canister without letting it fly across the library again.
Library staff like to remind librarians “only librarians with a master’s degree can do the genealogical work. That’s not in our job description.”
Since I have graduated from library school, many genealogical records have been uploaded to the internet, most notably to ancestry.com. Genealogical research appears to have moved into phase 2.0 with many records appearing in search engines like Google.
I recently did a virtual project test on my English Pennington ancestors. The first names of my ancestors reflect religious dissent through generations of Baptists, Quakers, Puritans, Church of England members (Episcopalians in the US), and maybe even some Masons.
My sister Kathleen recently sent me a privately done genealogy, which records our Pennington ancestors in England. Many members of the Pennington family have done genealogical work, especially those residing in Texas. the Texas Penningtons published Ornnington Pedigree at one time, which may be the source for this material from England.
I was happy with the results of my online search and recorded the results below. G before a number means “generation.”
G21 - Florence Paget
-daughter of Ruth (Pennington) Paget and Laurent Paget
G20 – Ruth Paget – Maiden Name: Pennington
-daughter of Clarence Pennington and Beatrice May Sawle
Born: Wayne County, Detroit, Michigan
G20 - Clarence Pennington
-son of Frederick McKinley Pennington and Rose Nora Belle Thomas
Born: Lee County, Pennington Gap, Virginia
Died: Lee County, Pennington Gap, Virginia
G19 - Frederick McKinley Pennington
-son of Charles W. Pennington and Nancy Arminta Clark
Born: 1896, Virginia
Died: 1958, Virginia
G18 - Charles W. Pennington
-son of Greenberry Pennington and Letitia Robbins
Born: 1862, Lee County, Virginia
Died: 1932, Lee County, Virginai
G17 - Greenberry Pennington
-son of Charles Daniel Pennington and Dianah Parsons
Born: 1826, Lee County, Virginia
Died: 1894, Lee County, Virginia
G16 - Charles Daniel Pennington
-son of Micajeh Pennington Jr and Nancy Baker
Born: 1804, Lee County, Virginia
Died: 1876, Lee County, Virginia
G15 - Micajeh M Pennington Jr
-son of Micaajeh Pennington Sr and Rachel Jones
Born: 1763, Wilkes County, North Carolina
Died: 1850, Harlan County, Kentucky
G14 - Captain Micajeh M Pennington Sr
-son of Benajeh Pennington Sr and Elizabeth Humphrey
Born: 1743, North Carolina
Died: 1815, Wilkes County, North Carolina
G13 - Benajeh Pennington Sr
-son of Ephraim Pennington and Joanna Davis
Born: 1723, Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina
Died: about 1794, Wilkes County, North Carolina
G13 - Ephraim Pennington
-son of Ephraim Pennington and Mary, a Delaware Native American
Born: about 1689 in Morristown, Middlesex, New Jersey
Died: about 1750 in Rowan, Bladen, North Carolina
G12 - Ephraim Pennington
-son of Ephraim Pennington and Mary Brockett
Born: about 1668, Newark, Essex, New Jersey
Died: about 1694, Morris, New Jersey
G11 - Ephraim Pennington
-son of Ephraim Pennington and Mary (no name given)
Born: about 1645, New Haven, Connecticut
Died: 1693, Newark, Essex, New Jersey
G10 – Ephraim Pennington m. Mary
-Founding family of Newark, New Jersey
-son of (William) EphraimPennington I and Marie Wilson
Born: about 1620 or 1629, Muncaster Parish, Cumberland, England
Died: About 1660, New Haven, Connecticut
G9 - William Ephraim Pennington m.Marie Wilson
-son of John Pennington Esquire and Ellen Leigh
Born: before 1595, Wigen, Hawkshead, Penworthen, Lancashire, England
Died: About 1652, Muncaster, Cumberland,, England
G8 - John Pennington Esquire m. Ellen Leigh
-son of Robert Isaac Pennington and Judith Shetterton
-Born July 5, 1573, Hawkshead, Lancashire, England
-Died: About 1652 in England
Note: Legal names may differ from baptismal names.
G7 - Robert Isaac Pennington m. Judith Shetterton
-son of William Pennington and Alice Woodcock
Born: about 1550 in West Chesp, St Peter, London, Middlesex County, England
died: April 18, 1628 in London, Middlesex, England
G6 - William Pennington m. Alice Woodcock
-son of John Pennington and Isabel Broughton (b.1495)
Born: about 1523 in Henham, Essex,England
Title: Sir
Died: November 11, 1592 in London, London, England
G5 - John Pennington V m. Isabel Broughton (b. 1495)
-son of John Pennington IV and Mary Huddleston
Born: 1485 in Henham, Essex, England
Died: 1557 in Henham, Essex, England
G4 - John Pennington IV m. Mary Huddleston
-son of John Pennington III and Isabel Broughton (b. 1438)
Born: about 1464 in Ulverston, Lancashire, England
Died: 1468 in Muncaster, Cumberland, England
G3 - John Pennington III m. Isabel Broughton (b.1458)
-son of John Pennington II and Elizabeth Radcliffe
Born: about 1434 in Muncaster, Cumberland, England
-Title: Sir
Died: May 3, 1512 in Muncaster, Cumberland, England
G2 - John Pennington II m. Elizabeth Radcliffe
-son of John Pennington I and Katherine Tunstall
Born: October 28, 1419 in Pennington, Lancashire, England
Title: Sir
Died: April 6, 1470 in London, Middlesex, England
G1 - John Pennington I m. Katherine Tunstall
-parents unknown at this time
Born: about 1393 in Thurland, Lancashire, England
Died: July 6, 1470 in Thurland, Lancashire, England
I enjoyed gathering this information and liked finding all the family groups that I am related to by marriage as well. You have to verify what you find out about your family online, but it does give you material to start with when researching your family history.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
