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Welcome! This website was created on Feb 02 2009 and last updated on Mar 16 2024. The family trees on this site contain 5494 relatives and 2752 photos. If you have any questions or comments you may send a message to the Administrator of this site.
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About Pruett-Harris, Jackson-Latham
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Our ancestors came from England and Scotland, via Northern Ireland, to colonial America. Much earlier, others were the Norsemen Vikings of Denmark who conquered Northern France and all of England. Later generations from France, protestants during the Reformation, fled religious persecution by the Catholics, immigrated to England, anglicized their names, then continued to colonial America. Our ancestors from both the paternal and maternal lines who were first to these shores were of the Quaker faith, and others, almost exclusively, were Protestant/Huguenots. The Catholics in our lines were the Calverts (see below). Only one line traces back to the Puritans of Plymouth.

We are descended from royal lines originating in Flanders, Normandy, Anjou, Blois and Denmark, Including the  lines of the counts of Anjou such as Fulk the Young, King of Jerusalem; Geofferey V of the Plantagenets;  William (the bastard) the Conqueror of England; and King Henry II of England by his illegitimate son, William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury.

A number of the earliest English, Scot and French ancestors were Indian Traders in Colonial America and to facilitate acceptance among the tribes, married women from high-ranking families of the Powhatan, Cherokee, Catawba and Creek/Muskogee nations. We are lucky that good records were maintained in England and France, and among the Quakers, so we can trace back to far distant ancestors.

DNA evidence from Ancestry.com testing supports the following ethnic makeup for our line from my  generation: England and Northwestern Europe 47% (research substantiates this includes Normandy, France), Scotland 40%, Wales 7%, Denmark and Sweden 6%. Initial testing for ethnicity indicated no Native American or African DNA, however, there are numerous Native American DNA matches to individuals in the raw DNA database, both to me and to my maternal uncle. These matches do not indicate which Native American group,  but research indicates many Cherokee and Creek, and a few Catawba, Shawnee and Powhatan connections.

Additional DNA tests by FamilyTreeDNA, GEDMatch and MyHeritage show a small percentage of Native American DNA and a larger Scandinavia origin percentage. My maternal uncle shows 7% Native American DNA.

Our ancestors were planters, weavers, clockmakers, horticulturists, land speculators, farmers, blacksmiths, Indian traders, abolitionists, printers, colonial burgesses, mayors, generals, a U.S. senator, state governors, Presidents  Washington, Lincoln, Harrison and Taylor, postmasters and mistresses, a French chef, a midwife, clergymen, millers, scouts, land surveyors and Indian chiefs. Several ancestors were officials at Jamestown and are buried in the church cemetery there. Our ancestors lived at Berkeley Plantation, Stratford Hall Plantation, Romancoke Plantation, Pebbleton Plantation and Wicomico Hundred.

In America, our ancestors served in colonial militias, the Revolutionary War, the Regulators, the War of 1812, the Civil War, World War I, World War II. Several were Revolutionary War soldiers and officers, therefore anyone in our line who is so inclined would be eligible for membership in the DAR, Sons of the American Revolution or Society of the Cincinnati.

Our ancestor, Captain John Shuttleworth Posey, III., friend, neighbor and fox hunting companion to President George Washington, owned a farm called Rover's Delight on the Potomac River adjacent to Mount  Vernon. From there, he operated a fishery, and a ferry station, taking people across the Potomac. President  Washington and his family visited and dined in the home of Captain Posey and Captain Posey and Posey's family frequently visited and dined with Washington and his family at Mount Vernon. President Washington took a  great interest in Captain Posey's children, especially one of Captain Posey's sons, Thomas, who later became a General in the Revolutionary War, was appointed Governor of Indiana, held a Senate seat from Louisiana and was Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky. Thomas Posey was also rumored to have been Washington's illegitimate son.

Letters between George Washington and Captain Posey are archived in the Library of Congress and accessible online. After Captain Posey's death, his property became a part of Mount Vernon and is now called the "Ferry Station."

We are related to both President Andrew Jackson and "Old Hickory" Confederate General Thomas Jackson. My generation's GGreat Grandmother Amanda "Manda" Davis Jackson's great grandfather was the younger brother of Confederate President Jefferson Davis's great grandfather.

Our ancestor, Robert Jackson (1620), Separatist Movement leader, came to New Plymouth in 1643 and founded the town of Hempstead, New York on Long Island.

On the Prewitt/Pruett/Pruitt side, our first ancestor to these shores (proven by DNA matches) was Thomas  Prewitt, who came as an indentured servant from Wiltshire, England to settle in Charles River County, and become a planter and father of many sons. These Prewitt/Pruett/Pruitts migrated from Charles River to Amelia, then Halifax, Virginia before splitting off and settling near Spartanburg,  South Carolina, where they founded Pruitt Town. Several younger generation members of the Pruitt family continued on to settle in the northwest corner of the Mississippi Territory (Alabama), now Lauderdale County, on Indian land rented from Chief Doublehead, where they eventually founded Pruitton, Alabama, near Muscle Shoals.

English knights, lords and ladies are among our ancestors. Their birth, marriage, title and manor houses are  listed in BURKE'S PEERAGE - the guide to royal, aristocratic and historical families. Many were granted land in England and Northern Ireland for serving the English crown. A number of these manor houses and ancient  castles still stand. Some ancestors were "visited" with coats of arms. Anthony Jackson II (1599), a strong  supporter of the cause of the House of Stuart, was locked in the Tower of London from 1651-59 for proclaiming Charles II the King of England and Scotland. Sir Anthony was the 12th-great grandson of King Edward I through his mother, Ursula Hildyard.

DNA evidence shows we are descended, through our Grandmother Jessie Harris (alias Harrison-Calvert)  Pruett, and through the Jackson line, from Sir George Calvert (1579-1632), the First Baron Baltimore, Proprietary Governor of Maryland. He was an English politician and colonizer. He achieved domestic political success as a Member of Parliament and later Secretary of State under King James I. He lost much of his political power after his support for a failed marriage alliance between Prince Charles and the Spanish House of Habsburg royal family. Rather than continue in politics, he resigned all of his political offices in 1625 except for his position on the Privy Council and declared his Catholicism publicly. He was granted the title of First Baron Baltimore in the Irish peerage upon his resignation. Baltimore Manor was located in County Longford, Ireland.

Calvert took an interest in the colonization of the New World, at first for commercial reasons and later to create a refuge for English Catholics. He became the proprietor of Avalon, the first sustained English settlement on the southeastern peninsula on the island of Newfoundland (off the eastern coast of modern Canada). Discouraged by its cold and sometimes inhospitable climate and the sufferings of the settlers, Sir George looked for a more suitable spot further south and sought a new royal charter to settle the region,  which would become the state of Maryland. Calvert died five weeks before the new Charter was sealed, leaving the settlement of the Maryland colony to his son Cecilius, (1605-1675). His second son Leonard Calvert (1606-1647), was the first colonial governor of the Province of Maryland. He is my generation's 9XG  grandfather, on both the Pruett and the Jackson sides. I have no idea how rare or common it is to have a "double" great grandfather, but the combination of research and DNA evidence supports this.

Historians have long recognized George Calvert as the founder of Maryland, in spirit if not in fact, along with the role of Leonard with his intimate relationship with his older brother back in England, plus being on the  site as the Colony was first settled as extremely advantageous.

These are only a few highlights of relationships discovered while building this tree. We are a family that  shares and preserves its stories. You will find many fascinating tales in the Story section of the website. Our  ever-expending family history library now contains many books written about the various family lines. At  some point I will list the titles and authors on this site in case others would like to acquire some of them.

The Quakers kept excellent records of families in their society, which helped research into the colonial era during pre-census times, and when the census began and listed by name only the head of each household and number of occupants within specified age groups. Also helpful, our people were landowners and many early land records and last wills are accessible online. Ship passenger lists, marriage, military and death records helped to fill in many other blanks.

This family tree is still under construction. I attach source material and verification to all entries when it is available. Several guesses and mysteries remain, and I continue to work toward solving these. As it stands, we have many lines going far back. At the sixth generation, there are 32 separate family lines, and many of them go back ten generations — a few lines extend back to as many as twenty generations. Hard  evidence supports the accuracy of most records for at least the first six generations. English and French official records for the earlier generations are generally accepted as accurate, as are the Quaker records. I continually search for proof of earlier generations and add it as it is located. DNA testing has verified several of the lines.

Please post a note or send me an email if you spot errors or typos as you browse through. I know there must be some. I am aware that one or two connections are unproven and possibly incorrect, but have left them in place until I can locate verification.

I invite you to visit all the different areas and aspects of the site, read the stories, click through the photos and other images, trace back from your name to the various lines and read about our marvelous forefathers and mothers. Ours is a family to be proud of, comprised of good, brave and noble people. At the bottom of this page are some navigational suggestions you may find useful.

Thank you for visiting. Enjoy!
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Getting Around
There are several ways to browse the family tree. The Tree View graphically shows the relationship of selected person to their kin. The Family View shows the person you have selected in the center, with his/her photo on the left and notes on the right. Above are the father and mother and below are the children. The Ancestor Chart shows the person you have selected in the left, with the photograph above and children below. On the right are the parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. The Descendant Chart shows the person you have selected in the left, with the photograph and parents below. On the right are the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Do you know who your second cousins are? Try the Kinship Relationships Tool. Your site can generate various Reports for each name in your family tree. You can select a name from the list on the top-right menu bar.

In addition to the charts and reports you have Photo Albums, the Events list and the Relationships tool. Family photographs are organized in the Photo Index. Each Album's photographs are accompanied by a caption. To enlarge a photograph just click on it. Keep up with the family birthdays and anniversaries in the Events list. Birthdays and Anniversaries of living persons are listed by month. Want to know how you are related to anybody ? Check out the Relationships tool.

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