Welcome to this site!
I have been researching our family lineage for the past several years and have found it to be a most enjoyable and addictive pastime. I find the various snippets of information about a life of an ancestor to be fascinating components to our own lives today. After all, they are who and where we came from!
--SAMPSON--
My father's paternal line (the Sampson's) came predominantly from Maine, having migrated there either from Duxbury, Massachusetts (thus being descendants of Henry Samson the Mayflower passenger), or having migrated down from Canada from England. Either way their roots were British. Equally as intriguing is the Stockbridge surname which descends from the "Revolutionary War Stockbridge family." The Herberger's were German immigrants who settled in Illinois and were fairly industrious managing a vinegar factory and a tannery in Waukegan, and participating in the Underground Railroad. The Schutz's were also German immigrants, being most notably master carpenter's whose handiwork is still very present throughout Kenosha, WI. Further, there is an interesting combination of French-Canadian and Menominee Indian heritage, one such line having been traced back to France in 1593 thanks in part to the Association of the Descendants of Louis Houde/Madeleine Boucher and a conglomeration of other Houle/Houde researchers.
My father's maternal line (the Fisher's) have Celtic roots traced back to Scotland (Dundee area) and Ireland (County Armagh) equally, with recent ancestors being members of the Scottish Clan Ferguson.
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--PLY--
My mother's paternal line (the Ply's / Pluhator's) came from "Austria" in Eastern Europe. It has thus far been difficult to determine *which* Austria these ancestors were referring to as the places of their nativity, as the Austro-Hungarian empire at the time of their emigration consisted of a multitude of contemporary countries. We are most confident that their roots originated in Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary.
My mother's maternal line (Goodreds) came from Dudley, England in the "Black Country" of Worcestershire where the air is so thick with coal soot that barely a bit of living greenery survives. The Goodreds emigrated to the U.S. settling in New York and New Jersey where many of their descendants remain today. Another fairly current name in this line were the Kellington's who were also of British descent.
Thanks to all the researchers and distant cousins out there who have so greatly assisted my research and who have made this project as compelling and enjoyable as it is.
I welcome you to this website and I hope that you take as much enjoyment from discovering our family history as I have in helping to compile it.
Stephanie D. Sampson
Los Angeles, California
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The Sampson/Ply Family Histories