Category: Duart Family

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Duart One-Name Study Updated

Well, I finally am getting to update my Duart One-Name study website to make it much more informative. I am accepting information for Duart, Dewart, Dhu-ard, Doward, and other variants of the name. Ultimately, I would like to add a Y-DNA component to the site, but first I need Duart males to step up and take a test. It is preferrable that FTDNA tests be used, however if you have already taken another company Y-DNA test and are willing to share the information, I would love to talk to you about adding your results. Just an FYI, if you are thinking about testing with 23 and Me – DO NOT. They are in financial difficulty and are trying to sell the company. The ramifications are still unclear, what will happen to the information they already have in their database, whether it will be purchased by a pharmaceutical company or other unnamed companies is still unknown. Watch the news – MSNBC, CNN, or other news outlets, to see what is going to happen. Back to the Duart study. I will be making modifications to the website as I learn how to navigate the TNG (The Next Generation) system that the Guild of One-Name Studies has created. It is a fun website program and fairly easy to use, even for this non-computer literate genealogist. If you have photos, documents or stories you would like to share on my website, please feel free to send to my email at whitechoc@generationsremembered.net and I’ll find a spot within the program. Standby for further updates on the website.
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Clan Maclean of Duart

For all Duarts, Dewarts, Maclean of Duarts and all variations of the Duart name, I just received information that the next Clan gathering on the Isle of Mull will be pushed back until June 2023, however there will be a virtual gathering of the clan 22-26, 2021. The event is free to attend, but you must register. Registration opens on Tuesday 8th June.

The dates for the rescheduled International Gathering of the Clan Maclean have been announced as Monday the 19th to Sunday the 25th of June 2023. The Gathering will be held on the Isle of Mull and further details will be published as they are announced.

I will post where to register for the virtual clan gathering when I receive the information, so please check back here around June 8th.

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Martha B. White Passes at 90 years young

It is with sadness that I share that my Mom, Martha B. White passed away on Friday, September 11, 2020 at Masonic Village, Elizabethtown, PA. She moved to Elizabethtown 5 years ago, so I have had the privilege to share her last few years. She has been such a trooper, always ready for a shopping trip, a visit with cousins or just coming to my house for Sunday pizza and Americas Funniest Home Videos.

Her last major trip was to Hudson OH to celebrate nephew, Bill and Kathy McCord’s 50th anniversary. What a great time we had.

Mom was still very sharp to the end and always ready for a good argument about politics. She was a journaler and kept them for the majority of her life. I have them now and will enjoy reading them for years to come to see her view on current events and her trips.

We will miss her so much, but hope she is now at peace with Dad and Barb.

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Stones River Battlefield in Peril

Descendants of John Wesley Duart and Joseph Shoemaker, this is for you. Our ancestors of the PA Co. C, 7th Cavalry, fought in the Battle of Stones River or Murfreesboro, TN near Shelbysville, TN. Joseph Shoemaker fell from his horse, was severely injured and continued to have issues with his badly, broken arm for the remainder of his life. He was a young man, so you can understand the sacrifice he made during the Civil War, living with this disability, as a farmer with restricted use of the arm for the rest of his life.

Forty two acres of the battlefield are being sold, probably for yet another shopping mall and with the American Battlefield Trust we can save this land. This organization continues to preserve our historic places for the generations to come, so that we do not repeat history. If you are so inclined to help preserve the battlefield where John and Joseph fought, please go on their website https://www.battlefields.org and donate today.

If you would like to know more about John Wesley Duart and Joseph Shoemaker, I have ordered their pension files from the National Archives. John’s is minimal, however I have 400 pages for Joseph. Very interesting reading, to say the least.

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Duart One-Name-Study adds DNA

My Duart One-Name-Study will begin to add a DNA component.  In the next couple of weeks I will work on the website where you can log on and obtain the DNA kit for reduced price, from FamilyTreeDNA.  http://www.familytreedna.com/  My goal is to prove Scottish descent.

I have traced John Duart b. 1784 in N. Ireland, but have not been very successful in getting back beyond his parents, who I am pretty sure are Thomas and Margaret (Ferguson) Duart.  Although the One-Name-Study is not necessarily to research specific family lines, I had hoped to find further information about mine.

I have also had difficulty with the ONS website and putting a spread sheet on line.  If anyone is tech savvy and thinks they know how to do this, I would be open to your assistance.

 

 

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Winding Down My Term and Moving On

Well, the three years as South Central District Director for the Pennsylvania State Society, DAR is winding down.  I’ve had a busy 3 years, but very rewarding.  I have visited each of the DAR Chapters in the South Central and joined in on many other celebrations.  It is so much fun and you get to meet the most interesting people.

I will now be concentrating more on Lineage Society applications.  I’m taking on the Sons of the American Colonists.  I guess I should try doing my papers for Daughters of the American Colonists.  It is one more way to document my ancestors and their struggles to start in a new world.  I also will be working on those few elusive ancestors who moved from the New England states to Pennsylvania.  Joel Packard where are your parents?

I’ve submitted another ancestor for Daughters of the Union Veterans of  Civil War.  Great grandfather, Joseph S. Shoemaker, certainly lead an interesting life.  He and great grandfather John Wesley Duart fought in the same 7th PA Cavalry.  As I’m learning more about both of them, I hope to write an article to let others know just how brave they were to go to war.

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Duarts One and All

I am looking for Duarts who are male descendants from John Duart b. 1784, d. 1829, Ontario Canada, to take a DNA test.  This would help in determining the family line and whether we are actually part of the MacLean’s of Duart.  If you would contact me through this website, I will give you further information.  If you have already done a DNA test and would be willing to share the results, it would be greatly appreciated.

I am trying to add another dimension to the Duart One-Name-Study with DNA test results and on-line database.

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Shoemaker and Packard History: A Letter from James Doty to Arthur Shoemaker

Hot off the presses Shoemaker and Packard History: A Letter from James Doty to Arthur Shoemaker A book I compiled from a letter James Doty wrote to Arthur “Clell” Shoemaker in 1965. I have documented much of the family history that was written in James’ letter. The book started out to be 36 pages, but with adding documentation, obituaries and an all name index, it is now 117 pages. There is still so much more that I could have put into the book, but I had reached a point that I just needed to complete it and get on to the next project. If anyone has any additions, feel free to email me and I will include them in a supplement.

This was not actually writing a book, however it still takes a lot of work to do the research on all of the family history. In the meantime I proved 4 to 6 family lines for NSDAR (National Society Daughters of the American Revolution). That research itself can take months or years. As in a previous blog you can read the story about finally getting information to prove my ancestor, Suzanne Shafer Shoemaker Ayers’ parents are Adam and Elizabeth (Swartout) Shafer. Adam is a revolutionary soldier that has long been proven, however all of the children had not.

I’m also still trying to work on the Duart One-Name-Study. This is a challenge because I am computer challenged. I have tons of information, but can’t figure out how to get it up on my ONS website. http://www.one-name.org/profiles/duart.html If you have any information that you could share on the Duart’s or how I can put it on line, I would be glad to hear from you.

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John Wesley Duart Article

Just an update on my progress with the article on Gr. Gr. Grandfather, John Wesley – I’m still hoping to hear from the Duart relatives with anything they might have on John Wesley. I’ve located a couple of books on his 7th Cavalry to give some background and continue to do research on their participation in the battles around Shelbyville,TN.

I’m also looking into adding a DNA study to my Duart One-Name-Study. Only through DNA can we probably make the connection to the MacLean’s of Duart and Duart Castle on the Isle of Mull, Scotland.

I’m continuing to gather Duart information, but am finding it difficult to add the information to my DUART ONS website. If anyone has a suggestion, I’m open to anything. It appears that the Guild websites are not conducive to data sets, but you need to link it somewhere else. I’ll continue to log all the information I receive and will work out a way for others to look at it.

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Private Joseph S. Shoemaker, Civil War

I joined the Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865, this year, under Great, Great Grandfather John Wesley Duart.  I didn’t know too much about him or his regiment, so I’ve endeavored to write an article about him.  It also spurred me on to look for other ancestors who fought in the Civil War and I found Great, Great Grandfather, Joseph S. Shoemaker.

I started by requesting Joseph’s pension file from NARA, I already had John Wesley’s.  Well, 200 pages later I have finally waded through his file.  Most of it was repeated applications for an  increase in his pension,  however it was interesting reading.  Private Shoemaker was in Company C, 7th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry.  He enlisted May 9, 1863 and was discharged August, 23, 1865 in Harrisburg, PA.  He was in the battle at Shelbyville, Tennessee (later listed as Alabama) where he was thrown from his horse in a cavalry charge.  His horse fell on him, injuring his right arm.  He also contracted “malarial poisoning”, both which plagued him the remainder of his life.

Many of my other relatives wrote affidavits testifying that Joseph was totally disabled.  This included:  John Wesley Duart, Winfield Packard, S.B. Morse and second wife of Joseph, Sarah Shoemaker.

I’ll keep you posted on my research into this company and the battle at Shelbyville.