My Genealogy
Genealogy is a passion I’ve been pursuing for over a decade. I love learning family stories, distinguishing fact from lore, and finding our connections to history. I’ve spent countless hours, and years, organizing, digitizing and archiving 1000’s of photographs and documents, and building a family tree to share with current and future generations.
Family Tree
Our Family Tree is available to view on Ancestry.com. If you don’t already have an account, you can register for FREE.
Family Photo Galleries…
Here are a few galleries of select family photos that I found fun and interesting…
- J.H. Williams – Yosemite, early 1900’s
- Williams Family – mostly portraits from the late 1800’s
- Nickerson Family – my grandmother’s family, 1920’s
- Burns Family – my mother’s family, 1940-1950’s
- Frank Burns – WWII Japan
- Burns-Bacon Wedding – my parents, 1964
Sermons & Writings by Rev. J. H. Williams D. D. (1843-1924)
A collection of over 50 sermons and other writings spanning more than 40 years, 1880-1923. Download here.
Mayflower Lineage
My Great Aunt, Helen was a school principal, teacher, graduate of Stanford University and lifetime member of the Mayflower Society and the California Genealogical Society. She researched, documented and saved much of my maternal family history. I’m so grateful for her!
Her father, my Great-great Grandfather, Rev. J. H. Williams, a well-loved and respected pastor and community leader passed down several hundred glass plate slides and other photographs he created around the turn of the 20th century. As a photographer, myself, I feel very blessed with this gift.
With Helen’s records, additional family collections, and modern resources, I’ve been fortunate to build a family history that extends back to the early days of the American settlements, including multiple Mayflower ancestors.
In 2023, I applied for membership to the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. The membership process requires working with a local Mayflower historian to assemble rigorous evidence to prove your lineage. This included identifying all individuals in the proposed lineage, then contacting city, county and state organizations across the nation to obtain birth, marriage and death records when/where they exist (usually back to the early 1800’s). The first five generations of descendants are well documented and can be found in the “Silver Books” published by the Mayflower Society. It took about 5 months of writing letters, waiting for responses, digitizing and meticulously organizing the source materials. I learned a lot and we were able to prove lineage to Mayflower passenger John Alden.
Here is the certified John Alden lineage, along with the mostly overlapping Myles Standish lineage.
I am also researching the following additional lineages, and both appear to be valid though they have not been certified.
Please feel free to send contact me with comments and questions.