The "Best" Family

In the mid 1990's I remember doing my very first internet search. The internet at that time was not the huge engine of information that it is today. I came across a Civil War roster of names, and decided to try looking there for the last name Best. Much to my surprise hundreds of names came up. Not knowing a first name for an ancestor that might have been in the Civil War left me feeling pretty overwhelmed, but one thing I did come away with was that most of these men were listed as Colored. This then led me to the only conclusion possible, the Best's were slave owners. This was not at all welcome news to my father, who had come to identify so strongly with this Native American in the photograph. Because my father was an ex-hippie, a musician, a surfer, a pacifist, and a nature lover, being a slave owner's great great grandson was not a pleasant idea to wrap his head around.

 
It wasn't until I decided to accept the genealogical torch passed on to me by my late maternal grandmother, that I thought why not start with my dad's family first; the one family with the least amount of information. I gave myself a goal of Father's Day the following year to present to him his family history. So the journey began.

My father's parents divorced in the early 1960's. His father remarried in 1966 then died the following year. He was only 47. My father and his brother do not have great memories of him, and this side of the family had always been a huge mystery to everyone. They knew their grandfather, but that was the extent of the history. There were rumors of Freemasonry in their lineage, but no one was a member in their immediate family. My father had once seen an old sepia photograph of a Native American man that bore an uncanny resemblance to himself, and decided he must have Native American blood. He and his brother had also thought that perhaps the name "Best" had originated in Germany spelled Besste. Pretty random things to have as your starting point for genealogical research.

With the Family Tree Maker on Ancestry.com I was able to begin the process by starting with the first name I knew... myself. I added my father's information, and his father's name, and his grandfather's name. I didn't know any birth dates or death dates at that time. It was during the Free Trial period of Ancestry.com, and when the trial ended I was still able to access other people's family trees for clues (this is now only available with a subscription). Finding "cousins" who had also entered data into the Family Tree Maker was like finding chocolate filled Easter eggs.

The Christmas presents were the little green oak leaf that would pop up indicating new information had been linked to my tree. I made my way back through history quite quickly, because there is a lot of historical documentation of the Best's leading back to the mid 1600's and Tobacco Plantations in Jamestown, Virginia.

First Lighthouse in Virginia

When I had reached the first ancestor to sail over, it turns out it was an Englishman, not a German, and I discovered a long fascinating history in England as well.


A link to the full Best Family narrative:
http://ancestraltides.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_25.html
A link to the Gardner Family narrative:
http://ancestraltides.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_3.html

A link to the Grimmond / Duncan Family narrative:

 http://ancestraltides.blogspot.com/p/the-grimmond-duncan-family-narrative.html