Hi, I'm Katy!

I'm happily married to a man that has truly blessed my life. We are a blended family and have 7 children (including our biological, step, and bonus children). We live in the heart of Appalachia.

I'm a proud military brat (both of my parents served and met in the US Army) and married a fellow military brat (his father served in the US Navy. We are also both proud descendants of many US military members with extensive, well known names and/or inclusion in well known wars and battles so I'm always fascinated to learn an ancestor has a military background.

I've located ancestors on both sides of my family tree since European settlers began to colonize. Some were part of creating new towns, some were parts of famous families, and some were just trying to make end meet and feed their family as humble farmers.

My fascination with my family tree started accidentally. I've been working on my own ancestry since July 4, 2000. It started at a family reunion 25 years ago and has since become a passion. Someone told me a story and a son as I got home I started researching anything and everything I could find on it. Since that day, I've developed a very extensive, ever growing family tree of over 5,000 people.

My father and I have done much research into our tree with both of us not only doing online research, but also going to graveyards and even stopping in the offices that manage them to uncover any information on who had them buried and any other related information they may have on file. We've gone to churches, libraries with on site only newspaper access, town historical societies, local vital records offices (for birth, marriage, death, land, and probate information), and state and federal archives to get a much information verification as we can.

The majority of my father's family is from the area surrounding the eastern great lakes, specifically Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and the area in and around Erie, Niagara, Orleans, and Genessee counties in NY, as well as (historically) the NYC area and New England. This side of my family (historically) has largely Eastern European and areas once part of the USSR (Poland, Austria, Ukraine, Russia, and Galicia especially) and German roots.

The majority of my mother's family is from the western great lakes regions, specifically Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, and the area in an around Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. This side of my family (historically) has largely Norwegian and German roots.

I've traced both sides of my family as well as my husband's back to English royalty. My husband is descended from King John who was great grandfather many times over for the Lee family. One of those branches went on to become the well known Lee's of Virginia. My husband is from another branch with the Lee family name continuing clear down to his grandmother (Virginia Lee of Iowa).

I, like many others, am a descendant of Edward III. He is known to have descendants in such large quantities that a large portion of people with English DNA can tie back to him. Two of them became famous as the founders of the families involved in the Wars of the Roses during a power struggle for the English throne.

One of them, John of Gaunt (1st Duke of Lancaster, 2nd creation), founded the house of Lancaster. Edmund of Langley, (1st Duke of York, 1st creation) was the 4th surviving son. Gaunt was the great great grandfather of Henry Tudor (Henry VII, King of England) and Langley was great great grandfather of Elizabeth of York. Henry VII would go on to win the throne on the battlefield, killing Richard III. He then married Elizabeth of York making her his queen consort, ending decades of war between the families and their supporters by uniting the two factions as well as founding the House of Tudor Dynasty.

John of Gaunt had legitimate children with Blanche of Lancaster (great great grand daughter of Henry III via his son Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster through her father Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, 1st creation). Their eldest son was Henry Bolingbroke, (King Henry IV of England). He then married Constance of Castille having 2 legitimate children. Last, he married his children's governess turned mistress and later his wife, Katherine Swynford.

John and his 3rd wife, Katherine, had 4 children. The last was Joan Beaufort who married Ralph Neville. Joan went on to have many children. One, Katherine Neville is my 18th paternal great grandmother. Edward Neville, brother of Katherine, is my 16th maternal great grandfather.

I may be able to ask family members to help with cases in Lockport, NY, Saint Albans, WV, and Pahrump, NV as well surrounding areas. If any of the names in my tree stood out as being in yours too, I'd love to discuss how we connect!

If I am maintaining a profile for you please let me know and I will transfer to family members. I maintain accounts for family and friends of our family. If you are related, I will happily allow you to manage it instead.