It is hard to generalize about ancestors in spite of the many individual stories that have been collected and the dates and events that are enumerated and verified.  While there is fairly complete information for generations I-III, coverage quickly drops off for children born after 1850.  After this time, most of the lineage is known.  Before this time, most is unknown (see Table 1).

Table 1

Description of the Lee Family Genealogical Database

I began by creating a spreadsheet (in Excel) computer file that contains information about the direct descendents of James P. and Dorothy M. Lee.  My purpose is to create a comprehensive framework so that other qualitative genealogical research can follow.  Thus, as the generations trace back (with the family of James and Dorothy Lee being Generation #I), the more families and names come into play.  Some lineages are traced further back than others.

The sources begin with some personal notes I have been compiling for over 20 years, if not more.  The basis for these notes comes from information collected from James P. and Dorothy M. Lee.  Dorothy explored many of the same avenues as I, but had done so some 25 years earlier using microfiches provided by the Mormon Church rather than using the web.  She provided other information on the Danish branch and BjarkeThomassen from Denmark offered some detail on the time line for the Pederson family.

Two other sources provided great detail.  First, “The Jain Story”, by Paul Wust-Burnier and Grace Wicks, 1980, Moscow, Idaho (self-published) follows the Jain family in France and Switzerland back to the early 1500s.  This book relied on historical documents, including the family Bible, family papers in Paul’s possession, state archives of Geneva, archives in the Canton of Lausanne, and citizenship records of the city ofMorges.

Second, “The David Stewart Family History”, by Edward Stewart provided intimate detail on the Stewart family.

Web technologies have also helped.  A most useful source was newly-released on-line data from the US 1880 census.  Made available through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, www.familysearch.org, this was one of the most comprehensive US censuses.  This is in part because of the need for a more comprehensive survey to answer growing questions among social scientists.  It was also aided by use of automated punch cards for tabulations, under a system engineered by Herman Hollerith.  (Yes, those punch cards!)  He also helped automate census systems in Europe (Russia and UK) and Canada.

This online data included the US census for 1880, and the Irish and British census of 1881. There are also links to German and Danish genealogical databases as well.

The 1880 census was also a key link in verifying peoples and places and times to the other family data that has been collected that was more recent and rather anecdotal.  I have tried to verify people in these data searches by using known birth or death dates, or known birthplaces for them or their parents.

Another source of data is the actual census records made available through www.genealogy.com. This service offers access to many of the U.S. censuses from 1790-1930.  Some are searchable, some are not.  In either case, these are photographs (as .gif, .bmp,  tiff, or .jpg files) of the original census documents that have been digitized.

The data here is organized by household, to match the form of the census surveys.  There is a coding system that indicates the parental lineage and the generational period.  Generations begin will a value of 1, for the current generation of their sons and daughters, and each earlier generation counts up from that total.  Thus, their parent’s households would then be generation 2.

Searching on the web also proved to be valuable and there is a lot of free information available.  I have found relatives of the Oldenburgs (the Herve’s) on the web who were building their own family tree, and other researchers who have documented the migration of families (the Stewarts) from Kentucky to Indiana.

There is much more information on the maternal rather than the paternal side of the family.  I hope to establish a network of interested people who can fill in the blank spots in the time line.  This work can help others in developing their own time lines, in case they intersect or connect with ours.

Further information has been found on a variety of Swiss genealogy web sites, which seem to confirm and in some cases extend what is known.  There is also extensive information that is available from the Geneva Genealogical Society (GSS).  They are a treasure trove in need of further mining, and I have joined as a member of the Society.

I have also entered the data into a software package called Family Tree Maker (FTM), available form the LDS.  I will publish materials to the Web as some point.  There is always the question of whether to publish information on living individuals.  The program can also export data in a text format so it is useable in a variety of packages.

As of June 2003, there are 519 individuals in the database with 126 marriages.  Average life span is 57 years and 8 months.  The earliest birth entry is Thomas Blondel in 1438.  There are 22 generations of individuals included with 114 different surnames.