Root Hunter Genealogy

Root Hunter Genealogy Hi, I’m Kaneitha…Family Historian, Genealogy Researcher, Contributor and Artist.

Since the mid-1990s, I have researched and collected history, photos & stories of my family. I honor my family & help present & future generations by regularly contributing genealogical information to my blog and other websites such as ancestry.com, familysearch, and findagrave. I recently began mixing my love of family history & art by creating family tree chart designs now available on Etsy.

06/13/2026

The Hatch line begins with the Atte Hacches, first recorded in the subsidy rolls of 1327–1328 in the hundred of Cahill, Kent. John Hatch (c. 1415) a miller of Sellinge, left a will dividing lands among his three sons. His grandson Thomas Hatch Jr. (c. 1465–1534) held the manor at Hoddiford and raised seven children and two orphaned grandchildren. His son John Hatch (c. 1495–1536) inherited a “new House” and left his wife well-off. His son Thomas Hatch (c. 1525–1568) served as churchwarden at Tenterden. His son William Hatch married Anne Tilden in 1587 and raised eleven children.

Thomas Hatch (1596–1646), the immigrant, taught school without a license in Wye, Kent, and sailed to New England. He died at Scituate, leaving widow Lydia and six children. His son Jeremiah Hatch (1626–1712) became a shipbuilder at Scituate and raised twelve children. His daughter Lydia Hatch (1669) married John Dillingham. Their son Melatiah Dillingham (1699–1786), a Quaker shipbuilder and blacksmith, married three times and fathered thirteen children. His daughter Mary Dillingham (1728–1816) married Judah Bowerman. Their daughter Mary Bowerman (1758–1846) married Revolutionary War spy Noah Gifford. Their son Alpheus Gifford (1793–1841) converted to Mormonism, preached to Brigham Young, and died near Nauvoo after the Missouri persecutions. The Hatch, Dillingham, Bowerman, and Gifford blood became one.

⚠️ Some photos and depictions in this reel have been created by AI and are used for storytelling purposes only

05/28/2026

The Pace line begins with Rowland Pace (c. 1590–1660) of Prees, Shropshire, father of at least six children. His son Joshuah Pace (1618–1700) married Margaret Palmer in 1653 and lived his entire life in Prees. His son John Pace Sr. (1665) arrived in Virginia in 1682 at age 17. He married Elizabeth Newsome in 1692 in Middlesex County and bought 150 acres along the Rappahannock River.

Joseph Pace (c. 1698–1765) married Ann Basford at Christ Church in 1721. They raised at least thirteen children in Goochland County. His son Josiah Pace (1727) married Elizabeth Britt in 1759, and after her death, a widow named Lucy in Mecklenburg County. His 1802 will named all seven children from both marriages.

Stephen Pace (mid-1700s) married Lavina Geers about 1777 and raised seven children. In his 1807 will, he signed “Stephen Pace”—yet his descendants would assume the surname Pierce. His son James Pierce (1783–1863) married Polly Masters in 1805, connecting the Pace and Masters lines. They lived in North Carolina and Tennessee before retiring to Franklin County, Illinois.

Stephen Pierce (1806–1881) married Elizabeth Day in 1836, connecting to the Day line. They fled Tennessee for Illinois in 1862 as Civil War tensions intensified. His daughter Martha Elizabeth Pierce (1836) married Martin Luther Boyd, fled Tennessee with two young sons, and settled in Arkansas. She was the last to carry the Pierce surname—the blood of Rowland Pace continued through the Boyd line.

⚠️ Some photos and depictions in this reel have been created by AI and are used for storytelling purposes only


05/27/2026

Some of My Norfolk Ancestors:

The Knapp family begins with Robert Knapp, who wrote his will in 1617 in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk. His son Nicholas Knapp (1592–1670) arrived in Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1630 among the earliest Puritan settlers, and later died in Stamford, Connecticut.

The Fuller family begins with Robert Fuller (b. 1555), a butcher of Redenhall, Norfolk. His daughter Susannah Fuller married William White and became the mother of Resolved White, born 1614. At age 6, Resolved was a passenger on the Mayflower. His descendant Mercy Bannister married Nathan Abbott, connecting the Fullers to the Abbott line.

The Clarke family begins with Robert Clarke (c. 1500) of Banham, Norfolk. His son Rowland Clarke (b. 1525), grandson Thomas Clarke (b. 1568), and great-grandson Rowland Clarke (1592–1638) carried the name through four generations. The younger Rowland sailed to Massachusetts and died in Dedham in 1638.

Three Norfolk parishes—Wells-next-the-Sea, Redenhall, and Banham. Three families—Knapp, Fuller, and Clarke. All part of the great Puritan migration. All sent their blood to America.Three Norfolk parishes—Wells-next-the-Sea, Redenhall, and Banham. Three families—Knapp, Fuller, and Clarke. All part of the great Puritan migration. All sent their blood to America.

⚠️ Some photos and depictions in this reel have been created by AI and are used for storytelling purposes only


05/26/2026

The line begins with Edward Bennett (1577–1628), a Puritan merchant born in Wiveliscombe, Somerset, one of fifteen children of a tanner. He fled to Holland during the Puritan migrations and later to Virginia, where in 1621 he was granted land for transporting 200 settlers. His Warrisquoake Plantation survived the Good Friday Massacre of 1622, after which a fort was built called Bennett’s Welcome. He returned to England in 1628. His daughter Mary Bennett married John Day Jr. , born on Hog Island, Surry County, just before the massacre. A blacksmith, carpenter, and shipbuilder, John eventually returned to Stepney, England, where he died about 1658.

John Day III remained in Virginia, marrying Ann at Christ Church in 1679. His son John Day IV, a planter, married Jane and moved to Northampton County, North Carolina, where he was granted over 300 acres on the Roanoke River in 1745. He deeded 150 acres to his son Edmund Day Sr. in 1747. Edmund married Mary Yarrow in 1734 and raised six children on that land. His son Edmund Day Jr. left a will in 1784 naming three sons.

Thomas Day Sr. married F***y Moony at 21. His son Thomas Day Jr. (c. 1790) married Elizabeth Alverson in 1811 and raised ten children in Surry County. Their daughter Elizabeth Day (1819), a twin, married Stephen Pierce before turning 18 and moved to Tennessee, then Illinois. Her daughter Martha Elizabeth Pierce (1836) married Martin Luther Boyd, migrated to Arkansas, and raised eight children—carrying the Bennett and Day blood into the Ozarks.

⚠️ Some photos and depictions in this reel have been created by AI and are used for storytelling purposes only

05/25/2026

I lived on Lake Tapps in 1980 when St. Helens blew. I had just turned 5 and was set to enter Kindergarten at Lake Tapps Elementary in the fall. My dad built a house on Tacoma Point (formerly called Mountain View Drive) where we would live another 9 years before moving to Idaho.

⚠️ Some photos and depictions in this reel have been created by AI and are used for storytelling purposes only

05/16/2026

The Gifford line traces back to Walter Gifford, “the Liberal,” son of the Norman noble Osborne de Bolebec. William Gifford (c. 1625–1687), a tailor, left Devonshire, England, for Sandwich, Massachusetts. A devout Quaker, he suffered fines and lawsuits for his faith. His will left five pounds “for the use and service of truth” to the Sandwich Quakers. He owned lands in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, and was among the first proprietors of Monmouth and Shrewsbury, New Jersey.

His son Jonathan Gifford (1684–1735) married Lydia Abbott in 1708, connecting the Gifford and Abbott lines. Their son Peleg Gifford (1711–1802) married Abigail Shepherd in 1743 and raised twelve children, dying at 90. His son Noah Gifford (1759–1802) served as a boy spy for the colonies before the Revolution, running errands for town leaders at just 11 years old.

Alpheus Gifford (1793–1841), a traveling minister, converted to Mormonism in 1830 in Tioga County, Pennsylvania. He loaded his family of twelve into a wagon and set out for a new home but died of tuberculosis near Nauvoo, Illinois, on Christmas Day, 1841. His son Henry Dill Gifford (1825–1901) married Almira Braffett in 1848, lived at Fort Alma, Utah, and helped settle Woodville, Idaho.

Alma Gifford (1860–1935) married Alice Shelton and moved to Carey, Idaho, where two daughters married into the Danish Peterson family. His daughter Pauline Gifford (1894–1956) married Ruben Peterson in 1911, had six children, later divorced, and died in a head-on crash with a drunk driver in Boise. The Gifford and Peterson lines became one.

⚠️ Some photos and depictions in this reel have been created by AI and are used for storytelling purposes only

05/14/2026

Ulrich Stohler Sr. was born in September 1726 in Bern, Switzerland. He arrived in Philadelphia in 1749 and married Elizabeth Miller, daughter of German immigrant Johan Andreas Müller from Seiffen. They settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, raised ten children, and attended the German Reformed Church at Tohickon. After the Revolutionary War, Ulrich moved his family to Frederick County, Maryland. His 1814 will divided 71 acres among his surviving children and grandchildren.

His son Ulrich Stohler Jr. was born in July 1761 in Bucks County and christened at Tohickon. He moved to Maryland with his parents, married a woman named Elizabeth, and had three children. Before 1800, he returned to Pennsylvania, settling in Somerset County, where he died in 1806 at age 45—eight years before his father’s will was read.

His daughter Mary Stuller was born about 1787 in Frederick County, Maryland. In February 1811, she married Charles Gatton, also of Maryland. They relocated to Belmont County, Ohio, where they owned land and raised nine children. After Charles died in 1841, Mary continued caring for her children and grandchildren for at least another decade.

Her daughter Elizabeth Gatton was born about 1815 in Belmont County. At 16, she married neighbor Levi Coen and moved to Indiana after 1844. She died following the birth of her eighth child. Her son William Gatton Coen, a survivor of Gettysburg, carried the Gatton name forward. The Stohler line, begun in the Swiss Alps, continued through the Gatton and Coen families.

⚠️ Some photos and depictions in this reel have been created by AI and are used for storytelling purposes only

01/12/2026

The line from me to my Norwegian ancestors isn’t very long. Less than 100 years before I was born, Lars Oddson, my 2nd great-grandfather, left his homeland forever and settled in Minnesota, USA. Records from the Vossaboki show that Lars’ (and his wife Ingeborgs’) ancestors lived in Voss for at least 4 centuries. My DNA confirms a strong connection to the people of this specific region.

⚠️ Some photos in this reel have been animated by AI and may contain errors

My English family history research mostly matches my English DNA results (from ancestry.com). There do appear to be a f...
01/04/2026

My English family history research mostly matches my English DNA results (from ancestry.com). There do appear to be a few discrepancies though, namely my connections to Cornwall, Derbyshire, & Nottinghamshire which don’t show on ancestry.com’s DNA map. They are ALWAYS updating their map however so perhaps my DNA will show a connection in the near future. Another possibility (that is also true of my Irish DNA & Research) is that my research on these families isn’t able to go back far enough to indicate where they originated from, before they settled in Cornwall, Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire.

Let me know if we share any English surnames or places of origin?

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