Jacob Sammet

In September of 1753 the ship Beulah arrived at the port of Philadelphia from Rotterdam.  On board was Jacob Sammet and his family.  Many of us who research the Summit(t) tree think that he may have been the father of both Christian Sammet of Indiana and of Johan Franz Sammet of North Carolina.  I have managed to get copies of the documentation of that arrival and have placed them in the SummittFamilyOnline.com database for members of that site to be able to use in their research.

I'm going to be bringing back the Summitt Family Quarterly starting with the April issue.  Those interested in subscribing again be watching the SummittFamilyQuarterly.com site for subscription information.  Most of the issues from the 1995-2005 run of the Quarterly are available for purchase on the site.

That's all for now.  Look forward to hearing from you.

Current Research

    A new discussion area for Summitt descendants has been created on FaceBook.  It was created by two daughters of William Ira Summitt of Kentucky.  I'm currently using information they have provided to seek documentation tying William Ira Summitt and his line into the Johann Franz Sammet or Christian Sammet line as are most Summit's and Summitt's we've found in the past.  I've posted some of these documents to the SummittFamilyOnline.com database.  Feel free to sign up for an account at the site or, if you are having problems signing up, send me an email and I'll create you an account.
    Another member on the FaceBook Summitt Research site, April Summitt, is also descended from Johan Franz Sammet and I plan on posting that lineage soon there.
    Most of the Summit(t)s found so far in Kentucky are traceable back to either Christian Sammet (who we think was Johan Franz' brother and son of Jacob Sammet) or to Christian Summit (Johan Franz' son), both of Indiana.  Another current research and writing project of mine deals with the daughter of George Summit of Kentucky, Cynthia Ann Summit, who shows up married to James Hook here in Columbia, Missouri in 1828.  I hope to finish it up soon and post it here to the SummittFamilyQuarterly.org site.
    Please feel free to contact me if you would like me to help you with your family research.  I intend to spend more time on it in the future researching the Summit(t) lines, the Frie lines, the Spotswood lines, and the Love lines.
    I plan on sending out weekly updates for the SummittFamilyOnline.com site to all subscribers letting them know what documents and information I have added the previous week to the site so if you are interested in keeping up-to-date with my research please subscribe to either this blog or to the SummittFamilyOnline.com site.

"Co. Aytch" by Sam R. Watkins

Finished reading this the second time just a while back. If you aren't aware of what this is about, you should be. Sam R. Watkins was from Columbia, Tennessee and he fought as a proud member of the First Tennessee Regiment. He fought at all of the First Tennessee's major engagements from Shiloh to Nashville. While I found no mention of any Summit(t) in the book, I do know that many Summit(t)s from Tennessee fought for the South and while James Lee Summitt (5th Tennessee USA) fought against the First Tennessee CSA at Franklin and Nashville and James Lee's father-in-law died at Franklin fighting for the South. Joseph and Daniel Summit, uncles of James Lee, were captured at Vicksburg as was another of James Lee's in-laws.

The point is, if you want to know how many of the Summit(t) men from Tennessee lived their lives during the Civil War and in some cases died, you have to read this book. I understand Watkin's granddaughter has just published a new version of the book with new material that was added after the original was first published in serial format in the local Columbia, Tennessee newspaper during 1881-1882. Two thousand copies of the report were published later with two small reprints. The 1962 edition was the first major mass market printing of this memoir. I recommend any historian of the civil war period and any Summit(t) Family Historian needs to read this.

Planting Your Family Tree Online by Cyndi Howells

For anyone who has ever built a Web site this book is of marginal value but still should be examined. For someone with little experience with the Web and just as little experience doing genealogy online this book is fantastic. It is for beginners so if you have some experience you'll be bored reading most of this book but that's OK. I was happy to see that she told readers NOT to put music on their sites. That is one way not to get me NOT to visit the site again. Beginners, buy this book and take head of its recommendations and you won't come across as a beginner. If you are an old hand, buy it and check your site against the recommendations. You won't regret it.

Writing the Family Narative by Lawrence P. Gouldrup

In my efforts to write my family narrative in such a way so that it will be interesting and enjoyable I read quite a few books on how to write these types of stories. Gouldrup's book in one of the most detailed texts I've added to my library. With examples to back up his points, Gouldrup steps through the steps from pedigree charts and family group sheets to the finished essay. Some of his writing is as dry as the writing you'll not want to emulate so try to stay awake but the book is something you should read if you want to write family narratives.

Shrouds of Glory by Winston Groom

If you are looking for an interesting and riveting book that will hold your attention from the first page to the last, this is it. It tells the tale of Confederate General John Bell Hood and the Army of Tennessee as they moved North after the Battle of Atlanta to outskirts of Nashville that ended the South's last great offensive. Groom tells the tale with energy and excitement that turns this mixture of eyewitness accounts, journal entries, and military documents into a barn burner you won't want to put down. This book gets my whole hearted recommendation.

How to Start Personal Histories & Genealogy Journalism Businesses by Anne Hart

I'm not going to waste much time on reviewing this. If you are looking for information on how to start a genealogy business keep looking because this is a complete waste of your time and money. This is an extremely poor excuse for a book let alone a how to. Pass on this one. And I suspect you should pass on anything else from this author. I'm going to.

Civil War Genealogy by George K. Schweitzer, PhD, ScD

I think I've said this before but I started researching my family history sometime around forty years ago now. One of the first stories about my family I learned was my great-grandfather going north from his Tennessee home and fighting for the Union. Over the years I've learned some of the stories about him were just that, stories. But I've also learned how he was charged with desertion because he when home for Christmas and how his father, my great-great-grandfather, was jailed for aiding the enemy by the confederate authorities because my great-grandfather was home during the holiday.
Finding this information has taken years of searching through documents and collaborating with distant relatives. Schweitzer's book makes finding many of these sources so much easier.
Starting with the war itself and providing the uninformed with a brief background and history from which to orient oneself, Schweitzer provides an overview of the various documents and histories available. He then walks the reader through the various national and state archives that are available. The next section deals with the various national and state publications followed by the numerous local resources that are available. His section on the various military unit histories is extremely informational. He closes with a discussion of artifact collections.
Whether you are just beginning your civil war research or you are an old hand, this is one book you should have in your library.

Solomon Summitt Bible circa 1850

Received email from Paul Alvin Summitt (yep, another Paul Summitt, wow ). He has in his possession a bible from the 1850's with the following information listed:

Solomon Summitt married Elizabeth D. Clayton May 19, 1851 (according to family tales her father was a civil war general)
Children were:
Minerva L. 4-8-1852
Laura C. 6-15-1854
Sarah E. 1/18/1856 died 8/30/1886
Alvin J. (Paul's grandfather) 4/1/1858 died 12/2/1945
Evangaline 2/24/1860
William J. 3/1/1862 died 8/8/1896
Charles L. 5/7/1864 died 8/7/1868
Joseph O. 7/16/1866 died 9/4/1899
George W. 12/5/1871

Changes

I've started the redesign of the entire Summitt Family Quarterly site so things will be changing around here. First off, I bought some new software for the site and will be changing the way we're presenting the family history information. The current method is cumbersome and difficult to make changes to. I'm also adding some content management software for the other information so that we can provide a better display of information.

I'll also be placing audio and video files on the site soon as my oral history program I want to put into place will be added to this site. So stick around. I plan on blogging a lot more also.

later

paul