William Wallace Watson II was born into the Watson-French family—a family of brilliant and colorful characters. Virtually all branches of the family are of English and Scottish heritage. They all came together when Percy Watson met Clara French at Carleton College in 1899. Percy, a doctor, and Clara, a teacher, were missionaries in China for twenty-five years, where they raised five extraordinary children. This is the overview of the complex Watson-French family.
William Wallace Watson II (1911–1944), was a brilliant young lawyer with a bright future. He was born in China, and spoke Mandarin and became a naval intelligence officer during WWII. He was traveling to U.S. Embassy in Chunking, China in June 1944, when he was killed in a mystifying plane crash in southern China. This is his story.
Margaret Jean Goodrich (“Jean”) was born into a family of English immigrants with a touch of German and a touch of Irish thrown in for good measure. The Goodriches and Bakers were early immigrants to New England, and came together around 1900 when Cora Baker and Arthur Goodrich—Jean’s parents—met as young adults in North Minneapolis. This is the story of Jean’s ancestors.
Jean Goodrich was a highly intelligent, well-educated, charismatic, and often exacting woman who lived life to the fullest. She was married twice, first to Bill Watson, a naval officer who died in a plane crash during World War II, and second to Cyril R. Tifft, a physician to whom she was married almost fifty-five years. With Bill she had one child and with Cyril she had a second. In 1949 she adopted Cyril’s two daughters. This is the story of her life.
This analysis of the non-Indigenous population of the American colonies by region is based on 1960 estimates developed by the U. S. Census Bureau. It provides interesting insights into the development of the colonial population before the Revolutionary War.
Before 1900, many Swedish families used patronymic surnames which changed every generation based on the father’s first name. Patronyms make it difficult to trace Swedish ancestry. This is a guide to finding your Swedish ancestors through Swedish church records.
