I began writing these Reference pages 1997 May 31. I strongly urge you to make comment about the design and content of this series. I want this series to contain only firm proven facts, yet within the first few minutes, I remembered I had been unable to decipher some spellings and other problems even when the original documents were in my hands. Example: Glenn Ray Eddleman, my son, and I spent a long time trying to decipher the spelling of a German Village. If we conclude it was a certain village and copy the name off a German map, have I already compromised the intention of my Reference series of web pages? Your comments are urgently needed. If you find a link to PLANNED.htm, do not follow it for it has not been written.
My earliest proven ancestor is Catherine Eddleman who received land just east of Lexington, Kentucky, for settling on it in 1778. My proven lineage is Catherine Eddleman ==> John Eddleman ==> James Eddleman ==> Marion Eddleman ==> Claude Eddleman ==> Harold Lee Eddleman (author of this webpage series) ==> Glenn Ray Eddleman.
If you have corresponded with other geneologists over a period, you have likely see instances where myth has taken on the aura of fact by being transmitted letter to letter. Such handwritten letters or typewritten letters commonly contain errors or faulty construction which lead readers to false conclusions. As an example, when I was in Germany as a soldier in 1956, my father sent me a letter giving the Eddleman lineage that he knew. I microfilmed German Church records of the proper time period, but after my return to Indiana, I learned I had misunderstood his narrative and was looking 50 years too late. Later, I proved his narrative was wrong and I found land records proving my ancestors were already in Indiana before the dates of the records I had photographed.
The Internet allows geneologists to publish authenic records so that others can see them without the effort and risk of pen to pen transmission errors. This webpage series is such an effort. Some Eddlemans accept lineages that I have not been able to prove.
I hope this series of webpages will provide a firm foundation for Eddleman geneologists to work out family trees and linkages between trees. These pages place authenic Eddleman documents on the web where all may see them. Speculations about possible lineages are indexed from another page.
My experience with family traditions has been particularly disappointing. Land records have shown the complete absence of the traditional names of the "Three Brothers Came to America." Another branch of the family had the same "Three Bothers from Germany" family tradition, but the three brothers from Germany had entirely different names! This second tradition did have the correct names, but the brothers came not from Germany but Georgetown, Indiana! See my compilation of family traditions. (not yet written). Send your unproven traditions for that page.
Begin here to see all the original references I have collected since 1958. Many people have helped me. Since I live ten miles west of the site of John Eddleman's Mill on Big Indian Creek (ca 1815-1840) and I have visited most local courthouses, SAR Library, Filson Club, and Kentucky Historical Society and State Museum., I fear I have seen all the extant local materials on the progeny of Catherine Eddleman. If you have ideas of searches I should make, contact me by e-mail, or US Mail.
I am only the First evening into this project and I already find problems. For example, I had to decipher the spelling of some names from handwriting. Birth dates and death dates were not labellled and one had to assume format was the same on all lines of a bible record.
Bible Records:
Page 1 - John Eddleman (cabinetmaker), Noah
Eddleman (Georgetown, IN)
Wills:
Page 1 - John Eddleman (1840)
To be continued.
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Eddleman Tree Speculations
Suggestions, corrections, and comments are appreciated: Contact Harold Eddleman indbio@disknet.com