Hellow the short version of my Research Story as of 30 Oct 2023, D.R. "Doc" Young Begnal Eaton

Genealogy Research & Assistance  drdocyoung.com

I am not in Salt Lake, having lived in West Valley City short of 16 yrs, moved 12 Jul 2021.

My condolences on losing family, I myself had lost my oldest son Don Jr. in 2005, a month shy of his 35 BD, a father of 2, from Cancer.

My next oldest son Richard, is 48, lives in TN, father of 6, I have lost a spouse to Cancer, both parents deceased, and have lost 3 half sisters of 5 half sisters, so I have a 1st Cousin, and a 2nd Cousin whom I am in touch with one in OR, the other in CT.

I have 8 grandchildren only 3 of the 8 have I ever met.

9 great-grandchildren all of whom I never met any of them.

My only Granddaughter Victoria, 34 is in OK, a mother of 4, the last I saw her, she was 12, in 2001.

I do my best to stay in touch, thank goodness for computers, Internet/Web and Facebook. However, unless I contact them, none ever initiate messaging or sending an e-mail. My life in the Fire Service (Marines & DOD) have worked and lived in 9 states. Not one of those who was born, lived their whole life in one county with family, no family reunions, no siblings, and I did not meet my Father until nearly 21 for the first time.

So I knew nothing about him of his life before me, or since he and my mother went their separate ways I night have been between 2 & 3. My mother never shared, nor did I have a Father, so never asked, as I had a Step-father in 1952, then his replacement in 1957. I left home for good at age 16, in 1963.

Marines came in 1972-75, Nam Era Vet, and I probably one of the few who wanted to go to Nam Navy, Air Force and Army was a no go. Too many hardship discharges. I was a Father, with Don Jr. married 3 yrs 3 mos when I went into the Marines at 24. They needed one more good man, I guess.

I was a Carpenter Room Addition & Remodeling before the Marines, with 2 yrs vocational training in Carpentry & Basic Building Trades. I was going to be an Architect, instructor of Mechanical Drafting encouraged me to, and that if I wanted to be a good Architect I should become a Construction Engineer, and why I began with vocation in that direction.

But Nam was going, so I needed a steady job, and medical, why the Marines. Only the Construction (Technical Specialist Field) in the Marines was full, leaving my options of Grunt O3 (Infantry) or Aviation. So I went Aviation, as the years I growing up with Mom, she was a Rosie Riveter, and worked 35 yrs both North American Aviation which later became Rockwell International, so in part I grew up around aircraft.

Only in the Marines Aviation was a 6 month school and I did not want to be a jet mechanic...my test scores were high, so I had the option of changing my MOS from Aviation and I chose MOS7051 Crash Fire & Rescue. So for the next 24 yrs I was a Federal Fire Fighter in Crash Fire & Rescue.

I worked on Navy, Marine and Air Force Bases in 5 states. Started a volunteer fire dept. in Westover, AL in 1978. Also days off working 24 hrs on 24 hrs off every other day, I volunteered at a couple city departments, as Lake Barton Fire in Orlando, FL and Apple Valley Fire in CA. I have a wide range of FF experience, usually not afforded those working City or County Fire Dept. I also became an EMT in FL and CA, and a Hazmat Tech. along with my usual FF duties, be it Structural, Commercial, Brush & Forest FF, Vehicle Accidents and Aircraft Incidents, Fires & Crashes of Military and Civilian aircraft.

I was working George AFB, Victorville, CA from 80-92, George AFB came on the hit list to close by BRAC (Base Re-Alignment and Closure) by DOD, and I was transferred to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS), Bremerton, WA. This is were I added Shipboard and Nuclear FF experience to my resume.

Always training and learning goes hand n hand.  Also FF's no matter the weather, you are in route to the emergency. No matter what hazards are involved, you have a front row seat. Greatest reward is saving lives, and the downside is loss of life, no matter age of the person(s).

While at PSNS, having had to leave my home in Hesperia CA, which I purchased using my CALvet (California Veteran) status of my first home, I lived in my 24 ft travel trailer the next 3-4 yrs. This is when I began my Genealogy Research 11 Sep 1992, receiving a 3.5" floppy disk "FamilyOrigins" I ordered, not knowing what to expect or where this journey I was about to embark on would taking me.

My research began with my Paternal Grandmother whom I met shortly after my Father in Sep 1968, Thelma Ferne Perry. she told me when we met that I had the Perry Eyes and that we were Portuguese. No more was shared by her, or about life with my Father of his growing up and who was my Paternal Grandfather.

Back in 92, there was the Internet...the Web had not become commercial available to the public. There was no FamilySearch .org, no Ancestry .com or Rootsweb so researching from the keyboard, computer and the Internet there was virtually nothing to access or find out about your Ancestors.

However, I had this FamilyOrigin genealogy program disk. In the next two years 93-95, I learned after sending for my Father's birth record, reply came back no one of the name Richard Newton Young, b. 16 Jul 1924, was found. At the time my Father still among the living, so I spoke to him stating what learned, as he did not even know where he was born. I said, no record of your being born, he replied with Begnal, not born as Young.

So I sent off in the mail another request, this time for Richard Newton Begnal. A reply came with a copy of his birth cert. as Newton Richard Begnal, father Clifford F. Begnal and mother Thelma F. Perry. He was born in San Francisco. And there is an Uncle too, only I have yet to this day met my Paternal Uncle. His birth cert. only has his name as Begnal, same parents, born in 1923, San Francisco. All this took place in 1994.

3 Jan 1995, my Father passed on, and his Brother Clifford was there in the hospital, only he never came to the waiting room to see me I was 48, or my 3 half-sisters, ages 37, 38 & 41. To this day my father or uncle do not know they are not Young nor Begnal genetically.

Thelma does not know this either, as she passed 28 Mar 1979, as did my Maternal Grandmother Antoinette Victoria Blaschkov aka Toni Wilson, who passed 13 Jun 1979. Not does my Mother June Elsie Wilson, that her Father was not the Rev. Richard Hewitt. A Man whom I thought was my Maternal Grandfather up until 1981. The Reverend told me, he never married Toni, however they lived together 25 yrs. Toni never worked nor drove a car.

My findings over the years produced some amazing facts that did not support family folklore I was told by Thelma. My Father never shared, nor my Mother. In 1968, my Mom knew where my Father was my whole life and contacted him, keep in mind I left home in 1963-64...and I received a letter written on grade school cursive paper from my Father, it looked like a child had written it. So I thought it was a joke.

I then had 3 half sisters and later learn a half-brother. I thought I was possibly the oldest and first born, that was not the case as my research and the story became in may journey wanting learn about my Father and his side of the Tree.

Half brother by his 2nd marriage in 1950, thinking my Mom was his first marriage in 1946, my half sisters his 3rd marriage of 1953...do you see a pattern here.

I had been researching a few years, I had written every Begnal in the USA I could find, I received two replies one from an Clifford Floyd Begnal who lived in CA and a Robert Franklin Begnal, who lived in NY. Both men were sons of my Paternal Grandfather Clifford Franklin Begnal, b. 31 Mar 1903, Utica, NY.

I spoke to Clifford Floyd (half uncle) on the phone, and I informed him your Father is my Grandfather. It was not a week had pass, that I got a call from a Susan Marie Begnal, who informed me that my Father's name was on her birth cert. this in the year 1994, and that she had been adopted shortly after birth 24 Jan 1945, by Jun 1945. That she had a sister Anna Laura Fern Begnal, who passed in 1977 from an auto accident.

So I went from being the only child of my Mother, to now having 5 half sisters and a half brother thanks to Dear Ole Dad. The surprises I would encounter the next 24 yrs of my researching I was about to be surprised even more.

I could not find a record of Birth for Clifford Franklin Begnal, nor as a Young. My Father by School Days in 1930 was Richard N Young, his 1941 SS-5 application he had an issue of printing Newton, as his given name and he is a Young, now his father's name is Clifford F. Young, not as on his birth certificate as Begnal, so he did not need to provide his birth cert. as proof of who he was.

My Father marries 28 Mar i942, as Richard Newton Begnal, his first born is not me, it is Anna Laura Fern Begnal, and on her birth cert. he is a Begnal. Jul 1942, his having turned 18, goes into the Army as Richard Newton Young...so I guess the military accepts SS Card as proof of who your are, or does not care, as there is a War and we need you to protect American Mr. Young

Discharged from the Army 1944, as Young, and in 1946, marries as a Young. As most researchers might find their Grandparents of their Father in the 1930 census with uncle, nope no such luck there. Both Father & Uncle born San Francisco 1923 & 1924. It took a few years after the 1930 census was released in 2000, to find Thelma and the Boys...

Clifford Franklin Begnal Young seems to have married Thelma in 1922, remarried in 1926, then again in 1929....so where is Thelma and the Boys? Family Folklore has Thelma coming south from Frisco with the Boys, so Elizabeth nee Shaughnessy Begnal (1882-1949) could not find the Boys and from the school records of my Father, shows him starting School in San Pedro, CA (Los Angeles County School District)

So where does the name Young come from, who does she know living in San Pedro, as Thelma is b. 1903, Auburn ME and how does she get from ME to CA by 1920 census, marries in 1922 to Clifford in San Francisco and now in San Pedro by Sep 1930. As Life has its ups and downs, I finally find Thelma and the Boys in 1930 still in San Francisco...as Thelma remarries 8 Feb 1930, San Francisco, to Robert J. Benesch, with 2 step-sons Clifford Begnal, 6, and Richard Begnal, 5 as of 9 Apr 1930.

And 5 mos later in San Pedro enrolled in School 3 Sep 1930, as a Young. So for 24 yrs I research records for Young and Begnal, not Benesh/Benesch or Perry. The Portuguese Eyes, when I was transferred from Puget Sound Naval Bremerton WA to Naval Air Field, El Centro, CA in 1992, still living in my Travel Trailer now on the base Oasis RV Park...I went to a Family History Center (FHC) and shared that I was Portuguese per Thelma Perry.

Of course I do not know the story per records of my Father's school, marriage, military or his birth certificate or the 1930 census (1924-1942.

A volunteer Lady at the FHC, when I told her about Perry & Portuguese, she replied with "Pereira" is Portuguese for Pear Tree. Only years later I learn Thelma's father although named Anthony D Perry on her 1906 birth cert. Auburn ME, is not how he was born...which is Antonio Pereira Cardoso becomes the IV, as there is APC I b. 1793, II b. 1821, and III b. 1859 Antonio Pereira Cardoso IV is born 8 Apr 1882, Pedro Miguel, Horta, Faial, Azores. By 1900 Antonio IV became Anthony Dexter Perry 1882-1946.

I had just sent off my first DNA (Autosomal) test via Ancestry earlier in Dec 2016, however did not have the results as yet. Only the results did not clarify who I was as being a Young or Begnal. I had searched the Begnal line back to Ireland about 1840 and a man whom I suspected to be my bio paternal great-grandfather for the last 24 yrs, was not George Felix Begnal (1879-1957)

And the big bomb came 29 Dec 2016, from my 2nd Cousin John William Rockwell Jr, who lives in Nova Scotia in the following e-mail

Dear Doc Young,

I recently dug deeper into my mother and father’s ancestry documents and found what appears to be the solution to the conundrum you mention about Clifford Franklin Begnal parentage.

Your research and instincts were right. Clifford’s parents were not Lizzie Shaughnessy and George Begnal. It turns out that Lizzie had a previous marriage. on June 13, 1900, she married Claud[e?] B. Eaton, and this union gave birth to Clifford Franklin in 1903.

What happened to this first marriage, I don’t know, nor do I know why Lizzie decided to change her son’s name to Begnal. I suppose that was the convention at the time, and that it was still shameful for a woman to be divorced or to have a son with a different father’s last name.

I have attached a number of documents, letters, and pictures that clearly show some of Clifford's story. Most poignantly, I found a letter from Clifford in 1928 at the age of 25 to his Aunt Louise Shaughnessy asking her what his true name was.

Other letters show the eventual demise of Lizzie and George Begnal’s marriage. It’s clear that he had lost a significant amount of money through betting on the horses at Saratoga Springs race track, was going out with another woman, eventually promised to return home, but never did. I started to transcribe the letters, but have run out of time at this point.

I couldn't find hardly any information at all about Claude B. Eaton or George Begnal. I found a Claude B. Eaton in Monroe, NY in a 1920 census.


Since reading that e-mail and viewing the Marriage Cert. also the letter of 1928...I was really lost now...24 yrs down the hatch. Which led me to my next DNA test that of a Y-DNA with Family Tree DNA Dec 2018 from 2016 up to 2018, I had connected Claude B Eaton to Claude Brudenell Eaton, b. 8 Aug 1879, Utica, Oneida Co., NY and back to the Mayflower direct line...that of Francis Eaton (1595-1633)

and 5 Feb 2019, results were in of my Y-DNA, I am indeed an Eaton, also confirmation came from the Eaton Family Association so I am....

A direct descendant of Francis Eaton (1595/96-1633) & Christian Penn (1607-1684), my 9th paternal great-grandparents. by way of their son Benjamin Eaton Sr., b. 1 Jun 1627, Plymouth, British Colonial America, d. 16 Jan 1711, Plymouth Co., MA & Sarah Hoskins (1637-1711), my 8th paternal great-grandparents.

Francis Eaton in the New England, The Great Migration and The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635 -
requires Ancestry Membership to view

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/49742:2496

Diana, Princess of Wales - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org

   

 

 

Richard Gere - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org

 

Part IV - Final Story Ending

Thank you for your patience, I wanted to share in the event of your research you may related, my not knowing your length of time since you began.

I then removed 500 Begnal descendants from FamilyTreeMaker (FTM), and have successfully have the Eaton line now to John Eaton (1484-1517) & Elizabeth Vaughan (1489-1514) of Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire, England, UK also the surname is also as Eyton/Eton and there is an Eyton Hall, England.

The British name Eaton is rooted in Old English and means "island settlement," "riverside," and "deer." The name has traditionally been used as a surname in England but has become increasingly popular for baby boys.

English: habitational name from any of various places called Eaton or Eton, such as Eaton Socon (Bedfordshire), Eaton (Cheshire), or Eton (Buckinghamshire), named from either Old English ēa 'river' or ēg 'island, low-lying land' + tūn 'enclosure, settlement'.

So I am not from Royalty or Wealth or Famous...however I am now related to Franklin Delano Roosevelt (3rd president) and Ulysses S. Grant Jr., Former Secretary to the President of the United States ‧ the second son of President Ulysses S. Grant, (born Hiram Ulysses Grant) Grants connect to my Rockwell's and Ellen "Ella" Shaughnessy, my 2nd Great Aunt, sister to my Gr-Grandmother Elizabeth Shaughnessy mother of Clifford Franklin Begnal Young Eaton.

Means that the descendants of Clifford Franklin Begnal (grandfather) 1903-1960, Newton Richard Begnal (father) 1924-1995, and Clifford Anthony Begnal (uncle) 1923-2012, are genetically connected to Eaton.

Only in my Tree I have them named Clifford Franklin Eaton Begnal, Newton Richard Begnal Young Eaton, and Clifford Anthony Begnal Young Eaton

I did not want it to be confusing for anyone, if and when they happen upon my Ancestry DNA shared Tree

Blaschko, Eaton, Perry/Pereira Cardoso, Shaughnessy, Wilson, Young (12,753)
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/116281431/

I do have two others I am working to connect to my tree as I have Spencer's (Princess Diana Frances Spencer)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana,_Princess_of_Wales

and Richard Tiffany Gere a descendant of William Brewster, his ancestors include Pilgrims such as John Billington, William Brewster, Francis Eaton, Francis Cooke, Degory Priest, George Soule and Richard Warren. Source: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Gere

My Maternal Grandmother Antoinette was born 1901, Szentgyorgy, Pozsony, Hungary today is Svaty Jur, Bratislava, Slovakia,
https://drdocyoung.com/blaschko/blaschko-images/Blaschko-Family-abt-1907.jpg

and I know I descend from the Azores, only once into researching learning the history and how Azores were discovered, who first Settled, leaves me to believe I am not Portuguese. 
https://drdocyoung.com/pereira-cardozo/images/family-photos/the_cardozos_abt_1890.gif

One may look at the History of or origins, even more so after DNA testing depending if you wish to align with Ethnicity Results and Comparisons, as my Ethnicity with Ancestry since 2016, has altered at least 5 or 6 times.

My current Ethnicity is as follows
Ireland​ ​28%
England & Northwestern Europe​ ​21%
Eastern Europe & Russia​ ​18%
Wales 9%
Sweden & Denmark​ 6%
Germanic Europe​ 6%
Portugal 5%
Scotland ​4%
Norway 3%

My other DNA with FamilyTreeDNA (24 Dec 2018) sheds a different light on my results geared more to my Paternal, and another test was with CRI (Cellular Research Institute) of 25 Jun 2021, only I do not have much time spent trying to better understand my results.

Ancestry, I have acquired 21,349, DNA matched Cousins since 16 Dec 2016. I had also uploaded my initial rawDNA file to MyHeritage, and GEDmatch, as well. Partial Tree is also on FamilySearch, WikiTree and I may have another site part of my tree resides. Only no one ever contacts me. And on FamilyTreeDNA, I have many DNA matches to Eaton's, none to Young, and one Begnal, as he is my half-uncle's son, so he too connects to the Eaton name/genetic line.

Any Questions you may have, please indulge...I am happy to answer, or assist Friends and Relatives.

D.R. "Doc" Young
web: 
https://drdocyoung.com
e-mail: 
ancestorologist.drdocyoung@gmail.com
2:48PM/Monday/30Oct2023

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