Common Ancestors Research Page

Instructions on How to Submit
Surnames of Old Dobbs' Ancestors

1. Submit your information to Sloan Mason via email.

2. Choose a "common ancestor" from the Old Dobbs research region. The research region includes the following North Carolina Counties: Dobbs, Lenoir, Greene and parts of Wayne, Jones, Pitt, and Craven. We are interested in ancestors that once lived in this region. The Common Ancestors' Research Page lists Old Dobbs Common Ancestors posted to date. If you see that one of these ancestors is yours, great. If yours is not yet posted, send him, or her, in. We are looking forward to posting as many ancestors as we possbily can find.

3. Once the common ancestor has been identified, choose a more contemporary ancestor that descends from the common ancestor, that was born around 1900, but is now deceased. We will not post information on any living individual.

4. Once the most contemporary ancestor has been identified, work backwards to the Old Dobbs Common Ancestor. Provide the information marked by generations and numbering as follows:

 First Generation
1. John Smith

Your most contemporary ancestor that is now deceased. Say that John Smith is your grandfather.

 Second Generation
2. William Smith
3. Mary Williams

Your great grandfather
Your great grandmother

 Third Generation
4. Ezra Smith
5. Precious Mourning

 Your great-great grandfather
Your great-great grandmother

 Fourth Generation
10. Robert Mourning
11. Hasseltine Garriss

 Your ggg grandfather
Your ggg grandmother

 Fifth Generation
22. George Washington Garriss
23. Temperance Coward

 Your Old Dobbs Common Ancestor


This is, in essence, a skeletal ahnentafel. Go to this site to see how we have constructed a complete presentation: Ronald E. Mewborn Family. Be sure to include basic demographic data if you have it: dates and locations of births, deaths, burials & marriages. If your ancestor served in the military, please note that as well.

5. When choosing your Old Dobbs Common Ancestor, please continue his/her line back to the earliest ancestor in that direct line. For instance, because of in-migration, many Old Dobbers' descendants do not "link" in Old Dobbs County. Rather, the linkage occurs in other areas. It will ultimately be that ancestor that we use as the Common Ancestor. For example, Martha and I share a common Griffin ancestor. Her Old Dobbs ancestor was Ann Griffin who married Willliam Coward. Mine was Benjamin Griffin who married Mary Bryan. They do not "link" unless we go back one generation to their father, Jonas Griffith, who died in 1727 in Northampton Co., VA. We use Jonas Griffith as the Common Old Dobbs Ancestor. There will, no doubt, be many of these situations as the Common Ancestors pages grow.

6. Once we post your initial line, your page can grow to include other lines. We want to grow one Common Ancestor at a time in order to ensure that we correctly understand the information being submitted. Also, it is far easier to build from a small successful chart than to build a rather complex one from the very beginning.

7. If you have a computer based genealogy program, you can run sorts and reports to get this type of information. If you do not use a genealogy program, but use email, type in the basic information as shown above.

8. Please email your data to Sloan Mason. You will be notified when the data has been uploaded to the Old Dobbers site.

Research Submission's Instructions

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