The Griggs, Pergande
and
Related Family Trees
of Monroe County,
Wisconsin
Welcome to the
Griggs, Pergande and Related Family Trees of Monroe County, Wisconsin. We have been researching our family trees for more
than 45 years and have information on more than 72,000 direct ancestors,
indirect ancestors, and members of our "extended family" through
marriages to other families in Monroe County.
The "Griggs
and Pergande Ancestors" report, below, includes all of
the known ancestors of James LaVerne "Vern"
Griggs and his wife Bernice Gertrude Pergande, who married in Monroe County in
1939. This report does not contain most
of the recent family members. Rather, it
is shaped like a "V" and includes key ancestors on both sides of the
family, going back as far as we have been able to trace our ancestry in the
various surnames.
Our Griggs Ancestors
The direct ancestors on the Griggs side
of our family are shown on the "Pedigree Chart--Our Griggs
Ancestors." The earliest-known
individuals in the chart's ancestral families are contained in the reports
entitled "Descendants of John Griggs," "Descendants of Reverend
Samuel Griswold," "Descendants of Josiah Root," and
"Descendants of Josiah Dewey." These families emigrated to America primarily
from The British Isles and settled in Monroe County in the mid- and
late-1800's. These reports start at the
earliest known individual, and move forward in time to
include all of their known descendants.
Our Griggs
ancestors have been traced back to Sir John Griggs, Sr., who was born in about 1410
in Somerton, Suffolk County, England—about 100 miles northeast of London. His descendants emigrated to Essex County,
Massachusetts, in 1639—less than twenty years after the Pilgrims landed at
Plymouth Rock. (Until Massachusetts
became a state in 1788, it was known as the Massachusetts Bay Colony of British
Colonial America.) From Massachusetts,
our branch of the Griggs family moved through Connecticut, Vermont, and western
Wisconsin, before settling in LaGrange Township, north of Tomah, in 1866.
Our Root ancestors
have been traced back to Josiah Root, who was born in 1756 in, we believe,
Tolland County, Connecticut. The report
of his descendants traces our branch of his family's movement to New York and
Pennsylvania, before settling in Monroe County in the 1850's. We are attempting to link Josiah to what is
believed to be the earliest-known Root/Roote family, which has been traced to
Thomas Roote, who was born in Badby, England, in the
1500's.
Our branches of the
Griggs and Root families came together when Samuel Hiram Griggs married Eva
Jane Root in Tomah Township in 1908.
Through the work of
professional genealogists, we have traced one branch of our Griggs ancestral
family back to the 1st century. The
mother of Eva Jane Root was Mary Minerva Dewey. Professional researchers have been able to
trace her Dewey ancestry back through more than 80 generations. To trace back through this branch of our
family tree to the 1st century, follow the people with a
"(*+)" following their name.
Our Pergande
Ancestors
The direct ancestors on the Pergande
side of our family are shown on the "Pedigree Chart--Our Pergande
Ancestors." The earliest-known
individuals in the chart's ancestral families are contained in the reports
entitled "Descendants of (Unknown) Pergande," "Descendants of
Johann Wilde," "Descendants of Gottfried Jaskiewicz" (later
changed to Kewit), and "Descendants of Martin
Achtenberg." These families
emigrated from Prussia (now part of Germany and Poland) to the Ridgeville
Township area of Monroe County in the mid- to late-1800's.
As you move down
through the "Descendants" reports, you will see all
of the known children in each family. The person in each family that is marked with
a single asterisk in parentheses is the one that is part of a direct link to
our family. So—whether you are moving up
or down the tree—follow the people with the "(*)" after their name to
determine the individual who is our direct ancestor. If you are related to any of our ancestors
and would like more information, or if you have additional information about
people in any of these families, please contact me.
This website is
dedicated to the memory of my mother, Bernice (Pergande) Griggs, who—as our
family historian—assembled much of our early information and was the
inspiration for this on-going research. She passed away in July 2000
and we miss her dearly. She would be
proud that you are looking at much of her life's work and pleased that you
share her interest in the many Tomah-area families.
Family Tree Reports:
Our Griggs Ancestors:
Pedigree
Chart--Our Griggs Ancestors
Descendants
of Reverend Samuel Griswold
Our Pergande Ancestors:
Pedigree
Chart--Our Pergande Ancestors
Descendants
of (Unknown) Pergande
Descendants
of Christian Wilde
Descendants
of Jacob Jaskiewicz (Kewit)
Descendants
of Johann Achtenberg
Follow
the first link below to get to a website that contains genealogy information on
more than 400 men with surnames of families that settled in Monroe County in
the mid- to late-1800's, or who are related to them by marriage. The reports on those sites contain hundreds
of present-day Tomah-area families.
The second
link leads to a website that commemorates the many families in the Tomah area
that descend from the Pilgrims and “Strangers” who were passengers on the
Mayflower on its voyage to America in 1620. Many present-day Monroe County families are
listed on that site, as well.
The third
link leads to a website that contains reports of nearly 7,000 early decedents
and lot owners in Tomah's Oak Grove Cemetery.
The
fourth link leads to a website that contains the records of births, baptisms,
confirmations, marriages, deaths and burials that are
recorded in Book I of the Parish Register of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran
Church, Ridgeville Township. Book I covers the period between 1862 and 1889.
The last
link returns you to the website main page.
Gary Griggs
Murrells Inlet, SC