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 62,000 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 Simeon 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 John Griggs, who was born in 1436 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. 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. 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 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
our family.
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 Gottfried Jaskiewicz (Kewit)
Descendants
of Martin Achtenberg
Follow the first link below to get to a
website that contains genealogy information on about 450 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 the various 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
Pawleys Island, SC