So my last post referred to a visit to Ft. Wayne Indiana, which is where the Ewing Family Association moved the archive materials consisting of the research work of Margaret Ewing Fife, Reid Ewing, Ellsworth Ewing, Jim McMichael, and others. The facility is a fantastic place, perhaps only matched by the Federal Archives in Washington DC or the Smithstonian Institute. The difference is that this Allen County Public Library specializes in Genealogy, is centrally located, and has expert staff that can help you through amazing amounts of research. The EFA was wise to move all the research from Cecil County Historical Society in Elkton MD to Ft. Wayne.

While there I was able to go through all the vast resources in the archived files of these researchers to pull those things that were specific to the Ewings of Gwinnett. In the process, I was able to find the specific document, the silver bullet, where Margaret Fife made the error linking William Ewing b 1770 of Jackson Co GA who married Hannah Whaley to different Ewing family in Elbert Co GA who originated from Cumberland Co PA and before that Chester Co PA and Old Hunterdon County NJ.

At the same time it was clear that Margaret considered many Ewing families across Colonial America as being candidate ancestors of our William, as evidenced by the extensive correspondence she held with families all over the world. It must have been frustrating for her that there were too many possibilities, and too much information in too many places to sort through them all using the manual techniques of her day. I read through all her letters to so many sources she hoped would provide answers, many hand-written, some referring to an enclosed check for a specific amount for the trouble. I could almost feel the hope, frustration, anticipation, and disappointment through all the correspondence. It is clear that with the best technology available at the time, she made the best judgement she could have made.

I knew that on that trip I was not going to find the answers that would lead me to our real lineage, but by following through the footsteps of Margaret and the others, I hoped to get a better sense of their logic and direction, learning from their mistakes, and thereby better equip myself for the work ahead. I knew that based on the Y-DNA analysis done by Ewing Family Association on my sample processed at www.familytreedna.com, that I was associated with a family group hailing from Cecil Co MD. So I knew that would have to be my next destination.