My RICHARDSON family tree, going back about eleven generations, includes more than 20,000 individuals in the following known families—on my paternal side, Smith, Humphrey, Weaver/Weber (Neunkirchen am Potzberg, Germany), Wallace (Ireland/Scotland), Bozman (London, England), Standiford, Taylor (Lichfield, Staffordshire, England), Kinge, as well as the related lines of Hughes (England), Stauffer (Bern, Switzerland), Stewart, Lewis, Plucker, Kempf (Germany), Stickler (Bern, Switzerland), Goodrich, Keller (Zurich, Switzerland), and Wohlschlaeger/ Wollenschlager (Germany) as well as on my maternal side Bankes/Bacher/Benkes /Benkis/Benkus (Germany), Bast (Germany) Bradt (Norway), Hickerson, Carman, Rickey (Scotland), Bradt De Hooges/Cole/Kool (Amsterdam, Netherlands) and Swartwout (from The Netherlands on the "De Bonte Koe" aka "Spotted Cow" in 1660), Decker/Dekker (The Netherlands), Kortreght (The Netherlands), Otsen (the Amsterdam printer of some fame), and Webber as well as related lines including Pletcher, Stoneburner/Steinbrenner (Germany), Mercer (Kent, England) and Taylor (Chester, England), Kiesel (Germany), Price (England), Johnson (Upper Canada), Gray, Still, Taliaferro (Middlesex, England), Turner (Germany), and Kolb (Germany).

My analysis also suggests the following predominately Protestant religious beliefs: Anabaptist (Graf families), regular Baptist (Hickerson and Carman families), Church of Christ (Smith families), Church of England (Richardson families), Christian Church (Bankes family), Dutch Reformed (Cole, Swartout families), Lutheran (Bankes, Roberts, Stoneburner/Steinbrenner, Weber/Weaver families), Mennonite (Groff, Herr, Keller families), Methodist Episcopal (Mercer, Richardson, and Smith families), Moravian (Kiesel, Stauffer families), Puritan (my progenitor Lawrence Richardson who immigrated into Virginia and then Maryland), Quaker aka Society of Friends (Babb, Hussey, Lewis, Mallonee, Mercer and Taylor families), Reformed Church (Stauffer and Strickler), and United Brethren (Humphrey families). Of course, if I could push back further than 1517, all of these families will become Catholic.

My recent (aka last six hundred years) maternal family roots seem to point to Dutch (i.e., Bradt, de la Montagne, Kool, Kortreght, Otsen, Swartwout, van Hamburg, Veldtman, Webber, and Westerkamp) and paternal lines are English (i.e., Barnard, Batchelder, Bozman, Burgess, Butler, Carman, Cope--one of my longest lines, but unproven--Deane, Dorsey, Downes, Fynney, Gill, Hall, Harrison, Hughes, Humphrey, Hussey, Kenyon, Marsh, Mayhave, Moon, Pedrick, Perkins, Pocock, Porter, Prigg, Pyle, Richardson, Smith, Standiford, Taliaferro, Taylor, Travis, Underwood, Withers, and Wood), Scotch (i.e., Frissell, Gass, Gray, Porter, Humphrey, Rickey, Stewart, Taylor, and Wallace), Irish (Crawford and Wallace), Germanic (i.e., Barr, Beck, Gucker, Haupt, Hirzing, Kiesel, Landes, Mayer, Pletcher, Schnell, Schweiss, Sporri, Stellwagen, Steinbrenner/ Stoneburner, Weber/Weaver, and Wolf), Swiss origins (i.e., Graf, Groff, Herr, Keller, Landes, Peter, Pletcher, Schmutz, Schnavely/Schnebele, Spörri, Stauffer, Stetler, Strickler, and Veitin) as well as Welsh (i.e., Bowen). Genetically speaking, the R1b1a2 (R-M269 or more specifically R-S1480) (note: 23andme says R-U152) subclade would have originated in Central Asia/South Central Siberia; and yes, I am related to King Tutankhamen. While the mtDNA Haplogroup K (K2a6; CRS: 16224C, 16311C, 16362C, and 16519C and 73G, 146C, 152C, 263G, and 315.1C) would suggest the Alps, Ireland, or the United Kingdom on that side. Furthermore, my K2a6 Haplogroup (meaning, my mother's maternal line) would mean distant origins of about 16,000 years ago in found in the North Caucasus, central and north-western Europe, so Ötzi is very a distant "cousin" since he is K1f.

My best DNA success stories are finding: 1) helping an adopted family member (i.e., my second cousin, once removed) find his birth mother within one hour of our DNA match, 2) finding a second cousin (Kinzel, 13 segments or 2.45% shared) on my mother's side using 23andme's Relative Finder; 3) a third cousin once removed (Manly, 3 segments or .81% shared) on my father's side using 23andme's Relative Finder; 4) finding one sixth cousin (an Armbruster on my mother's side); 5) a seventh cousin (Bishop surname, also on my mother's side) once removed; 6) a distant cousin using FTDNA's Family Finder; 7) a fourth cousin once removed (another Bishop) without FamilyTreeDNA confirmation, although they wrote saying: "The two of you share a total of 31.681079 cM spread over 14 segments and have a longest matching block of 3.716430 cM;" and lastly, 8) several statistically unlikely matches to 7th great grandparents such as my Swiss line via Herr! Finally, the modest amount of auDNA (about 0.10 percent) which points to Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry would suggest an eighth or ninth great grandparent, perhaps my Haupt line.

Most of my family lines seem to be either farmers or preachers (including possibly the Rev. Hans Herr, "full servant of the Word"); and, more recently:

• Wilkes B. Richardson was born on Carroll's Manor in MD aka Clynmalira

• Vinson E. Richardson, my great grandfather patented a rag rug looper in 1902

• John Weaver, my great-great grandfather was briefly held hostage by the Confederate General Morgan

• William D. Mercer, my great-great grandfather served in the Civil War as a minister (to see what he would have worn as headgear)

• Vinson Richardson, my 3rd great grandfather, sent his children away to be safe during his service in the War of 1812

• Robert Gray, my 3rd great grandfather became embroiled in a marriage dispute and appealed it to the Ohio Supreme Court

• Johannes Bankes, my fourth great-grandfather, died by drowning in the Muskingum River in 1827 (no body was ever recovered) and

• Edward Bozman, my fourth great-grandfather stole a handmade shirt and was transported to America in 1741!

• And, finally, I am awaiting my $2,000,000 from the turn of the previous century's House Heirs Association scam!

And, as of January 2017 I have an American Patriot, Johann Adam BARR (1761-1833), a 17-year-old First Lieutenant for the Fourth Company of the Second Battalion in Pennsylvania in April 1778. His father, Jacob Barr, is also a Patriot but proving it revolves around his son's 1761 baptismal record. And, in addition, I am still working on my Rickey line for a SAR supplemental, and along the way, I had to research the Old Rickey Family Cemetery in Wells Township, Jefferson County, Ohio, which may have existed from 1825-1969 and his Presbyterian Church memberships in NJ, PA, and Ohio and got to sort out the early Presbyterian congregations in Jefferson County, OH. If the research pans out, I may have twelve patriots. Time will tell…

Being an eighth-generation Ohioan, I was inducted into the OGS' "First Families in Ohio" in the spring of 2016 based on my paternal third great grandparents, Aaron and Lucy Stewart Hughes as well as my second great grandfather, William Hughes, who was born in Ohio about 1806. And, my Rickey family has been in Ohio prior to 1803 (and I was inducted into First Families of Ohio on this line in Spring 2018) and into the First Families of Pennsylvania, since John Rickey was in the Colony at least since 1779.

Perhaps my very distant cousin, Alexander McCall Smith said it best: I am "of very obscure origins from some dim and undistinguished town in a potato-growing area somewhere."

• My Richardson Family Tree, autobiography of John V. Richardson Sr. (1918-2009)
• Hope S. Richardson, The Song I Sing (ITA Press, 2014)—whose IS church papers have been donated to Pepperdine University (in late 2019)
• Die Weber Familie: The Weber, Wollenschläger, Habermann, and Kempf Families in Early 19th Century Palatine Germany, Brazil, and the United States of America (available December 2019)

Before 1200, most folks answered to a single given name; many surnames emerged from occupational activities. So, Richardson, literally, is a patronymic, "son of Richard." Probably part of the wave of European immigration after the Norman Conquest of William the Conqueror, which overran Saxon England in 1066. I have my paternal line documented back to a Lawrence Richardson (Abt 1606-1666) in Taunton, Somerset County, England, although most Richardsons can be found in Yorkshire. Further back, the name comes from an Old German name 'Ricard' meaning powerful or brave ruler or chief; Latin filius Ricardi. In Scotland, the Richardson "sept" belongs to the Buchanan (ancient, hunting, and modern) or the Ogilvie (ancient or hunting-for the fall season) clan (or family, dating from the 13th century). So, I should wear a kilt, I suppose; you know, originally, the more colors in the tartan meant the higher the rank of the person (i.e., one for a servant to seven for a chief). For the moment, I am serving as the Richardson Surname Administrator for FamilyTreeDNA.com. Consider getting tested; let's see how closely we are related…

Perhaps my very distant cousin, Alexander McCall Smith said it best: I am "of very obscure origins from some dim and undistinguished town in a potato-growing area somewhere."

My RICHARDSON family tree, going back about eleven generations, includes more than 20,000 individuals in the following known families—on my paternal side, Smith, Humphrey, Weaver/Weber (Neunkirchen am Potzberg, Germany), Wallace (Ireland/Scotland), Bozman (London, England), Standiford, Taylor (Lichfield, Staffordshire, England), Kinge, as well as the related lines of Hughes (England), Stauffer (Bern, Switzerland), Stewart, Lewis, Plucker, Kempf (Germany), Stickler (Bern, Switzerland), Goodrich, Keller (Zurich, Switzerland), and Wohlschlaeger/ Wollenschlager (Germany) as well as on my maternal side Bankes/Bacher/Benkes /Benkis/Benkus (Germany), Bast (Germany) Bradt (Norway), Hickerson, Carman, Rickey (Scotland), Bradt De Hooges/Cole/Kool (Amsterdam, Netherlands) and Swartwout (from The Netherlands on the "De Bonte Koe" aka "Spotted Cow" in 1660), Decker/Dekker (The Netherlands), Kortreght (The Netherlands), Otsen (the Amsterdam printer of some fame), and Webber as well as related lines including Pletcher, Stoneburner/Steinbrenner (Germany), Mercer (Kent, England) and Taylor (Chester, England), Kiesel (Germany), Price (England), Johnson (Upper Canada), Gray, Still, Taliaferro (Middlesex, England), Turner (Germany), and Kolb (Germany).

My analysis also suggests the following predominately Protestant religious beliefs: Anabaptist (Graf families), regular Baptist (Hickerson and Carman families), Church of Christ (Smith families), Church of England (Richardson families), Christian Church (Bankes family), Dutch Reformed (Cole, Swartout families), Lutheran (Bankes, Roberts, Stoneburner/Steinbrenner, Weber/Weaver families), Mennonite (Groff, Herr, Keller families), Methodist Episcopal (Mercer, Richardson, and Smith families), Moravian (Kiesel, Stauffer families), Puritan (my progenitor Lawrence Richardson who immigrated into Virginia and then Maryland), Quaker aka Society of Friends (Babb, Hussey, Lewis, Mallonee, Mercer and Taylor families), Reformed Church (Stauffer and Strickler), and United Brethren (Humphrey families). Of course, if I could push back further than 1517, all of these families will become Catholic.

My recent (aka last six hundred years) maternal family roots seem to point to Dutch (i.e., Bradt, de la Montagne, Kool, Kortreght, Otsen, Swartwout, van Hamburg, Veldtman, Webber, and Westerkamp) and paternal lines are English (i.e., Barnard, Batchelder, Bozman, Burgess, Butler, Carman, Cope--one of my longest lines, but unproven--Deane, Dorsey, Downes, Fynney, Gill, Hall, Harrison, Hughes, Humphrey, Hussey, Kenyon, Marsh, Mayhave, Moon, Pedrick, Perkins, Pocock, Porter, Prigg, Pyle, Richardson, Smith, Standiford, Taliaferro, Taylor, Travis, Underwood, Withers, and Wood), Scotch (i.e., Frissell, Gass, Gray, Porter, Humphrey, Rickey, Stewart, Taylor, and Wallace), Irish (Crawford and Wallace), Germanic (i.e., Barr, Beck, Gucker, Haupt, Hirzing, Kiesel, Landes, Mayer, Pletcher, Schnell, Schweiss, Sporri, Stellwagen, Steinbrenner/ Stoneburner, Weber/Weaver, and Wolf), Swiss origins (i.e., Graf, Groff, Herr, Keller, Landes, Peter, Pletcher, Schmutz, Schnavely/Schnebele, Spörri, Stauffer, Stetler, Strickler, and Veitin) as well as Welsh (i.e., Bowen). Genetically speaking, the R1b1a2 (R-M269 or more specifically R-S1480) (note: 23andme says R-U152) subclade would have originated in Central Asia/South Central Siberia; and yes, I am related to King Tutankhamen. While the mtDNA Haplogroup K (K2a6; CRS: 16224C, 16311C, 16362C, and 16519C and 73G, 146C, 152C, 263G, and 315.1C) would suggest the Alps, Ireland, or the United Kingdom on that side. Furthermore, my K2a6 Haplogroup (meaning, my mother's maternal line) would mean distant origins of about 16,000 years ago in found in the North Caucasus, central and north-western Europe, so Ötzi is very a distant "cousin" since he is K1f.

My best DNA success stories are finding: 1) helping an adopted family member (i.e., my second cousin, once removed) find his birth mother within one hour of our DNA match, 2) finding a second cousin (Kinzel, 13 segments or 2.45% shared) on my mother's side using 23andme's Relative Finder; 3) a third cousin once removed (Manly, 3 segments or .81% shared) on my father's side using 23andme's Relative Finder; 4) finding one sixth cousin (an Armbruster on my mother's side); 5) a seventh cousin (Bishop surname, also on my mother's side) once removed; 6) a distant cousin using FTDNA's Family Finder; 7) a fourth cousin once removed (another Bishop) without FamilyTreeDNA confirmation, although they wrote saying: "The two of you share a total of 31.681079 cM spread over 14 segments and have a longest matching block of 3.716430 cM;" and lastly, 8) several statistically unlikely matches to 7th great grandparents such as my Swiss line via Herr! Finally, the modest amount of auDNA (about 0.10 percent) which points to Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry would suggest an eighth or ninth great grandparent, perhaps my Haupt line.

Most of my family lines seem to be either farmers or preachers (including possibly the Rev. Hans Herr, "full servant of the Word"); and, more recently:

• Wilkes B. Richardson was born on Carroll's Manor in MD aka Clynmalira

• Vinson E. Richardson, my great grandfather patented a rag rug looper in 1902

• John Weaver, my great-great grandfather was briefly held hostage by the Confederate General Morgan

• William D. Mercer, my great-great grandfather served in the Civil War as a minister (to see what he would have worn as headgear)

• Vinson Richardson, my 3rd great grandfather, sent his children away to be safe during his service in the War of 1812

• Robert Gray, my 3rd great grandfather became embroiled in a marriage dispute and appealed it to the Ohio Supreme Court

• Johannes Bankes, my fourth great-grandfather, died by drowning in the Muskingum River in 1827 (no body was ever recovered) and

• Edward Bozman, my fourth great-grandfather stole a handmade shirt and was transported to America in 1741!

• And, finally, I am awaiting my $2,000,000 from the turn of the previous century's House Heirs Association scam!

And, as of January 2017 I have an American Patriot, Johann Adam BARR (1761-1833), a 17-year-old First Lieutenant for the Fourth Company of the Second Battalion in Pennsylvania in April 1778. His father, Jacob Barr, is also a Patriot but proving it revolves around his son's 1761 baptismal record. And, in addition, I am still working on my Rickey line for a SAR supplemental, and along the way, I had to research the Old Rickey Family Cemetery in Wells Township, Jefferson County, Ohio, which may have existed from 1825-1969 and his Presbyterian Church memberships in NJ, PA, and Ohio and got to sort out the early Presbyterian congregations in Jefferson County, OH. If the research pans out, I may have twelve patriots. Time will tell…

Being an eighth-generation Ohioan, I was inducted into the OGS' "First Families in Ohio" in the spring of 2016 based on my paternal third great grandparents, Aaron and Lucy Stewart Hughes as well as my second great grandfather, William Hughes, who was born in Ohio about 1806. And, my Rickey family has been in Ohio prior to 1803 (and I was inducted into First Families of Ohio on this line in Spring 2018) and into the First Families of Pennsylvania, since John Rickey was in the Colony at least since 1779.

Perhaps my very distant cousin, Alexander McCall Smith said it best: I am "of very obscure origins from some dim and undistinguished town in a potato-growing area somewhere."

• My Richardson Family Tree, autobiography of John V. Richardson Sr. (1918-2009)
• Hope S. Richardson, The Song I Sing (ITA Press, 2014)—whose IS church papers have been donated to Pepperdine University (in late 2019)
• Die Weber Familie: The Weber, Wollenschläger, Habermann, and Kempf Families in Early 19th Century Palatine Germany, Brazil, and the United States of America (available December 2019)

Before 1200, most folks answered to a single given name; many surnames emerged from occupational activities. So, Richardson, literally, is a patronymic, "son of Richard." Probably part of the wave of European immigration after the Norman Conquest of William the Conqueror, which overran Saxon England in 1066. I have my paternal line documented back to a Lawrence Richardson (Abt 1606-1666) in Taunton, Somerset County, England, although most Richardsons can be found in Yorkshire. Further back, the name comes from an Old German name 'Ricard' meaning powerful or brave ruler or chief; Latin filius Ricardi. In Scotland, the Richardson "sept" belongs to the Buchanan (ancient, hunting, and modern) or the Ogilvie (ancient or hunting-for the fall season) clan (or family, dating from the 13th century). So, I should wear a kilt, I suppose; you know, originally, the more colors in the tartan meant the higher the rank of the person (i.e., one for a servant to seven for a chief). For the moment, I am serving as the Richardson Surname Administrator for FamilyTreeDNA.com. Consider getting tested; let's see how closely we are related…

Perhaps my very distant cousin, Alexander McCall Smith said it best: I am "of very obscure origins from some dim and undistinguished town in a potato-growing area somewhere."