Genealogy Place Names - C

C is for . . .  Cadbury, England

This report on the letter “C” of place names in our family starts with a mistake. Although mistakes that are found on ancestry.com are frustrating it demonstrates why I consider the website and it’s wonderful tree a worksheet in progress and not a family tree cast in stone. I started off with Cadbury – a great name with a sweet connotation – all those wonderful Cadbury Easter eggs. Then, as you will see, I find that someone has placed a wrong child in a family and it is not our line at all! And, to top that off Cadbury eggs come from London, not Cadbury!  If you are an Anglophile you will enjoy these Wikipedia articles of this area rich in history. The article on Wynebald de Ballon (not our family) is a good example of an early Norman Lord.  It is part 2 of this alphabetic report that holds a treasure – a truly great man. 

Be sure to read part 2 about Ebergard “Evrard’ di Friuli I and the fabulous wine making area that was part of his domain. 

Cadbury, Somerset, England 

(Yes, those wonderful Cadbury eggs come from England and were founded by John Cadbury, but they are headquartered in London.)

How romantic – Cadbury Castle and the area seem to be Camelot! (Control – click on links)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadbury_Castle,_Somerset
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynebald_de_Ballon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manor_of_Dyrham#Wynebald_de_Ballon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Cadbury

Mabilia de Ballon  1125-1156 

The Normans (French) were conquerors of England in and around 1066 a great deal of English land was granted by William the Conqueror to the Norman lords. Wynebald de Ballon was one of those lords.  He took over North Cadbury Manor in Somerset between 1086 and 1092. It apparently was his primary residence although he had multiple land holdings. The manor then passed to his daughter Mabilia’s husband, Henry de Newmarch. Certainly in a perfect world she would have inherited her father’s estates but by English law she could not.

It is with this alphabetic exercise and Mabilia of Cadbury that I’ve uncovered a mistake in the family tree. Someone placed a cuckoo in her nest – a child that was clearly not hers and he was our ancestor.  I’ve had to disconnect our family from this Cadbury family – they are not our great grandparents. We did have many who were Norman lords, so I will keep Cadbury here as an example of the Normans who represent a great deal of our family in France.

Above is a later version of the birthplace of the Wynebald de Ballon and his brothers.  This is Donjon de Ballon, know as the Gateway to Maine 12 miles north of Le Mans, capital of the ancient province of Maine. (The modern region of Pays-de-la-Loire in France. ) The area was conquered by William, Duke of Normandy (William the Conqueror) in 1066 before his invasion of England. The de Ballon brothers must have joined William at this time but it is not known if they fought in the Battle of Hastings. [The Battle of Hastings was a huge turning point for France and England, so check it out on Wikipedia!]

C is for . . .

Cysoing, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cysoing 

Ebergard “Evrard’ di Friuli I, ‘Saint’ Margrave of Friuli  820-866

Our 32^nd (34, 35) Great Grandfather - Can you imagine – we have a ‘Saint’ as an ancestor. Well, we have several. This is one I’d like to travel back in time to meet. He is also called ‘Margrave’ which most often meant Military Governor. 

This is a famous wine making area. See below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friuli-Venezia_Giulia_wine

This is the link to follow to learn about the life of Eberhard and his connection to Cysoing. This was one of the great men of his time and for the ages. If you read only one article in this post  – read the article on the Find A Grave site. It is excellent.

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=119345175

A link to Eberhard’s wife – a Princess.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gisela,_daughter_of_Louis_the_Pious

Cysoing

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cysoing&prev=search

Cysoing – Chateau de l’Abbaye – photo by Musette Thierry
Once again a big thank you for the wonderful information from Wikipedia. Please support them financially as you can.
Also, a special thank you to Find A Grave, now owned by ancestry.com, for the great entry for Ebergard “Evrard’ di I

Knox County - There a "Turkey in the Straw"! For Grandpa Disney

William Fidler

I’ve added Knox County to the list, not because our ancestors pioneered there, but because Grandpa Disney’s ancestors were farming there. I planned this blog post as a nice birthday present for him, but I’ve missed it by one day. Yes, he is my step-father. He has been in my life since I was four – a very long time – long enough to add nurturing influence on the flip side of nature. There are similarities in our families.  Some of his family was Quaker like ours. Some of them lived in Maryland, Ohio, and Iowa like ours. He may be more closely related, in a genetic sense, to Walt Disney, but going back to England and before that to the Normans he shares direct line ancestors on our massive family tree – and in great numbers, which in a twisted way makes us related to old Walt, as well (without the Disney money, of course). J

Jane Anne Murphy

I’m past the halfway point in the county journey. Inevitably they are all Ohio counties and therefore have a similar history. Some of them have similar geography. You can count on snow in the winter in all of them. There is farming almost everywhere. As similar as the counties are they all have a unique character and something special and of value to offer.  

What about famous people? Well, Johnny Appleseed (YouTube video) lived in Knox before moving on to plant trees in Indiana. Here’s one you might know. Luke Perry graduated from high school in Knox County. The county is mostly rural with a few very nice middle-American villages and towns. The history was pretty familiar – a few ancient mounds – Indians on the warpath – when looking for early settlers the faint of heart need not apply. There was the same kind of growth – the mill, the bank, the school, the church. I was beginning to despair in finding anything unique to write about. And then. .

Knox County captured my heart.
[Note: the website I originally had in this place disappeared.] Here is one from the Knox County Chamber of Commerce. http://www.knoxchamber.com/
And then. . . I found this website: http://www.visitknoxohio.org/   The site is chock full of information but the best things are the series of videos you’ll find in the center of the page. 

Now, about the videos: A rails to trails project is on-going in Ohio to take the old railroad bed trail from the Ohio River near Cincinnati diagonally across the state to Lake Erie. Knox County has been proactive in completing their several sections of the trail and you may want to check out a video or two on the trails. Don’t miss the video on the Tree Frog Canopy Tours – the zip-lining looks like great fun. Another is the one on Knox County’s most famous son. You may never have heard of him but you certainly should know his songs!  Don’t miss the video “The Life and Times of Dan Emmett.” We had a great grandfather who played the violin and fiddled at barn dances and he no doubt played some of Emmett’s songs. The next video on the list made me smile – it is dorky and cute and a lot of fun – a flash mob at the street fair at Mt. Vernon to “We Built This City on Rock and Roll.”  There is also a video on the Mohican Pow Wow.

Knox is another of Ohio’s counties I’d love to visit. The list is getting long – I’d better start planning a road trip!      

Johnny Appleseed
Wikipedia

Happy Birthday, Dad! [Note: Dad Disney passed May 10, 2016. I hope he's out there planting seedlings with Johnny Appleseed. He would love that!]