Maxwell's

My month long rampage to pull together all of my Maxwell information has proven itself to be quite the task.  My brother-in-law recently asked me how accurate the information that I've gathered is.  I told him that the further away from myself that I get, the less accurate the information becomes.  While it may only be small increments of inaccuracy along the way, by the time I get to distant cousin's it can be sketchy at best.

After getting over the shock that I might actually be of Scottish descent, I reminded myself that really is to be expected with the Irish.  I have been wondering how far back I'd have to go to find a Brit or Scot who came to Ireland and married into my Irish family line and were, essentially, assimilated into being Irish.  You've got to love that!  

Ancestry.com certainly has a lot of information.  I still need to complete some good sourcing for many of the those on my Maxwell line.  The line probably appears rather unsourced for the James Maxwell of Scotland.  It is.  Where James Maxwell was from in Scotland and who his immediate family was, is a bit of a mystery right now for this Maxwell line.  I do have plenty of source information for his son, Joseph Patrick Maxwell, who married Judith Shaffrey in Moynalty, had children, and immigrated to the U.S. 

Once stateside, it is easy to find people in the U.S. Census.  The 1940 U.S. Census should be available in 2012.  This will help source more current generations on my family tree including the Maxwell's.  Citing source information is a rather critical step in creating one's family tree.  I have source information but need to spend sometime citing it against those on my tree.  I'm sure that would improve the accuracy.

I do have more tidbits of information about my Maxwell's including their various occupations.  Let's just say there are lots of farmers and teachers in this Maxwell Line.  I'm sure that there is more to come with this family line.