George Michael & Sidney Wolfe

Saturday, September 26, 2009

My great-grandmother Sidney is a West. The West are traced back to Sir Thomas West (1577-1618). He was educated at Queen's College and elected to Parliament in 1597. He was knighted for bravery fighting battles in Holland & Ireland under the Earl of Essex. In 1610, he became Baron de la Warr, Governor and Captain General of Virginia. Sailing in March 1610, with three ships, 150 settlers, and supplies. He himself carried a major part of the expense of the expedition. Governor West arrived at Jamestown on June 10th in time to intercept colonists trying abandon the enterprise and to return to England. In 1611, West returned to England. By May 1618, he tried to sail back to Jamestown, but never made it. He died and was buried at sea. Poisoning was suspected.

Sidney is also descended from Temperance Flowerdew and her husband, Governor George Yeardley. Their first born, Elizabeth (1619-1666), married Major Joseph Croshaw (1610-1667).
Elizabeth & Joseph Croshaw's daughter, Unity (1636-1669) married Colonel John West (1632-1689). Our line follows their 3rd child, Thomas West (1670-1714).

Sidney's family is traced to Jamestown Colony, Flowerdew Hundred Plantation, West & Sherley Plantation, Westover Plantation, West Point Plantation, and the House of Tudor.

The West & Wolfe families migrated from Carolinas & Virginia around 1770 - 1776. They settled in the northern section of Christian County, known as the 'Fruit District'.

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Sidney the cook and gardener!

Sidney always kept pies & cakes. Her children and grandchildren came by most every Sunday. Jim Wolfe went over during the week to see want grocerys were needed. Grandmaw Wolfe made lots of special decorated cookies for the grandchildren. She kept a cookie jar full at all times. Her potato salad were really something special. She made her own dressing.

She always had beautiful flowers. Her children were always amazed when she could get something to grow they couldn't. Magnificent flowerbeds during the summer. Plush house plants during the winter. Lots of begonias and ferns.

Tough Times at Jamestown

The beginning of the American form of government was fraught with suffering. That revelation about 17th-century settlers in Jamestown, Virginia has slowly surfaced as a team led by archaeologist William Kelso excavates James Fort. Evidence at the fort, which existed from 1607 into the 1620s, indicates that arriving colonists were almost immediately thrust into severe hardships in the form of drought, disease, battles with Indians, starvation, and death. Of the 6,000 English settlers who survived the trip across the Atlantic between 1607 and 1625, more than half perished. But those who survived forged a path toward unimaginable opportunity.

Genealogy Information on the West family

Philip E. West married Eliza A Johnson in 1837. Philip (1811-1895) and Eliza (1813-1895) were both born in North Carolina. At some time before 1850, this West line moved to the Fruit Hill precinct of Christian County, KY. They had seven children. Five were living in 1884:

1st: "Hue" Henry M

2nd: "Alsie" Cornelia C

3rd: "Ben" Benjamin H (born 3-2-1848) adopted one child

4th: Sidney E. West Wolfe (my great grandmother)

5th: "Minnie" Margaret Eva West Nixon (d: 1890) bore the following children - Eva Nixon McPherson, Evan, Clarence, & Harvey

Three generations before Philip West the family lived in North Carolina. In the 1700s, Sidney's ancestors owned a plantation named "West Point". Her West ancestors married Croshaw & Yeardley girls of 17th C Jamestown Colony. In 15th & 16th C England, the Wests were well educated, titled and connected with the House of Tudor. One of the West men married Sir Francis Knollys' daughter.