While I was interested in my ancestry from the early years of childhood when I listened to stories of events that had happened more than a hundred years ago, it was not until I reached adulthood that I sought to know who I really was.  This site will be an exercise in accurately documenting my ancestry not just for my own benefit, but for all those who can derive some positive use of the information presented.  Since 2007, I have collected voluminous genealogical documents and materials.  I have become the repository of my family for these things.  No one in my family took the time to write these things down before, so I have taken it upon myself and (hopefully) create a lasting record to benefit posterity.

When documented family history, I became exasperated by a lack of primary documentation for what could best be called “family lore”.  Additionally, I stumbled upon errors in numerous “authoritative” published works.  While I do not guarantee the absolute accuracy of all the information I post here,  I will qualify the information I present and rate its reliability for the benefit of those who come after me.

A note on the title- Lyon’s Whelp was the name of the ship on which Thomas Minor, one of 2400 ancestors of his generation in my family arrived in the New World.  While Minor is not my most prominent ancestor (although he was a founder of the towns of Stonington and New London, CT, was a chronicler of early colonial life in MA, and probably heard John Winthrop give the “City on a Hill” sermon), the name of this vessel speaks to his lived experience as well as mine.  “Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?”- Genesis 49:9.