Well... I'm not Scottish at all, after all...

[Joshua]

Well, the spelling differences were quite common -

My father was adopted by his maternal uncle, which is why we have the surname Davis, instead of Trott which is his biological last name.

I've seen trott, trot, tratt, and trout but they all link up (same family member names/counties in census records).

The record stops with a Charles Francis "Frank" Trott born in Maryland. However, as I just discovered from a distant cousin who publicized his lifes-work of research on "Frank", my ancestor was actually adopted by Frank in or before 1850, and the actual father is James Trott, who is most likely Charles Francis' brother.

Frank's wife, Maria Urquhart, was disowned by her slave-owning family for running off with him, a Yankee. Once they eloped, they took a carriage to Buffalo Township Ohio, and built furniture until Charles built his (very respectable) fortune as a hotel and wool-mill owner.

As far as my real surname goes, if Adoption counts... then I'm a Welshie... Even though I'm ready for the "inbred Appalachian" jokes - My dad's grandparents had the same last name of Davis, even though they were of no relation whatsoever... I've tracked both lines, and they both started in Wales, moved to London (or Marlborough) England, then to Holland, then aboard the 2nd and 3rd Plymouth voyages (I found the names on the "Mayflower" manifests, but not on the original manifests which leads me to believe they came over on one of the "followup" trips to Plymouth).




Here are the things that amaze me most, as I grew up thinking (assuming) the following...
1. My ancestors would have fought for the Confederacy during the Civil war. (Not true - 3 ancestors fought in the Ohio militia, no one fought for the South).
2. I would have at least a few post-colonial immigrants in my bloodline. (So far, not true...)