Blog Some Genealogy

All of Virginia is abuzz about the upcoming arrival of Queen Elizabeth II to Jamestown and points in between from there to Washington. It was 400 years ago this month that her Royal relative, the first Queen Elizabeth, sent her British subjects to the Virginia Colony, which was named in honor of Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen. One has to wonder if at times the present Elizabeth doesn’t wish she had been a “Virgin Queen” too, considering the antics of her progeny these last few decades.

Some lucky Virginians are going to have the great honor of coming face to face with the Queen, but few of them know what to say nor how to behave. “Give the Queen a Hand, but When It Comes to Bowing . . .” don’t, advises WaPo, the local authority for all things Virginian.

Virginia’s governor has gotten into the act and has a new Web site creation about how he expects HIS subjects to behave when Her Royal Highness comes calling. First tip - she will be greatly insulted if you address her as “Her Royal Highness” , according to “Virginia’s Royal Welcome”. Furthermore, His Highness the Commonwealth’s Governor has created an entire page for Virginians to learn Queenly “Royal Etiquette.”

If you are a United States citizen you are not required to bow or curtsy to the Queen. Jolly good - as after all we fought a war over just that sort of silliness with the Queen’s Great-Great, George III back in ‘76. For genuine Americans shaking hands is acceptable. If you are British or a citizen of one of the Commonwealth states, excepting Virginia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, you must bow or curtsy, depending upon whether you are a man or a woman. Be real careful about that last rule, as these days it is hard to tell, and we don’t want anyone on Virginia soil to be suddenly banished to the Tower of London to lose his or her head. If you are an illegal immigrant - anything goes, as no one can lay a hand on you, Queens, Governors, Presidents notwithstanding.

Genealogists have to be especially cautious when talking with the Queen. Her Majesty absolutely does not want to hear that you too are descended from royalty. Even if you have the DNA evidence to back up your claim, keep your lips sealed, or you may be getting a non-tour of the Tower too.

After all these centuries of British settlement here in Virginia, it was not until the Queen’s own father, George VI, came to call in 1939, that the United States had ever been visited by a British monarch. Queen Elizabeth II is only the second Royal ruler to step upon this formerly British soil that is now the Commonwealth of Virginia. This will be only her third visit. All Hail to the Queen.

This is in answer to the following post:

My husband, Robert Shuttleworth, is descended from Mildred’s brother Samuel Drumheller, born 1781 in Virginia! I am interested in any information you have on the Drumheller family. Your site is wonderful!

Comment by Barbara Shuttleworth

Barbara - Thank you. I do not have any record of your Samuel DRUMHELLER. My ancestor, Mildred DRUMHELLER, did have a brother named Samuel, but according to my records he was born much later, in 1801. I know of only one other Samuel and he was born much earlier, about 1750. Do you know when and where your Samuel DRUMHELLER died?

This photographic genealogy mosaic was created using Flickr.com photographs and the Flickr Toy “Mosaic Maker” at flagrantdisregard.com. The creator combined her genealogy photographs at Flickr.com to make a photo mosaic of her mother’s pedigree. Here are the instructions that she wrote:

Go to fd’s Flickr Toys flagrantdisregard.com/flickr/
Click on Mosaic Maker.

For the style of mosaic I used, I selected the “4x4 with large center” layout.
I used the large tile size.
You can select your background and border colors.
You can select how many pixels between photos. (I chose 0)
I wanted to select my own photos; so I chose to select images from “individual URLs.”
The first selection is the center photo.
The other selections go in order left to right, top to bottom, as you see them in my mosaic.
Just click on “Choose a photo from Flickr” for each one and pick your photo by looking at it.

When you’re done, you can click on the link to automatically save it to your flickr photostream, name it, add your description, and add tags.

Then just go to flickr and put it in the set you want, and tweak the details all you want.

It’s so easy! I’m not very experienced with digital photo stuff; so it had to be pretty simple for me to even try it.

The image, Dorothy Nell PERRY Pedigree Mosaic, was originally uploaded by nursehealer. It is posted here from