Our Family History

Marilee Grier (née Brady) and Paul D Garrett met online through OKCupid in April of 2014.

We "clicked" instantly over literature, politics, religion, and outlooks on life. This deepened as we kept in touch through email, messenger, phone, and finally in person. We fell in love, and so, on 31 July 2015, we married.

This is an on-going project. Every day we review the "BMD's (births / marriages/ deaths) looking for errors to fix. Sometimes this is daunting, but every day the database becomes cleaner and, inevitably, more extensive. If, while exploring, you spot mistakes, please report these to us for correction. If you have photographs and/or stories you'd care to share, we're enthusiastic to hear from you.

Bradys & Hursts and Parkinsons & Justesens

Marilee's immediate paternal and maternal branches, respectively, can be traced back to colonial times and way beyond, to the Norman Conquest of England. A pair of relatives sailed aboard the Mayflower.

The bulk, however, have been overwhelmingly Mormon since the days of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. They are geographically concentrated in the "Mormon Corridor." And they have pulled in many immigrant branches from Germany, Scandinavia, the Low Countries, and the British Isles to marry their prolific offspring. Review, if you wish, a listing of our Mormon Pioneers' epic crossings of the Atlantic Ocean and the American Great Plains

Paul's paternal lines also trace back through colonial times to the Normans. Known then as Garrards and Gerrards -- quite distinct lines -- they were military men, fighting for the current king as well as for themselves. They developed vast land holding via marriage and royal gifts. As the feudal system weakened, they became important merchants, businessmen, and administrators. Until shortly before they immigrated to America they were strong Roman Catholics and later Anglicans. Those who embraced Protestantism (including many Quakers), however, had little choice but to emigrate. Some of their cousins who stayed behind were sent to the Tower of London to be tortured and beheaded. All who dissented from the Church of England lost everything. For the next 300 years this line of Garretts were farmers. They settled primarily in the Carolinas and Georgia, moved to Kentucky and Tennessee during the American Civil War and then westward after the conflict.

One of them, Lehman M Garrett of Macon, Georgia, joined the U.S. Navy, married a "damn Yankee" from Brooklyn, NY. Evelyn Hyde and settled in Southern California. Evelyn's forebears hailed from Germany...

If you're curious, before digging deeper, check out our Famous Folk...

HINT: Each of the hyperlinks below launches a fan chart rooted in the most recent member of the named branch. These are a useful way to begin navigating. Browse for names that interest you. As you mouse over a name, a summary of that person's data is displayed. Click the name to open a given record. Use the Family link to see how s/he is related to others and search further... Also note that in trees Marilee's and Paul's direct ancestors are identified by RED photos and tokens. This is a matter of (our) navigating convenience.