I come from some pretty interesting stock to say the least....On my father's side ( SLOANE ) I descend from Samuel SLOAN Sr. and Anges / Ann CLARKE  The line is believed to have arrived here from Ireland and settled in the Butler Co., Pennsylvania area and as I understand were fairly prominent citizens. Their son Samuel Jr., my 3rd Great-Grandfather was brother to Captain John Sloan and father of Thomas M.C. Sloan who married Sarah Ann CORNELIUS. They were my 2nd great grandparents.  My Great Grandfather Jonathan Jay Sloan(e) was a steam engineer on the first oil well drilled in the U.S., The Drake.

 

John married Martha Jemima Eliza THOMAS daughter of Trueman Thomas and Letitia MARTIN. Parents Charles Thomas and Martha DRAPER  were early settlers of the Ottawa area of Canada and their descendants remained in that area for a long time.

The MONDIE and HEDDERICH lines hail from Germany for the most part and I haven't opened that chapter yet.  Surnames in that line include ZINK, BALBINAM, STUDER, WAMBACH and MUNZTER.

 

The MONTGOMERY line of my Grandfather's (William Raymond Montgomery) has some great history in the Alton, Illinois area and a good amount of tragedy as well.  Both of my grandfather Montgomery's brother's commited suicide and became the reason behind my grandfather's later founding of the Dallas, Texas Suicide and Crisis Prevention Center. This line descends from William C. Montgomery (Virginia 1786) and Anthony COX (Virginia,1754) . The memoires from Gramp's BELK side of the family tell fun stories of times when President George Washington would often ride by the home of Julia Ann SHECKLES on his white horse.

 

The Granville Jackson CARTER line were original pioneers of The Hill, Cherokee and Erath Counties of Texas. Emily WORNELL, mother of my great grandfather Hamilton Lee Carter passed down stories of many pioneer events and indian experiences during their establishment witnessed first hand.

 

Emily's Wornell father William Richard Wornel and family also have a long, interesting pioneer history complete with Hangings, kidnappings and War Service. Emily was the sister of a famed Texas soldier David Crockett Wornell.

 

The line that has bought me the most passion as of late is the line of my Great Grandmother, Mary Marshall HUDSON.  The lines of HUDSON and HAYNES more often than I can count intertwined, intermarried, got lost and got found.  The Haynes line descends from Henry Haynes Sr. (1701) through Benjamin Franklin Haynes and the Hudson line way back from William Hudson of England through John Brothers Hudson..
I have quite a few old photos and documents on the Hudson and Haynes lines and keep making discoveries and finding new relatives weekly it seems! (Whose complaining?!).  One of my favorite items are original, handwritten letters by my 2nd Great Grandmother Mary Rebecca Haynes wrote several months before her death in 1874 to her sister giving her counsel about choosing a husband.  Little did Mary Rebecca know that her sister Virgina would marry Rebecca's husband after her death and be both Aunt and Mama to my Great Grandmother, resulting in the life-long nickname of "Auntie-Mama".

The HUNDLEY / HUNLEY line I've just found along with Mary's mother Elmira Marshall Hundley and seems to hail from Virgina.  Family legend says that this line connects back to Chief Justice John Marshall of Virginia somehow and I look forward to solving that piece of the puzzle!

 

I guess all-in-all I've had some real "Beginners Luck" with many breakthroughs on all of my lines in the past year. 
I can't wait to see what the future holds!