The Genealogical Journey of Four Families

From Mayflower passengers to nineteenth-century Scottish immigrants, Roots in America: Millers, Claypools, Grants, and Swiggetts from Settlement to the Midwest tells the story of author Abigail Miller’s paternal ancestors.

She describes the journey of four families, largely of British origin, placing them in historical context. The characters are representative of a broad group of settlers and pioneers who were not famous or remarkable, except as we are all remarkable and unique, but who helped lay the foundations of America. The author includes a number of family stories and anecdotes.

Miller was driven to preserve, and in a few cases extend, the family information handed down to her by her father and his parents before him. As a result, Roots in America includes formal genealogies of the families of Abijah Miller, of New York State, and his wives Sarah Titus and Lucinda Wicker; Abraham Claypool and his wife Elizabeth Wilson, of Virginia and Ross County, Ohio; Colquhoun and Innes Grant, sons of Peter Grant and Margaret Cunningham, of Stirling, Scotland, and the brothers’ several wives; and Levin Swiggett, of Seaford, Delaware and Cambridge City, Indiana, and his wife Hester Ann Owen.

The dilemma for all family historians is when to stop collecting information–or often in her case, additional evidence–and commit to writing. Having committed to a project of significant scale, Miller tries to clearly indicate where evidence falls short and provide a pathway for future genealogists.