(This site is designed to be viewed on a computer. Viewing is not optimal on a smartphone.)

Welcome

This is a family tree and ancestral history of Peyton Giles Townes and his wife Muriel Acree Pearce. While Peyton and Muriel are the focus, this site covers the ancestry of many members of their extended families, including their siblings, descendants, nieces and nephews, and cousins. Hopefully it will be of interest to anyone in the web of connections make up a family tree.

This started out as a "little project" while I was organizing boxes of family memorabilia. It grew into a hobby and bigger project as my own curiosity grew.

Because Peyton and Muriel had different family trees, the site is structured to cover each separately. It stops at the generation of Peyton and Muriel and does not include living relatives.

Both Peyton and Muriel were descended from families with roots that extend back to the earliest days of the European settlement of North America. While today their descendants and kin are scattered throughout the United States, most of their American ancestors lived in the southern states until the mid-20th Century.

Their ancestors migrated from the British Isles to Virginia and North Carolina, many during the era of Jamestown in the 1600's and the pre-Revolutionary War period. Going back further into their European backgrounds, some branches include royal grandparents and other prominent nobles (and some not-so-nobles). This site primarily covers the American generations, and when information is available, their European ancestors.

The section of Virginia where many of Peyton's and Muriel's ancestors lived from Norfolk, New Kent, Gloucester and Matthews counties in the sourtheast near the Chesapeake Bay and inland and north and west to Henrico and Amelia.

About

The site includes pages for individuals (some with just the basics and others with more details), and general pages with articles and documents and photographs. You can track your own ancestors by going to your nearest known relative. If you get lost, you can always use the browser's Back button to return to the previous page.

(Some of the charts and other relationship information is calculated based me as their son.)

Navigation

Generational Lines -- The link in the menu bar above is a horizontal chart of parents, spouses and siblings by generation. You can move back and forward through generations and open individual person pages from that.
Surnames -- You can find family names and individuals at the "Surnames" link at the top of the menu.
Family Charts and Maps -- This includes graphs with visual charts of specific branches of the family tree. It also includes maps showing the areas where ancestors lived.
Interactive Family Tree -- The link above goes to an interactive family tree chart that visualizes an overview of ancestors and relationships. You can change the focus to individuals and specific family lines by clicking on the boxes. Use the cursor to move within charts, and the controls to zoom in and out. You can open or close the information column on the left.

Viewing Images

This site contains images of varying sizes, and some need to be enlarged. Due to the software, larger images/documents may require 3 steps.

To enlarge an image, click the square icon above the thumbnail. Close image by clicking on X.
To enlarge more, click "Open Full Size" below enlarged image.
To zoom in more click the Magnifying Glass which will take it to largest size. You can point the magnifier to specific sections. Press Back button on your browser to close Full Size image.

Note: Some pages include screenshots of profiles from WikiTree and/or Geni and Family Search. These are collective genealogy websites. If you are interested in viewing these sites and pages directly online, you can sign up for free on the sites with no obligation. (The charts there are based on relationships to myself as a son of Muriel and Peyton Townes.)

Content

This family tree is based on information from a variety of sources, including research and memorabilia previously collected by Muriel and Peyton and other relatives. It also draws on other sources including books and online material, public records, other family histories, and genealogy websites.

Genealogy is not always exact and sometimes leads to contradictory or inconclusive information. And, yes, errors. I have tried to be as conservative as possible and use sources that are trustworthy and verifiable, and to indicate where there may be discrepancies. Also, to keep it manageable, it is focused primarily on direct ancestral lines rather than all of the more distant branches.

It's an ongoing work-in-progress, and any corrections or additional information is welcome.

Reality Check

Genealogy is a form of history, and like history it contains elements that are good, bad and indifferent. While there is much about these ancestors that was admirable, there is one difficult reality that cannot be ignored: As affluent white residents of the American South, prior to 1865 the majority of them were slave owners, and active supporters of the Confederacy. And the earlier colonial settlers also had a hand in the displacement of the indigenous Native Americans.