(The photo above is of my Dad (Wes Pepper) running a combine in the early 1950s.)
Updated/Edited: 31 Mar 2015
Please NOTE!
This site was originally set up just for my (Teresa’s) ancestry, but will now have Brad’s ancestry as well. I don’t have the time to maintain two separate blogs, and since our children share our ancestry this works best for us all. 🙂
This is also my personal research as an amateur family historian. It is an ongoing work and it is not complete. I have many citations to add which will happen overtime. If you take information from the site you must verify it for yourself. I am not a professional genealogist, this is my hobby, and while I do strive for accuracy I sometimes have to go back in and correct errors and such.
Thanks for stopping by! Grab a “cuppa” or glass of iced tea, and get ready to learn about Gran’s (Teresa’s) and Grandpa’s (Brad’s) family history!
While I, Teresa, have thoroughly enjoyed the process of family research since 1977, it is ultimately my goal to be able to share with my family what I have discovered. I want my children and grandchildren to know about their family history. I will not try to sugar coat our ancestry or shield you from the bad or the ugly. It is what it is and regardless of the past, we are their descendants. So sit back and relax and hopefully enjoy!
This blog is devoted to mine and my husband’s ancestry so the focus will be on each of our four grandparents and their ancestors!
As the eldest child of my generation I was blessed to have known and spent time with all four of my grandparents. Thank-you Grandma and Grandpa Pepper and Grandma and Grandpa Roork for all you did for me! I think of you often! XXXXOOOO
I was also able to get to know Brad’s grandmother (his only long-living grandparent), Nellie Olive (Boothby) Paget, quite well, and for that I am truly grateful.
Aunts, uncles and cousins, do not despair! It is also our intent to share with our extended family our common ancestry. In these pages you will find fascinating stories and information about our direct and sometimes indirect ancestral family tree.
It will take me a while to get everything uploaded but do check back often for updates. Better yet, please subscribe to the page so you will receive blog updates and posts via email. It is in the BLOG that I’ll be sharing my research process and other interesting information about our family’s past…THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY!
If you’d like to read the blog posts in chronological order, first go to the “Read BLOG here!” and scroll to the bottom of the page to read in order from the bottom to the top.
I will be adding a lot of information and photos to this blog over the coming weeks, months, and years!
In order to get access to everything the blog has to offer you must make a trip to the site occasionally at www.gransfamilyhistory.com.
Remember this is a work in progress so please be patient!
Don’t forget to leave a reply below and do invite other family members to join!
And again, thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Teresa (Hamilton/Pepper) Rust, in Northern California
Gran's and Grandpa's Family History 
Ok.. Nice… will be fun to follow
Thanks cousin! XXOO
I think this is an awesome idea. You can share it so much easier and record history as it happens, how cool.
Look forward to the history
I will be posting Jarvis and Trant family information soon! Those surname’s are part of my grandmother Rachel Fay Sammon’s history, she was born in Iola, Grimes, Texas.
who does the beautiful baby belong to? Thanks for your efforts and generosity. d
That is my first little grandbaby, Aidan Bradly Allen/Larsen, he is the son of my daughter Rachel and her husband Shane. 🙂
Dottie, that is my eldest daughter’s baby boy. My FIRST grandchild! Aidan is now almost 9 months old, he is so sweet! Rachel is now married to Shane Allen/Larsen and they live not too far from me so I get to babysit regularly!
he is a sweet baby for sure:)
Looking forward to following along! I would really like to learn to do a blog like this. Nancy
P.S. We leave for Scotland tomorrow!!!
I just learned and I am still in the process of learning how to do this site! 😉 I went to Scotland last June and I loved it! What part are you visiting?
Teresa, this is wonderful!! I am sure I will find out info about my family that I do not know, Mom
Yes, you will! Check back again soon! Love, Teresa 🙂
Wow! You are so amazing. I love your layout and the header is so wonderful. What a great time we had in England and Scotland. Thank you for sharing your family history with me.
xo
Betty
You are the best, Betty! XO
very nice, Teresa.
Thanks, Aunt Helga! 🙂
What a wonderful job you are doing for all the families. I am very proud of you, however, you know that, Love Mom
Hi I am interested in Pepper family history are your Peppers from wexford Ireland any information apprecaited
Hi, Harvey, as it turns out our Peppers are really Hamiltons as the result of DNA testing. My maiden name is Pepper but through DNA we discovered that we do not relate to any other Peppers but rather to the Hamilton family in Massachusetts. Our adoptive Pepper family are descendants from Robert Pepper of Roxbury, MA and was an English Puritan. Do contact the people at the Pepper DNA Project and they can tell you more about the Irish line! http://www.familytreedna.com/public/pepper
Hi Teresa,
Thank you for your reply I will contact this link .
I enjoyed reading your family history ,well done to all !
Regards Harvey
You are welcome! Please let me know how your Pepper research goes.
I just found this today and intend to be back. You’ve done a fantastic job with this blog and I do intend to share it with my very large family! We should be able to help one another.
Hello Teresa,
I found some great info on the Peppers that are related to William Roy Judd and Nellie Hazel Adams our great grandparents. It appears we are related through your John Prouty Pepper and Samuel Adams lines. I haven’t done the dna on these lines yet but plan to this coming year.
Lisa Judd
Hi, I have already submitted my grandfather’s Pepper DNA and it proved to be actually Hamilton DNA rather than Pepper DNA. 🙂 The English Pepper’s are actually Scottish Hamiltons!
I’m so glad I found your information before getting to that brickwall! Saves me a alot of research time. You’ve done a great job with this sight. Thanks very much. I’ll pass this information on to those that started our Judd line research.
Great work Teresa! I’ve added both of the pages to my bookmarks so I can follow them. Interesting history, must have taken a while to track it all down. I guess we’ve moved close to “home” as we are living in South Carolina now (Winnie, Sofia, Noah and I). I’m curious if you have locations or addresses of the Hamilton/Pepper properties in Mass. I’m close enough to visit if they still exist. I was also told by grandpa (Duane Pepper) that we have family out here, I think in West Virginia…. would love to meet/visit them as well although I don’t have any of their information. Winnie has been putting most of the pictures, etc of our family on her facebook page. I will have to transfer all of the data over to mine so the family can view them. Again, great work and I’ll be watching =]
Adam, indeed you do have family out east and just to the north of you a bit, and I would love for you & family to come for a visit…email me at mtnfarmjc@wvva.net and let me know where you have thrown your hat at present.
Great Aunt Judy
West Virginia
Teresa. Send me an email address please. I will forward response from FTDNA. Islemon@Maine.rr.com
OMG this is my grandpa…Brady Doward Sammon. thank you so much for posting all of this, it made me cry when I saw him again ! Do you have any more pictures of my grandpa? My grandmas name was Florence Augusta Sammon. Again, thank you so much !
Hi, Cousin! Brady was my grandma’s brother. My grandmother was Rachel Fay Sammon.
Found a bunch of old pics of Sammon, Roark/Roork and Daugherty on 3.5″ floppies Mom has…. Cleaned them all up and increased resolution to 300… Take a look at my flickr account…. https://www.flickr.com/photos/46509498@N07/
Could use help identifying family members, Please…. https://www.flickr.com/photos/46509498@N07/
I created an album of Roork-Sammon photos going back to the 1860’s and organized them chronologically. I sill need to figure out who some of the people are, so any help is appreciated… Randy
A Night out with the Roork Family and “Danny Boy” in 1992
Rachel Faye (Sammon) Roork gets a night out with her daughters, Lois and Jody, and her son, Darrell. After a couple songs by local artists in Roswell, New Mexico, her daughters surprise her with an A cappella version of “Danny Boy.”
Here is the link:
After a website offered to print a “coffee table” book of all the old pictures I have for $90.00, I designed one myself and it is only $7.99 (plus shipping). Here is the link:
Is it an eBook? Or a hard copy?
I’m Margaret Sammon Yates Miller – dau. of Brady Sammon and 1st cousin to Evelyn. Great!
Hi, Margaret! It was great to hear from you the other day! I would love to get stories from you about the Sammon family!
I THINK….you do a great job to say the least. Since I am a (West Coast) Hamilton with a great grandad buried in Marblehead, Mass., you can understand my interest. Perhaps we can connect.
Hi, William, please feel free to contact me via my email address: read2befree@yahoo.com.
Contact me directly at: Teresa.Rust@gmail.com
Teresa, I too am a descendent of Anthony and Ann (Potter) Needham. My grandmother was Margaret Needham – York(s). Her father, my great grandfather, Donald Needham, was born in Lake Preston, South Dakota. I have tracked the Needham’s from Salem Mass, to Lake Preston, South Dakota. It’s nice to see other cousins out there doing the same thing. Have you met or talked to Donna O’neill? She has written a book about our Needham roots.
Don Wihela