Copyright 2002 John Raymond Sill All rights reserved.

Front cover photo: Nelson and Edna Sill's children.

From Left to Right: Arthur Vernon, Edith Viola, and Nelson Allen.
Picture was scanned into my computer with the original matting
around the pictures, just as it hung in it's frame on the wall.

Sill Family 1900-2001.

Top Row: John, Matthew, Cathy, Aaron Sill-1997,
John N. Sill-1953, Arthur and Vida Sill's kids-1940.
Second row: Nelson and Edna Sill-1900, John N., John R., Pat Sill-1965,
Nelson Alexander and Nelson Allen Sill-approx. 1950.
Third Row: Viola and Arthur Sill-approx. 1906, Matthew and Aaron Sill-2001,
Arthur and Vida Sill-1977, Margaret Sill-approx. 1950.
Bottom Row: Nelson and Edna Sill-1950, Charlotte and Nelson Sill-early 1900's.

Before I get any farther, I should tell you that the title of the book is a bit misleading. The Sill family has not been in the country for 400 years (yet!). They have however been here since 1637, which is 365 years. We also have other relatives who came here in 1620, 382 years ago. I thought that was close enough to call it 400.

The information found in this book is correct to the best of my knowledge. Much of what is presented in this book has been previously published. I have researched a number of books and done much searching on the internet to try to find what I feel is the most accurate information possible. However, much of the data used is not considered to be "primary source" material and will be suspect in the eyes of many genealogists. Therefore all information in this book is being presented "as is" with no guarantee of it's authenticity. I do believe however that this book gives an accurate account of our family and of the early history of our country. Please keep in mind that not all of the information in this book will pertain to every reader. Only my direct descendants will be related to everyone in this book. If anyone finds errors of any kind, please let me know, so they can be corrected.

One goal of mine during the creation of this book was to put together something other than a long list of names and dates. Although the names and dates are useful, and I certainly have included them here, they alone do not not lead to a very readable book. Much of my research has involved finding stories of our ancestors, many of which are included here. For me anyway, it makes history much more interesting when I can see ways that my ancestors contributed.

I had intended to put a fairly large number of family pictures in the book. I am no longer doing that for two reasons. First, the book has become much longer than I had originally imagined. Second, copies of pictures usually do not print out very well. If you are interested in seeing more photos, you will need to contact either me or my father or visit one of my two websites. One is The Sill Weibel Family Homepage at Familytreemaker.com. The other, with lots more pictures, is The Sill Weibel Family Website at MyFamily.com. You will need to get a username and password from me to use this site.

"Think of your ancestors and your posterity."
                                                    Tacitus

It all started in 1976. That was the year that Roots originally aired on TV. My seventh grade social studies teacher, Mr. Gurnett, gave the class an assignment. He wanted us to research our own roots. I no longer remember who I asked for information, but I was able to trace my family's history for five generations. I thought that was quite an admirable feat. I wrote it all up on a long, narrow piece of paper. My father used his wood lathe to make me a little scroll and we rolled up the information and I handed it in. For the next 23 years, that was all I knew about my family history.

Fast forward to the year 1999. We decide to purchase a home computer. "What will we use one for?" we continually ask ourselves. I suggest using it to record our family tree. I thought it would be a neat way to preserve the information for our boys to look at some day when they are old enough to care about such things. So we purchase some Family Tree Maker software, and armed with my little 23 year old scroll, I begin to enter data into the computer.

It obviously didn't take long to enter what little information I had on that scroll. I started adding in information that my Aunt Arlene had compiled for a Sill family reunion. I then got a copy of the Randall-Harper genealogy from my father and added even more names. He also had a copy of a Freedlund genealogy, with no compilers name, from 1969. As the names kept adding up I kept wondering why more information wasn't known about the Sill family. My father finally dug out an old family history called The Name and Family of Sill(s). It was compiled by The Media Research Bureau of Washington D.C. in the 1930's for his grandparents, Nelson and Edna. I remember him saying "I have looked through this and can't find any names that are familiar. I don't know if this is any good or not." He was also able to produce an original hand written letter from Margaret (Sill) Barker, written to Nelson and Edna sometime in the 1930's. In the letter she had recorded the birth, death, and marriage dates of a number of ancestors. I guess Nelson was interested in genealogy too! Anyway, a name in the letter, Deodatus Sill, matched a name in the family history. Intrigued, I began searching the internet for help.

It's amazing what you can find on the internet! I was able to access literally thousands of books, records, and family trees online. I soon realized that the information I had was the real thing and that Deodatus was my link to the past. I added Nelson's family history information and just kept going. Eventually Cathy got interested and has started adding her family history too. What started out as a scroll of paper with 31 names just a couple of years ago has now become a file with over 9200 names spanning over 400 years!

I felt the time was now right to share this information with the rest of the family. With the help of my genealogy software, I was able to put the family information into a book format. I believe the family tree is in a style that will be easy to understand. I hope it will be a useful and informative volume of information to pass down to our future generations. Enjoy!

Although I feel I have done a pretty good job searching for our roots,
please do not expect results like those found in the following article!

This item appeared in the newspaper, THE CARLETON PLACE HERALD, on 27 February 1935.

"Traces Family to Adam. Columbus, Ohio, Feb 24. - Mrs. Christian
Sell Jaeger announced today that she had succeeded in tracing
her genealogy back through 159 generations to Adam and Eve. Mrs.
Jaeger, who is historian of the Columbia Genealogical Society,
went back through the American Revolution, through all recorded
history and through the Bible to reach her first ancestor. Among
her forebears as she traced them by the aid of records in
libraries here, in New York, Washington and Chicago, were:
Williams, Edward III and Henry I, of England, 21 generations of
Scottish Kings, Irish Kings who ruled 19 centuries ago, the
Pharaoh Nectonidus; Zedekiah, last of the Kings of Judah; David,
King of Israel; Enos, Seth, and finally Adam (4000 B.C.)."

"God, help me to be wise in what I accept as truth."
                                            Cynthia E. Cowen

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