BREAKTHROUGH – Denton Family Bible extended back to 4,004 BCE

Jump to Northumbrian Period – Jump to Norse Period
Jump to Trojan Period – Jump to Biblical Period
Reference the Denton Family Bible index – Reference Family Tree overview – See edited highlights

Summer 2022: back a further four centuries

I had an initial minor breakthrough when I found that Sims of Yetherham, the Elder, my GGF26 (born 935) was shown on a genealogical site as being a son of Earl Oswulfe of Northumbria (885-963).

I pursued this and took my tree back a further fourteen generations to my GGF40 and to the year 515 at the very start of the sixth century. This took me to Ida, the King of Bernicia (515-559), the founder of a four-century Northumbria period in my family tree.

I have to confess that I was most excited about it connecting the Denton tree to Uhtred ‘The Bold’, Earl of Northumbria, a resident of Bamburgh Castle, because he is the central character in one of my favourite book/TV series, Bernard Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom. Though clearly Cornwell’s is a fictionalised version of Uhtred, the actual Uhtred led quite a life in reality. But then Cornwell also has a genealogical connection to Uhtred, so perhaps it is a reasonably faithful account before adding fictional embellishments?

Autumn 2022: back another fifteen centuries

I went back to the research and had a major breakthrough that took me back another forty-three generations, a period of fifteen centuries!

This new material took some careful research because many of these characters wander between reality, folklore and mythology.You can see some of the prime sources that we used to get clarity here.

It is grouped into four major time periods:

• Northumbrian Period, 6th-11th centuries: part 1 – part 2 – part 3
• Norse Period, 3rd c BCE – 6th c CE: part 1 – part 2 – part 3
• Trojan Period, 23rd c -12th c BCE: part 1 – part 2
• Biblical Period, 41st c – 19th c BCE: part 1 – part 2 – part 3

Closed the gap?

See the origins section on Migrations, which traced my DNA’s haplotypes and concluded the routes that my father’ and my mother’s line took from East Africa.

At the time that I did this, I despaired of linking this with my genealogy. Rather forlornly I said ‘I don’t believe there is any way that I can seek to fill the gap from DNA’s 2,500 BCE to Sims of Yetherham in 935 CE.‘ But here we are, now able to trace the family tree back to 4,004 BCE!

So from my childhood in Bristol, we now know that we put down roots across England in Manchester, Durham, Lancashire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. Somewhat notably we were prominent in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. From living in Yorkshire we had a family migrate to the Americas in the 1630s and they created a large Denton presence there (a research task for the future). We moved on to Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, with a strong and long presence in Cumbria and earlier Northumbria.

We clearly came with the Angles, Saxons and Jutes to this island, primarily from today’s Denmark, and enjoyed an extensive Norse period. Prior to that we were Trojans, who following the Trojan War, moved to the Black Sea north shore in today’s Russia and thence on to Scandinavia. The Trojans were founded by a biblical source, Zerah and Dardanus who have their genealogy set out in the Bible, encompassing Isaac, Abraham, Noah and Adam.

Jump to Northumbrian Period – Jump to Norse Period
Jump to Trojan Period – Jump to Biblical Period
Reference the Denton Family Bible index – Reference Family Tree overview – See edited highlights