DockeryZ.com

Ever since I can remember, I’ve been interested in this topic (Genealogy) .  Even before my Grandpa “papa” died; which was when I was a little less than 18, I was always asking my grandparents where we came from and such.  No matter how much information I got though, no matter how many great great aunts, uncles, 3rd, 4th cousins I could scratch down on a piece of paper, I could never get enough to satisfy my curiosity.  Eventually, I gave up and settled with the idea that I wouldn’t get anywhere past my family’s history circa the 1800s (1850s at the very least).

I guess the curiosity wouldn’t have gotten to me so much if I wasn’t told at one point … that “we’re ALL related somehow.”  Especially people of the Dockery surname; because they’re everywhere!  I haven’t traveled to very many places, but it seems like everywhere I do go.. I’ll run into at least one.  Either I’ll run into them or I’ll just blatantly see the name plastered on a billboard or a memorial site.  I could understand if my last name were Smith or Allen or something else that’s … in an understatement, ubiquitous.  But somehow, a name like Dockery manages to squeeze through the cracks of ubiquity.

For the past few months now, I’ve finally got back into my genealogy passion; after some 7 or 8 years.  Unfortunately, I had lost ALL of my previous notes I made and my main source of information (my papa) is not here anymore.  I still have my grandmother though and I think she enjoys helping me with that kind of stuff more than my papa could endure anyway.  So, it’s no surprise that I’ve made now made back as far as …..

1635!!

Yeah, I’d say that’s an improvement. Though I did have a lot more technology & online literature in these last few months than I did 8 years ago. Although, I still ironically pull up those same old records sometimes when I’m Googling.

So what happened in 1635? A man named Thomas Davenport Dockery was born. At some point in time (I’m guessing about 1655) he married a woman with the last name Tiley. What’s even more bizarre is that I even have the parents for Thomas Dockery. The only problem with my current info is… I don’t know their birth dates or death dates.
Thomas’ parents were

• Henry Dockerty
• Caroline Ethel Fye

If I had to guesstimate it, I would put Henry’s birth somewhere around 1600, perhaps even 1615, seeing as most men (especially back in the day) began their families at a very young age; at least compared to today.

Dockerty

I’m pretty sure that you noticed the sudden name change. It’s not a typo, that’s what I pulled up. As far as I know, Thomas’ dad’s surname was either Dockerty or Docherty (or even Dougherty.) I’m not a historian or anything like that but if I had to guess, sometime in the moving to the “New World,” a plethora of people changed their names. Either that or someone changed it for them. What’s even more vivid/creative of an explanation is the language barrier at the time. When the “New World” started its “registration process”, don’t you think some of the “foreigners” were a little hard to understand. This causing a careless registrar to write down a phonetic of what he/she just heard. I also doubt most people even knew how to spell their name back then, much less be able to notice a difference in what the book keeper wrote down. Most likely, the people didn’t even care to be honest. If I were going to a “New World” or being forced to even, I’m wouldn’t be nitpicking on how my name was spelled. Hell, who cared back then?

Regardless, I am stuck at this situation. Even The Dockery’s of Dixie book doesn’t cover what I’m looking for; and this is the book that relates ALL the Dockery’s, believe it or not. Well, at least the American ones.

My grandmother’s maternal grandfather’s mom was a Dockery

It’s quite a mouthful to actually say the relation, but it is what it is.  My grandmother is related to the same ancestors as my grandfather.   Talk about “not digging up the past.”  But still, the Dockery ancestor that is closest to my grandmother is a far far distant cousin (too far to count) of my grandfather’s 1880s ancestor.  Regardless, they all still trace back to the same Dockerty.