My grandmother Rose was born a Ringo. And, thanks to an extensive web site chronicling the Ringo geneology, Rose's ansetory can be traced back to Philip Janszen1 Ringo the first Ringo to appear in the America's in the 1600's. Some of the information was not correct. With Evelyn's help I e-mailed some corrections to the author or this fantastic web site.

Rose appears in the seventh generation as the daughter of Peter Harrison Ringold. The reason for the move to change the name to Ringold is not clear.

- I can actually remember this gathering in 1956.

1967 This is the last time I saw Lloyd, Ronnie, Pop and Clifford.

Now the fun is to match before and after.

This is the newest, Tori-Beth with Lee and Lori

This is the text of a letter from my Father’s sister Evelyn White (Seale) dated September 21, 1997.

Dear Marc,

My father would never mention his mother or father. He would never write to his mother although I did until she died.

All the information I got was from your great uncle Clifford on your father’s side. [ Marc’s note: Great uncle Clifford was probably born about 1895. My grandfather – I always called him Pop – was born July 4, 1897. ]

In the reign of King George and Mary over in England there were several Seale families, one family went on to become well-to-do and I believe may have had a title and was a member of Parliament.

But our branch was the working Seales. Grandpa Aubrey was a carpenter (must have been a good one.) The Queen commissioned him to make her a piece of furniture. He took all the measurements and instructions as she wanted it. Well, when he was finished she didn't like it. Aubrey was a mean man with a temper, so in the ensuing argument she banned him from the Kingdom of England.

So he set sail and landed in the West Indies (Barbados). He must have had a grant or money because he was able to acquire a plantation with slaves. He married Ida Percy (maiden name unknown) and had Clifford and Ernest. Then Ida became pregnant with Robbie, about that time she got into or maybe more into a radical religious group. This, I guess, did not please Aubrey. He was known on the island as a mean man -- mean to his slaves and everyone else -- probably just bitter about his banishment.

Anyway, he went to work one morning and was never seen or heard from again. After a formal hunt it was concluded he had been murdered by one or more of the slaves he had mistreated.

In those days a wife did not automatically inherit so she and the two boys and the unborn child were turned out. What became of the plantation and the slaves no one knows now. The government probably took it over (no proof).

After Robbie was born (she and the boys were taken in by her church group) she made do by harvesting the guava fruit and making jelly and candy to sell. She also made dresser sets and other crocheted things to sell. I still have a set that she sent me after I started writing to her.

As the two boys grew she thought they needed a better education so somehow she got some money together and brought the two boys and the baby Robbie to New York. Things didn't go to well for them there. She took very sick. The doctor told her she better go back to the island.

So, she placed Clifford and Ernest in an orphanage and took Robbie back to Barbados.

When Robbie was about 14 or 15 he stowed away on a banana boat and came to New York looking for his brothers -- and he found them! They were out of the orphanage and were living in an apartment on the East River. They worked for the Wonder Bread Bakery. Taking Robbie in, they raised him and found him a job.

Grandma Ida of course was notified and was glad for Robbie's sake. She felt the United States was a better place with more opportunity.

All went well until World War 1. They all enlisted. Robbie was sent to France, Ernest was sent to guard the Panama Canal against the Germans. Of course they never attacked the canal so Ernest had an easy four years. But where Clifford went I don't know. Poor Robbie got his death sentence over there with German gas.

Many years after the war -- in and up state newspaper, possibly New York -- there was the name of a Aubrey Seale that had died and left a wife and several children. Who would have a name like that? Maybe Aubrey didn't die in Barbados but fled to the United States. His son Clifford was convinced that this person was really his father. .

Marc's notes.

I decided to check on the possibility of Aubrey having a son or grandson named after him. If the name is not common it would support the theory that Aubrey died in the United States. An AOL Find Net search of the entire United States found that there were two listings for Aubrey Seale. One in Blythe California and the other in Corsicana Texas. I will try contacting these individuals to see if they have any information about their ancestry.

After contacting relatives of the Texas Aubrey it was determined that not the Aubrey of Barbados.

The way back home