John P. Riddell Jr.
19 April, 2004
San Diego, California
Click HERE to Access the full Riddell Genealogy in Adobe PDF
Click HERE to Access the William Pitt Riddell Genealogy in Adobe PDF
This is the headstone of Robert Riddell and his wife Mary (Thompson) Riddell, located in Colerain, Massachusetts. Robert was one of the “three brothers” who came to these shores in 1718 and was the patriarch of my branch of the family tree.
This genealogy is a compendium that reflects many sources of data, including official records, published genealogies, census data, internet sources (verified), personal sources, and individual inputs based on family records. I have attempted to create a record of individuals, framed in a manner that enables the reader to walk in their shoes, to get a sense of what it was like to live in their times, and how they set the framework for what we all are today.
The work deals with my father’s line, the Riddells who came to these shores from Londonderry in Northern Ireland. Two of my sources trace the lineage back to the days of the Normans, to 1100 AD. Riddell, it turns out, is an ancient line with roots in the nobility of old Scotland. The three brothers who came to America in the early 1700’s are the progenitors of most of the Riddells who now live in this country. During my search for information, I repeatedly came across the spelling Riddle. It turns out that many early settlers spelled phonetically, and that for the most part, the spelling Riddle and Riddell were interchangeable. The first of our line to adopt Riddell as the “correct” name was William Pitt Riddell, my Great Grand-Uncle. He penned an early genealogy of the family as well which I was able to obtain from the National Archives (recreated in MS Word) and which you may link to on the top of this page.
My genealogy pages were originally created by Family Tree Maker software and are based on the information I have collected for the past ten+ years. The generations are shown by indented numbers.
The first four pages are a descendents chart beginning with Hugh Riddell. The generations that follow are all indented and numbered according to the generation removed from Hugh. These pages provide a sense of the relationships of our family tree which are further highlighted in the second section which is a Family Report. Those individuals highlighted in yellow and light blue are my ancestors. I also provide a few pages dedicated to my Mother’s side of the family, the Kelsey clan.
In addition, I have added a small photo gallery between the end of this document . As time permits, I will continue to update the genealogy and add more photos.
John Paul Riddell Jr. (Jack – AKA Butch)