Family Research

Last week, after discussing the early colonists in America during history class, I remembered that a few years ago Mom tried to research the Cunningham family but had no luck because she couldn't find my great-great grandfather anywhere. I decided to do some research of my own and found a free site called RootsWeb.com, where you can type in a name and find out about that person, their birthplace, how many years they lived, etc.... So I went here and began some research. To make a long story short, I've managed to trace the Cunninghams all the way back to 1066, when the first Cunningham Wernebald, a man from Flanders who is said to be of Norman descent, arrived in Scotland with William the Conquerer. It's been exciting, so I thought I'd share it with my readers. I won't give the entire line, as the early years are confusing and not very reliable up until the late 13th century, but I'll mention some high points. A Cunningham supported Robert the Bruce during the Scottish War for Independence and was awarded a lot of land for it, and his grandson married a member of the Bruce clan, which could make us part Scottish royalty. A Robert Cunningham sat in the Scottish parliament and may have been murdered by members of the Montgomery clan (from what I've read, we Cunninghams had a looong feud with the Montgomeries that led to castles being burned down and people being murdered). An Alexander Cunningham moved to Dublin, Ireland, and the family lived there for a few generations. In 1636, Captain William Cunningham and his family arrived in Virginia on the ship "Speedwell" (the ship supposed to sail with the Mayflower but couldn't due to problems). During the War for Independence in America, there was a Cunningham known as "Bloody Bill" for his taste for blood and for killing Patriots. Another interesting detail is that a close relative centuries ago was a good friend of the Scottish reformer John Knox. It was fun to do all this research, and I've thought about doing other branches of my family, but I haven't found some of the names I need to jumpstart the project.