April 5, 2009
TRACING OUR
ROOTS
THE HOUSE OF PROCTOR
Brenda Kellow
PROCTOR (Lat. procurator, agent), in a general sense,
one who is commissioned to manage the business of another. In a particular
sense, a proctor is one commissioned to transact the business of his principal
in the ecclesiastical or admiralty courts.
Well, that is what you will find in most dictionaries;
however, to the genealogist researching the surname, everything from
anthropologists to zoologists will come to mind! That is what webmaster
Joe Proctor discovered. Proctor, sparked from a general interest in
researching family members is now a grand hobby. The site is the foundation for
one of (if not the largest) virtual libraries of genealogy information for the
surname Proctor existing on the World Wide Web.
House of Proctor Genealogy (www.houseofproctor.org) created about five years
ago, evolved as a remarkable free non-membership resource of information for
genealogists or the simply interested individual researching the
surname Proctor. Taking pride in its reliable, accurate and documented
data, it assures visitors they will find history of their Proctor subjects.
From the early 1600’s, and before, Planter John Proctor of
Virginia or Robert Proctor of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, the documentation
encompasses many family lines through the centuries, based upon census records,
family histories and documents. Many of these family lines include Bible
entries, biographies and family photos passed down through time.
At this writing, the website contains over 43,000
individuals and 13,500 families including unique surnames of over 4,800
individuals, all somehow connected to the surname Proctor. Also
included are well over 12,000 images of family members, cemetery
markers, documents and census pages. Biographies support family
histories. Military histories are included on hundreds of Proctor veterans from
the Revolutionary War through the War in Iraq. Proctor solicits suggestions and
welcomes contributions of data throughout the website for Proctor researchers to
take part in this family oriented project.
Texas researchers find a wealth of Proctor history. Not limited to, but
including early settlers of the 1850’s, such as James A. Proctor, one of
three families who were the first settlers of Wise County, migrating from
Rockcastle County, Kentucky in 1854. James and his wife Mary (Polly) Hunt were
the first couple to be married in Cooke County, Texas, after traveling 15 miles
on horseback from Aurora (in the middle of winter) to find an authorized
official (Ben Haney) in charge of the Wise County territory affairs, to perform
their wedding vows. James went on to become a successful cattleman and rancher,
and eventually donated approximately 160 acres of land, now the center of
Decatur, Texas.
Read about Judge Proctor of Aurora, Texas who claimed fame after the infamous
Dallas Morning News article of 1896 alleged the first UFO crashed after a
collision with Proctor’s windmill. Rumors persist of graves of claimed space
visitors buried at the Aurora cemetery. The site has stories of other Proctors
such as Dallas oil tycoon William Custer Proctor of the Magnolia Petroleum
Company, several Proctors of Collin County, previously of Mississippi and points
east, Texas county census entries for Proctors from the 1850’s through 1930s,
many Texas cemeteries, marker photos, and transcriptions of Proctor names.
Regardless of your reasons for an interest in the Proctor surname, you will
surely find an item of interest in this fascinating genealogy website.
Feel free to visit www.houseofproctor.org and say hello to the webmaster, G. T.
(Joe) Proctor, of Plano. He welcomes your inquiries for assisting you on
discovering and documenting your family history.
I want to thank G. T. (Joe) Proctor for having such an
interesting Web site. His site is an inspiration to all of us. His site is
literally "the house that Proctor built."
Brenda Kellow has a bachelor's degree in history, teaches, and lectures on
genealogy. Before retiring to publish her family’s histories in 2007, Brenda
held certification as a Certified Genealogist and as a Certified Genealogical
Instructor. Send reunions announcements, books to review, and genealogy queries
to: TraceRts@verizon.net.
