A Cautionary Tale
After starting with a couple of my ancestors who carried Puritan names, we turned to look at a a man named Praise-God Barebones and how he made his mark on history simple because of his name -- the so-called Barebones Parliament having been named for him. I thought I should check to see if any of our family was related to him, which I did, but I'm sad to say I could find no listing for him on Family Search. This doesn't mean someone in our clan wasn't related to him. I may not have searched properly or may have run into Family Search's limit of 15 generations to find a match. But he is still the link that leads to today's history. The Nominated Assembly or Parliament, as it is more formally known, began after the death of Charles I. Oliver Cromwell led the rebellion that brought about Charles' downfall, and in the aftermath he established a Commonwealth. Cromwell was a religious man of the nonconformist bent -- nonconformist being anyone who belonged to any of ...