Chewning/Wilde Geneology

This page is still under construction!!

My ancestors came from these places in Europe:

My great-great-great grandparents, Anders Anderson Torbleau and Anna Bilsdatter Skeie were born near Hardangerfjord, Norway	This is Ulvik, the village in Norway where they were born.	This is the church in Flattach, Kärnten, Austria.  This is the village where my great-grandmother was born.
All Saints Church, Ecclesall, Sheffield, England.  Not sure if the Wildes are buried here, but they lived in this district.	Arms of the Kingdom of Württemberg where I   believe the Wirth side of the family comes from.	Wittenberg Marktplatz.  My great-great grandmother Wirth was born in the area of Wittenberg (but her maiden name was Schmidt).

The Chewnings are a whole different matter.  I know they've been in the US since the late 1600s: my last direct ancestor to live in England was George Chowning (ca 1609-1700) who lived in Kent (see below) and emigrated in about 1625, moving to Virginia.  His great-grandson was (I believe) Josias Chowning, well-known now as the founder (in 1766) of Chowning's Tavern in Williamsburg.  Josias is the son of John Chowning, who was my ancestor's brother, so the connection is fairly direct. There is an eighteenth century manor house called Chevening, but we never lived there!  More likely we were peasants (and I think we were Catholic).  I know my most direct ancestor lived in Wrotham, but there is also a village called Chevening.

St. George's, Wrotham in Kent.  George Chowning emigrated from here	St. Botolph's, Chevening in Kent	A haunted pub in Wrotham, Kent -- lots of Chewnings probably drank there (or in its predecessor).

This is Chowning's Tavern in Williamsburg, VA (it's pronounced Chewning now).  It was opened in the mid 1700's, but Josias was not the proprietor for long; he was apparently run out of town.  His kin were in Middlesex County, Caroline County, and eventually Spotsylvania County, Virginia, where there is to this day a little village called Chewning's Corner.  A very historic family -- I have traced it back to Adam de Chevening, a knight living in Kent in the last half of the thirteenth century....very interesting!

                                                                                             The Chevening Coat of Arms

According to some recent information that I have found (and am still looking into), my Norwegian ancestry goes back to Harald Hårfagre, first king of Norway (pictured here in the Flateyjarbók (Flatey Book), a fourteenth century collection of Icelandic sagas based on the Heimskringla, from the thirteenth century).  I've always said my people were Vikings....maybe they were famous ones!!		A page from the Heimskringla, which is a document about the adventures of some of my (possible) ancestors.
Going back a few more generations from Harald, he is descended from Healfdane, legendary tribal king of Denmark, and father of Hrothgar, whose family exploits are written about in Beowulf (the ms is to the right).  His family includes people such as Yrsa, the tragic Danish princess, whose story is told in the Chronicon Lethrense, Hrólfr Kraki's saga, and the Skjöldunga and Ynglinga sagas.		Image of Yrsa from WIkipedia
Bottom line: my ancestors conquered Europe as Goths, Vikings, Normans, and Anglo-Saxons.......don't get in my way!