Our Branches
Here you will find the results of three decades research of the family trees of Tom and Kathy Tuell. Much of that research is built upon the work of others who share common ancestors and make their findings available at FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com, RootsMagic.com and other online repositories of genealogical research. Here we have compiled information, images and documents on more than 9,000 people in our combined family tree.
We are constantly trying to resolve the many conflicts that arise when your inventory of individuals is so expansive. We have picked up errors in research we’ve incorporated into our own, and I’m sure we’ve inadvertently introduced errors in our records. If you find errors, please contact us and we’ll try to get them corrected.
We also try to keep our trees posted at Ancestry.com and RootsMagic.com updated. Our Ancestry.com link is here, and our RootsMagic.com link is here.
Below are summaries of our family branches. However, you’ll find the real details of our 9,322-plus ancestors here.
Tom’s family
These are the branches of Tom’s family. His father’s family (Tuell) has been traced back to England, but it appears to be a Celtic name (a variation of Toole or O’Toole) possibly with origins in Ireland. (DNA analysis seem to support this concept.) Tom’s mother’s side, Victria, … well, we’re still trying to figure that out. There was mention in family stories of a ship from France, but I’ve lost the trail in Newton County, Georgia. Surnames on Tom’s side include Tuell, Frost, White, Victria and Norvill.
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Tuell family
Our branch of Tuells apparently arrived in Maryland from England in the early 1700s. They migrated down through the Carolinas to Georgia, then to Arkansas and Oklahoma Indian Territory. Most of Nathaniel O. Tuell’s family was in Whiteville, Ark., when the 1880 census was taken.
About five years earlier, the oldest son, Richard, had set out for Oklahoma Indian Territory with his wife, Hester, and two children. When Hester died a couple of years later, possibly in childbirth, Richard returned to Whiteville. He remarried in 1880.
Sometime after 1892, Nathaniel’s youngest son, James, set out to Indian Territory with his wife, Mary Elizabeth, and two small children, Edith and Henry. They settled in the Chickasaw Nation near the Indian settlement of White Bead. James died a couple of years later. Mary Elizabeth, whose parents had also moved to Indian Territory, remarried to Charles Williams.
Henry lived with his Morris grandparents in Pauls Valley while attending school. Henry died in the flu epidemic of 1918, just a couple of years after marrying Mazie Frost. Their only child, Henry Offord Tuell II, lived in southern Oklahoma with his wife, Eunice until their deaths in 2013 and 2015, respectively.
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Frost family
Our branch of Frosts first shows up in the U.S. in New York around 1710. They migrated to Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri and then Oklahoma Indian Territory.
Dr. Thomas Joshua Frost (Tom’s namesake), was a pharmacist and a country doctor – and a photographer and hotel manager, as well. After leaving Missouri, T.J. “Doc” Frost worked for a short time on one of the later gold rushes in California (whether as a doctor or prospector I’m not sure), then came back to the Great Plains, staking a claim in Indian Territory during one of the Oklahoma land runs. But while he was away on a trip to Missouri, a claim jumper successfully disputed that claim.
He nonetheless established another homestead in Erin Springs, a settlement in the Chickasaw Nation near the home of his friend Ike Eagan, whom he had known in Missouri. This time, rather than returning to Missouri for his family, he sent for them. His wife, Virginia, packed up their belongings and five daughters in a covered wagon and headed to Erin Springs — likely as part of a wagon train.
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White family
My branch of the White family shows up in Virginia in the early 1700s. They migrated to Tennessee, and later to Missouri.
Sebastian White became a state legislator and congressman in Colorado, and later sat on that state’s Supreme Court. His sister married Dr. Thomas Joshua Frost, and they settled in Oklahoma Indian Territory during the land runs.
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Victria family
The Victrias have not left much of a trail to follow. Noah Lewis Victria shows up in Georgia about 1860, and census records indicate that Noah’s father was born in Georgia, but I’ve found no links beyond that date.
An old family story has the Victrias emigrating from France aboard a ship. The mother supposedly died during the voyage and was buried at sea. The father and two sons supposedly settled in Georgia. While census records places the Victrias in Georgia, I’ve been unable to find any documentation that supports the family story. Subsequent DNA tests by Tom and his siblings casts a shadow of doubt on the family story, but don’t rule it out altogether.
Just before the turn of the century, Noah Victria and his family moved to Rusk County, Texas. Carl Lewis Victria and his brother Horry (not a typo), two of four Victria brothers. soon moved north to Bradley, Oklahoma, about the time of statehood.
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Norvill family
Our branch of the Norvill family (spelling variations include Norvell, Norville and Narvil ) shows up in North Carolina in the mid-1700s.
Around 1880, Samuel Columbus Norvill began a migration to Oklahoma Indian Territory via Alabama and Georgia. The family settled around a Chickasaw Indian village that later became the farming town of Bradley.
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Kathy’s family
These are the branches of Kathy’s family. Her father’s family (DiMascio) is from Italy, and her mother’s side (Bowen) is from England. Other surnames include Napoleone, Smith, Larcom, Wilcox and others.
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Wilcox family
Thomas (1789-1870) and Sarah BALDWIN (1799-aft. 1880) Wilcox moved from Delaware County, New York to Granville, Bradford County, Pennsylvania in the 1840s. Thomas and Sarah had 14 children, including Martin Corbin Wilcox (1821-1875), a Civil War veteran, who married Phoebe C. Ross (1838-1919), daughter of Harrison Ross and Abigail Beach.
Martin and Phoebe had seven children, including Elma Augusta Wilcox (1861- ?) (aka “Alice”), who married Frederick Lincoln Smith (1861- ?). Fred and Elma lived in Williamsport, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania.
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Smith Family
Between 1830 and 1840, John Rossiter Smith (aka JR) and many of his neighbors relocate to Bradford County, Pennsylvania, where they are listed in the 1840 census for Troy, Bradford County, Penn.. JR and Delight, parents of nine children, later moved to Armenia in Bradford County, and are buried in the Burnham (aka Macintire or Putnam Farm) Cemetery.John Rossiter Smith (1782-1851) was a Methodist Circuit Rider Preacher, born in Hebron, Tolland County, Connecticut. He married Delight Church (1783-1864) in St. Johnsbury, Caledonia County, Vermont. She was the daughter of Samuel Church and Hannah (Polly) Rogers.
Son Charles Norman Smith married Clarinda Ferris, daughter of Albert Ferris and Fedilia Weeks.
Kathy’s maternal grandmother gave her some handwritten notes back in the mid-’70s on this family. She was trying to get her interested in figuring out who these people were. Pointing to the name of John Rossiter Smith, she said, “Look, John Smith — you know, John Smith and Pocahontas — that’s where we come from.”
Kathy has not been able to make that connection, but her grandmother sure peaked her interest. Kathy has located John Rossiter Smith in the Hebron, Tolland County, Conn., census for 1810, 1820 and 1830 — but getting any further back than that has eluded her. Perhaps her John R. Smith is related to the Nathan Smith in those same census records. Perhaps Rossiter is his mother’s maiden name. Or his father’s mother’s maiden name.
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Napoleone family
Annunziata (aka Nunziata or “Nancy”) Napoleone was born in Alfedena, Province of L’Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy in 1889, the daughter of Falco Napoleone and Anna Maria Di Ianni. She traveled from the port at Naples, Italy, to the United States on the ship Adriatic, arriving March 24, 1914, where she joined siblings Angelina (Rufino) Croce; Stephano (Rosa di Palma) Napoleone and Rosaria (Francesco) Rossi in the Rochester, New York, area.
Working in the family boarding house, she met Vinzenzo DiMascio. They were married January 27, 1917, at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Rochester, Monroe County, New York.
Nunziata died 14 May 1968 in Rochester, Monroe County, New York. Vincenzo (aka “James”) and Nunziata had nine children, including Kathy’s father, Antonio James DiMascio, who married Thelma Louise Bowen.
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Larcom family
James Delos Larcom (1848-1911) was born in Burlington, Bradford County, Pennsylvania. He married Alice Delila Smith (1855-1921), daughter of Charles Norman Smith and Clarinda Ferris. James and Alice were married in Armenia, Bradford County, Pennsylvania in 1875 and moved to Wisconsin, where they had 7 children.
James and Alice returned to Williamsport, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Son Fredrick C. Larcom (photo at right) married his cousin Nellie Mae Smith, daughter of Frederick Lincoln Smith and Elma Wilcox.
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DiMascio family
Vincenzo (aka “James”) DiMascio, son of Antonio DiMascio and Francesca Debrosso, was born 01 Oct 1883 in Pescina, Province of L’Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy. According to son Anthony, Vincenzo and a brother left home after the death of their mother and the remarriage of their father.
According to the 1930 census, Vincenzo came to the United States in 1904. He became a naturalized citizen in 1938. His brother, whose name we do not know, went to South America. Vincenzo at one time owned a farm in Clarendon, Orleans County, New York. Down the road, a cousin, Joe DiMascio and family also owned a farm.
Vincenzo died in Rochester, New York, in 1948.
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Bowen family
James (1860 – abt. 1894) and Annie Moore (1864- aft. 1930) Bowen arrived at the Port of Baltimore on September 15, 1881 from England. James and Annie lived in the Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, area.
James was a coal miner. According to notes prepared by son James Morris Bowen, and provided by Joye Walls, the elder James died in a mine accident when he was crushed between the wall of the mine and the platform used to raise and lower the men in the mine.
James and Annie had nine children, including son Fred who married Mildred Elma Larcom, daughter of Fredrick C. Larcom and Nellie Mae Smith.