The Norman Family HistoryNormans · Gaithers · Duvalls · German roots
Painted panorama: a Devon village and church, a sailing ship crossing the ocean, and a Michigan farm with the Detroit skyline

Donald Eugene Norman's family, 1947–2026

Two families, two old countries, one Michigan story

This site follows the ancestors of Donald Eugene Norman 1947–2026. On his father's side are the Normans, from the border country of Devon and Somerset in England. His mother was born a Hartman, and her mother was a Gaither, from a colonial Maryland family that married into the family of the French Huguenot settler Mareen Duvall. Along the way come German, Irish and many more English lines.

510people on the site
219direct ancestors of Donald
11generations in the tree
Painted illustration of West Country hills and villages

The Normans of the West Country

From Edward Norman (died 1745) through Bampton and Holcombe Rogus in Devon, Stawley and Bridgwater in Somerset, then Birmingham, then Detroit in 1911 and Plymouth, Michigan.

Painted illustration of a colonial Maryland farm by the water

The Gaithers & Duvalls of Maryland

John Gaither's family on the land called Abington near Annapolis, and Mareen Duvall, a French Huguenot who arrived in Maryland in 1650 as an indentured servant. Plus some famous cousins, including Wallis Simpson and President Truman.

Painted illustration of a German village

German roots

The Hartmans of Rockland County, New York, the Schraders, who came from Pomerania to Port Sanilac, Michigan, in 1872, and older German lines from Württemberg, Alsace and Bavaria.

Painted illustration of St George's Church, Morebath

Morebath: probable early ancestors

A Devon parish, about two miles from Bampton, whose Tudor parish accounts survive in print. Normans appear in its records from the 1500s on, and our line is proven there from 1700. One missing record, Edward Norman's baptism, would join the two.

How the two families meet

The Norman and Hartman families join in Donald's parents. His father, Robert Charles Norman 1923–2016, was the son of James Norman, who came from Birmingham, England to Detroit in 1911. His mother, Joyce Oleana Hartman 1927–1986 ("Grandma Norman"), was the daughter of Charles Edward Hartman 1899–1975 of Nyack, New York, who founded Hartman's Steak House in Durham, North Carolina. The Gaithers come in through Joyce's mother, Gertrude Joyce Gaither 1895–1983 ("Grandma Hartman"), of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

So Donald's four grandparents were a Norman, a Schrader, a Hartman and a Gaither. The name index lets you follow each of the four lines.

A note on what's proven. Most of what's here comes from Robert Norman's family tree, which was built from records and from other people's online trees. Where something has been checked it says so; where it hasn't, it's marked unverified, family tradition or caution. Corrections are welcome.

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