Welcome...

Welcome to the Thames/Tims Family Association Website. If you're a first-time visitor, we're glad you found us. And if you're a regular, welcome back.

The Thames/Tims Family Association was organized in Gastonia, North Carolina in April 2003, when a group of family researchers came together for a family reunion. The purposes of our association are to provide a central place to collect research regarding our families and to further the research into our family lines. We're working to develop an extensive digital library of data and documents, and our database of lineages has well over 1,300 people in it so far - connecting together whenever common ancestors occur.

Getting Started

First things first. You will need to register to create a login and password for yourself. Use the Register option under the Login link above. Once you are registered, you will receive an email confirmation of your registration, normally within 24 hours. After receiving this confirmation, you are free to log in and begin exploring the site. You can Search for a specific ancestor or start browsing the family collections using the links above.

To see an example of how the family tree works, try the page detailing Charles Richard Thames, or see a "descendancy chart" for Thomas Thames. You can search for a particular person using the Search link above. Or you can click one of the Top Surnames below, or view the list of Surnames. Try one of the links at the top of the screen for Photos, Documents, etc. This site is very much work in progress (as any good family tree is), and will evolve as we all have more time to dig deeper and submit more materials.

How You Can Help

Any additions, leads, corrections, photos or documents are welcomed. On every individual ancestor's page, you will see a Suggest tab; you can use this to notify us of corrections or additions you would like to contribute regarding an ancestor already in the Tree. There is also an online form you can use to submit your Tims/Timms/Thames etc. direct lineage. You can link to this form from the Contacts links above. Other options for submitting your lineage for addition to the Tree (and/or for adding to the general website collection) are sending digital files via email or snail mail. To snail mail, contact the TTFA President, Becky, using the email link under the Contacts options above. In addition, you can use the Contact link above to tell us about information or people you can add to the Tree .

If you'd like to support the TTFA to help us expand our resources and our website, click here to read about the TTFA and its mission, or simply click here to go straight for the membership application or click here to make a donation online. We would love to have all interested researchers assist in adding to our collection of resources.

Things to Know

Whenever an image, document, or other resource can be linked to an individual in the Tree, we have done so. But note, our site has many submitted photos, documents, and information for ancestors who are not currently part of the Tree (though we are working now to remedy that), and therefore their information is not accessible via the Search option. To glean information about ancestors who are not in the Tree, you can browse the supplementary collections, such as Cemeteries, Photos, and the CyberLibrary. If you spot an item that can be linked to someone in the Tree, please let us know.

DNA Project

The Thames Family DNA Project has had several successes since its inception. Most notably, the Project has put to bed the nagging question of whether or not Amos Tims b. 1684 was the father of Thomas Thames d. 1758. Based upon the results, we can now definitively say that the two men were not related, period. The Project needs more Tims and Timms participants so that more can be learned about those two families. To view the Project, see the DNA Project home page.

Living Individuals

For security and privacy reasons, this website contains no dates and places of birth or addresses for individuals believed to be living.

Data Sources

Most of the family tree data is from (a) recollections and records of immediate family, (b) original sources such as census records, marriage, birth and death records, or (c) published family trees of other individuals. The current family tree database is a collection of past and present TTFA members' lineages, and where sources were noted on the individual lineages, they have been summarized in the Source notations. This site includes source references for most items of data, citing either another researcher or an original source.

Join Us

During 2007 and into the future, we will be adding actual census page images, scanned images of old newspapers, images of military records from the National Archives, and much more. But all of this comes with a price tag, and that's why we rely on our Full Members' contributions. Full Membership in the TTFA helps defray website costs and add to the resources available on the site, and support other TTFA-sponsored events, such as reunions.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to all the researchers who have submitted digital images and materials for the site, and a most gracious thank you to owners of other websites who have allowed our researchers to glean information from their sites to contribute. We will not use information without an owner's permission!