I began researching my father, George Aaron Barnett's family in 2001. My  father was from Venice, IL. He was in the Navy 31 years, retiring in 1978 as  Senior Chief Yeoman. A large percentage of my father's family lived in Madison  County IL and the surrounding areas for a long time. When my father retired  from the Navy, he returned to his hometown neighborhood.
 I have been researching the family for a few years. I have found the Barnett's  family the most difficult to research. It appears that I can link the family  to Johaan Thomas Bernhard (Barnett) who was born in Frankenbach, Hessen,  Germany in 1733. He came to America, and settled in Pennsylvania. Johaan  Bernhard great grandson, Isaac Barnett moved from Pennsylvania to Greene Co,  IL around 1840 with his wife, Sarah Scheibly. This is closed to the area my  father was born, raised and later retired at.
 I found that through one of the Barnett wife's, my father was a descendant of  the Wood-Tunnell family on his father's side.
 The Tunnell family can be traced back to Guillaume Tonnelier who was born  about 1675 in Normandy, France. I remember my father telling me that his  family was the descendants of the Huguenots. There was information that I read  that said Guillaume Tonnelier and his family had fled France and sought refuge  in England in 1702. They changed their family name to be anglicized in which  Tonnelier became Tunnel. The second L to the name was added later when the  Tunnel?s moved to America. The Tonnelier name in France means "maker of  barrels" or cooper. It was Guillaume Tonnelier's son, William Tunnell  (Reverend) who with his wife Lady Ann Howard came to America. In 1736, William  Tunnell and Lady Ann settled near Fredricksburg, Virginia. They later moved to  Fairfax County, VA. It was William Tunnell, son Stephen Tunnell who was  married to Kezia Money that moved away from Virginia to Tennessee. Then  Stephen Tunnell's, son, Nicholas Money Tunnell moved from Tennessee to Morgan  IL. 
 It appears that Kezia Money family were also descendants of the Huguenots.  Kezia Money's family escaped religious persecution because they were  Protestant (Huguenots) in France and fled to America. 
 On my father's mother side of the family, I found that she was a descendant of  the Allison-Bixby's family. On the Bixby side of my father's family, I found  it can be traced back to John Bekesby of England. The Bekesby's family lived  in the English county of Suffolk in and around the town of Thorpe Morieux.  John was the probable father of Walter Bekesby who was named on a list of  tenants of the manor of Felsham dated 9 October 1404. It appears that the  majority of Bixby/Bekesby both in America and England can be traced back to  Walter Bekesby.
 It was Joseph Bixby who came to New England about 1638 and settled in Ipswich,  Mass. He would have been around 15 years old when he arrived in America as an  indentured servant to pay for his passage to MA.
 Joseph Bixby?s grandson, Abner Bixby moved to Pennsylvania. It was Abner  Bixby's, wife, Tomasin Nurse who was the great granddaughter to Rebecca  Blessing Towne that was hung for witchcraft in Salem Village, Essex, MA 19  July 1692. Abner grandson or Joseph Bixby?s great grandson, Joseph Bixby who  married Elizabeth Jordan moved out of Pennsylvania to settle in Ohio. He only  stayed in Ohio a few years and then settled in Pike County, IL around 1866.  This is the area that a lot of my relatives have remained. There was a large  portion of the Barnett family that moved to Kansas too.
 I also started researching the Wood family who came from South Carolinia. It  appears that there was Cherokee in this line of the family. Hannah Tunnell  married Sampson Wood who might have been 1/2 Cherokee. I heard the stories of  a great-grandmother who was Cherokee and the family. It was said that we had a  Native American grandmother that was not too far off in the family line. I was  told that they hid the Native American heritage because during the turn of the  century, there was concern of Native America children being taking away from  their families and sent off to school. This practice was still going into the  1930?s and the 1940?s where the children were sent away from their parents and  off to a boarding school where the children were taught to assimilate into our  white culture. I have no proof as of yet, but I do believe Jacob Hagerman also  might have been S Cherokee. He had two daughters that married into the Wood  family. George Wood, who I also believed was Cherokee was son to Hannah Tunnel  and Sampson Wood, who married Ursula Hagerman. George Wood sister was Mary  Elizabeth Wood who married Henry Alexander Barnett. Then Ursula Wood was the  daughter of Jacob Hagerman, who I believed might have been 1/2 Cherokee.  Ursula?s sister, Julia Ann Hagerman married Charles Barnett, son of Elizabeth  Wood, and the grandson of Hannah Tunnel. Jacob Hagerman might have been  registered on the time with the Cherokee Nation since on his death with the  Cherokee Nation, Craig-Indian territory, Oklahoma. Although, he was buried in  Kansas. I have picture of Ursula and Julia Hagerman in which you can see they  are Native American. I also have a picture of Elizabeth Wood who also show  signs of being Native American in her cheek bones. I have no picture of George  or Sampson Wood, nor picture of Jacob Hagerman.

I like to thank my family members who started researching our family history  in the late 70;s or early 80?s before computer networking was available. I  know they spent many hours complying family information. If it wasn?t for all  their efforts and hard work, I wouldn?t have had much information to start  this family project. I am not sure who all the family members were. I also  correspond with new family members whom I would like to thank for all the help  they gave me.