Donald E Bishop - Stovall Data Base

Stovall Database

Don Bishop has been researching and compiling Stovall ancestry for over 20 years. He currently has 179,011 individuals in his family database which are for the most part Stovall descendants.

He is the author and compiler of "Descendants of Bartholomew Stovall (1655-1722) (First Five American Generations)" which was published by the Stovall Family Association, Inc. in 1999.

During his 20 years he has been sharing his information and collecting Stovall Family genealogies and entering the information into what he calls his "data bank". I believe it to be the largest Stovall genealogy database in existence. I cannot fathom the number of hours of work this dedicated man has contributed to this "life's work".

He states "When I started the data bank I never intended for it to be used as absolute gospel for it's not but a guide to be used in research". I asked Don to tell me how all this started. Below is his response:

"I started working on the genealogy in about 1985 after I retired from the Navy. I became curious about my roots and remembered hearing my dad talking about his Grand Dad Stovall being a Yankee (from Tenn) and that he had married a gal by the name of Janie Tucker. I knew my Grandmother on his side was a Stovall and I'd seen her about half a dozen times in my life before I left for the Navy. That's all the info I had to start checking on the Stovalls and sort of let it drop until around 1990 when one of my sisters sent me a advertisement on a Stovall reunion being held in Memphis. I still didn't do anything about it for I thought it was not mine (my group of Stovalls) but wrong again. At some time later I decided to write to the address and it was from then President Mary Davis of the family association. She gave me my connection to the Stovall family via a book printed by G Spencer Beasley which had my 3rd Great Grand Father therein with my 2nd Great Grand Father listed and no further. This stirred my interest so I began to write letters and joined the association about that time.

I was very fortunate that Lyle K Williams and Rollo P Stovall took an interest in me and we began to piece the family together. I questioned whether there was any data bank established and to my astonishment there was no known bank that consisted of anything other than individual lines. So I asked why not?? Big mistake on my part for it got me totally involved. Initially I was questioned why I wanted to establish such an instrument and I could see that it was needed very badly. Lyle didn't work with computers so he was hamstrung in this area but he could see the value of the thing. That got me going on the wild chase looking for the Stovalls, I have been at it ever since. I used his books and Rollo's to use as the basis for the data bank. That is perhaps, regarded by me to be the greatest achievement of my life in this area of Genealogy. It's an amazing endeavor and can be very frustrating.

One of the most amazing things uncovered by me is the meeting of many cousins that never existed before that. One on the Bishop side of the house was a 2nd cousin (Jim Turnipseed, Jr) from Ga who just happened to be in the Neshoba Co., Ms library one day when I was looking for the Stovall roots of my family. He was searching for the Bishop side and the librarian knew that I was looking for the Stovalls and she surmised that there was a connection somewhere so she suggested to him that he check with me to see where it was. That started a relationship that exists till today. He has been very helpful to me by doing some research in Ga on the Stovalls and I have continued searching for the Bishops here and in Clarke Co., Ala where my Great Grand Father Bishop came from. Together we've made many connections mostly in the Bishop family.

Perhaps my greatest accomplishment is the point that I've gotten to now when I'm asked to check the data bank for certain names of family members. This comes from across the country from Boston, Mass to Seattle, Wash of family members searching for their roots. My efforts won't satisfy the DAR & such organizations in applying for memberships but should give a research point from which to work. I've even gotten e-mail from England and Australia of family members searching for lost Stovall family members. I've not been successful in all cases but most I've been able to satisfy to a degree.

My greatest disappointment has been the questioning by some family members of the validity of my work. What they fail to realize is the purpose of my efforts was for their benefit. Some have gotten rather nasty and I've even on occasion fired back on them for their unwarranted criticism of these efforts."

Don in Mississippi

As with any database the accuracy is only as good as the sources provided. He continues to update, correct and add to this growing collection of information and welcomes your input.

I cannot begin to Thank Don enough for all his work and those who have contributed information to his project.

You can access Don's data bank by clicking on the link at the top of the page. You will need to sign up for an account. This is for privacy protection only. There is no charge. To view the site with limited access, until your account is set up, you can Log on using:

User Name = Name <------ (not your name) the word Name - use capital N only
Password = 123456

Please let Don know if you tie into any of our Stovall lines. I know he will want to add your info to the Data Bank. Also contact him if you can not find your ancestor. He has helped many make their "Stovall" connection.