Our Roots * Our Stories * Our Legacy
This site contains the results of our ongoing research on the Backus Families and branches for the last 22 years. The data contained herein has been compiled over many years, on a best effort basis. While we believe the family links we have made to be correct, you should always do your own independent validation to verify your ancestry.
Most of the profiles on this site include some supporting sources, an image of a headstone, etc., but some do not. We do this when we are building a branch and have sources yet to be added, or when we have good evidence of a relationship, but the explanation is complicated. We want visitors to see these profiles and to contact us if they have documents to help verify a relationship, or to correct errors in our conclusions. Please note that the spelling of names and the accuracy of dates are often conflicted among sources cited for an individual. We try our best by choosing the common denominator amongst these sources, and we correct spelling errors we know to be the result of repeated phonetic misspellings. For these and other reasons, the profile may not completely agree with all details of all the sources included. If you find errors that you can verify, please contact us.
If you are visiting this site, you may be related to someone in our database and may have research that could help us, or family members you would like to add. We would also be very pleased to add your photos, documents and stories.
Anyone who has spent time working on family history knows how time consuming and challenging it is. Although we are working many hours to build and maintain this site, it is also a community effort. We do not claim to have the most complete information in every case and we will continue to rely on our visitors and members to help us make this site better. We work on this project without compensation (except for our enjoyment of genealogy and family history!) but there are expenses in maintaining the Backus Family History site, costs which are steadily increasing as the site grows. We also hope to have this site maintained and developed far into the future by family members, descendants of ours and of our cousins. We have been asked if we can accept gifts to help support the operating costs of this site. The answer is yes, but please note, we are not an NPO, so your gift is not tax deductible.
If you have any questions or comments about the information on this site, research to share, people, photos or documents you would like to add, please contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.
If you are family and would like to have access, please click the "Register Here" link to the lower right. Please tell us how you are related and include the related person's name and ID#, and give a VALID EMAIL ADDRESS. All requests without any of this information will be ignored.
We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again. To tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: Tell our story. So, we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors, "You have a wonderful family; you would be proud of us.". How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say. It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who I am, and why I do the things I do.
A handful of our favorite resources.
Charles Backus, of the famous San Francisco Minstrels quartette,' and one of the principal comedians of the organization, achieved wide fame for his impersonations of prominent actors, in which he was an adept.
He went to California in 1852, and two years later organized Backus' Minstrels there; in 1855 he took the company to Australia, and a few years later organized Horn and Backus' Minstrels; In 1859 he again went to Austrialia, and appeared as a negro clown in Burton's Circus.
He returned to San Franciso in 1861, and after playing several engagements there, on September 15, 1864 was one of the organizers of Birch, Wambold and Backus' Minstrels; his career from that time until his death was linked with that of Billy Birch.
Mr. Backus was married to Leo Hudson, the famous equestrienne; he was divorced in March, 1866; subsequently he married Miss Kate Newton, the wellknown actress.
On October 17, 1876, in Philadelphia, he married Miss Tizzie Mason.
Charles Backus was born in Rochester, N.Y., in 1831; he died in New York City, June 21, 1883.
excerpt from Monarchs of minstrelsy, from "Daddy Rice to date"
An inlaw is someone who has married into your family; an outlaw is an inlaw who resists letting you do their genealogy!
