Over
the past few months I have been working at a major genealogical research
project to try and document the ways that the members of our church are related
to each other. I called this project the “Bethel Web” (*1). Thus far I have
identified nearly 80% of the people at church have connections to each other.
Most of this is because the roots of the church are in the Germans who settled
in eastern PA during the colonial period. So, names like Kauffman, Schultz, and
other obviously German names are pretty common in this area.
Most
of the family lines of these individuals stay within the confines of
southeastern PA. But there are some people who have come to this area from NE
PA, Central PA, or Western PA, but the families in those part of the state were
also German and going back in history they originally came to the US from SE PA
where the connections to other church families are made.
My
own family tree is nearly entirely of English ancestry, so I did not expect to
find many people in church who had a cousin relationship to me. I had earlier
found one in a close friend (*2), but I thought that was an outlier. Thus I was
surprised when I was able to find a total of eight people at church who were
distant relatives of mine (other than my wife, daughter, and grandchildren)! Let
me examine each in turn to show the family lines where we connect.
The
first five individuals are connected to me in only one way (that I have
discovered) and usually this connection is through an individual who came from
England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the time of the Great Migration.
The last three are people who have ancestors from Connecticut and who connect
to me in multiple ways.
Jared
Burkholder
Jared’s
connection to me is on his mother’s side. His maternal grandmother was Virginia
Pettengill. Virginia’s grandfather, William Pettengill, moved to PA from VT.
But Williams’s mother, Charlotte Stevens, was born in NH. The Stevens family
had been in NH for several generations, but her great-great-grandfather,
Ebenezer Stevens, had been born in MA. Ebenezer’s grandfather (and Jared’s
great*9 grandfather), John Stevens, came to MA from England in 1650. John is
also my step great*9 grandfather through my father’s step-father. So that makes
us tenth cousins.
Shannon
Gross
Shannon’s
parents were from CT. Her paternal grandmother’s maiden name was Bates. Going
back, but all in CT, the line I followed included the last names of Bates, Dyke
and Gaines. The Gaines family had been in CT for nearly 200 years, but Samuel
Gaines (1638-1700) had moved to CT from MA. His grandfather (and Shannon’s
great*11 grandfather was Captain John Partridge who lived in England. John is
also my great*10 grandfather, making Shannon my eleventh cousin, once removed.
Ed
Harrison
Ed’s
connection to me involves a great number of female connections, so there are
many name changes going back that family line. His mother’s grandfather was Frederick
Stebbins, but Frederick’s mother was Hannah Rogers who had been born in New
London County, CT. Going back strictly through maternal connections, the last
names are Burch, Birch, Tubbs, Perkins, Hazen, and Lathrop – all in New London
County, CT. Abigail Lathrop’s grandfather was John Lathrop. John’s father,
Samuel had been born in England and he came to MA as a young boy with his
family in 1634. John is Edward’s great*10 grandfather as well as my great*8 grandfather,
making Edward my ninth cousin, twice removed.
Rick
Howells
Like
many of these individuals, the line back to a common ancestor with myself is
non-trivial. In Rick’s case the last several generations were in PA (Rick <-
Richard Howells (1933-1981) <- Arthur Howells (1909-1967) <- Mary Bellis
(1880-1961) <- Mary Staples (1852-1934). Mary’s father, David Staples, came
to PA from Ulster, NY. The next few generations were also in Ulster County
(Rebecca Wygant <- Eunice Wyatt). Eunice’s father, Nathaniel Wyatt IV moved
to NY from Fairfield County, CT. That family was in CT going back through Rick’s
great*10 grandfather, John Waterbury, who came from England to Watertown, MA,
in 1630 and then moved to CT in 1646. John is also my great*11 grandfather,
making Rick my eleventh cousin, once removed.
Holly
Nonnemacher
Holly’s
maiden name is Newell. Simply tracing that family line back on the male side,
her great-grandfather, John Newell, moved to PA from Worchester, MA, in the
early 1800s. Continuing back, her great*10 grandfather, Abraham Newell, came to
the Massachusetts Bay Colony from England in 1634. Abraham is my great*9
grandfather, thus Holly is my tenth cousin, once removed.
Bob
Davies
(repeated from *2)
In
tracing back Bob’s maternal grandfather, I found that the Ackley family moved
to Bradford County PA from Connecticut. Since genealogy records from
Connecticut are pretty robust, I was able to trace it back several more
generations quite easily. In the process I began to notice family names that
occur in my own family tree – which has been in Connecticut for over 300 years.
So, I took some of those family names and began checking to see if Bob’s
ancestral lines intersected with my own. I have found three such connections.
Bob’s
great*4 grandmother was Abigail Doane. Her ancestral line goes back to John
Doane (b. 1575 in England), but John is also my ancestor on my father’s side.
Through this connection Bob is my tenth cousin, once removed.
Another
of Bob’s ancestors is Sarah Andrews who was born in Waterbury, CT – the same
town that I was born in. Her father, Abraham Andrews is also an ancestor of
mine on my mother’s side, making Bob my eighth cousin, once removed.
Finally,
another family in Bob’s ancestral line is the Terrill family where Daniel
Terrill is Bob’s great*6 grandfather and my great*7 grandfather, making Bob my seventh
cousin, once removed, again on my father’s side.
Ruth
Gavin
Ruth’s
paternal grandmother, Elenora Ketchum, was born in NY. Her maternal grandfather
was James Russell Chauncy. His middle name came from his mother, Phebe Russell.
Her paternal Russell line goes back to MA and then to England where it connects
with some of my ancestors (interestingly, on my mother’s side, not my father’s).
Through this connection Ruth is my eleventh cousin.
But
there is another whole collection of connections through James’s
great-great-grandmother, Rachel Tuttle, who was born in New Haven, CT – where all
of my maternal ancestors came from. Of Rachel’s eight sets of
great-great-grandparents (and Ruth’s great*10 grandparents), five of them
(Jonathan Tuttle, John Cooper, John Thomas, Stephen Goodyear, and William
Wooding) are also my great*8 grandparents. This makes Ruth my ninth cousin,
twice removed, five different ways!
Linda
[Booth] Reinhart
Linda’s
father comes from a family with multiple generations of steam boat captains who
worked on the Ohio River. Her great-grandfather, John Kent Booth, was born in
OH, but his parents had been born in CT. Being in CT for 150 years, that gave
lots of opportunity for connections to myself. I have documented the following ancestors
we have in common:
· Richard Booth
(1607-1687) (two ways)
· Samuel Sanford
(1643-1691)
· Samuel Blakeslee
(1599-1672)
· Thomas Fairchild
(1610-1670)
· Richard Ogden
(1610-1687)
· Humphrey Hyde
(1614-1684)
· Elnathan Botsford
(1671-1691)
· James Bennett (1645-1736)
Through
these multiple connections, Linda is eighth/ninth/tenth cousin.
Notes:
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