I’ve posted here before how a large percentage of our church
are related to each other (*1). Last fall I also gave some of the details about
some of the connections that are direct cousin connections to myself (*2). And
it was only a month after that where I discovered that someone who had only
come to the church fairly recently was connected to me in more than two dozen
ways (*3). But little did I expect that these would come together in what I can
only call an amazing co-incidence!
Our church choir only sings once a month. Just before the
service, we were out behind the sanctuary waiting until it was time to file in
together. Three of us were in one of the small rooms there where there are a
couple of pieces of soft furniture to sit on – myself, Ruth, and Joy – the latter
two being two of the four altos in the choir. Joy had only joined the choir
recently and this was the first time that she had been in a situation where she
and Ruth could get to know each other. I mentioned to the two of them that they
were both distant cousins of mine.
But Ruth was interested in getting to know Joy better and
asked where she was from originally. Joy was a missionary in Thailand and then
China for many years, but in her response she indicated that her family was in
Vermont and that was her “home base” when she was not overseas. Ruth suddenly
perked up and asked, “Where in Vermont?”
[I should add at this point that in my tracing the
genealogical connections of our church members to each other that generally
when I find one connection I document the connection and don’t bother trying to
fill out that individual’s full family tree. But, in this case I should have
definitely gone farther.]
Joy responded to Ruth that most of her family were in the
Burlington area and started listing the small towns around there where her family
members currently lived, first noting that her brother lived in the small town
of Richmond, VT. Ruth, immediately stopped her and excitedly proclaimed, “my in-laws
live in Richmond, and we go there on a regular basis!”
Richmond is a small town of about 4000 people and the “downtown”
area has only a single traffic light and perhaps 400 people. Ruth then started
describing where in the town her in-laws lived saying things like “turn left at
the light”, “the last street before the train crossing”, etc. Joy mentioned
that her brother was Uncle Sam on stilts at the annual 4th of July
parade and Ruth said, “then I’ve seen him,” as that is one of the major events
of town each year (*4).
What a spectacular co-incidence – that two people sitting
next to each other in the choir of a church in PA are both connected to
relatives in a small town in VT and they have so much in common! And both of
them are my cousins as well!
[I have since gone back to do some additional research,
especially now that I know how to find Ruth’s in-laws and can trace that side
of her family tree. So, I can add two new facts to this connection.
· Ruth
shares at least 6 genealogical ancestors with me and Joy shares at least 24
ancestors with me (they are the two people in our church with whom I share the
most connections. But two of the ones that I share with Ruth are in common with
the ones I share with Joy. Thus, Ruth and Joy are cousins of each other as well
(10th cousins, once removed).
· Ruth’s
husband is Aaron. His parents (Ruth’s in-laws in VT) are also connected to me.
Even though most of Aaron’s ancestors are from other places (French-speaking
Canada, Italy, Ireland), there is one line that has been in colonial New
England (VT, NH, MA, CT) since the early 1600s.
What are the odds that three people sitting in a small
room in a church in PA would all be distant cousins of one another, that two of
them both have relatives in a small town in VT, and that both those families in
VT are also cousins of mine? This is the kind of thing that I really enjoy
about doing genealogical research.]
Notes:
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