Sibling Cousins

It recently occurred to me that although I’ve spent a fair amount of time looking for cousin connections among others – such as people in our church and my high school classmates – that I’d not spent much time examining those even closer to me, namely my siblings (who obviously have the same list of ancestors as myself) and the spouses/partners of my siblings. So – time to rectify that oversight. First, I’ll look at my siblings and their spouses/partners (looking for cousin connections to me and my siblings), then I’ll do the same with my wife’s siblings and their spouses/partners (looking for cousin connections to my wife and her siblings).

 

My Siblings and Their Spouses/Significant Others

I’m the oldest of five alphabetically named children, my siblings being Beth, Charles/Chuck, Dawn, and Edward/Edd. We also alternate boy/girl/boy/girl/boy – how great is that! I’ve documented before that my wife and I are cousins multiple ways. But when looking at others, I generally just look to find one common ancestor to verify a cousin-connection and that’s what I’ll do here. I was surprised to find some interesting parallels with similar results for both of my sisters and both of my brothers.

My sister, Beth, has been married twice, and is currently living with a life-partner (going on 9 years already!). I was not expecting to find a connection with her first husband, Gerry, as his name, Meskun, had a distinctly Eastern European sound to it. Indeed, I found that his paternal grandparents were from Lithuania. But his mother’s side had a more English-sounding name and so if there was a connection, that’s where I would be apt to find it. Because Gerry was from NE CT, I tried to see if any of his ancestral lines were from colonial CT. After several lines ended early with immigrants in the 1800s from England/Ireland/Canada, I did find some that went back further. I hit paydirt when I determined that Beth and Gerry were 9^th cousins, twice removed, via a common ancestor, Robert Lockwood (1600-1658).

Similarly, Beth’s second husband, Bob Rumsey, has a lot of CT connections, in addition to many in NY, ME, and MA. I was able to find a cousin connection, 9^th cousin, once removed, via a common ancestor, John Beach (1623-1677). However, Beth’s current partner, Dave Ciarcia, is not related as all his grandparents are from Italy.

Turning next to my brother Chuck, it’s quite obvious that he is not a cousin with his wife, Joanne [Hundt]. Her ancestors are all from either Germany or Denmark, although some of her ancestors have been in the US since the early 1800s. But since the Russell family has no DNA from either of these countries, he is not married to a distant cousin.

For my sister Dawn it’s exactly the same situation as with my sister Beth, except that she was widowed twice. Both of her husbands were from CA, but both their family lines go back to the east coast. Thus, her first husband, Mike Roberts, was her 11^th cousin via Thomas Holbrook (1599-1677). Similarly, her second husband, George Haskin, was her 10^th cousin, once removed via Thomas Dibble (1613-1700). Finally, just like Beth, her current partner, Ron Brower, has no cousin connection as his ancestors are from Germany, Norway, and Ireland.

Lastly, my brother Edd is parallel to my brother Chuck. His wife, Ingrid Engler, is from Germany and thus there is no cousin connection to her.

Two sisters – both with two former husbands who were each cousins and a current partner who is not a cousin. Two brothers – both with wives who have no cousin connection.

 

My Wife’s Siblings and Their Spouses/Partners

My wife, Donna [VanDeCar] has six siblings. The youngest, Ann, never married, so that leaves five that need investigation. Let’s look at them in age order.

Her older brother, Charles/Chuck, married Sarah [King] [Lane] (they later divorced, and Sarah has since passed away). She was a member of the local Odawa tribe. Being a native American, one would think there would not be any cousin connection here. But I did some research on Sarah a few years ago (see here) and the results were surprising. Thus, I can restate here that Chuck and Sarah were 10^th cousins, twice removed, via a common ancestor, William Towne (1598-1673).

The next brother, William/Bill, married Marge [Wiklanski]. As is obvious from her surname, her ancestry is from Poland and Austria, and thus there are no cousin connections there.

Next is Bob. He married Cherie [Bradshaw] who has also recently passed away. But in checking, her ancestors all came from Germany or Denmark or were recent immigrants from England. There is no cousin connection there. Bob has since joined with a new life-partner, Julie Scott. But Julie’s ancestors are from Germany and Ireland, or they are immigrants to the southern part of the US from England. No connections there either.

After Bob comes Carl. He first married Leslie Camper. Her ancestral lines are all from the southern US and thus there are no cousin connections there. Carl then married Julia Flemming and I have not discovered any connections to her ancestors. Finally, he married Stephanie Vonsoden and there are likewise no connections to her ancestors.

The last of the siblings who married is Cora/Pixie. She has been married four times. The first was to Rick Velin. On his father’s side his ancestors are from Sweden and the Czech Republic. But although his mother was from the west coast, and his maternal grandmother was of Czech origin, his mother’s father’s ancestral lines go back over several generations to the east coast. Thus, I have found that Rick was an 11^th cousin via George Wheeler (1605-1687). Pixie’s second husband was Ernest Sills. His father’s ancestors were from the southern US and his maternal grandfather’s ancestors were from Prussia. But his maternal grandmother’s ancestors, like Rick’s maternal grandfather’s, can be traced back to the east coast. Through these ancestral lines I have found that Ernest was a 9^th cousin, twice removed, via Joseph Bates (1620-1706).

Pixie’s third husband was Leslie Westbrook. Many of his ancestors were recent immigrants from England/Russia, but some of his paternal grandmother’s ancestors can be traced back to New England where we find that Leslie is a 9^th cousin via Thomas Dibble (1613-1700) [the same person who is the common ancestor between my sister Dawn and her husband George]. Finally, Pixie’s last husband was Rodger Grody. He has a number of ancestral lines that originate from Germany or Canada. But one of his ancestral lines goes back to New England where he is an 11^th cousin of Pixie via John Fiske (1619-1684).

Thus, besides the several cousin connections that my wife and I have and the unexpected connection through an Odawa Indian, the only cousin connections of my wife’s siblings are the four that her sister has through each of her marriages.