I'm jumping up and down - Thanks to GR!

StewL · Post by **StewL** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 7:46 am

Hi Mary

I'm not really shocked

it is actually quite funny when you think about it.

When I added some more information I was given by my latest contact, you guessed it familiar surnames keep cropping up

They sure did tend to keep it in the family, looks like a lot of "cousins" marrying each other, or is that kissing cousins, with no one today being absolutely sure what cousin married what cousin. Well that puts paid to my sedate wee gggrandmother being in the jail

Muriel · Post by **Muriel** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 6:47 pm

I've just had a slightly spooky experience with GR. The reason I joined in the first place was because I found someone with so many matches with my tree that he had to be related. So paid my money & shot off a note to him............no reply. Well, I've moaned about this for 2 years

Until this afternoon when I was having a rootle round on WorldConnect & discovered he'd died 2 months before I joined GR!!

Of course, his stuff is still there on GR but as he seems to have emigrated to Oz sometime in the 60s I can't get in touch with any of his family to suggest they might want to take it off. I guess I might try the WorldConnect person in case they have any contact with the remaining family. Makes me feel a bit embarrassed that I've been so grouchy about him

Muriel

killearnan · Post by **killearnan** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:46 pm

StewL wrote:Hi Mary

I'm not really shocked it is actually quite funny when you think about it. When I added some more information I was given by my latest contact, you guessed it familiar surnames keep cropping up They sure did tend to keep it in the family, looks like a lot of "cousins" marrying each other, or is that kissing cousins, with no one today being absolutely sure what cousin married what cousin. Well that puts paid to my sedate wee gggrandmother being in the jail

Don't know if I've trotted this out here before, so I hope I'm not repeating myself.

Dad's side of the family is Scottish (hence my presence here.....) while Mum's is New England Yankee back to the Great Migration (the Puritans/Pilgrims from 1620 to 1645).

I've got 53

couples in my tree (all on Mum's side of the family) who married after 1600 (and before 1825) where I'm descended from two or more of their children - plus three other men where I'm descended from two or more of their children with multiple wives. In some cases, my grandfather and my grandmother were 8th cousins or the like, but in other cases multiple-great-grandparents were first or second cousins. In fact, in some areas of colonial New England, marrying 2nd and 3rd cousins was seen as being a fairly good thing - not close enough to have issues but close enough know the family and have spouses with similar backgrounds.

In fact, there's one couple {John Putnam and Priscilla Gould, who married just after 1600} where - because of this pattern - I'm descended from them at least 14 and likely 17 different ways. See this handwritten attempt at keeping track of the 'proven' lines (still working on the other 3......and I'm still got a few dead ends in that geographic area, so running into them again wouldn't surprise me too much at this point). And then I'm also descended from Priscilla's brother Zaccheus Gould at least 4 ways (which means I'm descended from Zaccheus and Priscilla's parents Richard Gould and Mary --- at least 18 and maybe 21 ways but Richard and Mary married before 1600, so I don't count them in my 53 multiples.

On funny bit.....Helen Putnam has a pedigree such that 11 of her 16 gggrandparents are descended from John Putnam and Priscilla Putnam. She married Addison Putnam Learoyd -- who has NO

Putnam ancestry that I can find.......

One of this weekend's projects to get my GEDCOM in shape to post at GR......

BJ
very glad her mother chose to marry a non-Yankee.........

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:30 pm

BJ,

I got lost in the woods just trying to read your post! I keep charts on huge pieces of newsprint, but somehow I think you could paper your whole house if you did that.

I was looking at others Family Trees with Clerihews in them recently and came across one Agnes Clerihew who married a John Baird and ended up in Pennsylvania with either one or two children. There were over 30 family trees claiming to be descended from Agnes. I quit counting there. Mine was one of 2 or 3 that doesn't trace back to her. Those must have been one or two very busy children!

Carol