Cousins

 

We're all related one way or another.  Doesn't matter if you believe that your line goes back to Adam and Eve or if you consider Louis Leaky's once famous 'Lucy' at Olduvai Gorge as a potential ancestor.  If we had a genealogical 'crystal ball', we'd eventually discover our links to everyone else.  So - it doesn't matter who you are - ultimately, you are a member of my 'Family' and I am a member of yours (although you may not want to brag about it).

 

I haven't quite made it back to Adam and Eve or 'Lucy' yet, but as my 'family tree' has grown, I've run into a lot of 'cousins'.  They live, or have lived, in just about every state in the United States and I've also found them in Canada, England, Scotland, Australia and one in Thailand.  I've identified several here in my current State of residence, Kansas - one is in the town I live in, Parsons - just a few blocks away.  Finally, I found at least four who live in my own home - which is particularly interesting when it is recognized that only two people live here - my wife, Pat, and myself..

 

First, I am my own 8^th and 9^th cousin.  Pat is my 8^th and 10^th cousin (and her own 7^th cousin).  While my genealogy program, FamilyTreeMaker, recognizes and reports these alternate relationships, it does not offer an automatic way of discovering the actual links - it takes some detective work.

 

I'll show two of the links between myself and Pat as an example of how these 'cross' relationships happen.

 

Our earliest identified [unproven] connection is in France at a time when the protestant French Huguenot's were persecuted by their Catholic King.  Many of the Huguenot's would leave France for the German Palantinate and some stopped in England before heading to the 'New World'.  One family was that of Matthys 'Matthew' Blanchan and Madelene Brissen Jorisse.  Matthys is last found in England, so apparently did not make the final journey across the Atlantic - but two of his daughters did.  Daughter Catherine would marry Louis DuBois and Marie would marry Anthony Crispell.

 

 

An excellent resource for information on French Huguenots' in general can be found at:   The Huguenot Historical Society.  Also here, you will find The Crispell Family Associationl and the The DuBois Family Association.

 

Our other [unproven] connection stems from George Soule and Mary Becket of The Mayflower.

 

 

Although Pat is younger than I, you'll notice that my side of the family managed to slip in an extra generation.  Of course, this is common.  Very large families were quite normal at one time.  Generations frequently overlapped and Aunts and Uncles might be quite a bit younger than their own Nieces and Nephews.

 

There are many excellent sites that concern The Mayflower and descendants.  One that I visit is: The Mayflower Web Pages by Caleb Johnson .  I enjoy going through The Mayflower Passenger List.  It includes specific information on George Soule.

 

 

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