The more I dig into my ancestry the more my family tree branches start getting gnarly and twisted up into themselves.
Meaning, at some point in the past all the little branches start tangling up with the larger limbs they forked off of.
Like what I just discovered this past week when I broke through one of my brick walls.
One of my maternal grandmother's father, or my great grandfather was named John Little Vassar.
Now I have the Vassar branch of the family going back to the 1st Immigrant of that line to Virginia in 1635, 12 generations counting John the Immigrant to me.
Plus I have an additional 20 generations going back from John's wife, Elizabeth Dowe/Dew to William the Conqueror.
But who cares about him, right? 8-)
What I am focusing on is on that Vassar line.
My 5th great grandparents are Nathaniel Vasser(1756-1823),and his wife, Sarah Hudson(1756-1846).
Sarah's parents were Peter Hudson and Mourning Griffith(or Griffin) of Virginia. At this point back into this Vassar/Vasser line I only had the pedigree, or the direct ancestor once you get back into the Hudson side of the line, no siblings for anyone.
And I only have as far back in Hudsons as Peter and 1 further generation back for his wife Mourning Griffith(her parents are John Griffith and Sarah Parrish).
The Vassers/Vassars continue down with Vassars until you get to my grandmother, who married a Harper, my mother who married a Bowman, to me....Sluggy.
That line is well established however there are other offshoots from my maternal grandmother's side that I didn't have much documentation/family tradition coming into this whole genealogy hunt.
One of those offshoots is John Little Vassar's grandmother's family.
John Little's parents were John Alfred Vassar and Rosa Belle Snead(the ancestral line that I am related to Sonya Ann through).
John's mother, Rosa Belle Snead's parents were Lewellen Snead and Rebecca Womack. It is this Womack line that I have been trying to make headway on.
Rebecca's parents were Abraham Womack(1785/90-1863)and Willie(though some call her Millie)Wade(no dates).
I busted through the Womack brick wall this week with the aid of another researcher to discover that Abraham's parents were Abraham Womack and Tabitha Hudson.
This Tabitha Hudson was born abt. 1760.
Hmmmm.
My Sarah Hudson, in my great grandfather's line, was born 1756.
Hmmmm again.
Tabitha and Sarah both lived in the same geographic area of Virginia.
Well when I discovered that Tabitha's parents were Peter Hudson and Mourning Griffith, I knew I had found Sarah, who married Nathaniel Vassar, Tabitha's sister.
So my 2 x GreatGrandmother, Rosa Belle Snead's 2 x Great Grandparents are the same 2 x Great Grandparents as her husband, John Alfred's 2 x Great Grandparents.
And Rosa Bell's husband is my 2 x Great Grandfather.
This means my 2 x Great Grandparents were 3rd cousins.
My family tree seems to be branching out and then cleaving back together along this journey of mine. lol
I also found this same type of situation in my mother's father's sister's family.
My grandfather Harper had an older sister named Ollie Harper.
She married Joseph Warren Sublett.
I doubt she knew at that time that they were related.
Joseph Warren's 3 x Great Grandfather was a man named Pierre Louis Soblet, who immigrated to Virginia from France(first, by way of Germany, Holland and England)in 1700. Warren traces back through his direct Sublett surname line, from Joseph Warren to William Joseph, to Benjamin Branch, to Matthew Thomas, to Benjamin Sr., to Pierre Louis Soblet.
Ollie's 5 x Great Grandfather was this same Pierre Louis Soblet through her mother's side of the family.....Jennie Vie Tucker back to his mother Mary Jane Mason, back to her mother Elizabeth Weatherford, back to her mother Martha Sublett, back to her father William Abraham Sublett, back to his father Pierre Louis Soblet.
This means my great Aunt Ollie and Uncle Warren were 4th Cousins 1x removed.
Does your head hurt from the math yet?
Mine does. ;-)
Ok, back to seeing dead people for me......
Have you made any interesting family history discoveries lately?
Sluggy
Meaning, at some point in the past all the little branches start tangling up with the larger limbs they forked off of.
Like what I just discovered this past week when I broke through one of my brick walls.
One of my maternal grandmother's father, or my great grandfather was named John Little Vassar.
Now I have the Vassar branch of the family going back to the 1st Immigrant of that line to Virginia in 1635, 12 generations counting John the Immigrant to me.
Plus I have an additional 20 generations going back from John's wife, Elizabeth Dowe/Dew to William the Conqueror.
But who cares about him, right? 8-)
What I am focusing on is on that Vassar line.
My 5th great grandparents are Nathaniel Vasser(1756-1823),and his wife, Sarah Hudson(1756-1846).
Sarah's parents were Peter Hudson and Mourning Griffith(or Griffin) of Virginia. At this point back into this Vassar/Vasser line I only had the pedigree, or the direct ancestor once you get back into the Hudson side of the line, no siblings for anyone.
And I only have as far back in Hudsons as Peter and 1 further generation back for his wife Mourning Griffith(her parents are John Griffith and Sarah Parrish).
The Vassers/Vassars continue down with Vassars until you get to my grandmother, who married a Harper, my mother who married a Bowman, to me....Sluggy.
That line is well established however there are other offshoots from my maternal grandmother's side that I didn't have much documentation/family tradition coming into this whole genealogy hunt.
One of those offshoots is John Little Vassar's grandmother's family.
John Little's parents were John Alfred Vassar and Rosa Belle Snead(the ancestral line that I am related to Sonya Ann through).
John's mother, Rosa Belle Snead's parents were Lewellen Snead and Rebecca Womack. It is this Womack line that I have been trying to make headway on.
Rebecca's parents were Abraham Womack(1785/90-1863)and Willie(though some call her Millie)Wade(no dates).
I busted through the Womack brick wall this week with the aid of another researcher to discover that Abraham's parents were Abraham Womack and Tabitha Hudson.
This Tabitha Hudson was born abt. 1760.
Hmmmm.
My Sarah Hudson, in my great grandfather's line, was born 1756.
Hmmmm again.
Tabitha and Sarah both lived in the same geographic area of Virginia.
Well when I discovered that Tabitha's parents were Peter Hudson and Mourning Griffith, I knew I had found Sarah, who married Nathaniel Vassar, Tabitha's sister.
So my 2 x GreatGrandmother, Rosa Belle Snead's 2 x Great Grandparents are the same 2 x Great Grandparents as her husband, John Alfred's 2 x Great Grandparents.
And Rosa Bell's husband is my 2 x Great Grandfather.
This means my 2 x Great Grandparents were 3rd cousins.
My family tree seems to be branching out and then cleaving back together along this journey of mine. lol
I also found this same type of situation in my mother's father's sister's family.
My grandfather Harper had an older sister named Ollie Harper.
She married Joseph Warren Sublett.
I doubt she knew at that time that they were related.
Joseph Warren's 3 x Great Grandfather was a man named Pierre Louis Soblet, who immigrated to Virginia from France(first, by way of Germany, Holland and England)in 1700. Warren traces back through his direct Sublett surname line, from Joseph Warren to William Joseph, to Benjamin Branch, to Matthew Thomas, to Benjamin Sr., to Pierre Louis Soblet.
Ollie's 5 x Great Grandfather was this same Pierre Louis Soblet through her mother's side of the family.....Jennie Vie Tucker back to his mother Mary Jane Mason, back to her mother Elizabeth Weatherford, back to her mother Martha Sublett, back to her father William Abraham Sublett, back to his father Pierre Louis Soblet.
This means my great Aunt Ollie and Uncle Warren were 4th Cousins 1x removed.
Does your head hurt from the math yet?
Mine does. ;-)
Ok, back to seeing dead people for me......
Have you made any interesting family history discoveries lately?
Sluggy
I think we whities inevitably or at least probably have a bunch of ancestors in common; namely: Kings dating back to Wm. the Conqueror (joining it at Edward III for me, in at least one line, through the Tilghman's arriving in the early 1600s from England) and (not sure if this is true for everyone, or just me, you, and another 1/3 of the country) the Huguenots. Didn't have to go more than a few generations back to find the Couturiers (and Duboses,Gourdins) in South Carolina. (Everything was this Parish and That Parish; Craven County, Berkeley County... dug around and found out that those were protestant settlements: Anglican. We are now going back to people born in the 1600s with Isaac Dubose II.) Well, interestingly, I never see one single name linking my family to yours, though, so there must have been tons of these people since they're all on the same circuit, but different names. I'd bet pretty good money that if we tried,we'd find some common ancestors - what do you think?
ReplyDeleteI am sure we'll eventually find a link if you have Huguenot.
DeleteMy known Hugies are Soblet(Sublet), Martain, Briant, Lombard, Gerand and Archambeau.....LaSeur and Chastain as indirect/allied lines. This Hugie line went from France, to Germany, to Holland, to England to Virginia at ManakinTown near Jamestown. I believe I have more Hugies on another line of descent too, plus on my father's side some of the Irish ancestors where Scotch-Irish and some were Hugies who escaped to Ireland. Bresnard is one of my Hugie lines in County Cork. Also on that side is a line that supposedly goes back to the De La Roches....Flemish/Norman invader ancestry in Ireland. This line became Roche or Roach and my piece of it is centered around Castletownroche in County Cork, Ireland.
If you link to the Plantagenets line at Edward III, we ARE related. Eddie is my 21 x GGrand, then down through his son, John of Gaunt.
I seem to be related to most everyone I meet who has ancestors who have been here or in The UK or Ireland for centuries.