Friday's Faces of the Past

Benjamin Franklin

1706-1790

My 4th cousin, 7 times removed

Okay, so here is another connection (albeit distant) that I have to thank the We're Related phone app for. I have a blast with the app. I first downloaded for pure fun. But the one thing I wasn't expecting was that amongst all of the distant celebrity/political/famous "cousins" was that where the two lines converge, has allowed me to take my ancestry back, in some cases, ten or twenty generations! (Well, let's just say that the lines and documentation leading to and from the English throne are pretty easily discovered.) Still, I had no idea how many times I would ooh, and ahh, as I was able to prove the next ancestor back.

And this has all been in thanks to the little app I downloaded on my iPhone. In all I have 191 people with whom the app tells me I am related. Out of those, I've probably worked my way through around 16 or 17. I started doing the research to "disprove" how accurate the app really is. But what I discovered was that, in about 90% of those I've gone through finding evidence of relationship, the information has been totally spot on!

And so, for a good time at a party, I can blurt out, as though bragging, that someone like, for instance, Benjamin Franklin and I are related! (Well, we've all got to have some bragging rights in our family tree, correct? I have plenty to brag about without ever bringing up a famous name!) And isn't it fun to see how some people react when you can tell them that you're 4th cousins, 7 times removed with Benjamin Franklin?

Okay, so in the last 50 years or so, some rather scandalous information regarding old Ben has become public. Doesn't tarnish his accomplishments any, does it? And he did have a few more accomplishments than just tying that silly key to the kite string you know!

So, how are old Ben and I related?

Here's Ben's line: (for sake of simplicity, I present these just as they are from the app)

Common Ancestor:

Sir William Jones (1520-1560)

    Agnes Jane Jones (1540-1612)

        Agnes Jones (1575-1646)

           Thomas Franklin (1598-1681)

                Josiah Franklin (1657-1745)

                    Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

And now, the line coming to me:

Common Ancestor:

Sir William Jones (1520-1560)

    Griffith Jones (1560-1598)

        Morgan Jones (1590-1643)

            Thomas Jones (1620-1671)

                Ruth Jones (1645-1675)

                    Elizabeth Hayward/Howard (1678-1728)

                        John Perkins (1710-1763)

                            James Perkins (1741-1825)

                                Samuel Perkins (1778-1854)

                                    Margaret Smith Perkins (1826-1891)

                                       John Monroe Bean (1866-1954)

                                            Walter M. Beane (living)

                                               Cynthia A. Beane (living)

And there you have it. My relationship to Benjamin Franklin. Fun for parties, and bragging rights. But using the app has lead me to find my ancestors by trying to disprove the line from me to the common ancestor. And for that, I cannot thank Ancestry enough. Sometimes, it's simply given me a name, and I was able to go on from there. And like I said, about 10% of the trees sent have been totally wrong.

I've barely made a dent in the list so far. So, I am super stoked about working on even more!

*******Yesterday's "Those Places Thursday"

Were you able to figure out where this place was?

This photo is one I took at the Bluestone Dam, in Hinton, WV. I took the photo in 2015. I was standing on a fishing platform that is built conveniently near the dam itself, where I am told there have been some monster sized trout and catfish pulled from. This crosses the New River. Behind the Dam is Bluestone State Park, and it's many camping, hiking, fishing, and swimming areas. Great fun! My children used to fish from the primitive campgrounds, and we would fill up our cooler with fish they caught. Then cook them over an open campfire in the evening. We spent some wonderful times camping there! I highly recommend the area for a stop if you're coming through West Virginia. Just a few miles east of Beckley, and west of Lewisburg, just 10-miles off of I-64, there are many wonderful places to sight-see!

Mystery Monday - Am I Related to You?

****DISCLAIMER: The following review is a personal review of the app 'We're Related' for your iPhone, by Ancestry.com. Please be kind...it is a PERSONAL review, and this blogger is NOT obligated to review it.

A personal review of the We're Related app by Ancestry.com 

I've seen a lot of negative talk out there in the cyber world about this app, We're Related. So, I had to give it a try.

I got the app just a short time after its release to the public. I thought of it as simply, 'oh how cute!' You know, I figured it was going to tell me some crazy stuff, much like a Magic 8 Ball (oops, just about told you how old I am!) In any case, I simply wasn't taking it seriously. I mean, there are versions of my family tree on ancestry that date back to 2001 when I first got on to the site. They are not professional in any way shape or form. I wasn't even using sources or making citations back then! I didn't even realize that I needed to! That's how green I was at this thing called genealogy. And over the years, I took my tree off of Ancestry because I saw people using my tree, including my notes! And when I confronted people with  that, they would swear that they NEVER used my notes. (Hint: if you have a genealogy program like FTM, when making personal notes, always end your note with a dash and then either your name or your initials. Dummy's don't even look to see those initials there! They simply download your notes, and say they are their own!)

Okay, so my tree is hidden. And there are NO NOTES attached to my online tree any more. I will share it if I feel like someone is a close enough relative, when asked. Meaning at least a 2nd cousin. Any further away in the chain of relatives, and you are on your own! Sources and citations are included, but no notes!

So, when I got the We're Related app, I thought it would be about as useless as t-i-_-s on a boar hog. (Yeah, you know what that "_" stands for..) It was just going to be for fun. I got some hits that said I was related to some of my favorite genealogy people out there. But since I know that nothing even remotely connected to 2nd cousin would come of any of it, and seeing that our common ancestor was like 8-10 generations ago, no I didn't bother to contact them. Or to put them in my tree. Not that my tree doesn't have some people in it who aren't even remotely related to me, but that's because I did research for some of my cousins, on my Dad's side. (Dad came from a family of 15 children. Grandpa outlived two of his three wives, and had children with all three. So in all fairness, having taken on the mantle of family genealogist, I did do some research for my cousins who are not from my Dad's immediate siblings.)

So, why am I excited about my app? And how, or has it, affected my research?

Okay, so I wanted to know if I really was related to John F. Kennedy. Out of curiosity. But, I didn't have research back as far as the app had our common ancestor. But it did give me some names to pick up where I had not tread before. And it began as a game. Not to PROVE the relationship, but more to DISPROVE it. And a funny thing happened.

I was able to PROVE my ancestry back to the common ancestor! But that still didn't prove that I was related to Kennedy. So, instead of moving backward, as I had to prove my link to the common ancestor, I began researching forward from the common ancestor to see if I could, once again, disprove a relationship with the former President. And guess what. I DID prove we shared the same common ancestor!

So, for about the first 10 or so that I received I went right to work to see who all I am related to, or NOT related to.

Funny thing is this, I was able to provide documentation on those first 10 or so that proved I was related to them. Very distantly mind you, but the connect was there. But I wasn't excited about the connect, I mean, if you're a Christian and believe in the Bible, then you already know we are all related someway. Right? If you could do it, we would all be able to trace our roots back to Adam and Eve. Am I right? (Don't you just love looking at those trees on Ancestry or Family Search that have Adam and Eve listed as their ancestors? As I always say, the proof is in the pudding, and you ain't got no pudding there my friend!)

What I was excited about, was the fact that in doing the research, I was getting hints at where to go to find my next set of grandparents. you know, we all have them. 10x great-grandfather was married to UNK. (We've all got them, don't we? Those mystery grandparents?) Suddenly I had names. And with names I could begin to cross reference marriage bans, licenses, birth and death records, property taxes, and could corroborate distant aunts and uncles. These people had been mysteries to me until now!

Okay, so I'm not supportive of using the trees that you are shown on the app. Some of them are just plain weird and make no sense! But do take some time and look through them. I have busted through SEVERAL brick walls with this app's help!

Not to mention that I can say I'm 8th cousins with Johnnie Depp, or 2nd cousins, 36 times removed with Queen Elizabeth. Okay, laugh. Some of my family really get a charge out of knowing things like that!

But, what if I can tell you that I have reputable research that states I am a direct descendant of Charlemagne? Oh, you too??? Yeah, right, so can 2 billion other people on the planet! But hey, I did the research to find my trail (ancestry) back to him. How many of those 2 billion other people can say the same? (I even found out that Henry VIII had some of my ancestors noggins lopped off!)

So, I am totally infatuated with the app. At first I was able to keep up with doing research on each new tree match. I had to give that up in a hurry! There was no way I could prove everybody as fast as the trees were coming in. And no, I am not related to every tree I am sent. For instance, I am NOT related to Kurt Cobain, or Toby Maguire (through a common ancestor listed as Frances UNKNOWN, yeah let's see you prove that one!)  But without much effort at all I have proven some very interesting people share a common ancestor with me. Sadly, the closest any of them have been is 4th cousin 4 times removed. Care to guess the lucky relative there? None other than the original fright poet, Edgar Allan Poe.

So, if you have a smart phone, go ahead and download the app. But don't take it seriously, unless you're willing to do the legwork to prove that you're related to Charlemagne. Don't forget sources and citations. And none of this "UNK" stuff. Find out who it is, and then set out to disprove it. (I find it easier to find a name, and then disprove the relationship than trying to prove it. I start out with the premise that it's all a fairy tale, unless you can prove it.)

Have fun with it! Use the app when you have your next family gathering and play charades with everyone taking a famous person you're related to and try to guess who it is!  (Just make sure you let everyone know that the connection hasn't been proven unless you actually have!)

Seriously, though, it's a fun app, and it really has helped me break through some walls where I had been stumped before. In some cases moving back only a single generation, or as in the case of Charlemagne, 38 generations!

On a scale of one to five stars, I rate the app with FIVE STARS.

Surname Saturday

With the recent popularity of the Apple download for iPhones, We're Related, I had to give it a try.

With the large populace that I suddenly found myself related to, I simply had to pick a name and check it out for accuracy.

I chose John F. Kennedy, who quickly came up on my list. And sure enough, I can trace my ancestry back to our common Ancestor, who oddly enough, was also named John Kennedy. And yes, this is verified.

Knowing that the information provided in We're Related comes merely from individuals who have placed their family trees on Ancestry.com, and ran against mine, and thousands of others, a common ancestor in our trees is found. But the reality is that many, if not most, at least in my experience, have not been researched and verified through documentation. So, I took the app as a fun thing to bring out at a family party, and nothing more when I downloaded it.

The truth is, I am happy to say, that I am finding more and more of the matched ancestors are correct, and the paper trail lead right to me, and to the indicated individual.

Jokingly I told family members that saying we were related to the Kennedy's was one thing, after all, both families are traced back to ancestors who came to America in the 1600's. That narrows the gap all by itself. So, I said, "I'm just waiting to find out that we're related to Elvis!" Well, I had to eat my words. Elvis, is in fact, my 8th cousin. (I know, related from afar, but still related.)

The individual I was probably most excited to see and to research was an old favorite of my Dad's. Johnny Cash. Our shared ancestor is Johann Georg Buhler, who arrived in this country not long before he died with his family of grown children and their families as well. He landed in Virginia. And from there we stay in Virginia for a while. But as the wilderness went further inland, so did Cash's ancestors, while mine stayed on the Virginia frontier.

 

Johnny and June Carter Cash

And yep, you got it, we share a common ancestor with Cash's second wife, June Carter, who also stayed settled in what was the Virginia frontier.

While you might download the program as a lark, take the time, if you wish, to do a little research. you just never know who you might be related to!

(In case you're wondering, Johnny Cash and I are 8th cousins, 1x removed.)

I'm off to do a little research now. I just got a notification that Harry S. Truman and I are 7th cousins 4x removed. Hmmm, we'll just have to wait and see what the paper trail says, but stay tuned! You just never know!