What triggered this latest round of silliness was that I was watching a Wondrium (formerly Great Courses) course, America’s Founding Fathers. On the class about one of my early idols, Thomas Jefferson, it mentioned that his mother was Jane Randolph. The brother just younger than me is named Paul Randolph. The Paul is after our Uncle Paul of USS Carr fame. I am not recalling the provenance of his middle name right now, but my father’s side of the family will occasionally use the family name of one branch or another for a middle name. For instance, my father’s middle name was Marrs. All this started me wondering about a connection to Jane Randolph and sent me to FamilySearch.org, the genealogy site ran by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints aka the Mormons. Stayed tuned.
A few thoughts before I delve deeper.
First, this blog posting will most likely be of more interest to the handful of my relatives that read my blog.
Secondly the Mormon genealogy site is very well administered. I am sure that the Mormon portion is meticulous in its research. The portion open to the general population is basically a crowd sourced (think Wikipedia) genealogy and thus prone to the faults of such tools. On the whole, though, it has struck me as very good as long as you remember the caveats. Since the genealogy gives 17 of the LDS prophets as my cousins and 50 of their wives, it gives me a warm fuzzy on the veracity of the non-Mormon portion. Given that it lists cousins on the Mayflower (Puritans) and many of my ancestors came to this country as Quakers, a Mormon connection does not surprise.
Thirdly, I really don’t know how much significance a fifth cousin, an eighth cousin, a twelfth cousin has. Clearly, it means we shared a common ancestor somewhere in our past. However, given the amount of interaction I have with my living cousins… I am reasonably close to some of my first cousins. The reality is that their children (my second cousins) or their grandchildren (my third cousins) are largely unknown to me. It was different when my grandparents and my aunts and uncles were alive, the majority of whom have gone to explore the afterlife.
Also listing a connection as a 13th cousin 99 times removed reminds me a bit of homeopathic medicine. I won’t go into all this pseudoscientific practice, but basically they dilute what probably made you ill to such a minuscule amount before they give it to the patient that for all practical purposes it is non-existent. The theory being the body will use it to cure it self. In that vein, Pocahontas’s father was theoretically my 11th great grandfather. Yet when I had my DNA tested no Native American DNA was reported. I assume that it was diluted through 11 generations.
The other thing to remember about our genealogy is that many branches of both sides of my family have been on this continent since the 1600s. Possibly because some of them were “notable”, there has been extensive genealogical research done. Add to that the fact that the Mormon genealogy has my father’s side tied into the nobility of England and Europe, on whom there were good records. Stayed tuned on that one too.
The other thing about many of my ancestors is that they took Genesis 1:28 to heart. They were really into the procreation. It is no wonder that I have cousins of varying degrees all over the place.
I have been fond for years of saying that my mother’s grandparents came out of the hills of Arkansas for a better life sharecropping with Tom Joad. My father’s side was not so dirt poor, I remember my grandmother’s parents as being reasonably prosperous farmers and my grandfather’s father, a local politician of some note in southern Kentucky. Something to keep in mind if you have read this far.
Presidents
The Mormon site has the genealogy, backwards from me, with some degree of consanguinity – mostly more than a little minor – to 40 of the US Presidents. I will list a few that I found very interesting.
Barack Obama
According to FamilySearch.org he is my 8th cousin on his mother’s side. It flows down through my father’s side to the current generations. I don’t imagine though that Barack will be looking me up anytime soon!
How I would like to share that tidbit with my super MAGA uncle… tee hee hee. He does not talk to Señora and I as we are some of those %$# Liberals. Here is the link to the genealogy chart: Barack Obama
Donald J. Trump
Okay, I could have gone a lifetime without knowing this. Apparently this man is my 12th Cousin 1 time removed. Again this is from my father’s side of the family. I won’t be looking him up anytime soon. I am sure there are many other less than savory characters in the genealogy, but this one… Here is a link to the genealogy: Donald J Trump
Hiram Ulysses Grant
This one excited me as I have always found history fascinating. According to the Mormon site, he is my 5th cousin 3 times removed, This relation was on my mother’s side of the genealogy. Here is a link to that genealogical chain: Hiram Ulysses Grant
Thomas Jefferson
This one amped me up considerably as I have always had an interest in Thomas Jefferson once I discovered that we share the same birthday. It was this fact that sparked my interest in history in general. And this connection is reasonably close. Closer than Dr. Benjamin Rush who I have know about the connection for years. Again according to the Mormons we are 2nd cousins 8 times removed. The 8 times removed indicated the number of generations back. 2nd cousins is the offset of parentage. This is also down through my father’s side of the family. Here is a link to the chart: Thomas Jefferson
Off with Their Heads
While I can claim only a couple direct ancestors to American notables, just lots of cousins, aunts and uncles. It is a little different when we jump over the pond. It starts with King James V Stewart as my 14th grandfather, and several of the other Stewart monarchs before him. This is on my father’s side. Most of what I have been seeing on the Mormon genealogy is almost too incredible to believe. However here is that chart: James Stewart
Then it starts getting into the English kings, William the Conqueror, The Henrys…They are like my 23rd, 24th great grandparents or thereabouts. The tool will only go back 15 generations at a whack, but by changing your starting point you can go back further.
I’ve read a little English history, but when I think of English Kings I always go back to Shakespeare. At least the way Shakespeare presented the English kings, they were one dysfunctional bunch.
Makes you wonder how my grandparent ever ended up growing tobacco in Kentucky and sharecropping with Tom Joad. Of course the easy answer is entailment. The practice/law that left younger sons without property or title, and forcing them to find other ways to make their “fortune”.
As always Señora is doing her job of keeping me “grounded”. There is a “placard” in our bedroom constructed out of a yellow postem that reads “Sir David of Snottingham.”
And so it goes.