An Apple Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree...

I have never known anything about my heritage prior to my grandparents. My maternal grandparents were immigrants through Ellis Island, and we don’t even know the true spelling of my mom’s maiden name. Her dad died when she was four, and while I knew her mother, I was afraid of her. She was a large, loud woman who spoke broken English with a thick Polish accent. She died when I was 13, before I was brave enough to ask her about her life and family and understand that I shouldn’t have been afraid. I should have been proud. 

I knew my paternal grandmother a little, seeing her maybe twice a year, but I never had a true conversation with her.  My dad was the oldest of 14, and he had left home before five of his siblings were born, so he didn’t know most of them well. His dad died when I was 5, so I have only a vague slightly scary memory of my grandfather, who my mother considered a ne’er-do-well. So I knew names and death dates of these grandparents, but that was it.

Obviously then, I have never known any information about my forbears, but my husband, courtesy his paternal grandmother and a wonderful uncle who did years of genealogical research, has known for decades his esteemed heritage- including kings of Scotland and England- and people like John of Gaunt, William the Conqueror, and Charlemagne, among others.  Truth be told, I’ve always been envious of this knowledge, delighted that my children’s tenth great-grandmother was Anne Bradstreet, the first published American poet, but still somewhat sad that I could offer them no information about my ancestors.

About a year ago, something crossed my Facebook feed about familysearch.org, a huge, free genealogical site sponsored by the Mormon Church, but not religious based at all.  I was intrigued and created a profile, added the relatives I knew (my husband, kids, and grandkids, parents, and grandparents), and didn’t think too much more about it. 

Then just after Thanksgiving last month, I got an email from familysearch.org, telling me that my great-grandmother’s birthday was upcoming in December. Great-grandmother? How could that be? I didn’t know any of my great-grandmothers.  I logged on, and was amazed that my paternal grandparents were already listed on the site, so they and their lineage were now connected to me. My grandmother’s forebears are documented to Alsace in the 1500’s, and my grandfather\"s through at least 75 generations to... JULIUS CAESAR and before! I discovered this fact after hours upon hours tracing my family tree through multitudinous branches. 

In going through over 2000 years of my family tree, I discovered that the DNA I had had analyzed by "23 and Me" was completely accurate, even including the correct eras for when my forebears immigrated to this continent, and where in this country they had lived.  My affinity for France and the French language, which has always seemed somewhat inexplicable to me, was affirmed.

When I discovered the family tree I had never had, I became really emotional. I texted my daughter who has always had an interest in her heritage.  She called me right away, and I cried as I explained what a gift I had just received. At age 69, I finally had a true family tree that I could explore. I’m not sure she completely understood what it means to me to have this knowledge, but that’s okay. I do.

I love having a heritage, even with some of the bad apples I’ve found on my tree. To that point, interestingly, in my investigations I discovered that Dennis and I are twelfth cousins, twice removed! Who could have guessed? Our son says that explains a lot about him and his sister... 😉

UPDATE: 1/3/2021

I was in the attic for something else yesterday and found the genealogical binder Uncle Ray, the older brother of my husband’s father, had made in 1984 when he was doing geneological research.

We had known since that time that Anne Dudley Bradstreet, America’s first published poet in the 1600’s, was my children’s tenth great-grandmother. This fact was important to me, the person without any heritage at all until a month ago, because I I taught Bradstreet’s work to my American literature college preparatory junior students, as my one claim to fame. I always told them Bradstreet would be on the final, and she always was!

Unfortunately, In the last month of exploring familysearch.org, I had never been able to make the connection of Dennis’s side of the family to this branch of his lineage. So yesterday when I found Uncle Ray’s wonderful book, I decided to try again. 

By entering two sets of grandparents from the record on Dennis’s paternal grandmother’s side (Myrtella Agnes Brown), sourced by him to the Hawley Family Record, an ancient book handed down through generations, I found Anne Bradstreet and all her multitudinous ancestors. Also I was able to connect with Grandfather Hawley’s lineage by entering only one name from Uncle Ray’s book. 

BUT the important thing is through the Hawleys, as opposed to the Browns (Grandma Hawley’s family heritage where I discovered that Dennis and I are 12th cousins twice removed),  I discovered that Den and I are actually tenth cousins! Fortunately, there are no more lines to investigate cause they all come from Poland, and he has no Polish ancestors.  

So... tenth cousins! Pretty interesting!

I sent a text with this information to both my daughter and my son last evening. Kristen, who has always had an interest in her heritage, unsurprisingly responded with, “Very Interesting!”

And Matthew texted back as only Dennis’s son could, “ Let’s please keep our research to such a point that the cousin relation stays in double digits. You’ve won genealogy. Time for a new hobby.”

Sorry, Bud. This whole process is too much fun...

It’s a bit hard to follow these charts, but I am on the bottom of the last one, #20. 

"Grandpa Julius" is on  the top of #1. 

The last name on a sheet is repeated on the top of the next sheet.