Hanuka Songs

As a kid I believe I knew four Hanuka songs:

• Maoz Tzur (Rock of Ages)
• Who Can Retell
• Oh Hanukah, Oh Hanukah
• The Dreidel Song

Of those, my favorite was Who Can Retell

Who can retell the things that befell us?
Who can count them?
In every age, a hero or sage 
came to our aid.

Hark!
In days of yore in Israel’s ancient land
Brave Maccabeus led the faithful band
But now all Israel must as one arise
Redeem itself through deed and sacrifice.

Short, simple, and extremely serious for a childhood favorite. Looking back as a parent, I like the emphasis that it is possible to come to the world's aid through wisdom and learning, as well as heroics.

I believe the first Hanuka song I heard outside of these four was Peter, Paul and Mary's Light One Candle. The second was probably Tom Lehrer's Hanukah in Santa Monica. (Though, despite the title, the song mentions several Jewish holidays, and several locations, so it is appropriate for year-round play.)

In recent years, it seems, the pace of new Jewish holiday songs has been increasing exponentially. Especially in the overlapping genres of humor and song parodies. I love humor, but I prefer even the lighthearted song to take the holiday at least somewhat seriously. Adam Sandler now has four versions of his Hanukah Song listing Jewish celebrities "just like you and me." (In my opinion, the sequels seem very redundant after the original. Beating a one-joke horse.)

Following are 8 videos of some of my current favorites










Here's a long list of songs updated annually for the past several years

Favorite Christmas Carol

The footnoteMaven is continuing her annual tradition of hosting Blog Caroling.

So my fellow GeneaBloggers, I challenge each of you to blog or post to Facebook your favorite Christmas Carol - Blog Caroling. We'll all sing along! (Blog Caroling is posting the lyrics, youtube video, etc. of your favorite Christmas carol on your blog.)

I last participated in 2008. I may deserve a little coal in my stocking.
While Jewish, I am familiar with a few Christmas Carols.

Here's Carol Burnett performing a poem she claims to have written at age 12



Christmas Carol. Get it?

For those who want a song, and perhaps something a bit more traditional.
2016 began with the passing of David Bowie. In his honor:

Moshe Blatt son of Jacob - Who did he marry?

The marriage document I shared last week was written in Old Russian. I received the below information from a translator:

• Międzyrzec [Podlaski], Jul 25 1885, 6 p.m.
• Witnesses: Sucher Rozencwejg (Isokher Rosenzweig), 57 yo, and Izrail (Isroel) Pizmanter, 36 yo, both Międzyrzec dwellers
• religious ceremony was at 5 p.m., same day
• groom: Moszko Jankiel (Moyshe Yakev) Blatyta, Łosice dweller, bachelor, 22 yo, son of Jankiel and Perla alive, spouses Blatyta who live in Łosice
• bride: Chaja Bejla (Khaye Beyle) Boksern, Międzyrzec dweller, maiden, 16 yo, daughter of Chaim Erma (Khayem Irmye) and Ruchla Leja (Rokhl Leye) alive, spouses Boksern, she's living with her parents

***

• So, are these my second great grandparents? A very good question.

I do know (from his tombstone) that my second great grandfather, Moshe (Morris) Blatt, was the son of a Yacov Blatt. (Yankiel is a Yiddish diminutive for Jacob). He is said to have been from Łosice.  Family lore also stated my second great grandmother was named Belle (or Bela) Wyman. When another Blatt/Blatyta researcher sent me their research several years ago, all I knew was what was in the Polish archives index, which didn't include the details above. One of Moshe Blatt's granddaughters recalled being told that her grandmother had a prior marriage. So it was reasonable to conclude that Belle Wyman could have married a Boksern before marrying my second great grandfather. But the details of the marriage document specify Chaia Beila Boksern was a 16 year old, and not previously married.

• So could family lore be wrong about her surname?

My second great grandmother died in Poland. One of my second great grandfather's daughters married someone with the surname Wyman. There were family jokes about the possibility of his relationship to his deceased mother-in-law. And there weren't enough generations lapsing inbetween for much confusion. Surely Morris would have told his daughters the correct surname of their deceased mother?

• Might there have been two Moshe Blatts, sons of Yacov Blatt, who married a woman named Belle/Bela, living in Losice? Sure.

My second great grandfather's death certificate states his date of birth was Sept 9, 1864. Informant, his second wife. Polish archives states Moshe Blatt, son of Yankiel and Perla, was born on May 1, 1862.

This also raised questions previously, but dates of birth can move around. For example, I know that my great grandfather's sister, Nelly Newmark, has documented dates of birth for both March 1889, and December 25, 1886. Without a birth record, it's unclear which is accurate. (Though I lean towards the earlier school record of Dec 25, 1886)

• DNA tells me that I am related to the Blatyta family. In some fashion. So if they are separate people, my Moshe Blatt was related to that Moszko Blatyta. But I don't know how.

Oops, make that Russian

I've written several times about converting calendar dates from Julian to Gregorian, and how part of Poland switched from Gregorian to Julian in the 19th century under Russian control. (example).

So, since I knew that the Poland where my ancestors lived was under Russian control at the time, you would think when I discovered a 19th century marriage record in a Polish database, it would occur to me that there were multiple languages it could be written in? And that perhaps the most likely was not Polish.

Well, anyway, I've been informed that I need to find a Russian translator.

Polish Marriage Record of Moszko (Morris) Blatyta and Chaia Beila Boksern

The below image comes from JewishGen's Polish archives - in particular: (Miedzyrzec Podlaski PSA Births, Deaths 1869-1901,09-11,13,14 Marriages 1869-1901,09-11,13)

It is supposed to be the marriage record of a Moszko Yankel Blatyta and Chaia Beila Boksern - 1885 - that's the only information in the archive's index, and I can't read the Polish Russian. [I'm unable to even find the names on the document, so there is a possibility there is a mistake and the link on the website goes to the wrong image.] I hope to find someone who can translate the document for me.

I believe this to be the marriage record of my second great grandparents Morris and Beila Blatt. Family lore suggests Chaia Beila had a prior marriage, and her maiden name was Wyman.

We're Related: Elvis Presley?

The latest celebrity kin Ancestry's mobile app has suggested for me is Elvis Presley. This interests me primarily since this is the first Dutch shared ancestry that has appeared.

All of my celebrity kin are through my maternal grandmother's VanEvery ancestry, but most of them branch off from the VanEvery line with my second great grandmother Abigail Stuart, who married Samuel VanEvery. A few branch off with Sarah Showers, my fourth great grandmother, wife of David VanEvery. However, while those lineages travel through my VanTock ancestors, they end up with alleged ancestors named Pierce, Cole and Rice, suggesting we're still in the Commonwealth.

My alleged connection to Elvis travels through Elizabeth Meyer, wife of my 7th great grandfather, Burger VanIveren.  Meyer isn't necessarily a Dutch surname, and I notice that the information above doesn't include a date of birth or death for Elizabeth, suggesting that the connection to Henrickje Hermans might not be heavily documented. There's also the issue of the possible Non-Paternity Event in my VanEvery line around McGregory VanEvery.

****

I've revised the spreadsheet I've created for documenting the celebrity kin from the Ancestry app. I am now indicating the furthest ancestor I have confirmed in my alleged lineage, and how many generations there are between that ancestor and the alleged shared ancestor. This will tell me where I need to begin my research.

Since I wasn't writing this down at first, before the App reinitialized my data, there are several blanks. I assumed I would have the charts the app provides for future reference, but this was an incorrect assumption.



It appears, if my goal is to confirm the most celebrity kin, I should focus my attention on Abigail Clark's ancestors. (That isn't actually my goal.)

Note: Some genealogy bloggers have indicated that their biggest complaint with the App is that it extends their lines back further than they have researched. (Using connections they either know are wrong, or at least highly unlikely.) I admit, that's my favorite part of the App. I certainly don't trust the information the App provides, but it provides me with something to research. And it is partly my joy of researching (almost anything) that propels my genealogy obsession.

Also, I haven't done a lot of "End-of-Line" research on some of these ancestors so I am more likely to be helped in this regard than some other researchers.

Ancestry We're Related Update

It’s been two weeks since the software glitch that reinitialized my We’re Related celebrity connections. I haven’t heard back from the customer service team beyond  their initial response that they hoped to have a fix within a week. However, my connections have been rebuilding at their former pace, and as I suspected, a handful of new connections are being presented along with some they had previously informed me about. (In addition to two new alleged celebrity cousins, several of those in the first batch have been presented to me with new, closer, shared ancestors.)

Current matches, relationships, alleged shared ancestors, and notes:
1. Bill Gates – 9th cousin 1x removed – Hannah Gore (A)
2. Meghan Trainor – 9th cousin 2x removed – John Lathrop
3. Lady Gaga – 10th cousin – Sarah Purrier (B)
4. Britney Spears – 9th cousin 2x removed – John Smith
5. Marilyn Monroe – 9th cousin – Ruth Wheldon (C)
6. Johnny Depp – 9th cousin 2x removed – Capt. Richard Betts
7. Matt Damon – 9th cousin 1x removed – James Clark
8. Jessica Simpson – 10th cousin – Gabriel Wheldon
9. Christina Aguilera – 10th cousin – Barnabas Wines
10. Walt Disney – 8th cousin 3x removed – Rice Cole (D)
11. Ronald Reagan – 10th cousin – Thomasine Constable
12. John Kerry – 9th Cousin – Capt Richard Betts (E)
13. Bill Clinton – 9th cousin 2x removed – Mary Iddenden (F)
14. Stephen King – 10th Cousin – Robert Chamberlain (G)
15. Ben Franklin – 4th Cousin 9x Removed – Sir William Jones (H)
16. Ralph Waldo Emerson – 6th cousin 4 x removed – Gabriel Wheldon (I)
17. Carrie Underwood - 9th cousin 2x removed - John Lathrop
18. Abraham Lincoln - 8th cousin 2x removed - Thomas Taylor
19. Mark Twain - 6th cousin 3x removed - Capt. Richard Betts

A) Bill Gates had been listed as my 9th cousin 2x removed with Susannah Hinckley as our alleged shared ancestor. A closer relationship appears to have been found.
B) Lady Gaga had been listed as my 10th cousin with Thomas Mapes as our alleged shared ancestor. I think the new relationship is the same, except they have now decided to provide Thomas Mapes’ wife as the shared ancestor.
C) Marilyn Monroe had been listed as my 9th cousin 1x removed with our alleged shared ancestor Thomas Burgess. Here too, a closer relationship appears to have been found.
D) Walt Disney had been listed as my 9th cousin 1x removed with Rose Kerrich as our shared ancestor. I consider 8th cousin 3x removed to be more distant, but it is possible the app doesn’t.
E) This is the confirmed relationship that I already knew about for John Kerry, with shared ancestors Capt. Richard Betts and Joanna Chamberlain (daughter of Robert Chamberlain and Elizabeth Stoughton). Closer than the alleged 9th cousin 1x removed with shared ancestor Thomas Clarke.
F) Bill Clinton is a new alleged cousin. Mary Iddenden doesn't appear in his ancestry in the 2009 edition of Ancestors of American Presidents. I haven't confirmed Mary Iddenden as my ancestor, either.
G) Stephen King is a new alleged cousin. I can confirm my descent from Robert Chamberlain and Joanna Stoughton. Stephen King appeared on Finding your Roots, and the app's suggested lineage for King carries the ancestry researched on the show back several more generations, and the ancestry at several online sites stops where Finding Your Roots stops. So I find the lineage for him alleged by the app to be doubtful.
H) Ben Franklin had been listed as my 6th cousin 7x removed with alleged shared ancestor Cecilia Nevill. I consider 4th cousin 9x removed to be equidistant, but I suspect the app considers it closer.
I) Emerson had been listed as my 6th cousin 4x removed with alleged shared ancestor Mary Durrant. This is equidistant.

Wordless Wednesday: Statement from German Ambassador in 1915

Was at the library in the microfilm section browsing issues of the St. Louis Modern View from 1915 and saw this cover page. I figured no comment was necessary.

December Holidays and Observances

(See bottom of post for sources and notes)

December Holidays and Observances

Month-long observances (US)

• National Impaired Driving Prevention Month

1

• World AIDS Day (UN)
• Rosa Parks Day (Ohio and Oregon)
• Military Abolition Day (Costa Rica)
• Great Union Day (Romania)

2

• International Day for the Abolition of Slavery (UN)

3

• International Day of Persons with Disabilities (UN)

5

• International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development (UN)
• World Soil Day (UN)

6

• Saint Nicholas Day (Christian)
• National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women (Canada)

7

• Flag Land Base Day (Scientology)
• National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day (US)
• International Civil Aviation Day (UN)

8

• Bodhi Day (Buddhism)
• Immaculate Conception of Mary (Catholic)

9

• Feast of the Conception by St. Anne of the Most Holy Theotokos (Eastern Orthodox)
• Remembrance for Egill Skallagrímsson (Ásatrú)
• International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime (UN)
• International Anti-Corruption Day (UN)

10

• Human Rights Day (UN)
• Alfred Nobel Day (Sweden)

11

• International Mountain Day (UN)
• Mawlid al Nabi (Islam) [Begins at Sunset]
• Tohji-Taisai (Shinto)

12

• Our Lady of Guadalupe (Catholic)
• Kanji Day (Japan)

15

• Bill of Rights Day (US)
• Zamenhof Day (Esperanto)

16

• Posadas Navidenas (Hispanic Christian) Dec 16-25

17

• Wright Brothers Day (US)

18

• International Migrants Day (UN)

20

• International Human Solidarity Day (UN)

21

• Winter Solstice/Yule
• Pancha Ganapati (Hindu) Dec 21-25
• Forefather's Day (Plymouth, MA)

24

• Hanukah (Jewish) [starts at sunset] Dec 24-Jan 1

25

• Christmas (Christian)
• Feast of the Nativity (Orthodox Christian)

26

• Zarathosht Diso (Zoroastrian)
• St. Stephens Day (Christian)
• Kwanzaa (African American/Canadian) Dec 26-Jan 1
• Boxing Day (Commonwealth of Nations)

28

• Feast of the Holy Innocents (Christian)

30

• Feast of the Holy Family (Catholic)

31

• Watch Night (Christian)
• Maidyarem Gahambar (Zoroastrian) Dec 31-Jan 4
• New Years Eve (Gregorian calendar)

Sources

1. Huffington Post Interfaith Calendar

2. Interfaithcalendar.org

3. Center for Spiritual and Ethical Education

4. United Nations Observances

5. US Presidential Proclamations

6. Wikipedia - December

Notes

1)  This calendar focuses on Religious Holidays, International Observances as declared by the United Nations, and United States Observances as declared by the White House. I add a few extra observances of my own choosing.

2) As a family historian - what holidays might my ancestors have observed? What holidays do my current kin observe? I am unable to find an individual website with all of the days above listed. Which is one reason I find the process useful, for me, and perhaps useful for others. Wikipedia, as one might guess, comes closest, though in addition to not being complete (which I could fix) they have a lot of what I consider flotsam and jetsam. The calendar above consolidates and filters the information from a variety of sources.

3) I do not include weekly or monthly religious observances. By that I mean, many religions observe a weekly day as a holy day. Many religions also observe the first and/or last day of every month as a holy day. These days I have not included in the calendar. I also have not included the numerous Saints Days on the Catholic calendar, unless they are highlighted on one of the interfaith calendars I reference. 

4) Please let me know if you spot any errors, or if you have suggestions for additions.

Weekly Genealogy Picks

Highlights from news stories and blog posts I have read in the past week that deal with my overlapping interests in Genealogy, History, Heritage, and Technology.

• Bill West at West in New England shares the entries to The Eighth Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge (We were going to participate again this year, but time got away from us.)
• In a five part series Blaine Bettinger at The Genetic Genealogist discusses Visual Phasing. Part I.
• James Tanner at Genealogy's Star discusses Focusing your genealogy research with clustering
• Those writing their family histories may appreciate Chuck Sambuchino's Five Steps for Getting Out of a Creative Rut at Writer's Digest
• Remains of Pilgrim's Plymouth Settlement Unearthed (BostonGlobe)
• Wordpress releases a Google Translate Widget which allows visitors to Wordpress blogs to translate the content in 103 different languages. 

Ancestry We're Related Sofware Glitch

Saturday I checked my Ancestry We’re Related app and was told I had 0 celebrity matches.

Here’s the chart of 40 celebrity matches I had on Friday.

I spent four years as a programmer in a corporate IT department and understand software glitches happen. I sent some feedback. Was told they were hopeful to have a fix this week. I’m cool with it. It's not like I'm paying anything for the mobile app, and I consider it mostly entertainment. Though I am researching the shared ancestries to see if I can add on to my ahnentafel.

Later Saturday I received an initial 5 celebrities which are up to 7 this morning. If the fix doesn’t restore the former matches as a bunch, but instead at the former rate of approximately one match a day, it will be interesting to see if new matches are added in with the old, as one might expect if the process is random, or whether there is some method to the order in which the matches are announced. Currently, all 7 were part of my original 40. (Though they are not a 1-1 match of my original 7)

I have also noticed the relationships aren’t exactly the same for all matches.
It is conceivable that the changes and the software glitch may be connected.

Current matches, relationships, and alleged shared ancestor:
• Bill Gates – 9th cousin 1x removed – Hannah Gore (*)
• Meghan Trainor – 9th cousin 2x removed – John Lathrop
• Lady Gaga – 10th cousin – Sarah Purrier (**)
• Britney Spears – 9th cousin 2x removed – John Smith
• Marilyn Monroe – 9th cousin – Ruth Wheldon (***)
• Johnny Depp – 9th cousin 2x removed – Capt. Richard Betts
• Matt Damon – 9th cousin 1x removed – James Clark

* Bill Gates was listed as my 9th cousin 2x removed with Susannah Hinckley as my shared ancestor. A closer relationship appears to have been found.
** Lady Gaga was listed as my 10th cousin with Thomas Mapes as our shared ancestor. I think the relationship is the same, except they have now decided to provide Thomas Mapes’ wife as the shared ancestor.
*** Marilyn Monroe was listed as my 9th cousin 1x removed with the shared ancestor of Thomas Burgess. Here too, a closer relationship appears to have been found.

Weekly Genealogy Picks

Highlights from news stories and blog posts I have read in the past week that deal with my overlapping interests in Genealogy, History, Heritage, and Technology.

• Maureen Taylor at Photo Detective provides some tips on Colorizing Old Photos 
• James Tanner at Genealogy's Star discusses why Locations Are the Keys to Finding Genealogical Records
• Amy Johnson Crow lists 3 Practical Strategies for Finding Female Ancestors
• Philip J. Heijmans in The Tablet reports Schindler's Czech Factory to Become a Museum 
• Christopher Klein at History shares the story of The Thanksgiving Raccoon That Became a Presidential Pet

Lathrops, Scudders and Stoughtons (oh my!)

Gary Boyd Roberts (GBR), NEHGS researcher, in his article, #22 Royal Descents, Notable Kin, and Printed Sources: Notable Descendants of the Immigrant Stoughton Siblings of Massachusetts writes:

[Referring to Samuel Lathrop, 1623-1700]

Samuel’s first wife, the mother of his children, was Elizabeth Scudder, a sister of John Scudder of Barnstable, and known through the will of an English divine to be related somehow to the Scudders of Long Island. The new discoveries and immigrant kinsmen that vastly expand this clan are through Elizabeth Scudder, and the initial report of these discoveries appeared in the 75th anniversary issue of The American Genealogist (October 1997) in an article by Register editor Jane Fletcher Fiske.… 

Jane Fiske discovered from Strood, Kent parish registers, the will of Reverend Henry Scudder, a marriage record of John Scudder and Elizabeth Stoughton, and other sources, some already published in TAG or in publications of the Scudder Family Association, that Elizabeth Scudder, wife of Samuel Lathrop, was the daughter of the above John Scudder and Elizabeth Stoughton, a sister of Thomas and Israel Stoughton of Dorchester, Mass.

I have traced my ancestry back to Rev. Thomas Stoughton and his wife Katherine, parents of Thomas, Israel, and Elizabeth above.

Rev. Thomas Stoughton's daughter, Elizabeth, had two husbands:
1) John Scudder
2) Robert Chamberlayne

I am descended from Elizabeth and Robert Chamberlayne

All of Samuel and Elizabeth (Scudder) Lathrop's descendants are kin to me through her mother, Elizabeth Stoughton Scudder Chamberlayne.

I have been unable to prove my Ancestry We're Related mobile app alleged connection with Samuel Lathrop's father, John Lathrop. However, for those celebrities with whom I'm alleged to share him as our common ancestor - if Samuel is their ancestor - I know I would also share the ancestor, Elizabeth Stoughton. The same distance. (Though some could argue we don't share the same husband of Elizabeth so it isn't exactly the same relationship. But I think #Cousin xRemoved stays the same.)

This could also explain why Ancestry is giving me the Lathrop connection (which I can't confirm), and not the Stoughton connection (which I can).

So far, according to Ancestry's mobile app, I am kin in this manner to Edgar Allan Poe, Carrie Underwood, George HW Bush, and his offspring. However, William Addams Reitwiesner, and GBR's Ancestry of American Presidents (2009), indicate George HW Bush's ancestor wasn't Samuel Lathrop, but his brother, Thomas. So Ancestry's mobile app is wrong, and I wouldn't be related to the Bushes unless John Lathrop were my ancestor. I am uncertain about Edgar Allan Poe or Carrie Underwood.

Embedding Google Drive Documents into your Blog or Website

 Do you have a document in Google Drive (such as a spreadsheet) you would like to embed into your blog or website?

By doing so, whenever you updated the document in Google Drive, it would automatically update on your blog/website.

Within the document, go to the File menu

Select "Publish to the web..."

• Select "Embed"
• If it's a spreadsheet, you'll have the option of choosing between "Entire Document" or an individual "Sheet."
• Then click "Publish" 

You will be shown some html to copy/paste into your webpage or blog post

Examples:

• I have transferred the ahnentafel I created back in 2010 to a spreadsheet and created a new page accessible at the top of the blog.
• I have also created a page for Notable Kin which currently consists of the table I began a week ago containing the alleged celebrities Ancestry's new mobile app has suggested.

Alas, A Different Secondhand Shop

I discovered the below photograph in a newspaper article about the community where my paternal ancestors lived. I wondered if it could be my second great grandfather, Moshe Leyb Cruvant and his children. He did own a secondhand shop at the time.

There were definitely some facial similarities with known photographs in my collection.

I decided I really needed to find a photograph of my great grandmother's brother, Sol, at a much younger age. (Or a photograph of my second great grandfather a little bit younger.)

Today I received several documents including this photograph. My second great grandmother, Minnie (Mojsabovsky) Cruvant, her three daughters Bertha, Stella and Flora, and two sons. That's either David or Ben at the top, and Sol at the bottom.

As much as I'd like it to be a match, the boys don't look the same.
And I don't think it's just a matter of adding a few years onto his age.

But I love this photograph.

Update: I've been reminded that we are only identifying individuals by their similarity in appearance to other known photos. The only faces that we are pretty certain about are in the top row: my second great grandmother, Minnie, and my great grandmother, Bertha, And in the middle row, right, Stella. My cousin who provided the photo doesn't think the other woman in the middle looks close enough to Flora, and she can't identify either of the males. Assuming it is a family photo and everyone should be a member of the family can lead to inaccurate conclusions.

Weekly Genealogy Picks

Highlights from news stories and blog posts I have read in the past week that deal with my overlapping interests in Genealogy, History, Heritage, and Technology.

• Petition for Universal Suffrage, Signed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and others - Document of the Day at the National Archives November 12th
• Gena Philibert-Ortega at GenealogyBank discusses Discovering the Work Your Female Ancestors Did
• MyHeritage has announced that they are entering the Autosomal DNA testing arena, and their CEO responds to several questions.
• David S. Ferriero, National Archives Archivist, at the AOTUS Blog  outlines The Role of the National Archives in the Presidential Transition
• Christopher Klein at History discusses America's First UFO Sighting

Veterans Day/Remembrance Day 2016

Caption for photo to left: Human Statue of Liberty. 18,000 Officers and Men at Camp Dodge, Des Moines, Iowa. Colonel William Newman, Commanding. Colonel Rush S. Wells, Directing. Mole & Thomas, 09/1918. (source)

November 11 is Veterans Day in the US, and Remembrance Day in the UK, Canada, Australia, France and Belgium. In Poland it is celebrated as National Independence Day.

Below are the names of ancestors, and their siblings, who I know served their nation's military, either in a time of war, or in a time of peace. I am including my Loyalist ancestors; their nation was Great Britain. Canada became their country after the war. I am including my Confederate ancestors too, despite their desire to form a separate nation. I am also including a Conscientious Objector ancestor since the DAR counts him as a Patriot.

Fifth Great Grandfathers
McGregory Van Every (1723-1786) Loyalist/Butler's Rangers
Michael Showers (1733-1796) Loyalist/Butler's Rangers
Mark Fretz (1750-1840) Patriot (Inactive Duty) Pennsylvania militia

Fourth Great Grandfather
David Van Every (1757-1820) Loyalist/Butler's Rangers (served briefly as a Patriot in the NY militia)

Fifth Great Uncle
Benjamin Van Every (1759-1795) Loyalist/Butler's Rangers (served briefly as a Patriot in the NY militia)
William Van Every (1765-1832) Loyalist/Butler's Rangers
Peter Van Every (1771-bef 1816) Loyalist/Fifth Lincoln and Second York regiments (War of 1812)

Fourth Great Uncles
David Van Every Jr. (1782-1847) Loyalist/Second York regiment (War of 1812)
Michael Van Every (1790-?) Loyalist/Fifth Lincoln and Second York regiments (War of 1812)

Second Great Grandfather
Ebenezer Denyer (1828-1872) (Mexican-American War) (Confederate Army)

Third Great Uncles
Samuel Jennings Denyer (1822-1861) (Gonzales County Minute Men - Republic of Texas -1841)
Samuel T Hartley (1830-1920) (Confederate Army)

Great Grandfather
Samuel Deutsch (1861-1938) (Franz Josef's Austro-Hungarian Army)

Second Great Uncle
Nelson D Van Every (1845-1926) (Union Army)

Grandfathers
Melvin L Newmark (1912-1992), WWII
Martin J Deutsch (1907-1991), WWII

Great Uncles
Jerry Deutsch (1909-1950), WWII
Allen Deutsch (1914-1988), WWII
Harold Newmark (1915-2003), WWII
Mandell Newmark (1923-1945), WWII (DOI)
Bernard Feinstin (1913-1968), WWII
Seymour Feinstein (1917-1999), WWII

Uncle
Stevan J Newmark (1942-1997) Army Reserves

Photographs of those who served in World War II

My grandfathers Melvin Newmark (1912-1992) and Martin Deutsch (1907-1991)


Allen Deutsch (1914-1988) and Maurice "Jerry" Deutsch (1909-1950).


Harold Newmark (1915-2003) and Mandell Newmark (1923-1945).


Bernard "Benny" Feinstein (1913-1968) and Seymour "Babe" Feinstein (1917-1999)

Who I Am

I’m an American.
I have immigrant ancestors from the following geographies:

• Netherlands
• Germany
• Poland
• Great Britain
• Canada
• Lithuania
• Transylvania
• Volhynia.

My most recent immigrant ancestor was my maternal grandfather, who was born in Transylvania and immigrated to America in 1913 at age 6.

The earliest immigrant ancestors I have confirmed arrived in Massachusetts on the Swallow circa 1630-1635. If Ancestry Family Trees are correct, I have an ancestor, Thomas Clarke, who came aboard the Anna in 1623.

My maternal grandfather's family were almost deported.
My early maternal immigrant ancestors meet the definition of undocumented aliens.
Most of my paternal immigrant ancestors arrived in the US without knowing English.

I’m Jewish
I have ancestors and 3rd cousins (or closer) who are/were of the following faiths:

• Jewish
• Methodist Episcopalian
• Mennonite
• Pilgrim/Puritan Separatist
• Lutheran
• Christian Scientist
• Catholic
• Sikh
• (and possibly Choctaw)

I'm a cisgendered heterosexual, though I've recorded multiple single-sex marriages in my family database. I have a third cousin who was likely murdered due to his sexual preference.

I agree with the famous words of Pastor Martin Niemoller (1892-1984)

Ancestry We're Related Famous Kin

I have created a table containing the celebrities that Ancestry's We're Related app has told me might be kin, including the alleged shared ancestor, alleged relationship, and whether I have confirmed my half of the ancestry, disproven my half, or more research is needed. (I have no desire to spend time researching the ancestry of celebrities just to see if they share my ancestors. However, I do find it worthwhile to research my own ancestors and see if what Ancestry family trees suggest might be accurate.) 

Celebrity	Alleged Shared Ancestor	Alleged Relationship	Y/N/?
Warren Buffett	Swazey, Jospeh 1653-1717	8th Cousin 2x Removed	Y
Mark Twain	Betts, Capt. Richard 1613-1713	6th Cousin 3x Removed	Y
Johnny Depp	Betts, Capt. Richard 1613-1713	9th Cousin 2x Removed	Y
Marilyn Monroe	Burgess, Thomas 1601-1685	9th Cousin 1x Removed	?
Winston Churchill	Clark, James 1608-1674	8th Cousin, 1x Removed	?
Matt Damon	Clark, James 1608-1674	9th Cousin 1x Removed	?
Thomas Paine	Clarke, Katherine 1515-1553	7th Cousin 6x Removed	?
John Kerry	Clarke, Thomas 1570-1627	9th Cousin 1x Removed	?
Henry David Thoreau	Clarke, William 1553-1624	8th Cousin 3x Removed	?
Ronald Reagan	Constable, Thomasine 1605-1682	10th Cousin	?
Ralph Waldo Emerson	Durrant, Mary 1599-1631	6th Cousin 4x Removed	?
Bill Gates	Hinckley, Susannah 1625-1675	9th Cousin 2x Removed	?
Helen Keller	Jewell, Thomas 1608-1654	8th Cousin 3x Removed	?
Walt Disney	Kerrich, Rose 1572-1627	9th Cousin 1x Removed	?
Carrie Underwood	Lathrop, John 1584-1653	9th Cousin 2x Removed	?
Meghan Trainor	Lathrop, John 1584-1653	9th Cousin 2x Removed	?
Lady Gaga	Mapes, Thomas 1628-1687	10th Cousin	?
Benjamin Franklin	Nevill, Cecilia 1488-1573	6th Cousin 7x Removed	?
Kate Upton	Pierce, Timothy 1673-1748	8th Cousin 3x Removed	?
Kevin Bacon	Smith, Samuel 1644-1719	7th Cousin 1x Removed	?
Justin Bieber	Smith, John 1614-1710	9th Cousin 2x Removed	?
Britney Spears	Smith, John 1614-1710	9th Cousin 2x Removed	?
Abraham Lincoln	Taylor, Thomas 1574-1618	8th Cousin 2x Removed	?
Zachary Taylor	Taylor, Thomas 1574-1618	4th Cousin 6x Removed	?
Jessica Simpson	Wheldon, Gabriel 1600-1655	10th Cousin	?
Christina Aguilera	Wines, Barnabas 1600-1679	10th Cousin	?

Notes

1) All of the above alleged shared ancestors are ancestors through my maternal grandmother, Myrtle Vanevery, and all but two are ancestors through my second great grandmother, Abigail Stuart, who was the second wife of Samuel Vanevery. Timothy Pierce (my shared ancestor with Kate Upton) and Thomas Jewell (my shared ancestor with Helen Keller) are alleged ancestors of my 4th great grandmother Sarah Showers, who married David Vanevery.

2) Perhaps more interesting to me than the links that have been provided are the links that haven't yet been provided. I have long known I am related to several celebrities through my Stoughton ancestry. (Also ancestors of Abigail Stuart) The Stoughtons are in my database. But none of these celebrities have appeared. (John Kerry has, but through a different alleged shared ancestor.)

3) I'm sure I have famous kin through the lines of my other three grandparents, but the documents necessary to trace my (and their) ancestry back far enough is currently undiscovered in Eastern Europe, if not completely lost. I know of three paternal cousins with Wikipedia pages, though not quite with the name recognition of the individuals above. Two more are already mentioned several times on Wikipedia, and separate bio pages could probably be written by someone, and not be deleted.

Weekly Genealogy Picks

Highlights from news stories and blog posts I have read in the past week that deal with my overlapping interests in Genealogy, History, Heritage, and Technology.

• Diane Haddad at Genealogy Insider suggests How To Learn What Your Ancestors Life Was Really Like
• Jason Daley at The Smithsonian asks: Are You Descended from Witches? New Digital Document Could Help You Find Out
• Since I have Hungarian ancestors named Weiss, as a kid I liked to imagine that I was related to escape artist Harry Houdini (Erich Weiss). Evan Andrews at History in the Headlines asks, What Killed Harry Houdini?
• A Cubs fan travelled to an Indiana cemetery to listen to the 7th game of the World Series with his father
• The cemetery in Rochester NY where Susan B Anthony is buried is extending its hours on Election Day
• In Discovering Afghanistan's 1,000-Year-Old Jewish Life Sara Y. Aharon at the Jerusalem Post discusses medieval documents unearthed in Afghanistan

If you are registered to vote in the U.S., Schrödinger the Cat urges you to vote on Election Day, Tuesday November 8th. He's not allowed to vote, but if you are, do so.

Schrödinger the Cat's Election Theorem: You can’t know whether your candidate has won or lost until the votes are counted. Until that moment, your candidate is half a winner, and half a loser.

The Possibility of a Van Every Surname Non-Paternity Event (NPE)

A Non-Paternity Event in genetic genealogy is

"any event which has caused a break in the link between an hereditary surname and the Y-chromosome resulting in a son using a different surname from that of his biological father" (Source)

When Selig and Julius, the sons of my ancestor, Samuel Dudelczak, immigrated to America and changed their surnames to Feinstein and Odelsohn, these were Non-Paternity Events. But that's not usually what is thought of when one hears the term.

In her Records of the Van Every Family, 1947, Mary Blackadar Piersol theorized that McGregory Van Every might be the son of Martin Van Iveren and an unidentified McGregory. Later researchers have wondered if it is equally possible that he could have been the son of a McGregory male and an unidentified Van Every female.

First, here is a transcription of relevant passages from Piersol's work indicating her sources (and lack thereof).

No entry has been found of the names of McGregory's parents due, probably, to gaps in the records of several of the churches of the Hudson Vallley. Indirect evidence, however suggests that his father was Martin Van Every and his mother possibly a member of the MacGregory family. His first children were named Francis and Patrick, the former a name from the Jaycocks family, the latter a favourite in that of the Colonel. Moreover with McGregory a significant change occurs in Van Every names. Previously they had all been Dutch but his is of Scotch derivation and among his sons we find such Scotch names as David, William, Peter and Andrew. Moreover one line of the Van Every family in Canada holds strongly the tradition that it has in its ancestry "a Scottish officer by the name of MacGregory." The wording is that of Anne Laurence Van Every, great-granddaughter of McGregory Van Every. (Piersol, p.98) 

There is evidence of intimate acquaintance in later years between the descendants of the Colonel and those of Burger Van Iveren … Not only did they live in the same general locality, Ulster and Orange Counties, NY., but their names appear in the records of the same churches and are linked by the same documents. When the Colonel’s son, Patrick, made his will, Francis Jaycocks signed as witness. The records of the Zion Lutheran Church at Lunenburg, now Athens, show that the Colonel’s grandson, also named Patrick, witnessed the baptism of Maria Jaycocks, and the banns for her marriage to McGregory Van Every were recorded by the Dutch Reformed Church at Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (Piersol, p. 97-98) 

As there is at present no documentary evidence as to the exact relationship I should hesitate to affirm it. But, as it was common knowledge of my Mother, and her Father, I would equally hesitate to deny it. The widow of Wm. Van Every lived with her son Joseph until her death, and my Mother, born in 1839, remembered her well. The legend is not without foundation as Dr. Piersol’s research shows. There was intimacy more than usual, which strongly suggests relationship, such as witnessing the will of the Colonel’s son, etc. The period to which it relates is not so remote as to be beyond the age of credible tradition. – J.J. Charteris-Thomson (Piersol, p.98-99)

As can be seen, her conclusions weren't based on solid documents. I have had my DNA tested at both Ancestry and FamilyTreeDNA. Of all matches that have Van Every ancestors in their known tree (that is, a tree they have made available), all are descendants of David Van Every and Sarah Showers, David being one of McGregory Van Every's sons. Cousins of my generation, with whom David and Sarah are my most recent common ancestors, are my fifth cousins. Both websites indicate 5th-8th degree cousins. There are matches that I have confirmed are 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th cousins through my Van Every lines. And then it stops.

One could attribute it to the difficulty of tracing one's lineage that far back. David Van Every served in the American Revolution. Except, Piersol's work has been available since 1947 to genealogists researching the surname, and her research documented several other branches.

The absence of a 6th cousin Van Every match, or greater, doesn't mean one doesn't exist. And it certainly doesn't prove an NPE. Perhaps I don't have enough DNA from McGregory. Even if there is an NPE, since I don't have any matches with descendants of David's siblings, the NPE could easily be with David and not McGregory. (Or both.)

Unless another descendant of David and Sarah [Showers] Van Every has had a different experience with DNA cousin-matching, the only way to resolve the question is for a group of Van Every males of varying descent to take the Y Surname test. I have no ability to make this happen beyond bringing the issue up.

Weekly Genealogy Picks

Highlights from news stories and blog posts I have read in the past week that deal with my overlapping interests in Genealogy, History, Heritage, and Technology.

• Diane Haddad at Genealogy Insider provides Nine Kinds of Ancestor Death Records You Should Look For
• Thomas Jay Kemp at GenealogyBank discusses a census that actually contained images of the people
• Melissa Barker at GeneaBloggers shares what to do about brown spots on genealogy records
• ABCNews offers a Tour of the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC (Video)
• Erik Klemetti at WIRED suggests: Want Your Tombstone to Last Forever: Make it out of Quartzite

November Holidays and Observances

(See bottom of post for sources and notes)

November Holidays and Observances

Month-long observances (US)

• Native American Heritage Month 
• National Adoption Month
• Military Family Month
• National Entrepreneurship Month
• National Diabetes Awareness Month
• National College Application Month
• National Alzheimer's Disease Month
• National Family Caregivers Month
• National Novel Writing Month

1

• All Saints Day (Christian)
• Birth of the Bab (Baha'i) [Begins at sunset on Oct 31]
• Birth of Baha'u'llah (Baha'i) [Begins at sunset on Nov 1]
• Bai Phonta (Bengali Hindu)
• Bhau-beej (Hindu)
• Samhain (Neo-Pagan) [Begins at sunset on Oct 31]
• Day of the Innocents (Mexico, Haiti)

2

• All Souls Day (Catholic Christian)
• International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (UN)
• Day of the Dead (Mexico)
• The coronation of Haile Selassie (Rastafari)

5

• Sooranporu (Hindu)
• World Tsunami Awareness Day (UN)
• Guy Fawkes Night (UK)

6

• Chhath (Hindu)
• International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflicts (UN)
• Daylight Savings Time ends (US)

7

• International Week of Science and Peace begins (UN)

8

• Election Day (US)
• Intersex Solidarity Day

9

• Schicksalstag (Germany)
• International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism (EU)
• World Freedom Day (US)

10

• World Science Day for Peace and Development (UN)

11

• Veterans Day (US) / Armistice Day (EU)

12

• Tulsi Vivah (Hindu)
• Yitzhak Rabin Memorial (Israel) [Begins at sunset Nov 12]

13

• Remembrance Sunday (UK)
• Anti-Bullying Week begins (UK)

14

• Karthik Purnima (Hindu)
• Birthday of Guru Nanak Dev Sahib (Sikh)
• World Diabetes Day (UN)
• Get Smart About Antibiotics Week begins (US)
• American Education Week begins (US)
• National Apprenticeship Week begins (US)

15

• Shichigosan (Shinto)
• Nativity Fast/Winter Lent begins - ends Dec. 24 (Orthodox Christian)
• America Recycles Day (US)

16

• International Day for Tolerance (UN)

17

• World Philosophy Day (UN)
• Great American Smokeout (US)

19

• National Adoption Day (US)
• National Child's Day (US)
• World Toilet Day (UN)

20

• Christ the King (Christian)
• Africa Industrialization Day (UN)
• Universal Children's Day (UN)
• Transgender Day of Remembrance

21

• Bhairava Ashtami (Hindu)
• World Television Day (UN)

23

• Niiname-sai (Shinto)

24

• Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur (Sikh)
• Day of the Covenant (Baha'i) [Begins at sunset Nov 24]
• Thanksgiving (US)

25

• International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (UN)
• Native American Heritage Day (US)

27

• Advent Sunday (Christian)
• Mitzvah Day International (UK)

29

• Sigd (Ethiopian Jewish) [Begins at sunset Nov 29]
• International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (UN)

30

• St. Andrew's Day (Christian/Scotland)

Sources

1. Huffington Post Interfaith Calendar

2. Interfaithcalendar.org

3. Center for Spiritual and Ethical Education

4. Feast Days and Holy Days of the New Baha'i Calendar

5. United Nations Observances

6. US Presidential Proclamations

7. Wikipedia - November

Notes

1)  This calendar focuses on Religious Holidays, International Observances as declared by the United Nations, and United States Observances as declared by the White House. I add a few extra observances of my own choosing.

2) As a family historian - what holidays might my ancestors have observed? What holidays do my current kin observe? I am unable to find an individual website with all of the days above listed. Which is one reason I find the process useful, for me, and perhaps useful for others. Wikipedia, as one might guess, comes closest, though in addition to not being complete (which I could fix) they have a lot of what I consider flotsam and jetsam. The calendar above consolidates and filters the information from a variety of sources.

3) I do not include weekly or monthly religious observances. By that I mean, many religions observe a weekly day as a holy day. Many religions also observe the first and/or last day of every month as a holy day. These days I have not included in the calendar. I also have not included the numerous Saints Days on the Catholic calendar, unless they are highlighted on one of the interfaith calendars I reference. 

4) Please let me know if you spot any errors, or if you have suggestions for additions.

More Thoughts on Ancestry's We're Related App

Since downloading Ancestry's We're Related App, and receiving an initial list of a handful of famous kin, almost once a day I get notified of one new relative.

I wonder how long they can keep this up.

Am I being too cynical?

As I mentioned in an earlier post, if I am descended from Rev. John Smith of Barnstable, I am certainly cousins with President Obama. (With my cited sources being two highly respected genealogists.) We're Related hasn't mentioned Obama yet to me. I find it very difficult to believe that he isn't in their initial list of celebrity genealogies. On day one they whetted my taste with five celebrity kin. I have no clue how the coding in the software works, but it seems to me if they can connect me with Celebrity X through Ancestor Y, any other Celebrity with Ancestor Y could be instantly revealed to me.

But that's not happening.
One celebrity a day.
I'm wondering how long they can keep this up.

Don't get me wrong. I completely understand.

If I got a list of 100 celebrities on Day 1, and no new celebrities for several months, I'd lose interest in the app. It makes perfect sense. From a marketing perspective.

I am not as negative against the app as some. While the accuracy of the relationships is as reliable as the accuracy of information in online family trees in general - not so much without sources - it does provide the family historian potential end-of-line research hints. Yes, many will input the information into their family trees without additional research. This already happens with the online family trees that Ancestry has mined for this app. But for the careful genealogist, this isn't an issue, and for the careless genealogist, they're going to be careless anyway.

I also think the truly beneficial use of this app is the 'Nearby' function allowing you to see who is related to you within 500 feet. This could be used at genealogical society meetings and conferences to quickly find cousins who are researching the same ancestors.

Weekly Genealogy Picks

Highlights from news stories and blog posts I have read in the past week that deal with my overlapping interests in Genealogy, History, Heritage, and Technology.

• James Tanner at Genealogy's Star provides a list of resources on Guidelines for Digitizing Manuscripts and Photos
• In Making Lemonade on the iPad Denise Olson at Moultrie Creek Gazette illustrates how she retouched a photograph, turning it into a work of art.
• Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings re-shares some advice on Mining Ancestry.com Hints by Specific Record Collection
• Rivka Schiller at Annette Gendler writes about A Visit to the Warsaw Jewish Cemetery
• In Sweden: The country’s first cemetery with no religious symbols allowed 
• Two WWI soldiers discovered buried in incorrectly marked graves and correctly identified through DNA.

Descendants of Rev John Smith of Barnstable

Yesterday I mentioned that Ancestry's new app We're Related said Rev. John Smith of Barnstable was my ancestor, along with being the ancestor of Justin Bieber and Britney Spears.

A little research today found another potential cousin.  (Three if we go back another generation to Rev John Smith's inlaws, Samuel and Sarah Soole Hinckley.)

The source is Ancestors of American Presidents, Gary Boyd Roberts, 2009 edition. Gary Boyd Roberts is a senior research scholar for the New England Historic Genealogical Society, and is highly trusted in the field. So I feel comfortable saying, if I can prove my descent from John Smith, I'm cousin to President Obama. (As well as to the individuals in the left-hand column.)

[If I do the math correctly: President Obama's 8th great-grandparents are my 7th great-grandparents, so we're 8th cousins once removed, and my sons would be 9th cousins. George HW's 9th great-grandparents are my 9th great-grandparents, so we would be 10th cousins.]

William Addams Reitwiesner was also a highly respected researcher. He passed away in 2010, but also conducted some research on Obama. He stated that Samuel Smith and Elizabeth Pierce had other descendants:

Samuel Smith m. Elizabeth Peirce
.Susannah Smith m. James Pitney
 .Benjamin Pitney m. Abigail Byram
 |.Sarah Pitney m. Mahlon Pitney (below)
 | .Mahlon Pitney m. Lucetta Banks Cooper
 |  .Henry Cooper Pitney m. Sarah Louisa Halstead
 |   .MAHLON PITNEY (1858-1924), US Supreme Court Justice, m. Florence Theodora Shelton
 |    .Beatrice Louise Pitney m. Horace Rand Lamb
 |     .Barbara Pitney Lamb m. Franklin D'Olier Reeve
 |      .CHRISTOPHER REEVE (1952-2004), actor
 .Elizabeth Pitney m. Caleb Swayze
 |.Daniel Swayze m. Bethia Horton
 | .Mehitable Swayze m. John Leonard Sliker
 |  .John Leonard Sliker m. Nancy Johnson
 |   .Renzila Sliker m. Alfred Allen Seguine
 |    .Margaret Seguine m. Benjamin Kinsey
 |     .Alfred Seguine Kinsey m. Sarah Ann Charles
 |      .ALFRED CHARLES KINSEY (1894-1956), entomologist

I already considered Kinsey a cousin through my Stoughton descent, but Reeve is new information.

All the links in my ascent from Mary [Pitney] Swayze to Rev. John Smith of Barnstable are confirmed by Roberts and Reitwiesner except the initial link - that Mary Pitney was the daughter of Susannah and James Pitney.

Susannah and James' daughter Elizabeth married Caleb Swayze, a brother of Israel Swayze, Mary's husband. I'd say the odds are good, but I don't have a source to cite yet besides a few online sites I've found which all cite in turn the generic 'Online Family Trees.'

But this is a link I definitely want to be true.

Ancestry says I'm Related. Am I?

Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings and DearMyrtle have both discussed Ancestry.com's new mobile app - We're Related.

The website states:

Find the fame in the fam. 

Are you related to someone famous or one of your closest friends? We’re Related can show you the surprising, significant, or boast-worthy connections in your tree. Your coworker could be your cousin. Or your cousin could be an icon.

As Randy suggested, it certainly sounds at first like they've resurrected their old One World Tree, which I wrote much about in past years. One World Tree did claim that Chaucer was my 18th Great Grandfather, but unfortunately I was able to disprove the relationship.

Of course I downloaded the app to see who they found.

1) You don't sign in with your Ancestry account. You don't need one. You sign in with your Facebook account. If you don't have an Ancestry account, by checking who you've indicated on Facebook relationships as parents, siblings, cousins, etc, it probably tries to find you in their public trees. I'm unsure how successful they are, because naturally, they quickly figured out my Ancestry account userid, and I checked that they were correct.

2) I then selected one of my trees to use to find famous relatives, and once I did that, it stated that it was searching all of their Public Trees. I think their old One World Tree was at least partially based on their Public Tree database, but I also think there were other trees involved.

Who did they find?

First: They didn't find Chaucer. Nor did they find any descendants of my ancestor, Thomas Stoughton. Stoughton is in my public tree, so I am somewhat surprised that none of my famous Stoughton cousins are yet in their database. (e.g. FDR, Grant, Romney, Palin, Kerry) Maybe these relatives will turn up later.




Lady Gaga is my 10th Cousin? Cool! It says our shared ancestor is a Thomas Mapes, born in 1628. Apparently, his daughter, Mary Mapes, my ancestor, was born in 1638. Hmm. This is reminiscent of One World Tree. Maybe both of these years of birth are estimates, and Thomas really is the father of Mary. Or, maybe not. How common is/was the Mapes surname? Perhaps, with a little bit of research, I might discover she isn't my 10th cousin, but 11th, or 12th.



Britney Spears and Justin Bieber?! This doesn't really excite me, but perhaps it will excite some in my family. It also appears Britney and Justin are cousins.

It's important to note that the John Smith in question is not the Mayflower passenger. The Mayflower landed in 1620, and this John Smith was born in 1614. I believe it's Rev. John Smith of Barnstable

Am I really a descendant?

I don't have parents for Mary Pitney in my database.

Is Susannah, Samuel and John Smith accurate? Perhaps. Definitely worth researching. Smith is a much more common surname than Mapes.



For Matt Damon to be confirmed as my 9th cousin 1x removed, I'd need to confirm Abigail Clark's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.

Finally, the only individual they found for whom the shared ancestor is currently in my databsase:

Not Bad. And our shared ancestor is a Captain (though likely not a pirate.) Of course, I don't know if Depp's ancestry is correct.

Perhaps the best part of the app (like One World Tree) is that it provides suggestions for research.

Another feature of the app, which does sound intriguing, is you can get together with friends who have the app, press a button, and see if anyone within 500 feet is related to you.

That could be great fun at genealogy conferences, or at genealogical society meetings.

Update 10/20: Just realized that if I can confirm that Mary Pitney is the daughter of Susanna Smith, according to William Addams Reitwiesner (whose research I trust), I am descended from John Smith of Barnstable, and furthermore, I'm cousins with President Obama.

Am I Prescient?

Back in 2007 I asked the question

What to expect when your favorite genealogical conference merges with a local SF convention.

I missed an opportunity then to look extremely prescient, but I didn't miss it in 2012, when I updated the list.

3) Media Guest of Honor: LeVar Burton - (Geordie LaForge on ST:TNG; Kunta Kinte on Alex Haley's Roots)

LeVar Burton will be Keynote Speaker at RootsTech 2017

Unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to make it.

Fossils and Genealogy

Today's webcomic from XKCD

Just like fossil evidence might give scientists of the future an incomplete picture of spiders, genealogists have to remember to ask ourselves what's missing, when looking at documents we find in archives. There could be important information about our ancestors (such as spider webs) that hasn't been preserved.

Weekly Genealogy Picks and Calendar

Highlights from news stories and blog posts I have read in the past week that deal with my overlapping interests in Genealogy, History, Heritage, and Technology.

• Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings noticed that his "New Ancestor Discoveries" at AncestryDNA have disappeared. [Mine are gone, too.] Back in June Ancestry.com indicated they were changing the algorithm to increase its accuracy. This could be related.
• Janice Brown at CowHampshire discusses click-bait in 10 Ways Marketers at Making You Addicted to Genealogy
• Tamura Jones at Modern Software Experience describes how he found Johanna Kwik's Birth Record, even though no such birth record exists.
• The US Army is banning cyclists from Arlington National Cemetery unless they are visiting a gravesite.

Upcoming holidays - religious and secular, national and international - for the next two weeks

• October 16
• Sukkot Oct 16-23 (Jewish) [Begins at sunset]
• World Food Day (UN)
• October 17
• International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (UN)
• Boss's Day (US/Canada)
• October 18
• St. Luke, Apostle and Evangelist (Christian)
• Persons Day (Canada)
• October 20
• Birth of the Báb (Baha'i)
• Installation of Scriptures as Guru Granth (Sikh)
• World Statistics Day (UN)
• October 21
• Trafalgar Day (UK)
• October 23
• Shemini Atzeret (Jewish) [Begins at Sunset]
• Mole Day (Geek) [Celebrated at 6:02]
• October 24
• Simchat Torah (Jewish) [Begins at Sunset]
• United Nations Day (UN)
• World Development Information Day (UN)
• October 27
• World Day for Audiovisual Heritage (UN)
• October 30
• Diwali - Deepavali (Hindu/Sikh/Jain)
• October 31
• All Hallows Eve/Halloween (Christian)
• Reformation Day (Protestant Christian)
• New Year (Jain)
• World Cities Day (UN)