Saturday, December 3, 2016

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.

1 comment:

Cousin Russ said...

John,

Like you, my We're Related connection is being restore, 1 or 2 a day.

Of your list, if have 12 of your 19 connections. A quick glance, it doesn't appear that we have a common ancestor with the 12 that I have, with your 12.

I am up to 55 We're Related cousins.

Thanks for the update.

Russ