Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Ancestors

Ancestry Anomalies – Part 3
More than “Kissin'” Cousins

This is the third post regarding anomalies in our family tree. I discovered that my 3rd Great Grandmother, Sarah Ann Fleming, had parents that were first(!) cousins to each other. In the tree segment below, you may notice a bunch of “Fleming” surnames. The Fleming Clan (literally, a clan) originated in Scotland in the 14/1500’s; our branch of the clan settled into what is now West Virginia.

Looking at the family tree segment you will see Sarah Ann linked to her parents Alexander and Mary Eliza Fleming, my 4th great grandparents. In the next column to the right you can see more Flemings; the names of interest here are Mary and Nathan Fleming who were brother and sister. Their parents were William Fleming and Jane Frame who appear at my 6th Grandparent level twice. Of note, Alexander Fleming at top right was a Fleming, but only distantly related to William; as a consequence of this distance, Matthew Fleming who married Mary Fleming, was probably only her distant cousin.

I asked ChatGPT how many ancestors a person has – this is the answer I got:

The number of ancestors a person has depends on how far back in their family tree you’re considering and whether there is any overlap due to shared ancestors. Each generation back doubles the number of ancestors because each person has two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, and so on.

For example:

  • You have 2 parents.
  • You have 4 grandparents.
  • You have 8 great-grandparents.
  • You have 16 great-great-grandparents.

So, if you go back 10 generations, you would theoretically have 2^10 = 1,024 direct ancestors. However, this is a simplified model because it doesn’t account for intermarriages or instances where distant relatives are common to multiple lines of descent, which can reduce the actual number of unique ancestors. Additionally, for practical reasons, tracing back all lineages accurately for many generations is often impossible due to missing records or incomplete genealogical data

There was no mention of the fact that if you go back in the progression 2^x that eventually the number would exceed the entire population of the planet. That’s an interesting concept.

23 Feb 2024 by Ancestors Family Nostalgia Notions

Samhain Weekend

Most of you by now know that Damsel and I share ancestry originating from the Celtic tribes of ancient Ireland and Scotland. To that effect, we have come to celebrate some of the festivals and traditions of the Celts. This weekend, we decided to celebrate the festival of Samhain.

Samhain, (Celtic: “End of Summer”) in ancient Celtic religion, one of the most important and sinister calendar festivals of the year. At Samhain, held on November 1, the world of the gods was believed to be made visible to humankind, and the gods played many tricks on their mortal worshippers; it was a time fraught with danger, charged with fear, and full of supernatural episodes.

Sacrifices and propitiations of every kind were thought to be vital, for without them the Celts believed they could not prevail over the perils of the season or counteract the activities of the deities. Samhain was an important precursor to Halloween.

Of course, we are not Pagans and don’t believe in all the spooky stuff the Celts thought to be true. We are Christians and merely celebrate our heritage while being true to the One and Only God. We celebrate Samhain on the first Sunday of November with traditional Irish and/or Scottish feasting.

This weekend turned out to be atypical weather for November since it got up to 85°F on the patio today. We celebrated the Samhain cross-quarter event with an actual Feast – Corned Beef, Cabbage, Root Veggies (lo carb, of course) and an Irish Coffee.

We hope everyone enjoys the good weather while it lasts.

05 Nov 2023 by Ancestors Food & Dining Notions

Ancestry Anomalies – Part 2

This is the second of three posts about some of the anomalies we discovered while researching our ancestry and family tree. Part 1 covered a part of the family tree where one set of my great-great grandparents were first cousins twice removed.

In this part, we discuss the union between a pair of my third-great grandparents, William Burl “Squire Billy” Snodgrass and his wife Mary Joliffe Snodgrass. Her unmarried name and his were the same, since Billy’s father Francis, and Mary’s father John, were first cousins. Francis and John’s fathers were brothers, so Billy and Mary were second cousins. Brothers William and Charles Snodgrass (Billy’s and Mary’s grandfathers, respectively) appear in the third column in the (clickable) tree image below. Their parents were John Snodgrass and Hannah Vernon, appearing twice in the fourth column. Maybe that makes John and Hannah my double 6th great grandparents? I’m not sure how that works.

I can understand marriages between related people might have been common since the population in 18th century Virginia may have been limited to the pioneers and their offspring residing there at that time. These marriages took place just after the American Revolution and before the mass influx of more settlers from Europe and abroad.

“Squire Billy” and Mary Joliffe Snodgrass were the parents of Civil War Veteran (W. Virginia Infantry) Enos Snodgrass, who was my Dad’s Great Grandfather. Pictured below are four generations with Enos (seated), James (my great grandfather), Mary (my grandmother) and Jack (my Dad at about age six or so). Clickable Photo circa 1920.

Thanks to my cousin Erin, who provided the photo above a couple of months ago when she and her Dad (my first cousin Kim) met up with us here in town for the first time. We might have never been in touch except for the DNA results from a couple of on line sources, which showed us our close relationship and put us in touch with each other.

I am working on Ancestry Anomalies Part 3 which might be the final chapter in my anomalous genealogy.

08 Jul 2023 by Ancestors Family Nostalgia Notions

Ancestry Anomalies – Part 1

Several years ago, Damsel and I decided to join the Ancestry® Genealogy Service to start tracing our heritage back a few generations. Damsel’s sister, who is an ancestry enthusiast, got us interested in getting started in the whole genealogy thing.

We both did the DNA testing and each of us have found and have been in contact with cousins we never knew about. That is a subject for another post since this one will highlight the first in a series of anomalies in our family tree. We already posted about a Native American Ancestor a while back. Damsel’s tree will not be detailed here since her sister has most of that on a separate account.

Common logic dictates that a person has two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents and so forth up to a large theoretical number in eons gone by, most commonly on powers of two. We have traced only as far as to our 6th great grandparents, which, in theory, should be a total of 256 6th level ancestors. Of course, this is not the case in my tree as we shall discuss below.

Consider the image above; the lowest level couple would be my 2nd great-grandparents, i.e my Dad’s great-grandparents on his Dad’s side. The highest level couple are my 6th great grandparents (one of 128 possible couples). Looking at the left side of the diagram, you can see two generations between the top couple and my great-great-grandpa John. On the right side of the diagram, you can see three generations between the same top couple and my great-great-grandma, Rebecca. That would seem to make the top couple, John B and Dorcas D both my 5th and 6th level great grandparents. In the first generation below John B and Dorcas D, John B Jr. and Elizabeth are siblings, making the union between John M and Rebecca as first cousins twice removed.

Here is a 1895 photo of John and Rebecca who were related as shown in the diagram. None of their descendants, to my knowledge, had any symptoms of close inbreeding. This photo taken late in their lives at the hotel they managed in Pacolet Springs, South Carolina. Photo not clickable.

20 Jun 2023 by Ancestors Family Notions

Native American Heritage Day

Actually, all of November (since 1990) is Native American Heritage Month and the day after Thanksgiving is the specific day declared as a holiday in recognition of that heritage. I bring this up since although I am 99.7% of European ancestry, there is a 0.3% trace of “Indigenous American” and “Broadly East Asian” in my DNA report. This ratio of trace ancestry is corroborated by the segment of my Ancestry tree shown below.

Fourth through Sixth Level Great Grandparents

This tree segment shows my 4th Great Grandfather J. S. Conaway, his parents and grandparents. My Native American Ancestor is simply shown as “Choctaw Wife” and I have not been able to find any more information about her other than what is shown. Mathematically, that works out to be that I am likely 1/256th Native American. To be recognized as a Choctaw Tribal Member, however, I would have to have at least one Great-Grandparent that was a full-blooded Choctaw. I’m not even close.

If the 1/256th ratio is true, then I have four times the Native heritage than does Senator Elizabeth Warren, so-called “Fauxcahontas,” who misrepresented herself as being of sufficient Native ancestry when applying for special college enrollment perks while being only 1/1024th Native American.

Damsel also has DNA results showing her Native American Ancestry, but we have as yet to trace her lineage in as much detail as my family tree. One of her sisters has that detail, but we can’t directly access it yet. We do know that one of her Great-Great Grandmothers was at least part Native American.

So, even though it is in greater vogue to call this day “Black Friday,” We reach out to our Native American cousins and wish them all a Happy Native American Heritage Day.

25 Nov 2022 by Ancestors Culture Notions

Samhain Celtic Cross-Quarter Feast

Samhain is the cross-quarter day that marks the halfway point between Autumnal Equinox and Winter Solstice. The day was traditionally considered to be the “end of summer” by ancient ancestors in northwestern Europe and the British Isles. Samhain is observed worldwide by Wiccan and Pagan cultures*.

Damsel and I both have had our DNA tested by two of the popular on-line Genealogy entities and their conclusions are that we both have significant branches in our family trees that trace back to the areas where this holiday and other cross-quarter events were and are celebrated. We have traces of DNA from other parts of the world, but our European ancestry is very much in the majority.

So, since it is a feast, then feast we shall. Our “feast” consisted of traditional corned beef and cabbage with turnips, brussels sprouts and carrots. “Traditional” in the case of this meal means that it traces back to our Irish American ancestors; the dish would have been pork, potatoes and soda bread with trimmings back in the old country. I read that pork was too expensive for poor immigrants and that corned brisket filled the entrée role. We choose turnips rather than potatoes because of the lower carbohydrate count. I don’t notice the difference.

So, wherever you are and whatever your traditions, we hope you enjoyed the weekend and maybe got to feast a bit.

Image excerpt above taken from the Archaeoastronomy website.

* Disclaimer — we are neither Wiccan nor Pagan but celebrate the feast because of our heritage. Of course, we celebrate Christian events as well when they come up.

06 Nov 2022 by Ancestors Culture Food & Dining Notions

Mise Èireannach

The title is Gaelic for “I Am Irish.” While that assertion is partially correct, both the wife and I are descendants of Scots, Irish, Welsh and English for the most part with traces of Native American and other (mostly) European ancestors. With all that disclosure out of the way, we will identify as Irish this week when we celebrate the cross-quarter feast of Beltane, about halfway between spring equinox and summer solstice.

Modern cultures that recognize Beltane typically celebrate on May Day (01 May), but the actual cross-quarter doesn’t occur until the fifth of May which is coincident with “Cinco de Mayo,” but since we have no Hispanic ancestry that we could find, we’re going with the Celtic celebration. However, due to our busy and crowded schedule as retirees, we have to postpone the festivities until the weekend (of May 07/08). Weekends are when we usually celebrate midweek holidays.

So, we will celebrate Beltane by having a traditional Irish dinner entrée of Shepherd’s Pie. Damsel found a simple recipe for “upside-down” shepherd’s pie, so we will be preparing it that way. We may also indulge in an Irish Cocktail at that time.

Sunday the 8th is, of course, Mother’s Day. Most of us retirees will wish our heavenly Mom’s a happy day in Heaven. Our Sunday meal will be Grilled Tri-Tip roast with braised cabbage and asparagus.

Cheers and Happy Cinco de Beltane to all the Mothers and Others out there.

05 May 2022 by Ancestors Culture Holidays Notions Retirement

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