Glass Half Fuller DNA

First Landing of the Pilgrims, 1620. Charles Lucey, 1859, engraver T. Phillibrown.

A few months ago I wrote about my possible descent from Mayflower passengers Edward Fuller (abt 1575-1621), his unnamed wife, and their son Samuel Fuller (abt 1608-1683). Click here to read that post. I traced a line of descent down to a Lorin Fuller  (born 1798). Then I traced a line of ascent through my paternal grandmother’s line up to a Loring Fuller (1798-1863) and looked at the possibility that Lorin Fuller and Loring Fuller were the same person.

I reached the conclusion that they were the same and that I’m a direct descendant of three Mayflower passengers. But that conclusion was based on probabilities. The evidence is not rock solid.

Can DNA shed any light?

I took a DNA test through the website Ancestry.com. With the results of my test, Ancestry.com provided me with a long list of people whose DNA has portions matching my DNA.

I searched through all the DNA matches for Fuller relatives and came up with some results:

— One DNA match claims to be descended from Mayflower passengers Edward Fuller and his wife (name unknown) through their Mayflower passenger son Samuel Fuller.

— Seven DNA matches claim to be descended from Mayflower passengers Edward Fuller and his wife through their son Matthew Fuller (abt 1603-1678), who was not a Mayflower passenger, but arrived in North America a few years after the Mayflower landing.

— Two DNA matches claim to be descended from Mayflower passenger Samuel Fuller (bef 1580-1633), the brother of Mayflower passenger Edward Fuller.

— Two DNA matches claim to be descended from Robert Fuller (abt 1548-bef 1614) and Sarah Dunckhorne Fuller (1558-bef 1584), the parents of Mayflower passenger Edward Fuller, through their other son Thomas Fuller (1573-1659), who seems not to have left England.

— One DNA match claims to be descended from Loring Fuller (1798-1863), my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, but this matching person believes that this Loring is a descendant of Matthew Fuller, son of Mayflower passengers Edward Fuller and his wife. I believe this line of descent from Matthew Fuller to Loring of Ohio to be an error, as I discussed in my previous post on the Fullers.

In total those are thirteen DNA matches to people claiming to be descended in one way or another from the family of Mayflower passenger Edward Fuller. There may be others in the list provided to me by Ancestry.com. But so far I haven’t found them. Thirteen seems like a nice pool of evidence to support my line of descent from Edward Fuller.

But that pool of evidence might not be as large as it seems.

The final match in the list claims descent from Loring Fuller. But Loring Fuller is the weak link in the chain between Mayflower passenger Edward Fuller and me. This is the link I’m hoping this DNA information will strengthen. So I can’t count this DNA match in the pool of evidence.

That leaves twelve DNA matches claiming Fuller descent.

The results of DNA testing say these people and I are related. But the results don’t tell me how.

To figure out how, I have to find our common ancestors. My primary technique so far has been to search their family trees for names that are also on my tree. That technique is subject to error.

I haven’t verified that the family trees of these DNA matches are correct. Any of them could have done sloppy research. Any of them could have invalid information.

Two of the matches in the list claim descent from Thomas Fuller, brother of Mayflower passenger Edward Fuller. I’ve seen documentation that Edward had a brother Thomas. But Thomas remained in England, and I’ve seen no documentation on Thomas’s descendants. Which of them sailed to North America? I’m not saying that none did, but I haven’t seen evidence. Is this a case of incorrect information on the part of these DNA matches?

Actually all of these DNA matches could have incorrect information in their family trees. And I could have incorrect information in my own family tree. I’m judicious in adding names to it, but I don’t have rock solid documentation for every one. So if lots of information is wrong, none of us might be related to the Mayflower Fullers.

If I’m not connected to these DNA matches through the Fullers, however, that doesn’t mean we’re not related. It only means we’re connected along other lines. Other lines of connection show up for some of these DNA matches.

The first DNA match above, initials W.G., who claims direct descent from Edward Fuller and his wife, also claims descent from John Porter (1594-1648) and Anna White Porter (1600-1647). The Porters are in my family tree, too, as my ten times great-grandparents. So that means my connection to W.G. might be only through the Porters and not through the Fullers.

Of the seven DNA matches through Matthew Fuller, two of them have other ancestors in common with me. One, like the W.G. I just discussed, also claims descent from John Porter and Anna White Porter. The other claims descent through Samuel Rider (abt 1601-1679) and Anne Gamlett Rider (abt 1605-1695), my nine times great-grandparents, as well as through my nine times great-grandparents Thomas Pratt (abt 1636-1692) and Susannah Gleason Pratt (b. 1636). This DNA match and I might only be connected through the Riders or the Pratts, or both, rather than the Fullers.

Of course, all the connections—the Fullers AND the Porters AND the Riders AND the Pratts—could be valid. Right now, I just don’t know.

To further complicate matters, there are chances for false positives and coincidences in DNA testing. Maybe there are false positives and coincidences among these twelve DNA matches, but if there are, I highly doubt all twelve fall into those categories.

The DNA test results don’t prove how I’m related to these people. But in the end I lean toward the idea that twelve DNA matches are enough, even if some are wrong, to support my relationship to the Mayflower Fullers. I still don't have rock solid evidence, by any means. But somehow I’m related to those matches. At this point the Fuller way seems as valid as any other way.

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Postscript: I was surprised to find that one of the DNA matches in the list who claims descent from Matthew Fuller is also connected to me by marriage in another line. Judith (last name unrevealed for privacy reasons), the ten times great-granddaughter of Mayflower passenger Edward Fuller, who is also my tenth cousin once removed on my father’s side, was the niece of the wife of Ninja John Herttua (1897-1935), my first cousin three times removed on my mother’s side.

Thar She Blows!

Beached whales on Cape Cod, 1902.

In Plymouth Colony of the late seventeenth century the whaling industry was vigorous. Whales in the northwestern Atlantic were plentiful. Dead whales washed up on the beaches were a common sight. It’s likely that the great majority of these so-called “drift whales” had been injured or killed by whaling men upon the sea and for any of various reasons never retrieved. The carcasses of drift whales provided valuable commodities of blubber, oil, and whalebone. So naturally, disputes over possession of drift whales flared. To deal with these problems, laws concerning drift whale rights proliferated through the Plymouth Colony. Many towns appointed men to dispose of these whales and turn over the proceeds to the town coffers.

Yarmouth, MA, with Mill Creek in the center just above the bay.

In February 1680 at Yarmouth, on the Nantucket Sound side of Cape Cod, whales drifting onto the stretch of beach from Yarmouth Harbor to the Mill Creek were put into the charge of four men. One of these men was John Rider (1663-1735), my first cousin nine times removed. He was the grandchild of my nine times great-grandparents Samuel Rider (1601-1679) and Anne Gamlett Rider (1605-1695).

On January 7, 1690, at Yarmouth, a drift whale was beached against a pasture fence belonging to James and Thomas Clark. It seems that Samuel Rider and William Harlow Jr. broke the law by taking the blubber and whalebone from that drift whale for themselves. The next day, January 8, they were charged with the crime. The blubber and whalebone were confiscated by Constable William Shurtlef, and the accused were directed to appear before the County Court at Plymouth.

One of the two accused men, William Harlow Jr. (1657-1711), was a first cousin of the John Rider who was in charge of disposing of drift whales at Yarmouth.  William Harlow Jr.’s mother Rebecca Bartlett Harlow (bef 1634-1664) and John Rider’s mother Sarah Bartlett Rider (abt 1636-bef 1680) were sisters. They were also granddaughters of Mayflower passenger Richard Warren (abt 1580-1628). William Harlow Jr. isn’t related to me by blood, only connected by marriage, but the whole story of this drift whale crime was certainly a family affair.

The exact identity of the other accused man, Samuel Rider, is harder to determine. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there were Samuels in every generation and branch of the Rider family. Most of them were still children during the drift whale incident or born afterward. But there are three reasonable possibilities for this Samuel Rider.

Grave of Samuel Rider (1632-1715), Burial Hill, Plymouth, MA.

John Rider’s father was a Samuel Rider (1632-1715). But why would this Samuel Rider have committed this crime when drift whales were his son John’s responsibility? Maybe Samuel thought he and his nephew William Harlow Jr. could get away with it simply because John was his son. Maybe John was actually in on it. Or maybe it was one huge misunderstanding. But I think this Samuel is the most unlikely possibility for the identity of the accused since his son John testified in the drift whale case. This Samuel was my nine times great-uncle.

Another Samuel Rider to consider was John Rider’s brother. This Samuel was born in 1657, but controversy surrounds his history. Some say he died young. If he did, then he can’t be the Samuel Rider of the drift whale story. Others say he’s been conflated with his father, the Samuel Rider of the previous paragraph and that he died in 1715, well past the age of thirty-two, which is how old he would need to have been to fill the role of the drift whale Samuel Rider, so he's a possibility. If he was that Samuel, why did he break the law his brother had the job of enforcing? Sibling rivalry? This Samuel Rider was my first cousin nine times removed.

The only other Samuel Rider who seems possible was a first cousin of John Rider. Their fathers were brothers. Samuel’s father was another John Rider (1636-1705). I don’t know the birth or death dates of this Samuel Rider, but extrapolating from a couple of his siblings’ dates, this Samuel may have been born sometime around the 1660s. If so, he would have been reasonably close to the age of William Harlow Jr. who was thirty-two when he and Samuel were charged with pillaging the drift whale. I like this Samuel as the best possibility for Samuel Rider, drift whale pillager. He was, like the previous Samuel, my first cousin nine times removed.

William Harlow Jr.’s father was Sergeant William Harlow Sr. (abt 1624-1691), whose house still stands in Plymouth, Massachusetts, although now it’s a museum. The elder Harlow had a problem related to this charge against his son. William Harlow Sr. was one of the Selectmen of the town of Plymouth and sat on the County Court. He couldn’t sit in judgement against his son. So on March 19, 1690, he appointed Ephraim Morton Sr. as his attorney to appear in his stead in court.

The next day, Monday, March 20, 1690, John Rider testified in court to give the location of the drift whale’s beaching. He said nothing concerning the accused men, both of them members of his family.

The following day, Tuesday, March 21, 1690, Samuel Rider and William Harlow Jr. were tried in the County Court of Plymouth for their illegal appropriation of a drift whale. Judgment was found against them and they were fined the cost of the suit—twenty-seven shillings and sixpence.

By the mid-eighteenth century the local Cape Cod whaling industry had declined. The whale population had been so thinned by whalers that to this day it hasn’t recovered. Disputes over drift whales declined proportionately. I suppose crimes concerning drift whales declined, too.

My Famous Relatives: Richard Gere

Richard Tiffany Gere, born 1949.

A few years ago David and I found that he was related to many crowned heads of Europe. It was exciting. And it was one of the factors that spurred me to delve into the genealogy of my own family. For months I searched for a celebrated blood relative of my own, but without luck. At last, however, I began to turn up relatives who had made some wider mark on the world. One thing rewarding about famous relatives is that there’s usually a lot more information available than just dates and names. Perhaps the best known of the famous relatives that I’ve discovered so far is the actor Richard Tiffany Gere (born 1949).

How are Richard Gere and I related? We’re tenth cousins. Our common ancestors are our mutual great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents Samuel Rider (1601-1679) and Anne Gamlett Rider (abt. 1605-1695). They immigrated to the USA from Northampton, England, between 1636 and 1638, and I’ve mentioned them in previous posts to this blog.

With Debra Winger in An Officer and a Gentleman.

The Rider branch of the family provides the blood relationship between Richard Gere and me, but we also have a family connection through two marriages. My second cousin twice removed Charles Elwood Grant (1900-1945) married Helene Thelma Stafford (1902-1985), Richard Gere’s tenth cousin once removed. And Helene’s sister Hilda Lucille Stafford (1898-1973) married Roy Robert Grant (1897-1988), another of my second cousins twice removed. As I’ve written on this blog before, the Staffords descend from Mayflower passenger Richard Warren (1580-1628) and his wife Elizabeth Walker Warren (1583-1673). And so does Richard Gere.

Richard Gere has never been an actor whose career I particularly followed. I recall first being aware of him when the movie An Officer and a Gentleman was released in 1982. I saw the movie during its original theatrical run and enjoyed it. But I was far more interested in one of the movie’s locations than I was in Richard Gere’s leading role.

Fort Worden State Park, near Port Townsend, Washington.

An Officer and a Gentleman was partly filmed at former US Army base, now State Park, Fort Worden near Port Townsend, Washington. I spent a week at Fort Worden in 1974 when I was one of the two kids selected from Clallam County to attend a retreat for fifth and sixth graders with a talent for writing and drawing. In addition to working on the book the students all collaborated on—my contribution was a linoleum block print of Herby the Medicine Man from Ruth Plumly Thompson’s The Giant Horse of Oz—I explored, with adult supervision, Fort Worden’s spooky old, partially flooded military bunkers. And in the boys dorm I learned definitions of terms for sexual prophylactics that had previously been opaque to me. So when I saw An Officer and a Gentleman I was more interested in the shots of Fort Worden than in Richard Gere.

The poster in Judi's room.

But I continued to be aware of Richard Gere, as ubiquitous a presence as most any movie star in US culture. When I was in art school one of my female apartment-mates had a poster of Richard Gere hanging in her bedroom. His white tank top-clad torso and tight jeans so blatantly screamed sex symbol that I scoffed at the poster. Maybe I wouldn’t have been so derisive if I’d known back then that he was my cousin.

I remember hearing jokes in the 1990s about Richard Gere’s conversion to Buddhism and trips to Tibet. Why were people who didn’t even know him so concerned by Richard Gere’s religious life?

I went with a group of friends to see The Cotton Club in 1984. We went opening day because one of the friends was a big Francis Ford Coppola fan. I remember kind of liking the movie, contrary to the general reaction, but beyond Diane Lane, the Hines brothers' dancing, and a scene of someone shaving with an old-fashioned razor which I think I admired for the historical research and the ability of anyone to shave with such an instrument, I don't really remember the movie. I certainly didn't remember Richard Gere was in it until reviewing his career for this blog post. Well, it's been a while.

In And the Band Played On.

I've seen a few of his other films that I actually recall him being in. Days of Heaven from 1978. Something called Power from 1986, which I saw on an airplane.  Sommersby, a 1993 movie he did with Jodie Foster, I barely remember except for the scene where Gere quotes from Homer’s Iliad. I was impressed to see him in 1993’s And the Band Played On, a tv adaptation of Randy Shilts’s book of investigative journalism into the early years of the AIDS crisis. In that Gere played a thinly disguised version of Broadway choreographer Michael Bennett.

More recently I’ve seen him in Shall We Dance, a solid, middle-of-the-road Strictly Ballroom-wannabe, notable for Stanley Tucci’s comedic performance. I thought Gere made a perfectly respectable Billy Flynn in the movie version of the play Chicago. I have friends—many of them dancers—who thought the movie of Chicago was terrific. I'm afraid it seemed mostly like lukewarm Cabaret leftovers to me. But I don’t fault Richard Gere for problems with the material and direction. Or for the fact that Catherine Zeta-Jones—one thing in the movie I would call terrific—overshadowed everyone and everything else simply by appearing onscreen.

Richard Gere in recent days

Richard Gere married model Cindy Crawford in 1991, but they divorced in 1995. In 2000 Richard Gere and Carey Lowell had a son, my tenth cousin once removed, Homer James Jigme Gere. Homer is also the first name of Richard Gere's father, my ninth cousin once removed, Homer George Gere (born 1923). In 2002 Richard Gere and Carey Lowell married.

Richard Gere’s been in popular and critically praised movies that I haven’t seen—Pretty Woman, American Gigolo, the recent Arbitrage—so I can’t claim to be a big Richard Gere fan. But I’m certainly happy for his success and wish him the best in his continuing acting career. I also like being able to say I’m related to a movie star.

Gathered Grants

A large gathering of my Grant relatives had a group photograph taken in the summer of 1904 in Geauga County, Ohio. I first saw this photo on the genealogy site of Rick and Becky Johnson, who are my distant cousins related by several marriages along various family branches. I was excited to see the faces of so many relations that I’d never seen before.

Later I found the same photo printed in the book Geauga County, Ohio: A Pictorial History by James J. Anderson and Jeannette Grosvenor, originally published in 1989. I have the 2006 printing by The Donning Company. The book gives information about the photo, but that information has several problems.

The book proposes that the photo was taken at the Chardon, Ohio, home of Leonard and Betsey Grant, the couple sitting on the right side of the middle row. But I think that the photo was more likely taken at the home—probably also in Chardon—of Leonard and Betsey’s son Charles and his wife Arletta, who are sitting at the left side of the middle row. That’s because most of the Grants in the photo are sons and grandchildren of Charles and Arletta. The only two children of Leonard and Betsey in the photo are Charles himself and Leonard, Jr. The rest of Leonard and Betsey’s children—including Mary Elizabeth Grant McNaughton, my great-great-grandmother—are absent.

The Grant Family, 1904.

The photo's caption in the book identifies the people like this:

Top row, left to right: John Grant with son Glen “Chicken” Grant and John’s wife Grace Armena “Minnie” Alderman Hubbard Grant; William L. Grant with daughter Mabeletta Grant and William’s wife Noma A. Trask Grant; Leonard Grant, Jr.; Carrie Beach Grant and daughter Myrtle Grant with Carrie’s husband Orie Grant.

Middle row, left to right: Arletta Fox Grant and husband Charles Grant; Leonard Grant, Sr., and wife Betsey Marshall Patterson Grant.

Front row, left to right: Edward Grant, Charles “Dick” Grant, Lloyd W. Grant, Roy Robert Grant, Florence Hubbard, and Clarence Hubbard.

But whoever wrote this caption didn't pay attention to the ages of the kids, who are all my cousins. Some of these identifications are decidedly odd—assuming the date of the photo is indeed the summer of 1904. I think it is 1904, and, as I indicated in a post of a couple weeks ago, based on the children's ages I believe that the names assigned to many of them are incorrect.

Let’s take a closer look at the people in this photo. I’m going to assign what I believe to be the correct name to each. I’ll also discuss a little history where I know it.

(If you want to see a larger version of the photo, just click on it and a larger version will open in your browser window. By the way, the same thing will happen to all other photos posted to Several Times Removed.)

Here are my name assignments:

Top Row, Left to Right:

John Grant (1870-1915), the eldest child of Arletta and Charles W. Grant, who are the lefthand couple in the middle row. John was thirty-four here.

Edward Louis Grant (1903-1988), the second child of John, who's holding Edward, and Minnie, who's standing just to the right of Edward. Geauga County, Ohio: A Pictorial History identifies this little boy as Glen Newton “Chicken” Grant (1914-1972). But if this photo was taken in 1904, this can’t be Chicken Grant, because he wouldn’t be born for another ten years. Edward Louis was just one year old in July 1904, about the time this photo was taken, and this child certainly looks that age.

Grace Armenia “Minnie” Alderman Hubbard Grant (1870-1922) was the granddaughter of Jarvis Alderman (1803-1857) and Charlotte Grant Alderman (abt 1804-1903). An online posting here claims that Charlotte Alderman's Grant forebears are connected to the family of Minnie’s husband, John Grant. I haven’t found any verification that these two Grant branches are connected, although I’d certainly like to find some. Charlotte Grant Alderman was a direct descendant of Matthew Grant (1601-1645) and Priscilla Grey (1600-1644), immigrants from England in 1630 on the ship John and Mary. That makes Charlotte and her granddaughter Minnie (and Minnie's children) blood relations to US Civil War Union General and later US President Ulysses S. Grant. Minnie’s first husband was Eldredge Hubbard, and in this photo she was thirty-four.

William L. Grant (1873-1960), the second son of Arletta and Charles W. Grant. He was twenty-nine here.

Mabeletta Grant Mumford (1903-?), held by her father, William. Geauga County, Ohio: A Pictorial History correctly identifies this child who grew up to marry Otto Elmer Mumford (1907-?). Mabeletta was less than a year old in the photo.

Noma Amelia Trask Grant (1875-1950), wife of William L. Grant and mother of Mabeletta. Noma was twenty-eight.

Leonard E. Grant, Jr. (1857-1923), sixth child of Leonard and Betsey Grant, the couple seated on the righthand side of the middle row. Leonard, Jr., standing right behind his father, Leonard, Sr., is also the youngest brother of Charles W., seated just to the left in the middle row. Sometime between 1900 and 1920 Leonard, Jr., divorced his wife Emma E. (last name unknown). Emma isn’t in this photo. Maybe they’re already divorced and that’s why Leonard, Jr., is at this gathering at his brother Charles’s place. If Leonard had left his wife by 1904 and was living either with his parents—Leonard, Sr., and Betsey—or possibly living with his brother Charles and family, that could account for Leonard, Jr.’s presence. Or maybe Leonard and Emma were just having marital problems at this point and she refused to either be in the photo or attend the family gathering. They had no children that I’m aware of—maybe the reasons for that were a factor in their divorce. But that’s mere speculation. Leonard, Jr., was forty-six.

Carrie Beach Grant (1882-1960), wife of Orris Grant. Carrie was twenty-two.

Myrtle Grant (1903-?), daughter of Carrie and Orris Grant. Myrtle was a little over a year old here.

Orris H. “Orie” Grant (1879-1953), fourth and youngest child of Arletta and Charles W. Grant, the lefthand couple in the middle row. Orie was twenty-four or twenty-five.

Middle Row, Left to Right:

Arletta S. Fox Grant (1851-1919), wife of Charles W. Grant, and mother of John E., William L., and Orris H., who are all standing in the back row. Arletta and Charles also had a daughter, Millie S. Grant (1876-?), who isn’t in the photo—maybe she died before 1904. At the time of this photo Arletta was fifty-two.

Charles William Grant (1846-1937), Arletta's husband and eldest child of Leonard and Betsey Grant, who are seated to the right of Charles in the middle row. Charles was fifty-eight when the photo was taken.

Leonard E. Grant, Sr. (1823-1911), was my great-great-great-grandfather and the husband of Betsey who's to the right of him in the photo. Leonard's father was born in Connecticut according to the 1900 US Federal Census, although I also have a reference that says his father was born in New York. I prefer Connecticut. His father may have been named Leonard, too, but that’s questionable. I’ve looked for Leonard Grant, Sr.’s ancestors, but with no luck. There are a slew of Grants in eighteenth century and nineteenth century Connecticut. Which of them might be the right Grants I’ve found impossible to determine. Early Ohio Grants don't tie definitively to Leonard either. As Geauga County, Ohio: A Pictorial History says (and I'll have to trust the book on this), Grant Street, which runs between North Hambden and South Hambden, Geauga County, Ohio, was named after Leonard Grant. The street is also the dividing line between Chardon Village and Hambden Township. Leonard was eighty in this photo.

Betsey Elizabeth Marshall Patterson Grant (1818-1912) was my great-great-great-grandmother and Leonard Grant, Sr.’s wife. Leonard and Betsey were the parents of Charles W., also sitting in the middle row, and Leonard, Jr., standing just behind Leonard, Sr. They had other children who aren’t in the photo: Abby Rosette Grant Conley (1849-1931), John Grant (1851-1853) who died as a child, Sarah M. Grant (1853-?), Mary Elizabeth Grant McNaughton (1856-1946) who was my great-great-grandmother, and Emerette Anna Grant Zorn (1861-1926). The absence of these other children is what leads me to strongly suspect this photo was taken at Charles and Arletta's place. Betsey Grant was married previously to Alonzo Patterson and had four children with him: Edna Maria Patterson, Persis Ellen Patterson (1840-?), George B. Patterson (1842-1916), and James O. Patterson (1846-?). Betsey’s parents were William Obadiah Marshall (1784-1854) and Polly Rider (1793-1870), a daughter of “Deacon” Benjamin Rider (1761-1854), whose gravestone I posted a picture of a couple weeks ago and whose branch of the family goes back to Samuel Rider (1601-1679) and Anne Gamlett (1605-1695) who immigrated by 1638 to Plymouth, Massachusetts, from Northampton, England. At eighty-five years old, Betsey was the oldest person in this photo.

Bottom Row, Left to Right:

Charles Elwood Grant (1900-1945), eldest son of John and Minnie Grant. Geauga County, Ohio: A Pictorial History says this is Edward Grant, Charles Elwood Grant’s younger brother and second son of John and Minnie. But Edward was born in 1903, the year before this photo is supposed to have been taken, and I think that's Edward in his father's arms in the top row. The child pictured sitting here is certainly more than a year old. Charles Elwood would have been four years old in the summer of 1904, and this child looks about four years old, so I think it’s reasonable to conclude this is Charles Elwood Grant. Charles would grow up to marry Helene Thelma Stafford (1902-1985), descendant of Richard Warren of the ship Mayflower, as I mentioned a couple weeks ago.

Clarence Hubbard (1891-1973), son of Minnie Grant and her first husband Eldredge Hubbard. Geauga County, Ohio: A Pictorial History claims that this child is Charles “Dick” Grant, who I believe is the child sitting to the left of this one. This child is obviously much older than four-year-old Charles. Clarence Hubbard was thirteen years old in 1904, and this child could easily be thirteen. Also, look at his face—it's a bit rounder than all those long Grant faces. Compare his features to the girl sitting on the ground to the right. I know her features are a bit hard to distinguish, but what's visible closely matches this boy’s features. I conclude they’re brother and sister, Clarence and Florence Hubbard, Minnie’s children from her first marriage.

Lloyd William Grant (1895-1978), also known as William Lloyd Grant, eldest son of William L. and Noma Grant, who are standing in the center top of this photo holding their youngest child Mabeletta. Geauga County, Ohio: A Pictorial History got this one right in my estimation. Lloyd would marry Louise Marie Sturm (1895-1939), a marriage that connects me to Rick and Becky Johnson of the website mentioned in this post's first paragraph, the site where I first saw this photo. And through Lloyd's marriage, a further chain of marriages connects to Mayflower passenger Edward Doty. Lloyd was eight years old in summer 1904.

Roy Robert Grant (1897-1988), the middle child of William L. and Noma Grant. Geauga County, Ohio: A Pictorial History has this right, too. Roy would eventually marry Hilda Lucille Stafford (1898-1973), sister of the Helene Stafford who married Roy's cousin Charles Elwood, who's on the bottom far left, providing yet another family connection by marriage to Mayflower passenger Richard Warren. Roy was seven years old in this photo.

Florence Hubbard (1888-1972), daughter of Minnie Grant by her first husband, Eldredge Hubbard. Florence was sixteen years old here.

Now comes The Mystery. Geauga County, Ohio: A Pictorial History says this is Clarence Hubbard, brother of Florence, but I find that extremely difficult to believe. This young man looks much older than thirteen-year-old Clarence—he looks like he could be anywhere from sixteen to twenty-five. Compare his features to Florence beside him and to the second child from the left, the one I believe to actually be Clarence. This young man’s features are quite different from both. If you didn’t think the boy second from the left resembled Florence before, I’d be surprised if you don’t think so now in comparison to the mystery man. This young man is also sitting off to the side, out of the perimeter all the others have posed within, as though he doesn't quite belong. Could he be someone not related to the family? His long nose and narrow face resemble those of many of the Grant men in this photo—John in the upper left; both Charles and Leonard sitting in the center; Leonard, Jr., just behind Leonard, Sr. So I think he’s related by blood and belongs to this family, even though he’s off to one side. But there are no Grant children that were between sixteen and twenty-five years old in 1904, at least not that I know of. He could be an unrecorded Grant child. But notice that his features also resemble Betsey Grant’s. As I mentioned before, Betsey had four children with her first husband, Alonzo Patterson. One of these children, George Baker Patterson (1842-1916), and his wife Lois Francelia Watts Patterson (?-1916) had eight children. Their fifth child, Fred Patterson was born in 1881 and would have been twenty-two or twenty-three in the summer of 1904 when this picture was taken. Could this young man be Fred Patterson, Betsey’s grandson through her first marriage? I can't find a male Grant relative who fits better. So Fred Patterson (or another Patterson grandson—I don’t know of another close to the target age, but my Patterson research has holes, so there could be one) is my best guess for this guy’s identity.

Those are my revised identifications of the people in this photo. Of course, there’s always the chance the photo could have been taken at a time other than 1904. But except for the mystery man, I believe my revised list matches the faces and ages so closely that a date of 1904 is virtually confirmed.

Cousins in Common, featuring Nathaniel Bartlett

One of the reasons I became interested in tracing my family tree was to see if David and I were somehow related by blood. I mean, the chance that sometime, somewhere, our lines intersected isn’t all that remote, is it?

Well, after a couple years of wide-ranging research on both our parts, I haven’t come up with a clear common ancestor for both of us.

I found connections between David’s line and mine by marriage, usually several marriages. For instance, we are each connected by chains of marriage both to Yankee General (and later US president) Ulysses S. Grant and to Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Although I have not yet come across a common ancestor for both David and me, I did find a branch of relatives common to us both. A member of each of our families married each other and had a child who had descendants. David’s cousin Ebenezer Bartlett, Jr. (1694-1781), and my cousin Mary Rider Bartlett (1694-after 1723) married in 1718 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, where their son, Nathaniel Bartlett (1722-1802), was born. David and I are both related to Nathaniel Bartlett and all of his descendants.

Nathaniel Bartlett's mother was my cousin Mary Rider Bartlett. Mary's paternal grandparents were Samuel Rider (about 1601-1679) and Anne Gamlett Rider (abt 1605-1695). Samuel and Anne Rider immigrated to North America from Northampton, England, between 1636 and 1638. They settled in Yarmouth in the Massachusetts colony. They are my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents. That’s nine greats.

Gravestone of "Deacon" Benjamin Rider (1761-1854), my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, in the line between Nathaniel Bartlett and me. Rider Cemetery, Chardon, Geauga County, Ohio.

And that makes Nathaniel Bartlett my second cousin, eight times removed.

Nathaniel Bartlett’s father was David's cousin Ebenezer Bartlett, Jr. (1694-1781).  Ebenezer’s twenty-two times great-grandfather was Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria (1050-1076). Waltheof is David Maxine’s twenty-five times great-grandfather.

On the left: Anderson Kirkpatrick (1808-1887), David's great-great-great-grandfather, in the line between Nathaniel Bartlett and him.

Twenty-five greats is an estimate—there could be a few more greats in there. David’s Kirkpatrick line of ancestry, which connects him to Waltheof, has a blank period, so the exact number of generations between Alexander Kirkpatrick (1685-1758) and his purported ancestor Roger Kirkpatrick (abt 1410-?), husband of Margaret Somerville, is currently unknown.

Despite the Kirkpatrick lacuna, that makes Nathaniel Bartlett David’s estimated twenty-third cousin, three times removed.

David has at least two other potential blood connections to Nathaniel Bartlett.

His second potential common ancestor with Nathaniel Bartlett is Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou and father of King Henry II of England. Geoffrey is possibly David’s twenty-six times great-grandfather and Nathaniel’s nineteen times great-grandfather. But the line of ascent from David to Geoffrey Plantagenet has at least one doubtful connection, the parentage of Mary Grisselle Gibbone. I don’t necessarily dismiss this connection, but I find it questionable.

Geoffrey Plantagenet has been claimed as David’s twenty-six times great-grandfather through another line, too. This claim relies on the parents of Mary Stanley being George de Stanley and Joan le Strange. That parentage seems to have been fabricated by John S. Wurts, a twentieth century genealogist whose work is not up to current genealogical standards. So I’m afraid I don’t accept this family connection between David and Nathaniel Bartlett.

Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria, or rather, a fifteenth century statue identified as Waltheof, from the west front of Croyland Abbey in Crowland, Lincolnshire, UK.

But David’s descent from Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria, seems solid. Many of Waltheof’s descendants in both David’s and Nathaniel Bartlett’s lines have connections with the royal families of England and Scotland. And many are also connected with Northampton, England, the place, as I noted above, where my common ancestors with Nathaniel Bartlett, Samuel and Anne Rider, lived before emigrating.

How about some more connections among Nathaniel, David, and me?

Nathaniel Bartlett’s great-great-great-grandfather was Richard Warren (abt 1580-1628), who arrived at Plymouth Rock in 1620 aboard the Mayflower with the Pilgrims. He was one of the ten people in the landing party with Myles Standish. Richard Warren wasn’t himself a Pilgrim, but a merchant from London. His wife Elizabeth Walker Warren (abt 1583-1673) and their daughters followed Richard from England to the Massachusetts colony later on the ship Anne. Richard Warren’s previous ancestry is unknown, but that hasn’t stopped a lot of people from fabricating pedigrees for him, some back to the English royal family and beyond. If there’s a grain of truth to Richard Warren being related to English royalty, then that’s another family connection to David’s line.

I have two other family connections to Richard Warren myself, not by blood but by marriage. First, Richard Warren’s granddaughter Sarah Bartlett (abt 1636-before 1680) married Samuel Rider (abt 1632-1715), a son of Samuel and Anne Rider, my common ancestors with Nathaniel Bartlett. And second, Richard Warren’s nine times great-granddaughter, Helene Thelma Stafford Grant Waste (1902-1985) married Charles Elwood Grant (1900-1945), her first husband, who was my second cousin, twice removed.

This is, I suspect, Charles Elwood Grant, four years old in this detail from a 1904 Grant family photograph. The identifications of children in the larger photo are confused.

Nathaniel Bartlett’s direct descendants have been traced down to today. I’d like to show you a couple of them. Nathaniel’s great-great-granddaughter was Elizabeth Ricker Robinson (1859-1942), whose photograph you can see here.

Elizabeth Ricker Robinson (1859-1942), great-great-granddaughter of Nathaniel Bartlett. Used with permission of John Hurlin Robinson.

Elizabeth and her husband, Walter Franklin Robinson (1855-1940), had a daughter named Helen Franklin Robinson (1885-1967), whose wedding photograph is posted below. Helen and her husband Don Hurlin Robinson (1889-1950) had one son who is still alive and who is the father of several children, including John Hurlin Robinson (b. 1951), and grandfather to several grandchildren.

Wedding picture of Helen Franklin Robinson (1885-1967), great-great-great-granddaughter of Nathaniel Bartlett. Used with permission of John Hurlin Robinson.

John Hurlin Robinson is my ninth cousin, once removed. He's David's estimated twenty-sixth cousin, four times removed. John has his own genealogical website, which you can see by clicking here. I thank John for allowing me to post photographs of his grandmother and great-grandmother. If you want to see photos of some of David’s and my living Robinson relatives, visit John’s site. Their ancestral line joins both David’s and mine at Nathaniel Bartlett, making all of us relatives.