My Ahnentafel/Ahnenliste

I've been actively blogging about family history for two and a half years (has it really been that long?); I figured it was time I posted a list of ancestors. I have chosen to use the ahnentafel numbering system. (**)

Below I include names, and the best information I have found so far on years of birth and death, and place of birth. (I've obscured the information for all living individuals)

On their first appearance, I have linked surnames to their respective category labels for relevant blog posts (even if the labels haven't been used yet, they may be at some point), and I have added links to individual memorials on Find a Grave (FGM) where they exist.

While I can only carry the Newmark surname back six generations, I include the numbers for successive generations as a placeholder for the beginning of each generation. Inversely, I can carry my Cruvant ancestors back a few more generations, but I have promised not to share online the research given to me by a cousin, and I wouldn't know those names without her help.

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who thinks they are a cousin.

---

For those unfamiliar with the ahnentafel numbering system, the number for X's father is 2X, and X's mother is 2X+1. 

1. Me, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
2. Dad, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
3. Mom, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

4. Melvin Lester Newmark, 1912-1992, St. Louis, Missouri, USA (FGM)
5. Belle Feinstein, 1914-2002, St. Louis, Missouri, USA (FGM)
6. Martin Joel Deutsch, 1907-1991, Varalmas, Hungary (FGM)
7. Myrtle Ethel Van Every, 1900-1951, Maxwell, Texas, USA (FGM)

8. Barnet Newmark, 1886-1956, Warka, Poland (FGM)
9. Bertha Cruvant, 1886-1978, St. Louis, Missouri, USA (FGM)
10. Herman Max Feinstein, 1886-1963, Volhynia, Ukraine (FGM)
11. Anna Blatt, 1889-1965, Poland (FGM)
12. Samuel Deutsch, 1861-1938, Hungary (FGM)
13. Helen Lichtmann, 1881-1958, Margitta, Hungary (FGM)
14. Melvin Elijah Van Every, 1863-1929, Middleville, Michigan, USA (FGM)
15. Margaret Jane McAlpin Monteroy Denyer, 1868-1923, Kyle, Texas, USA (FGM)

16. Samuel Joseph Newmark, 1862-1940, Poland (FGM)
17. Rose Cantkert, 1865-1943, Poland (FGM)
18. Moshe Leyb Cruvant, 1857-1911, Lithuania (FGM)
19. Minnie Mojsabovski, 1863-1924, Lithuania (FGM)
20. Selig Dudelsack, 1860-1915, Ukraine (FGM)
21. Anna Perlik, 1868-1932, Ukraine (FGM)
22. Morris Blatt, 1862-1926, Poland (FGM)
23. Belle Wyman, ?-1892, Poland
24. Abraham Deutsch, Hungary
25. Sarah Weiss, Hungary
26. Israel Lichtmann, Hungary
27. Betty Adler, Hungary
28. Samuel Van Every, 1820-1888, Brant, Ontario, Canada (FGM)
29. Abigail Stuart, 1825-1866, Welland, Ontario, Canada (FGM)
30. Ebenezer Ophan Denyer, 1828-1872, Bucks, Pennsylvania, USA
31. Sarah Ann Hartley, 1836-1898, Mississippi, USA

32. Israel David Neimark, Poland
33. Leah, Poland
34. Hirsch Cantkert, Poland
35. Bryna, Poland
40. Samuel Zvi Dudelsack, Poland
41. Gitel Slupsky, 1846-1906, Poland (FGM)
42. Isaac Wolf Perlik, Poland
43. Freida Lipman, Poland
56. Andrew David Van Every, 1798-1873, Ontario, Canada (FGM)
57. Nancy Lucinda Van Sellas, 1799-1880, Ontario, Canada (FGM)
58. Elihu Stuart, 1788-1826, Canada
59. Johanna Swayze, 1796-1854, Ontario, Canada
60. William Denyer, 1794-1848 Hampshire, England
61. Elizabeth Sliver, 1798-1840, Bucks, Pennsylvania, USA
62. George W. Hartley
63. Eliza Beasley (?)
64.
112. David Van Every, 1757-1820, Poughkeepsie, New York, USA (FGM)
113. Sarah Showers, 1762-1795, Pennsylvania, USA
118. Israel Swayze, 1753-1844, Warren, New Jersey, USA
119. Abigail Coleman, 1757-1843, Warren, New Jersey, USA
120. William Denyer, 1770-?, England
121. Jane Goldfinch, 1770-?, England
122. John Sliver
123. Barbara Fretz, 1775-1840, Pennsylvania, USA

128.
224. McGregor Van Every, 1723-1786, New York, USA (FGM)
225. Mary Jaycocks, 1736-1786, New York, USA
226. Michael Schauers, 1733-1796, New York, USA
227. Hannah Van Tock, 1740-1825, New York, USA
236. Israel Swayze, 1720-1774, Southold, New York, USA
237. Mary Pitney, 1720-1754, New Jersey, USA
246. Mark Fretz, 1750-1840, Bucks, Pennsylvania, USA
247. Elizabeth Rosenberger, 1752-1847, Bucks, Pennsylvania, USA
256.
448. Martin Van Iveren, 1685-1760, Kingston, New York, USA
449. Judith Holmes, 1694-?, New York, USA
452. Adam Schauers, 1701-1762, Baden, Germany
453. Maria Fritz, Germany
454. John Van Tock, 1714-?, New York, USA
455. Hannah Pierce
472. Judge Samuel Swayze, 1688-1759, Southold, New York, USA
473. Penelope Horton, 1690-1746, Cutchogue, New York, USA
492. John "Weaver" Fretz, 1704-1772, Baden, Germany
494. Henry Rosenberger, 1725-1809, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
495. Barbara Oberholtzer, 1726-1775, Bucks, Pennsylvania, USA

512.
896. Burger Van Iveren, 1660-1762, Albany, New York, USA
897. Elizabeth Meyer
898. William Holmes
899. Lysbeth Wipp
904. Michael Schauers, 1679-1710, Baden, Germany
905. Anna Schauerin, 1679-1734, Baden, Germany
944. Joseph Swayze, 1653-1717, Suffolk, New York, USA
945. Mary Betts, 1654-1734, Queens, New York, USA
946. Barnabas Horton, Cutchogue, New York, USA
947. Sarah Wines
984. Johannes Fretz, 1680-1729, Alsace, Germany
985. Ann Marie Gross, 1682-1714, Baden, Germany
988. Henry Rosenberger, ?-1745, Germany
990. Jacob Oberholtzer, Germany

1024.
1792. Myndert Fredericksen, 1636-1706, Everinghe, Holland (or Jever, Oldenburg)
1793. Cathalyn Burger, 1640- (before 1663)
1888. John Swayze, 1619-1706, Suffolk, England
1889. Katherine Kinge, 1625-1692, Essex, England
1890. Capt. Richard Betts, 1613-1713, Hertfordshire, England
1891. Joanna Chamberlain, 1620, 1711, Hertfordshire, England
1892. Caleb Horton, 1640-1702, Southold, NY
1893. Abigail Hallock, 1642-1697, Suffolk, NY

2048.
3584. Frederick Van Iveren, Everinghe, Holland (or Jever, Oldenburg)
3782. Richard Chamberlain, 1590-1639, Warwickshire, England
3783. Elizabeth Stoughton, 1600-1647, Suffolk, England
3784. Barnabas Horton, 1600-1680, Leicestershire, England (FGM)
3785. Mary Langdon, 1611-1698, England (FGM)

4096.
7566. Thomas Stoughton, 1557-1622, Suffolk, England
7567. Katherine __, England

Some descendancies online for some of the more distant ancestors

• A Brief History of John and Christian Fretz and a complete genealogical family register, Rev. Abraham James Fretz, 1890. (PDF - 41 MB) (Other Formats)

• A Brief History of John and Christian Fretz and a complete genealogical family register to the fourth generation with accounts and addresses delivered at the Fretz family reunions, Rev. Abraham James Fretz, 1904. (PDF - 9 MB) (Other Formats)

• Genealogical Record of the Descendants of Martin and Jacob Oberholtzer; Together with Historical and Biographical Sketches, Rev. Abraham James Fretz, 1903. (PDF - 7 MB) (Other Formats)

• A Genealogical Record of the Descendants of Henry Rosenberger of Franconia, Montgomery Co. Pa; Together with Historical and Biographical Sketches, Rev. Abraham James Fretz, 1906. (PDF - 22 MB) (Other Formats) (GEDcom at WorldConnect)

• The Rosenberger Family of Montgomery County, Edward Mathews, 1892. (PDF - 3 MB) (Other Formats)

• Horton Genealogy; or Chronicles of the Descendants of Barnabas Horton, George F Horton, M.D., 1876. (PDF - 20 MB) (Other Formats)

• Descendants of Barnabas Horton

• Sweezey.com

• Some Descendants of Rev. Thomas Stoughton of County Kent, England

• Notable Descendants of the Immigrant Stoughton Siblings of Massachusetts, Gary Boyd Roberts, New England Historic Genealogical Society.

** Note: Some consider ahnenliste to be the more accurate German word when the numbers are presented in a list format, instead of a table.  However, English-speaking genealogists seem to have largely adopted the term 'ahnentafel' to refer to both 'table' and 'list' format.  "We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." - James D. Nicoll, 1990

Who's Correct?

WARGS has the ancestry of Jane Wyman

My parents have told me before that I am not related to Jane Wyman. Of course, they were talking about my paternal ancestry at the time. I recently posted a photograph of my great grandfather, Morris Blatt, who married a Belle Wyman, who died in Poland.

Reagan's former wife wasn't born with the name Jane Wyman, though. She was Sarah Jane Mayfield.

According to WARGS, however, she is descended from:
472 Caleb Horton
473 Phoebe Terry

Caleb's sister was Penelope Horton, who married Samuel Swayze. You see them in my descent in the previous post.

However, LongIslandGenealogy.com, says the parents of Penelope and Caleb Horton were Barnabas Horton and Sarah Wines (This Barnabas being the grandson of Barnabas Horton and Mary Langton mentioned in my previous post)


WARGS says that Caleb's parents were:
944 Jonathan Horton
945 Bethia Welles

At least one of them is wrong.

Tombstone Tuesday: Barnabas Horton (1600-1680)

Below is the "Tablestone" (also called a Table-Tomb) of Barnabas Horton, a 9th Great Grandfather. It resides in the Old Burying Ground of First Presbyterian Church in Suffolk County, New York. I am unaware of any older ancestral tombstone still in existence.

Photograph by Carrie, used with permission

The text in the center of the stone reads:

Here Lyeth Buried The Body of

Here slepes my body tombed in its dust
Till Christ shall come & raise it with the just
My soul’s assended to the throne of God
Where with sweet Jesus I make my aboad
Then hasten after me my dearest wife
To be pertaker of this blessed life
And you dear children all follow The lord
Hear & obey his publick sacred word
And in your houses call upon his name
For oft I have advis’d you to the same
then God will bless you with your children all
And to his blessed place he will you call.

Hebrews H & Y 4

He Being Dead Yet Speaketh

Also at his feet lie the remains of his youngest son
Jonathan Horton
The first Captain of Calvary
in the County of Suffolk
He died Feb. 23, AD 1707, AE 60

Around the outer edges of the stone is written:

Mr. Barnabas Horton born A. Mousely in Lester Shire in Old England & Dyed At South Hold the 13th Day of July 1680 Aged 80 Years.

It is said that the poem on the stone was written by Barnabas before his death. (source)

It is from Barnabas that I am related to former President Benjamin Harrison, through his grandmother Anna Tuthill Symmes. (So I am not directly related to Anna's husband, William Henry Harrison.)

BARNABAS HORTON, of Southold, L. L, was born in 1600, at Mowsley, Leicestershire, England, and died July 13, 1680, at Southold, Long Island. His wife, Mary, survived him. He emigrated to America prior to 1640, and settled at Hampton, New Hampshire. As early as 1651 he removed to Southold, and resided there until his death. He held many public offices and was one of the prominent men of Southold. He was deputy to the General Court of the New Haven Colony in 1654, 1656, 1658, 1659 and 1661. In 1663 and 1664 he was a commissioner for Southold. - Source

Independent Spirit

With the upcoming July 4th holiday, there is no more perfect time to honor someone from your family whose life can be summed up in one word --INDEPENDENT! Do you have a relative who was feisty, spoke their own mind, was a bit of a free spirit? Anyone who most people might consider a “nut” on the family tree but you know they really just followed a “different tune?” We all have at least one person whose character and habits may have made them seem “ahead of their time” and now is the chance to tell us their story.

Considering the theme for this issue of the Carnival of Genealogy I decided after some thought that the nuttiest thing anyone can ever do is leave family and friends behind and move to another country, or continent. Even moving across several states in the US was pretty nutty until recent generations. Which, of course, means most Americans have a family tree filled with these nuts, unless you are 100% Native American, or all of your ancestors were brought here against their will.

For the most part, it doesn’t matter what was happening in the country of origin. Even when pogroms occur nearby, rational thinkers will often assure their neighbors “it won’t happen here.” However, once it arrives, escaping isn’t the same as immigrating by choice. Still, the rational thinkers often stop escaping once they cross the border into the nearest city/country they feel safe. They don't go any further.

So here are my known direct ancestors who were nutty enough to leave everything behind. I include some who fled, but who went a little further than most, or were pioneering in some other fashion. The list results in a collection of intersecting geographical trails.

1. Barnabas Horton (1600-1680). At some point between 1633 and 1638, Barnabas Horton traveled from Mowsley, England to America. He settled in Southold, Suffolk County, NY, on the east end of Long Island.

2. Myndert Fredericksen (1636-1706), along with brothers Carsten and Rynier, left Holland and arrived in New Amsterdam prior to 1656. They were the sons of Frederick Van Iveren, and their surnames followed the Dutch patronymic tradition. Their children returned to the surname Van Iveren, which later morphed into Van Every.

3. Henry Rosenberger (1685-1745) left Germany and arrived in Franconia, Pennsylvania prior to 1729.

4. Hans (Weaver John) Fretz (1704-1772) left Alsace, Germany and arrived in Bucks County, Pennsylvania approximately 1720.

5. David Van Every (1757-1820) and his wife Sarah Schauer, along with their parents McGregor Van Every and Michael Schauer, helped settle the Canadian side of Niagara. They fall in the category of ‘escapees’; however, they may have been the first United Empire Loyalists to settle the land.

6. Israel Swayze (1753-1844), the grandchild of Barnabas Horton's great granddaughter, Penelope Horton, made the trip from NY to Ontario in 1789. Due to the year, I have unconfirmed suspicions regarding the impetus of his journey.

7. William Denyer (1794-1848) traveled from Hampshire, England to Bucks County Pennsylvania, prior to 1821 when he married Elizabeth Sliver, a second great granddaughter of Henry Rosenberger, and a great-granddaughter of Hans Fretz. The Denyers, along with their son, Ebenezer, then journeyed to Texas.

8. Samuel Van Every (1820-1888), born in Dumfries, Ontario, made the trek to Michigan between 1852-1855. His son, Melvin (1863-1929), went further south to Texas, where he met Ebenezer Denyer’s daughter, Margaret.

9. Moshe Leyb Cruvant (1857-1911), along with his wife, Minnie Mojsabovski, and two children arrived in St. Louis, Missouri from Cekiske, Lithuania about 1886.

10. Selig Dudelsack (1860-1915), his wife Anna Perlik, and their children came from somewhere near the border between Russia and Poland. They arrived in St. Louis in 1890.

11. Morris Blatt (1862-1926) arrived in St. Louis from Losice, Poland, with two daughters prior to 1893.

12. Samuel Newmark (1862-1940) and his wife Rose (possibly Cantkert) first journeyed from Warka, Russia in 1892 and arrived in London, England. In 19041907 Samuel and his 1821-year-old son, Barney spent 3 years2 months exploring Canada and the US, retuning to England in 1907 – apparently with the advice that the family should move again, because they did in two waves in 1908 and 1909.

13. Samuel Deutsch (1861-1938), his wife Helen Lichtman, and seven children left Nagyalmas, Hungary in 1913 and settled in Chicago, IL.

14. I will include my grandmother, Myrtle Van Every (1900-1951), in this nutty bunch, because she left both parents and several siblings behind in Texas, and moved to St. Louis in the 1920s. Not a new country, but a fair distance. She would meet up with Martin Deutsch, son of Samuel and Helen, in 1933 when he moved from Chicago to St. Louis following a job offer.

It wasn't until 1933 that all the branches of my family had arrived in St. Louis. 36 years later I was born, uniting all the disparate threads together. (Though the threads had united twice prior with two older siblings.)

There are also several unknown threads. For example, I don't know what areas of the world Sarah Hartley's ancestors originated. Her daughter Margaret Denyer has the middle name McAlpin suggesting the possibility of some Scottish or Irish heritage. And Sarah claimed to be 1/8 Native American.

Age is Relative

Take some time to look over the data that you have collected on members of your family tree, and share a story of age with us … With the understanding that “age is often a state of mind”, share your family story about someone whose story stands out because of their age, either young or old.

For the 52nd Carnival of Genealogy, instead of focusing on one individual, I thought I would start by taking a look at some of the lifespan statistics that I was able to generate with my genealogical software. (see previous entry)

Ave Male Lifespan 61
Ave Female Lifespan 62

At first this feels a little low, but several lines go back a few centuries, when life expectancy was shorter, and infant mortality was higher.

Earliest recorded person with birth/death year
William HORTON, born 1550 AD

When I look at the record, it says “abt 1550” and since I didn’t do the research, I don’t know how the year was derived. William Horton’s grandson, Barnabas Horton, may be the earliest ancestor for whom I have an exact birth date. July 13, 1600. (Happy 408th Birthday!) Barnabas’s fifth-great granddaughter, Abigail Stuart, married Samuel Van Every, who had 22 children, one of which was my mother’s grandfather.

Age At Death &lt 1 = 3.4%
Age At Death 01 to 10 = 4.8%
Age At Death 11 to 20 = 2.8%
Age At Death 21 to 30 = 2.0%
Age At Death 31 to 40 = 5.3%
Age At Death 41 to 50 = 5.6%
Age At Death 51 to 60 = 12.6%
Age At Death 61 to 70 = 17.4%
Age At Death 71 to 80 = 20.2%
Age At Death 81 to 90 = 19.1%
Age At Death 91 to 100 = 6.2%
Age At Death 101 to 110 = 0.6%

I have no idea how this curve compares to that of other families. My gut instinct says the 11% for age 31-50 is probably higher than it is for the 'average family'. But what is the average family? I will look at this further a little later in the entry.

My database is small compared to some – at the moment slightly over 700 people, only half of them with known death dates. So the %s might very well change as I enter more records. Here are a few of the longer lived in my family:

People who lived over 100 years (only 2)
Israel David NEWMARK (1903 - 2004) 101
Joe WYMAN (1904 - 2007) 102

Israel David was my great grandfather, Barney Newmark’s youngest brother. However, due to being the same age as the children of his oldest siblings, he was was given the nickname, “Uncle Buddy.”

Joe was first cousin with my paternal grandmother. I'm not sure I ever met Joe, but I've met his younger sister several times, and she is still alive, and we've sent emails back and forth. She's already earned a place in at least the next category; hopefully she makes it to this one.

People who lived over 90 years
(there are 26, I'm going to mention a handful.)

Paternal grandfather's lines

Ida Adele KESSLER (1907 - 2003) 96

Ida married an “Israel David Newmark”, who happened to be the nephew of the one above, born 4 years later.

Cruvant William ALTMAN (1914 - 2008) 93

Cruvant passed away on March 15th of this year. He was a first cousin to my grandfather, and they were in a law practice together prior too WWII.

Bertha CRUVANT (1887 - 1978) 90

My great grandmother, she is he second longest living direct ancestor for whom I am certain about age at death. I was 9 when she died and I remember her well, but she was in a retirement home, and a wheelchair by then. I’ve enjoyed discovering photos of her from her younger years recently.

Paternal grandmother's lines

Robert Seymour Selig FEINSTEIN (1915 - 2008) 93

Seymour also passed away on March 15th of this year. I started to pen an entry about the Ides of March back then, but it didn't get finished. Seymour was another first cousin of my paternal grandmother.

Maternal Grandfather's lines

Berta DEUTSCH (1911 - 2003) 91

My maternal grandfather’s sister, she is the longest living member of my maternal grandfather’s lines. However, this is also the family I have the least records on, mostly due to it also being the family which, generationally, came to America most recently, with my grandfather (and Berta) having been born in Hungary.

Maternal Grandmother’s lines

Sarah SHOWERS (1762 - 1860) 98

She is a direct ancestor, however, her record says she died before 1860. There is no indication how the year was derived. It could have been significantly prior to 1860.

Elizabeth ROSENBERGER (1752 - 1847) 94

I have complete birth and death dates for Elizabeth which come from a Fretz Family History compiled in the 1890s, and is probably trustworthy. Her granddaughter Elizabeth Sliver married William Denyer, my mother’s second great grandparents.

***

I've posted before about several early deaths in my family tree, particularly in the Denyer line. While several of the early deaths were in the 1800s, when lifespans were shorter, I still thought the statistics for the Denyers seemed significantly lower than they should have been. I decided it was time to crack the numbers and see just how right I was.

My software doesn’t separate the lifespan statistics by families, but you can export Ancestors/Descendants into a separate GEDCOM, and then open the GEDCOM and run the stats. So that's what I did, and I had some numbers to compare.

"Direct Ancestors"
Starting with me, this GEDCOM had my direct ancestors, with no siblings.

71 males: Avg lifespan: 67
58 females: Avg lifespan: 68

I looked at this as a second control in the study, in addition to the 61/62 in the whole database.

Descendants of Israel David Neimark (his son Samuel was born in 1862, that's all I know)
55 males: Avg lifespan: 66
53 females: Avg lifespan: 74

Descendants of Me’er Kruvant (born before 1795)
116 males: Avg lifespan: 68
110 females: Avg lifespan: 70

These are the only two families I looked at for my father's side, as the other branches have less entries, making the significance of the data questionable. I question the siginificance of the data for the Newmark family as well, and wonder if the stats will look any different once I enter more of the information.

Descendants of William Denyer (1794-1848)
121 males: Avg lifespan: 53
103 females: Avg lifespan: 61

Descendants of Andrew Van Every (1798-1873)
93 males: Avg lifespan: 49
82 females: Avg lifespan: 48

Quite a significant drop.

The argument that it is due to pre-20th century data is possibly negated by comparison to the Kruvant family, as I have information that goes back to the late 1700s for them too, in Lithuania. However, when they immigrated to America, they immigrated to urban St. Louis, not rural Texas. Life expectancy can change based on geography.

Whatever the causes, I definitely confirmed that the life expectancy for the Denyers and Van Everys was sadly lower than for the rest of my family tree.

Tuesday Tech Tip: Google's "Site:" command is not always better

Kerry Scott over at the Clue Wagon discusses Google's site search function.

1. Go to the Google homepage.
2. Type in site:[name of site] [keywords] For example, if you wanted to search for mentions of Glenbeulah on this site, you’d type in site:cluewagon.com Glenbeulah.

As she points out, this can be a very useful function for searching websites that don't have a search function.  However, she concludes:

I almost never use a site’s native search box, because I prefer the consistent results of doing it this way.

Be careful.  Google doesn't index every page of every website.  And the pages it indexes, it doesn't always capture every word.  In many cases, if a blog or website provides a native search function, it will actually yield more results than Google will.

Below are the Google results searching my non-genealogy blog for the word 'Napoleon'.  It yields 8 results.

Here are the results if you use the Wordpress search box on the blog.  There are 9 results.  The entry Google missed contains the word 'Napoleonic.'  That's only part of the reason Google missed it.

Two identical searches, conducted about 3 minutes apart, with different results.  So Google's results aren't even consistent.  However, even if it were consistent, Wordpress's ability to find different word-endings of the same word makes it a superior method.


What about for this blog? 
Here I use Blogger, which is owned and operated by Google.  Does this make a difference?

When I use Blogger's search function on this blog, and search for Horton, I get 17 results.

Google gives me 68 results.  This at first glance seems a marked improvement.  However, the word "Horton" appears on my blog's sidebar, and Google's search function can't tell the difference between the sidebar and the blog entry.  Theoretically, Google should return all 925 entries as hits, if it counts the sidebar.  Not counting the entries in the results that only appear there because of the sidebar, I think there are 11 results.  I don't feel like spending the time figuring out which entries it missed, but I'm pretty sure it did miss some.  And the extra chaff it provides makes it more difficult to find the wheat.

What about using the site: command at Google's blogsearch?

This provides interesting results.  Blogsearch finds all 17 entries for Horton (and only these 17 entries.)  Google's Blogsearch understands the difference between sidebar and entry, while Google's main search site doesn't.  And (maybe) because Blogger is a Google product, they've indexed Blogger blogs better.

My search for Napoleon at Blogsearch yields only two results.

This isn't an adequate study, but I think I might avoid using blogsearch for non-blogger blogs.

Blogger and Wordpress blogs make up a sizable number of the blogs out there, and I am quite happy with the results their database search functions yield.  Google's results are inconsistent, and incomplete. But if you are at a site that doesn't have a search function, Google's sitesearch command is useful to remember.  It's better than nothing.

We're Related Notable Kin Update

It's been a year since Ancestry released their We're Related mobile app.

The app has identified 151 celebrities who might be related to me.

• If the alleged ancestry for me is correct. 
• If the alleged ancestry for the celebrity is correct. 

It is based on Ancestry's collection of online family trees which are of highly variant accuracy.

Here is a selection of alleged kin Ancestry has identified for me. In the below cases, I have confirmed our alleged shared ancestor is actually my ancestor. (I haven't researched the alleged ancestries of the celebrity.) The alleged shared ancestor is emboldened.

Betts, Capt. Richard 1613-1713
1. Elizabeth Montgomery
2. Jim Varney
3. John Kerry
4. Johnny Depp
5. Mark Twain
6. Newt Gingrich
7. Tom Hanks
8. Truman Capote

Chamberlain, Joanna 1620-1711
[Note: Joanna Chamberlain married Capt. Richard Betts. Ancestry isn't consistent when choosing which spouse to list as the shared ancestor.]
9. Meryl Streep
10. Mitch McConnell
11. Bill Clinton

Chamberlain, Robert 1590-1639 
[Note: Robert Chamberlain married Elizabeth Stoughton. See below]
12. Stephen King
13. Theodore Roosevelt

Frederickse, Myndert 1640-1706 (Son of Frederick Van Iveren)
14. Vincent Price

Horton, Barnabas 1600-1680
15. Henry Fonda
16. Humphrey Bogart
17. Norman Rockwell

Horton, Barnabas 1666-1705
18. Tobey Maguire

Horton, Penelope 1690-1746
19. Robin Williams

Magdalena, Anna 1679-1734
20. Lindsey Buckingham

Rosenberger, Heinrich 1680-1746 
21. Blake Shelton

Schauer, Michael 1679-1710
22. Les Brown

Stoughton, Elizabeth 1600-1647
23. Ulysses S Grant

Swazey, John 1621-1692
24. Owen Hart
25. Amelia Earhart
26. Roy Orbison

Swazey, Joseph 1653-1717
27. Richard Gere
28. Warren Buffett

As I have noted in the past, I have not been able to research my ancestry back to John Lathrop, through his daughter Abigail, as the app alleges. However, John Lathrop's son, Samuel, married the daughter of my ancestor, Elizabeth Stoughton. Here are the celebrities that the app claims are Samuel's descendants. [While the app indicates our shared ancestor is John Lathrop, I know if the celebrity ancestry is accurate, we do share Elizabeth Stoughton as an ancestor, at an equal distance.]

1. Alec Baldwin
2. Billy the Kid
3. Carrie Underwood
4. Edgar Allan Poe
5. George H.W. Bush
6. George W Bush
7. Mitt Romney
8. Paul E Brown

There are a total of 36 individuals listed above. The other 115 allege an ancestor for me that I haven't yet been able to confirm. Nor have I found a workaround similar to the Lathrop-Stoughton connection. (It doesn't mean the app is wrong. I'm not claiming that my end-of-line research is anywhere near complete, but it does suggest a lot of the allegations are based on family trees where the researcher has made leaps without documentation.)

Related to...

Randy at Geneamusings writes about his lack of cousinhood to Joe Biden.

I've been to WARGS before. (Acronym for William Addams Reitwiesner Genealogical Services) However, I didn't browse through the lineage of every politician and celebrity he's researched on the site. (That would take awhile, and I still haven't.) However, spurred by Randy's post, I searched a few more genealogies today. Trusting his research, I am ninth cousins with Senator John Kerry. (This would have been nice to know 4 years ago.)

Below is a table illustrating our shared ancestry, with ahnentafel numbers.

John Kerry's Descent

My descent

8th Great Grandparents 1578 Capt. Richard Betts 1579 Joanna Chamberlain 7th Great Grandparents 788 Capt. Joseph Sackett 789 Elizabeth Betts 6th Great Grandparents 394 Joseph Sackett 395 Hannah Alsop 5th Great Grandparents 196 Col. Jacob Blackwell 197 Frances Sackett 4th Great Grandparents 98 Joseph Blackwell 99 Mary Hazard 3rd Great Grandparents 48 Col. James Grant Forbes 49 Frances Elizabeth Blackwell 2nd Great Grandparents 24 Rev. John Murray Forbes 25 Anne Howell Great Grandparents 12 Francis Blackwell Forbes 13 Isabel Clark Grandparents 6 James Grant Forbes 7 Margaret Tyndal Winthrop Parents 2 Richard John Kerry 3 Rosemary Isabel Forbes 1 John Forbes Kerry

8th Great Grandparents 1890 Capt. Richard Betts 1891 Joanna Chamberlain 7th Great Grandparents 944 Joseph Swazey 945 Mary Betts 6th Great Grandparents 472 Samuel Swayze 473 Penelope Horton 5th Great Grandparents 236 Israel Swayze 237 Mary Pitney 4th Great Grandparents 118 Israel Swayze 119 Abigail Coleman 3rd Great Grandparents 58 Elihu Stuart 59 Johanna Swayze 2nd Great Grandparents 28 Samuel Van Every 29 Abigail Stewart Great Grandparents 14 Melvin Van Every 15 Mary Jane Denyer Grandparents 6 Martin Deutsch 7 Myrtle Van Every Parents 2 Dad 3 Mom 1 Me

After showing Kerry's ancestry, Reitwiesner takes selected ancestors and mentions other people descended from the same, and behold, he chooses Betts and Chamberlain. So I know I am also related to actors Thomas Edward Hulce, and William Franklin Beedle (better known as William Holden.) I already knew about Patrick Swayze. And apprently, Lincoln's Secretary of State, William Henry Seward (Responsible for the purchase of Alaska), is also a descendant.

Interestingly, Reitwiesner doesn't talk about other descendants of Kerry's ancestors:

3534 Barnabas Horton
3535 Mary Langton

I am also descended from them (as is Patrick Swayze, William Holden, and William Henry Seward) All of us are more closely related through Betts and Chamberlain. However, descended from Horton and Langton is also Anna Tuthill Symmes, the wife of William Henry Harrison, and grandmother of Benjamin Harrison. At least according to the research at Sweezey.com

How Patrick Swayze and I are Seventh Cousins

Actor, Patrick Swayze died today, September 14, 2009, at age 57. [source] This didn't come as a surprise, as the world has known he was struggling with Cancer since March of 2008. Still, many had hoped he would find a way to evade the disease.

Two years ago, I confirmed the Swayzes in my family tree intersected with his ancestry.

Below, using the ahnentafel numbering format, is our relationship:

1 Patrick Wayne Swayze 2 Jesse Wayne Swayze 3 Patsy Yvonne Helen Karnes 4 Jesse Elijah Swayze 5 Mamie Bell Johnson 8 James Wesley Swayze 9 Sarah Elizabeth McDonald 16 Alexander P. Swayze 17 Amanda M. F. Littleton 32 James Swayze 33 Elizabeth Starke 64 Samuel Swayze Jr. 65 Elizabeth Putnam 128 Rev. Samuel Swayze 129 Hannah Horton 256 Judge Samuel Swayze 257 Penelope Horton

1 Me 2 Dad 3 Mom 6 Martin Joel Deutsch 7 Myrtle Van Every 14 Melvin Van Every 15 Mary Jane Denyer 28 Samuel Van Every 29 Abigail Stuart 58 Elihu Stuart 59 Johanna Swayze 118 Israel Swayze 119 Abigail Coleman 236 Israel Swayze 237 Mary Pitney 472 Judge Samuel Swayze 473 Penelope Horton

Judge Samuel Swayze's record at sweezey.com

[You should be able to trace backwards Patrick's lineage from there, and mine to Abigail Stuart.]

The Jersey Settlers of Adams County MS

I haven't posted in awhile, but there are several entries in my drafts folder, which I will finish editing..

Recently I went in search for information on Rev. Samuel Swayze, the brother of my 5th great grandfather, Israel Swayze. My search led me down a fascinating trail. My ancestor, Israel, like many Loyalists, fled to Canada after the Revolutionary War. But his brother, Samuel, left New Jersey in 1773 for the British Colony of West Florida.

Most people, including me until recently, when asked would say Florida was a Spanish colony. And it was. But Spain traded it to Britain for Cuba in the 1760s. Britain divided it, and territory received from France, into East Florida and West Florida. 

During the Revolution, Florida mostly remained Loyal. When Britain lost, it appears they essentially abandoned their newer colony as well, so Spain retook control.

Rev. Samuel Swayze, his family, and 14 other interrelated families are known as The Jersey Settlers of Adams County, MS. (Natchez). 

1. Swayze, Rev. Samuel and wife, Hannah Horton
2. Coleman, Jeremiah and wife, Hannah (Swayze) Coleman (1733-1807)
3. Unknown and wife, Phoebe Swayze (1735-bef.1787)
4. Samuel Swayze Jr (1737-1800) and wife, Elizabeth Putnam
5. Nathan Swayze (abt.1740-1819) and wife, Bethia (Hopkins) Swayze (1747-1840)
6. Elijah Swayze (1741-abt.1814) and wife, Polly White
7. Stephen Swayze (1743-1776) and wife, Rachel Hopkins
8. Obidiah Brown and wife, Penelope Swayze (1756-1836)
9. Swayze, Richard and wife, Sarah (Horton) Swayze
10. Gabriel Swayze (1745-1814) and wife, ______ Clark
11. King, Caleb and wife, Mary Swayze
12. King, Justus and wife, Sarah (Swayze) King (abt.1740-)
13. Richard Swayze Jr (abt.1746-) and wife, Hannah Budd|
14. Cory, Job and wife, Lydia Swayze (abt.1755-)
15. Luce, Israel and wife, Deborah (Swayze) Luce (abt.1754-1828)

I’m related to several families on the list. Shared surnames include Swayze, Horton, Coleman, Clark and King. Without more information on Gabriel Swayze's wife, I am uncertain if it is the same Clark family, but there is a good chance. My fourth great-grandfather, Israel's mother-in-law was Abigail Clark Coleman. The linked website has a lot of research on the families demanding my attention.

Notable descendants of these settlers include actor, Patrick Swayze (1952-2009), and cartoonist, Marc Swayze (1913-2012), co-creator of DC's Mary Marvel.

Weekly Genealogy Picks

Weekly Genealogy Picks --July 25 to July 31
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere

Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings, posted some information about his Horton descent.  JT at filioagnostic commented and posted some additional information.  If JT is correct, I am cousin to both of them through a Joseph Horton (1572-1640), father of Barnabas Horton.

Michael deGroot, in The Mormon Times, wrote about the coming genealogical dark ages. There have been many responses in the geneablogging community.  (See my post yesterday.)

Schelly Talalay Dardashti at MyHeritage Genealogy Blog suggests: Make Someone Happy, Talk Tradition.  She has learned, as a journalist, that starting a conversation with family history, even when the interview isn't about family history, is a great ice-breaker.  At Tracing the Tribe, Schelly discusses DNA and the recent FDA hearings.

Martin Hollick at The Slovak Yankee has written several posts this week about his application to become a Certified Genealogist, and their rejection of said application: C.G. Application; Why I applied; Acknowledgements; What I Did Wrong; Why I Won't Apply Again; Aftermath. His detailed account of where he went wrong in his application could be of great assistance to someone else going through the process.

James Tanner at Genealogy's Star asks Are there limits to genealogical research? -- addressing those who claim to have researched their ancestors "back to Adam."

Linda Hall-Little at Passage to the Past shares some suggestions on finding living relatives after the 1930 census.

Lindsay at Genealogy Insider asks Is Lindsay the Intern a Mayflower Descendant?  She details some research she has done on that question.

Lynn Palermo at The Armchair Genealogist shares some pros and cons of Private vs Public Family Trees.

Dan Curtis shares 15 movies of interest to Personal Historians
 
Senator Claire McCaskill (MO) believes that between 4900-6000 graves at Arlington National Cemetery may be unmarked or misidentified on cemetery maps.  This estimate far exceeds a prior Army estimate of 211.

And while not genealogically related:

Kyle Komarnitsky shares an amazing video of a hummingbird feeding its babies. (hat/tip: Craig Newmark, who, to my knowledge, isn't related to me. )

Other Weekly Lists
The genealogy bloggers below provide their selections for the week - many different from my own.

• Best of the Genea-Blogs - from Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings

• Follow Friday - from Greta Koehl at Greta's Genealogy Bog

• Genealogy Round Up - from Megan Smolenyak² at Megan's Roots World

• Links - from Liz Haigney Lynch at Ancestral Archaeologis

• Monday's Link Roundup - from Dan Curtis - Professional Personal Historian

• New Genealogy Blogs and Upcoming Genealogy Blogging Events - from Thomas MacEntee at Geneabloggers

Amanuensis Monday: July 26th participants
[Amanuensis Monday is a weekly blogging theme I began in February of 2009, where participants transcribe letters, audio, and other documents.  Why I do this.]

Valerie C at Begin with Craft
"anonymous" at filioagnostic
Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings
"anonymous" at Nolichucky Roots 
Heather Wilkinson Rojo at Nutfield Genealogy
Lisa Wallen Logsdon at Old Stones Undeciphered
Martin Hollick at The Slovak Yankee 
John Newmark at Transylvanian Dutch
Bill West at West in New England

If you participated, but don't appear on this list, please, let me know.

Time Machine

Earlier this month there was a meme going around about where our ancestors were in 1908.

Donna, at What's Past is Prologue asks the obvious next question:

where were our ancestors in 1808?

I know less details about 1808. On my father's side, I know I had Cruvant ancestors in Cekiske, Lithuania, and Blatt ancestors in Losice, Poland. I know names and dates for some of them, but nothing more. My guess is that the Newmarks were in Poland or Russia, as were my other paternal ancestors, but I'm not certain exactly where.

On my mother's side, the Deutsch family was most likely in the Transylvania region. The earliest birthdate I have in that line is 1861, for my great grandfather, Samuel Deutsch, but I believe I know his grandfather's name, and that probably gets me close to 1808.

My Loyalist ancestors, the Van Everys, were still in Ontario, Canada, where they had fled after the Revolutionary War didn't go the way they had bet upon. Andrew Van Every was born in 1798 in Ontario, and he died there in 1873. His son, Samuel, is the same Samuel Van Every I once blogged about, who had 22 children. Samuel was born in Ontario in 1820, and he's the one who moved the family South, stopping for several years in Michigan, but heading further south until he couldn't go much further - in Texas.

Johanna Swayze and Elihu Stuart, parents of Abigail Stuart, Samuel Van Every's second wife, were also in Canada in 1808.

William Denyer was probably still in Hampshire, England. It's not certain when he immigrated. However he was born in 1794, so he would only have been 14, and there is no evidence he came as a child. However, he was in the US by 1821, when he married. His wife, Elizabeth Sliver, was a ten year old in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1808. Her great-grandfather, Henry Rosenberger, would be alive for one more year.

***
I'm going to pre-empt the next questions, and take this as far as I can now:

Where were my ancestors in 1708?

I'm going to guess my Cruvant ancestors at this point are in Kruvandai, Lithuania. It is thought that that is where their surname comes from.

Here's a picture of current day Kruvandai:


(found on photogalaxy, which allows personal usage in exchange for a link.)

I have no clue about any other paternal ancestors. On my mother's side I have more information.

Judge Samuel Swayze is on Long Island, NY, and his soon-to-be wife, Penelope Horton may still be in Cutchogue, NY, or perhaps Long Island, where they will raise a family.

Martin Van Iveren, born in 1685 in Kingston, NY, is probably still there. His son, McGregor Van Every, would be born in 1723 in Orange, NY.

***
Where were my ancestors in 1608?

Myndert Fredericksen was born in Everinghe, Holland in 1636, the son of Frederick Van Iveren. So it's a good guess Frederick, or Frederick's parents were in Everinghe in 1608.

John Swasey, born in 1600, was still in England, probably Suffolk where his son, John, would be born in 1619. Both would immigrate to Long Island.

Barnabas Horton, born in 1600, was also still in England, probably Mowsley.

***
Where were my ancestors in 1508?

Ancestry's OneWorldTree can give me some answers, but I have no reason to believe, or not to believe them. So we'll stop here.

The Immigrants: 1600s

Over the Fourth of July holiday a family member was in Plymouth, MA, and I was asked if any ancestors came over on the Mayflower.  My response was an, "I don't know of any."  However, this inspired me to catalog as many early Immigrants I could for my family.  ["Early" as in those who didn't cross via the Land Bridge.]  I indicate my web-based sources, though for most I am relying on the poorly cited research of others.

1) The Betts and the Stoughtons

My eighth great grandparents, Richard Betts and Joanna Chamberlain were married in Ipswich, Massachusetts Bay Colony - in 1648.  It is thought Joanna arrived by 1635, and Richard mid-1640s. [source source].  Joanna Chamberlain was the daughter of Elizabeth Stoughton and Richard Chamberlain, and the granddaughter of Rev Thomas and Katherine Stoughton.

2) Hortons and Langtons

9th great grandparents, Barnabas Horton and Mary Langton are said to have immigrated c. 1630 on the ship "Swallow." [source] - Living in Massachusetts and Connecticut prior to settling in Southold, Long Island.

3) Hallocks

Barnabas Horton's son, Caleb, married Abigail Hallock.  Abigail's father, William Hallock, likely arrived in Southold, Long Island ca. 1640. [source]

4) Van Everys

Brothers Myndert and Carsten Frederickse (sons of Frederick Van Iveren) likely immigrated to New Amsterdam in the 1640s or 1650s, with Myndert marrying Catharina Burger (Burghart) in New Amsterdam in 1656. [source].  Most of the descendants of Myndert and Carsten took the surname of either Van Every or Van Avery.  Myndert was my 8th great grandfather. 

5) Swayzes and Kinges 

John Sweezey [Swayze], another eighth great grandfather, immigrated prior to 1650. [source].  He married Catherine Kinge in 1650 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts.  He settled in Suffolk, Long Island.

Catherine emigrated with her father, William, prior to 1635 

They settled at Salem, Massachusetts. He was admitted a freeman there May 25, 1636. He had grants of land of forty acres on Jeffrey's Creek, now Manchester-by-the-Sea; thirty acres at Royal-side at the head of Bass river, now Beverly, and he located his homestead there. He was a grand juror in 1637. He was a member of the First church at Salem, but in 1637 joined the Antinomians and came under the ban of the Salem authorities. He was requested to sever his connection with the new church or have his arms taken away from him. He remained with the new faith and gave up his gun to Lieutenant Danforth. Later he was banished for a time for sheltering the persecuted Quakers. [source]

CoG #59: Apathy is foreign to my genes

In conjunction with the US election on November 4th, the topic for the 59th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is: Politics and Our Ancestors.

There have been several lawyers and judges over the centuries, but I have been able to find only one direct ancestor who held a public office. My 9th great grandfather, Barnabas Horton, one of my earliest non-Native ancestors to step foot in America, is described thusly:

BARNABAS HORTON, of Southold, L. L, was born in 1600, at Mowsley, Leicestershire, England, and died July 13, 1680, at Southold, Long Island. His wife, Mary, survived him. He emigrated to America prior to 1640, and settled at Hampton, New Hampshire. As early as 1651 he removed to Southold, and resided there until his death. He held many public offices and was one of the prominent men of Southold. He was deputy to the General Court of the New Haven Colony in 1654, 1656, 1658, 1659 and 1661. In 1663 and 1664 he was a commissioner for Southold. - Source

While he may have been the most recent direct ancestor to entangle himself in local affairs by actually holding office, politics are of great interest to my family, in all branches, and have been for generations. Getting involved in political parties, campaigns, protests, internships on Capitol Hill, voting in every election, and freely and eagerly voicing our opinions, are things my siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents have done. I suspect apathy is foreign to my genes.

During the summer of 1990 I interned on Capitol Hill for Congressman William L Clay of St. Louis. Mostly I opened and helped respond to constituent mail, though I also proofread a couple chapters of one of his books. I also worked two summers at the St. Louis County Election Board, and helped Gephardt campaign in Iowa in 1987-8 while I was attending college in Grinnell, IA.

I will be standing in line to vote at 6 am on the morning of November 4th.

[Image created by footnoteMaven]

Thoughts on July 1 and July 4

As July 1st (Canadian Independence Day) and July 4th (US Independence Day) approaches, I once again find myself thinking about my Colonial ancestry.

I have several maternal ancestors who arrived on this continent prior to the American Revolution.

[I indicate my web-based sources for the information below, though for most I am relying on the poorly cited research of others.]

1) The Betts and the Stoughtons

My eighth great grandparents, Richard Betts and Joanna Chamberlain were married in Ipswich, Massachusetts Bay Colony - in 1648. It is thought Joanna arrived by 1635, and Richard mid-1640s. [source source]. Joanna Chamberlain was the daughter of Elizabeth Stoughton and Richard Chamberlain, and the granddaughter of Rev Thomas and Katherine Stoughton.

2) Hortons and Langtons

9th great grandparents, Barnabas Horton and Mary Langton are said to have immigrated c. 1630 on the ship "Swallow." [source] - Living in Massachusetts and Connecticut prior to settling in Southold, Long Island.

3) Hallocks

Barnabas Horton's son, Caleb, married Abigail Hallock. Abigail's father, William Hallock, likely arrived in Southold, Long Island ca. 1640. [source]

4) Van Everys

Brothers Myndert and Carsten Frederickse (sons of Frederick Van Iveren) likely immigrated to New Amsterdam in the 1640s or 1650s, with Myndert marrying Catharina Burger (Burghart) in New Amsterdam in 1656. [source]. Most of the descendants of Myndert and Carsten took the surname of either Van Every or Van Avery. Myndert was my 8th great grandfather.

5) Swayzes and Kinges

John Sweezey [Swayze], another eighth great grandfather, immigrated prior to 1650. [source]. He married Catherine Kinge in 1650 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. He settled in Suffolk, Long Island.

Catherine emigrated with her father, William, prior to 1635

They settled at Salem, Massachusetts. He was admitted a freeman there May 25, 1636. He had grants of land of forty acres on Jeffrey's Creek, now Manchester-by-the-Sea; thirty acres at Royal-side at the head of Bass river, now Beverly, and he located his homestead there. He was a grand juror in 1637. He was a member of the First church at Salem, but in 1637 joined the Antinomians and came under the ban of the Salem authorities. He was requested to sever his connection with the new church or have his arms taken away from him. He remained with the new faith and gave up his gun to Lieutenant Danforth. Later he was banished for a time for sheltering the persecuted Quakers. [source]

6) Rosenbergers and Fretzes

Henry Rosenberger (1685-1745) left Germany and arrived in Franconia, Pennsylvania prior to 1729.

Hans (Weaver John) Fretz (1704-1772) left Alsace, Germany and arrived in Bucks County, Pennsylvania approximately 1720.

Their children, Mark Fretz and Elizabeth Rosenberger, were married on May 11, 1773. [source]

[The above list revised from a post I wrote last year]

***

As for ancestors alive between 1775-1789, the Swayzes and Van Everys ended up Loyalists, and fled to Canada afterwards. The Fretzes and Rosenbergers were Pennsylvania Mennonites, and I've found no evidence that they violated their commitment to peace and took either side.

I still had some Denyer ancestors living in England at the time, though I'm unsure if any were Redcoats.

My paternal ancestors, and half my maternal ancestors were all situated in Eastern and Central Europe (Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Transylvania) and were likely mostly oblivious to the war. Of course, the Polish general, Casimir Pulaski, 'Father of the American Cavalry,' came from Warka, Poland, as did my Newmark ancestors.

I have one branch I haven't yet researched far enough to ascertain where they were in the 18th century, and that is the ancestors of my maternal great great granmother, Sarah (Hartley) Denyer.  So there is still some hope I may someday find a truly Patriotic ancestor.

***

Poem: A Toast to the First and the Fourth of July

AncestryDNA Shared Ancestor Hints

AncestryDNA provides what they call "Shared Ancestor Hints." That is, if both you and a DNA match have linked to an Ancestry Family Tree, and there is a shared ancestor on those trees, they will provide you with the information. So instead of guessing how closely you are related by the amount of shared DNA, you know exactly how close. (Assuming both sets of research is accurate.)

A recent email exchange with one of these matches sparked my curiosity enough to categorize these matches by shared ancestor. I have 22 Shared Ancestor Hints. Breaking the hints down into the generational categories Ancestry provides as estimates:

2nd Cousin – 3rd Cousin
Shared ancestor
1. Melvin Vanevery (2nd cousin)

4th Cousin – 6th Cousin
Shared ancestor
1. Andrew Vanevery (4th Cousin)
2. William Denyer (4th Cousin)
3. Samuel Vanevery (3rd Cousin)
4. Israel Swayze (Sr) (6th cousin)

Distant Cousin (5th to 8th Cousin)
Shared ancestor
1. George W Hartley (4th cousin)
2. Samuel Swayze (7th cousin)
3. Samuel Vanevery (3rd cousin)
4. Israel Swayze (Jr) (5th cousin)
5. Israel Swayze (jr) (5th cousin)
6. Barbara Oberholzer (7th cousin)
7. Samuel Swayze (7th cousin)
8. Samuel Swayze (7th cousin)
9. Israel Swayze (Sr) (6th Cousin)
10. Samuel Swayze (7th cousin)
11. Adam Johann Schauers (7th cousin)
12. Adam Johann Schauers (7th cousin)
13. Joseph Swayze (8th cousin)
14. Adam Johann Schauers (7th cousin)
15. Israel Swayze (Jr) (5th Cousin)
16. Michael Schauers (6th cousin)
17. Barnabas Horton (8th cousin)

Totals by Surname
• Denyer: 1
• Hartley: 1
• Horton: 1
• Oberholtzer: 1
• Schauers: 4
• Vanevery: 4
• Swayze: 10

What traits do all these ancestors share:

1) They are all relatives through my maternal grandmother. I have many matches that I know are through my paternal grandparents’ and maternal grandfather’s lines. However, these matches haven’t posted their family trees back far enough for the Shared Ancestor Hints. Mostly because it is difficult to trace ancestry in Eastern Europe. Especially if your ancestors are Jewish.

2) My Swayze, Vanevery, and Schauers/Showers ancestors during the Revolutionary War were all Loyalists. It is possible that having ancestors in North America at the time of the revolution increases the likelihood that you will have traced your family tree back that far in order to identify Patriot or Loyalist lineage. (Or it's just a matter of having ancestors that far back in North America, where the research is relatively easy compared to other countries.)

Barbara Oberholtzer was part of a Mennonite family, who were mostly Conscientious Objectors. There were Patriot Hortons, but by the time of the Revolution they weren’t my ancestors.

3) I have a lot of Swayze matches. Does the celebrity nature of the Swayze name also have an influence on the likelihood of research?

Three out of the 21 matches (14%) are actually more closely related than Ancestry's estimate based on shared DNA. An 86% correct rate seems to me to be pretty good.

Riots and Rebellions: When is Violence the Answer?

Violence is never the answer to anything. - millions of people

• The June Rebellion, also known as the Paris Uprising of 1832, was a failure. But without it, we wouldn't have one of the greatest novels and one of the greatest musicals of all-time. (Les Miserables)
• The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 was crushed. However, I'm not going to be the one to say that the Jewish community should have willingly and peacefully gone to their deaths.
• There was a rebellion in the late 18th century in America that was quite successful, and another in the mid 19th century which wasn't.
• Violent protests in the late 19th century led to the 40-hour work week, child labor laws, and safer working conditions for all.

Sometimes, in the course of human events, violence becomes necessary. In my opinion, with a government or society that is willing to listen, non-violence tends to work better. The key question becomes - how long do you wait before you decide that society isn't really willing to listen to you? And who gets to make that decision?

Have any of your ancestors or relatives participated in riots, rebellions, or revolutions?

Here's a list of "incidents of civil unrest" in the United States and another list from Colonial America.
Here's a worldwide list of riots and another worldwide list of revolutions and rebellions.

The difference between a riot and a rebellion can sometimes be a matter of who is writing the history. Some people argue riots are more spontaneous and don't have a unified purpose. However, participants in what society decides to call a 'riot' might argue with whether the event was spontaneous or without a cause.

Do I have kin who participated in civil unrest?

I will ignore late 20th century and more recent unrest, as I may or may not have relatives who participated, but if I did, they, or their close families, are still alive.

I've blogged before about my great grandmother's brother, who appears in some news reports related to the East St. Louis Race Riot of 1917. He wasn't a participant, but testified about the whereabouts of an employee who may have been.

An Elisha Horton is listed among the participants of the Boston Tea Party. He may or may not be related to my Horton ancestors.

Warsaw Ghetto, 1940-1943

When I discovered the Warsaw Ghetto Database, I knew I had to search for my Newmark surname. My Newmark ancestors left the Warsaw area in the 1880s, but were any of these ghetto residents related? If so, what were their roles in the uprising? The closest relation they could  be to me would be second cousins to my grandfather (assuming that my second great grandfather, Samuel Newmark, may have had some brothers in Warsaw.)

Entries for four Neumarks and three Najmarks appear, though there may be some duplicated individuals within them. The database provides details taken from various sources - some lengthy; some short. Some of the Polish has been translated into English already; some hasn't. I went in search of more information on some of the events mentioned. The information wasn't necessarily what I was hoping for - but the decisions ghetto residents had to make certainly weren't easy ones.

• Lejbus Najmark - Judenrat
• Stanislaw Najmark
• Polish: starszy syn autorki , zastrzelony w związku ze sprawą Kotta
• English: author's elder son, shot in connection with Kott's affair
• Najmarkowa - [basically: Mrs. Najmark. -owa indicates a married woman] 
• Polish: żona jednego z dyrektorów Zakładu Zaopatrywania; w getcie warszawskim działała społecznie - organizacja koncertów; w czasie akcji straciła matkę, jeden syn zginął w związku ze sprawą Kotta, drugi na wschodzie, mąż w czasie akcji styczniowej; przeszła na stronę aryjską po I akcji, ukrywała się na Saskiej Kępie; autorka relacji
• English: wife of one of directors' of the Supply Section; in the Warsaw ghetto she was active socially - organised concerts; during an action she lost mother; one son died in connection with Kott's case, the other one in the East, husband during the January action; she crossed to the 'Aryan side' after the First Action, she hid in Saska Kepa; author of testimony.
• Juliana (?) Neumark [This appears to be the same woman as Najmarkowa, providing a possible first name, and reinforcing that despite the different spelling, these are matching surnames. The Warsaw Ghetto Database doesn't yet have an English translation, but Google Translate provides a clumsy translation] 
• Polish: żona Juliana; miała dwóch synów: jeden z synów zginął w styczniu 1940 roku w związku z aferą Kotta, a drugi syn w lutym 1940 roku przepadł podczas przechodzenia granicy sowiecko-niemieckiej pod Bełżcem; pracowała m.in. wraz z aktorem Turkowem w dziale oświaty; jako Elżbieta Kucharska schroniła się po stronie aryjskiej dzięki pomocy Gerarda Gadeyskiego, przedwojennego dyrektora programowego Polskiego Radia, który po wojnie został jej mężem; do niedawna pracowała w Towarzystwie im. Fryderyka Szopena; obecnie mieszka na Saskiej Kępie i jest na emeryturze."
• English (Google Translate): wife, Juliana; had two sons: one of the sons died in January 1940 in connection with the scandal Kott, a second son in February 1940 was lost when passing the border of the Soviet-German at Belzec; she worked along with actor Turkow in the department of education; as Elizabeth Kucharska refuge on the Aryan side with the help of Gerard Gadeyskiego pre-war Polish Radio program director, who after the war became her husband; Until recently, she worked in the Society of them. Frederic Chopin; now lives in Saska Kepa and is retired.
• Is it possible instead of Juliana, the Polish actually means: Wife of Julian?
• Julian Neumark (Intelligentsia)
• Polish:  serdeczny przyjaciel Jana Kucińskiego; naczelnik działu w Zakładzie Zaopatrywania Dzielnicy Żydowskiej; zginął w styczniu 1943 roku; miał dwóch synów: jeden z synów zginął w styczniu 1940 roku w związku z aferą Kotta, a drugi syn w lutym 1940 roku przepadł podczas przechodzenia granicy sowiecko-niemieckiej pod Bełżcem.
• English (Google Translate): good friend John Kuciński; Head of department at the Department of Procurement Jewish Quarter; He died in January 1943; He had two sons: one of the sons died in January 1940 in connection with the scandal Kott, a second son in February 1940 was lost when passing the border of the Soviet-German at Belzec.
• Regina Neumark - Activist; Collaborator of the CKI (Central Commission for Entertainments)
• [source] "Finally, more resourceful musicians, supported by the Head of the Community, Adam Czerniaków, and his wife Dr Felicja Czerniaków, and Central Commission for Entertainments operating in the ghetto, decided to found the Jewish Symphonic Orchestra (ŻOS). It also had a moral aspect: it kept appearances of "normality”, met the spiritual needs of a vast number of music lovers, gave musicians a chance not only to get minimal resources, but also to remain in good musical condition. Many historians believe that the cultural activity was one of the forms of civil resistance, an activity in the teeth of the extermination actions of the occupier. It is, however, worth mentioning that from mid 1942 the people in ghettos had no idea of the planned extermination in the death camps (apparently they were being transferred to "work camps”) and they still had faith in the intervention of the allies and quick ending of the war."
• The CKI set up concerts. The entry for Najmarkowa indicates she organized concerts. It's possible these are the same individuals. With the database information coming from multiple sources of testimony lots of redundancy is likely.
• Wera Neumark - Artists/Writers; A pianist, plays in a concert in 'Gospoda' on 18 March 1942 - represents the old piano school.

Some activists; Some Judenrat. (Some Judenrat-connected activists) The Judenrat (or Jewish council) was set up by the Germans to administer the ghettos.

On the one hand, many viewed these councils as a form of collaboration with the enemy. Others saw these councils as a necessary evil, which would permit Jewish leadership a forum to negotiate for better treatment. In the many cases where Jewish leaders refused to volunteer to serve on the Judenrat, the Germans appointed Jews to serve on a random basis. Some Jews who had no prior history of leadership agreed to serve, hoping that it would improve their chances of survival. Many who served in the Judenrat were arrested, taken to labor camps, or hanged. 

This timeline provides some details on the events mentioned above.

January 1940 ["Kott Affair"]

1 - a decree comes into force forbidding Jews to change their place of residence without special permission.
14-25 - after the arrest of Andrzej Kott (who was of Jewish origin) belonging to the underground group PLAN and his escape from the gestapo, particular repressive measures are taken against the Jewish intelligentsia in Warsaw (255 Jews arrested). 

July 1942 ["First Action"]

22 - the beginning of the great deportation action in the Warsaw ghetto; transports leave from the Umschlagplatz for the gas chambers of Treblinka.

January 1943 ["January Action"]

9  - Himmler arrived for an inspection of the Warsaw ghetto; he ordered the deportation of 8,000 Jews and the evacuation of German enterprises to the Lublin area.
18-21  - the second deportation action in the Warsaw ghetto. The first armed resistance. The Germans deported c. 5,000 people. In January, just after the second deportation action, Józef Szeryński, the commander of the Jewish police, committed suicide.

More on the Kott Affair. [The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War, Martin Gilbert, Macmillan, 1987.]

Ancestry's We're Related - at 100 celebrities

Ancestry’s We’re Related app has now told me about 100 possible relatives. This is a good place to discuss some statistics.

Occupations (my categories)

• Actors - 25
• Presidents - 19
• Entertainers - 13
• Authors - 13
• Politicians - 9
• Athletes - 4
• Science - 4
• Business - 3
• Military - 4
• Activists - 2
• Artists - 2
• Vice Presidents - 1
• First Ladies - 1

Note: The meaningful of this is is of course slightly dependent on the breakdown of the individuals they have in the database.

Furthest confirmed ancestor on my chart

• Betts, Capt. Richard - 7
• Chamberlain, Joanna - 2
• Chamberlain, Robert - 3
• Clark, Abigail - 52
• Horton, Barnabas - 1
• Horton, Penelope - 1
• Meyer, Elizabeth - 2
• Pitney, Mary - 16
• Schauer, Michael - 2
• Swazey, Joseph - 3
• Van Tock, Hannah - 8
• Wines, Sarah - 3

Note: Abigail Clark is definitely my 'gateway ancestor' to the most alleged celebrity kin. Mary Pitney a distant second.

Individuals for whom my research confirms my alleged ancestry (8/100)

• John Kerry
• Mark Twain
• Jim Varney
• Johnny Depp
• Newt Gingrich
• Tom Hanks
• Stephen King
• Theodore Roosevelt

I could say these are individuals for whom the relationship is very likely...if I trusted the research for the celebrities. But...

Individuals for whom my research confirms my alleged ancestry, and other research I trust confirms the celebrity’s ancestry (1/100)

• John Kerry

Note: I haven't actively tried to research any of the celebrity ancestries. However, with the advent of Who Do You Think You Are and other genealogy shows, many celebrities have had some professional research done. And even without the shows, many politicians have had their genealogies well-researched.

Out of the 19 Presidents I'm allegedly related to – those for whom the alleged President’s ancestry is confirmed through Ancestors of American Presidents by Gary Boyd Roberts, 2009 edition. – 2/19

• Rutherford B. Hayes

Note: There are 4 generations in my own ancestry I'd have to confirm to prove this relationship.

• Barack Obama

Note: There are only 2 generations in my own ancestry I  have to confirm. I'll step out on a limb and say this relationship is the likeliest of all the Presidents the app has generated. If anyone can find sources for me to back up the ancestry on WikiTree linking Mary Pitney to Samuel Smith, that would be helpful. (Sources other than WikiTree, that is.) I discussed this possibility back in October.

                                                            

For the other 17 Presidents, the number of extra generations that are extended unto Gary Boyd Roberts' research

George Washington - 1
John Adams - 1
James Madison - 2
William Taft - 2
Richard Nixon - 2/3 *
Calvin Coolidge - 3
Theodore Roosevelt - 3
Harry Truman - 3
James Carter - 3
Thomas Jefferson - 4
Franklin Pierce - 4
Zachary Taylor - 4
George HW Bush - 4
George W Bush - 4
Abraham Lincoln - 5
William Clinton - 6
Ronald Reagan - 7

*App provides a different 6th great grandfather for Nixon, and then goes 2 more generations.

Note: Washington and Adams would appear to be the easiest for me to research to confirm/disprove. However, the number of unconfirmed generations in my tree are 7.
               
Celebrities whose alleged ancestry goes through an ancestor’s adopted parent (I'd have no problem with this if the app made it clear.) - At least 1/100

• Robin Williams (his mother was adopted)

In Summary

The app is very entertaining. However, without sources to back up the ancestor charts, that's all it is. The percentage of alleged matches where I have been able to confirm the ancestry back to the shared ancestor for either myself, or the celebrity, is quite small.