Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Curious Cousins


Last week when I was calculating relationships with Lizzie Borden I accidentally calculated a relationship between me and my daughter. I can imagine the look on my face when it revealed that my daughter is my tenth cousin!


As you can see by the chart we are more than tenth cousins. We are eleventh cousins, twelfth cousins, eighteenth cousins, twentieth cousins, well, I'll stop there.

I couldn't help but think of Ray Stevens singing, "I'm My Own Grandpa". So just for chuckles and grins I calculated a relationship between me and me. I'm my own ninth cousin! I am also my own eleventh, twelfth, and so on.


If you are like me, genealogy and family history is always on your mind.  While watching football when I hear some of the players last names I think to myself, 'He's Danish', or 'He's Swedish', or 'His ancestors come from New England'.

I know of a football player who was born in my hometown.  My sister went to school with him and I knew his grandparents were from the Bear Lake Valley. I bet myself that we were probably connected to him somehow.  If your parents were born in the Bear Lake Valley, it's more likely than not you are connected somehow. If your parents were born in Southeast Idaho, it's more likely than not that you descend from a Utah Pioneer.

I was able to connect four notable people who descend from Utah Pioneers to my tree. One is connected by blood, and the others by marriage.


Merril Hoge is my great uncle's third great nephew.

Merlin Olsen is my 12th cousin thrice removed.
Kent Hadley is my second cousin twice removed's husband's aunt's husband's daughter's husband's son's wife's first cousin twice removed.
(Are you confused yet?)
Matthew Gray Gubler is my aunt's second cousin twice removed.
I had help in adding them to the big tree on Geni and adding their ancestors to their prospective Pioneer Projects. One of the reasons I like Geni so much is the projects.


Leslie Ann

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Relationship With Lizzie Borden



Last week my daughter called me after watching one of those ghost hunting shows. They were investigating the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast.  She knew we were related to her, but didn't know how so I told her I would make a chart for her.


This is just one of the ways we connect to Lizzie. My software would only let me make one chart. These are the other ways I am connected to her:

  1. Sixth cousin 3 times removed - common ancestor: William RICKETSON & Elizabeth MOTT.
  2. Sixth cousin 4 times removed - common ancestor: John COOKE ALIAS BUTCHER & Mary BORDEN.
  3. Seventh cousin 3 times removed - common ancestor: Thomas CORNELL & Rebecca.
  4. Seventh cousin 4 times removed - common ancestor: Thomas COOKE ALIAS BUTCHER & Mary.
  5. Seventh cousin 4 times removed - common ancestor: Richard BORDEN & Joan FOWLE.
  6. Eighth cousin 4 times removed  - common ancestor: George CORNELL & Susan CASSE.
Did you know that Lizzie Borden is the direct descendant of the only criminal convicted in U.S. history, based solely on the testimony of a ghost? Feb 8, 1673, Friend's Records state "Rebecca Cornell, widow, was killed strangely at Portsmouth in her own dwelling house, was twice viewed by the Coroner's Inquest, digged up and buried again by her husband's grave in their own land."

Rebecca is my 9th great-grandmother. She is Lizzie's 6th great-grandmother. Rebecca's son Thomas (Lizzie's 5th great-grandfather) was executed for murdering her.

I just discovered this article When Ghosts Kill: The Story of Rebecca Cornell and learned that the Cornell mansion still stands and it is now a restaurant called Valley Inn. I also found out through this article that there is a book written about Rebecca's death called "Killed Strangely: The Death of Rebecca Cornell".

You can read the transcript of the Thomas Cornell trial here.

Now there are three more things that I would like to do:

  1. Stay at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast
  2. Eat at the Valley Inn
  3. Read the book "Killed Strangely: The Death of Rebecca Cornell, by Elaine Forman Crane.

Leslie Ann


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