A Tree Grew in Oakland

Close!  Booth Tarkington as my sixth cousin, four times removed through my heavily documented Botsford line.  Our MRCA, Sarah Beard (1631-1689) is reported to be my documented 8th great grandfather, Samuel Camp’s (1645-1763) mother.  IF her dates are reported correctly, she gave birth to Grandfather Camp at the age of 14!   Since the Camp family is also well documented, but probably not by whomever put together this tree that Ancestry decided to grab, I should be able to research this questionable item and determine if the date is wrong or the person is wrong, or is she really produced children from the age of 14 through 31 when Booth’s ancestor was born.

I might have preferred Daimler or Benz — their cars are still available, but We’re Related offered up the investor of the Stanley Steamer instead.   Well, they offered up one of the two twin brothers.  Now the wait to see how long it takes for his twin to be recognized and if he will be shown with the same MRCA.   Anyway,   F.E. and my MRCA, was Alice Strong (1606-1697), two generations beyond my documented 7th great grandmother, Lydia Dean (1606-1697).  So, another TO DO item with hints to the next two generations.

OK, another First Lady shows up as a cousin — 7th, 4 times removed.   The lineage presented agrees with my documentation all the way back to my 9th great grandmother, Elizabeth Cleverly (1623-1681), one generation from our MRCA, Thomas Talmadge (1595-1653).  I have a problem with attributing Talmadge as the father of Cleverly (whose married name was Hotchkiss).  Unless Elizabeth was married prior to her marriage to my 9th great grandfather, it does not explain the name change.   TO DO item to research!

Cousin Harry (aka Bing) might be a bit more than 7 times removed or not.   I looked at the lineage for my ancestors that was provided.  I can document back to my 5th great grandmother, Thankful Isham (1752-1834), but it requires 5 more generations to leap back to our MRCA, Abigail Howland (1629-1692).  That’s a lot of research just to be able to watch Holiday Inn and say – “Oh ya, that’s cousin Bing with George Clooney’s aunt. ”   But, to take from Grandma Isham’s name, I am thankful to have a clue as to next steps in the lineage trail.   There are two generations of Fuller and two of Young before I get to Grandmother Howland.

I have to admit it would be kind of fun to claim Pretty Boy Floyd as my 7th cousin, 4 times removed.  As it is, I can only verify up to my 5th great grandmother, Desire [love that name] Hitchcock (1750-1769) and there are 5 more generations to our MRCA, Stephen Terry (1608-1668).  Unfortunately, We’re Related has provided Thomas Terry in my line with a birth year of 1665 and Thomas Terry, his uncle, in Pretty Boy’s line also with a 1665 birth year.   Lineages reported with this kind of matching always raise questions.  It is going to require a bit of research before I will get back to watching the Edward G Robinson / Jimmy Cagney gangster flicks for insights into my possible cousin’s endeavors.

Barbara Ann and I have to go all the way back to my 7th great grandmother, Abigail Stevens (1666-1727), to encounter our MRCA.  But, I do have documentation back to Grandmother Abigail Stevens Lee.  If Barbara’s line is clean, and that will require some checking to be sure, it might imply that one of my Lee ancestors was a Loyalist and hopped over the border into Canada.   This same Lee line resulted in a number of Patriot members.  This could be interesting enough to check into!