Friday, November 25, 2016

This Week's We're Related Relationships

I have received 12 new cousin relationships on the We're Related mobile app, which is based on Ancestry Member Trees.  The new relationships, and my initial evaluation of them, are:

1)  Mitch McConnell -- Politician, 8th cousin 1x removed, common ancestor is Christopher Bartlett (1655-1711):


My judgment is that this relationship is Possible.

2)  Shelley Murphy -- Facebook friend, 8th cousin 1x removed, common ancestor is Mary Tucker (1640-1710).  My judgment is that this relationship is Probable.

3)  Ron Howard -- Actor, 8th cousin 1x removed, common ancestor is Hannah Benjamin (1668-1752):


My judgment is that this relationship is Probable.

4)  Thomas Jefferson -- U.S. President, 4th cousin 6x removed, common ancestor is Constance Hopkins (1606-1677):


My judgment is that this relationship is Doubtful - I'm confident of my line back, but am not sure of Jefferson's.  The mother of Charles Rogers is not given in Gary Boyd Roberts book.

5)  George W. Bush -- U.S. President, 7th cousin 1x removed, common ancestor is Ebenezer Phillips (1695-1746):


My judgment is that this relationship is Likely.  The Roberts book has the Bush line.

6)  Tracy Glatz -- Facebook friend, 7th cousin 3x removed, common ancestor is Marie Saeger (1670-????).  My judgment is that this relationship is Probable.

7)  George H.W. Bush -- U.S. President, 7th cousin, common ancestor is Ebenezer Phillips (1695-1746).  My judgment is that this relationship is Likely (see George W,. Bush above).

8)  Harry Reid -- Politician, 9th cousin, common ancestor is Daniel Cole (1614-1694):


My judgment is that this relationship is Possible.

9)  Mitt Romney -- Politician, 9th cousin, common ancestor is John Mead (1634-1699):


My judgment is that this relationship is Doubtful, because I have not connected my line to John Mead.  I addressed this in Dear Randy: Where Does the We're Related Mobile App Get Its' Data?

10)  Jo Henn -- Facebook friend, 8th cousin 1x removed, common ancestor is Jonathan Lewis (1688-1764).  My judgment is that this relationship is Probable.

11)  Dona Ritchie -- Facebook friend, 9th cousin, common ancestor is Edward Cleveland (1664-1746).  I don't have Edward Cleveland or his son Deliverance Cleveland in my Ancestry Member Tree because I don't have evidence that Deliverance (--?--) Oatley is the daughter of ?Deliverance Cleveland.  My judgment is that this specific relationship is Doubtful.

12)  Marilyn Fiedler -- Facebook friend, 8th cousin 1x removed, common ancestor is Sarah Maverick (1659-1723).  My judgment is that this relationship is Probable.

My count is up to 69 famous or Facebook cousins.  

My biggest problem with this We're Related app is that it thinks it knows my ancestral lines better than I do, and adds one to three generations to some of my end-of-line ancestors.  They may be right, I don't know, and can't really find out because they provide no source material to back up their assertions.  If there was authoritative information for my end-of-line ancestors, I would add it.  None of the additions have been convincing to me yet.

=======================================


Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

6 comments:

dritchhart said...

Randy:

I think they will use other trees in their data base to extend you line to the common ancestor, which we all know may or may not have valid source documentation. I commented a couple days ago that there were hints extending my tree to connect with all the common ancestors. However, I have since noted that is not always the case. Thus, I am not sure where they got the connecting ancestors in those cases?

Diane Gould Hall said...

Well, Randy, mine is popping up about one per day. I too have Jo Henn and Mitt Romney. You and I already know we are distant cousins by marriage on the Seaver line. Be interesting to see if we pop up on one another's app.

dritchhart said...

I am most proud of my Abraham Lincoln connection through my maternal great grandmother. He is a 3rd cousin 6X removed and I am fairly confident of both his and my lines. There is no way I would have found the connection on my own.

Unknown said...

Randy, I have to tell you that our connection isn't true. Joshua Broughton is not the father of Thomas AJ Broughton! I have DNA proof. Please email me at mfiedlerdna@gmail.com and we can discuss this.

Cheers, Marilyn Fiedler

Unknown said...

I'm thinking of getting a Kindle Fire (given all the great deals), and am trying to find out if anyone has successfully run the We're Related app on the latest Fire devices. Do you know of anyone who has gotten it to work?

Thanks!

Tracy G said...

Since you and I were matched, my app crashed and I had to start from scratch so my 20 matches have disappeared and it's slowly recreating some of those. So far you are not again listed as my match so I can't see what it indicated my line was to Marie Saeger, but I am not familiar with the Saeger name. Hopefully it will appear again, but I'm waiting not-so-patiently for my matches to appear. Fun app even though I'm skeptical of some of the matches.