Delving

2 Descendants of Charles Martel?

After years of avoiding it I finally succumbed to Ancestery.com’s relentless marketing efforts and signed up for a six month membership. I caution anyone with an interest in their lineage to exercise caution because it is highly addictive. I’ve found it fascinating to trace my family tree back through the ages. I’ve found some very interesting possibilities as well. The biggest lesson was the bone deep connection my family, on both my mother’s and father’s side, have with both New and old England. This confirms the DNA results which had me firmly pegged to Great Britain. Most of my ancestors, except my paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather, can be traced back to the 1600s and the settling of Massachusetts.

Another?

In a few cases I’ve been able to go back even further and trace some of these ancestors even further back. On my mother’s side of the family we can connect back to the Howard family who served as the Dukes of Norfolk during both the Tudor and Plantagenet days which means we share some blood with Anne Boleyn. There were even rumors of that family having royal blood through an illegitimate son of Prince John of Robin Hood fame. This meant we were ultimately descended from Eleanor of Aquitaine (John’s mother) who was my mother’s absolute favorite character from the movie A Lion in Winter. I can only imagine what she would think of that.

Daddy-Daughter Day meant Cleaning Room First

The family tree of my great-grandmother on my father’s side was equally interesting for a couple reasons. One line was traced back to a Putnam family name where there was a claim of being descendants from Charles Martel, nicknamed “The Hammer, one of the biggest names from Europe’s dark ages and also the grandfather of Charlemagne. Another side of that same great grandmother’s family was the one I was able to trace back the furthest so far, to my alleged 27^th great grandfather. He was Guy of Welswe was born c. 0890. He was a thane, or landholder, appointed by King AEthelstan, the Saxon King, to his Parliament. The son of Guy was Geoffrey (my 26^th great grandfather), who married Emma, daughter of De Sasuall's, of Etingdon; but, having been unjustly treated by the Saxon king, Ethelred, joined the Danish forces, and, with his followers, marched with Sweyn against the Saxons.

But Then the Fun Started

The Moana Soundtrack Came On!

Happy Girl

I know all of this is conjecture because I have no training in genealogical research but it is a hell of a lot of fun. I also know everyone claims to be descended from some king or emperor so I’m not going to be making any kind of claim of royal blood, I’m about as American as possible. I’ve always found it interesting that if you take into account that everybody (outside of Appalachia I guess) has four grandparents and you continue that calculus through the 27 generations I just talked, about the resulting number would exceed the entire population of Europe at the time. We’re all related.

Back in Fairy Mode

I wasn’t the only one delving yesterday. I had my annual skin screening at the dermatology clinic. My crusty old screener has retired and was replaced by a much younger lady which made the examination a little more embarrassing not that I object to an attractive young lady running her hands all over me. I always keep in mind though that my Favorite Panamanian wields a mean machete. The new lady ended up carving into both my jaw and my chest for a couple biopsies which means I have to stay out of the pool for a week or so until they heal.

Results of Attractive Delving

Today also marks the birthday of my younger sister who I’ve re-connected with over the past couple years. She’s had a lot thrown at her by life but she’s met and overcome all those challenges. She’s now in a very loving marriage and recently took on a new job where I’m sure she’s thriving. Happy birthday Sis – I’m so proud of you!