Patten: Granny witches, kings and spouses: Who’s in your family tree?
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Are you related to anyone famous? Are you and your best friend distant cousins?
Making these connections can be a little overwhelming. Most of us are somewhere between wanting to know more about our family history and making the time to do so.
Relative Finder can be the kick in the pants to get you started.
The free website shows your connections to famous presidents, kings, scientists, movie stars and more. Once you register, all you have to do is click on a category, like Famous Europeans, Classical Composers or Mayflower, and you begin your journey of self-discovery.
How to get started
Relative Finder relies on data from FamilySearch.org, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so you’re going to need a FamilySearch account before you even log onto Relative Finder. (You don’t need to be LDS to have one.) Make sure you’re not alone in FamilySearch — link to any ancestors you know about. FamilySearch does not share information on the living, so it connects you to family lines only through deceased relatives.
In the best-case scenario, FamilySearch will recognize the person you’re trying to link to and populate your tree with minimal effort on your part. (If you’re having trouble, you can get help at the church’s family history centers or call that great-aunt who knows everything about genealogy.) And if you’re especially fortunate, you’ll find more than names and dates – you might find audio, images and life sketches of your ancestors.
Remember: Relative Finder depends on the accuracy of your family tree in FamilySearch. The more populated and accurate your tree is on FamilySearch, the better Relative Finder will likely be.
My discovery
Finding out how I’m related to modern and historical luminaries and learning about their lives was an enjoyable way to lose an afternoon.
My fun at finding my connections with English and Danish royalty ended, though, when on mere curiosity I clicked on the Salem Witch Trials category.
I saw two grandmothers in there and clicked on one. I saw this:
I had to know more.
Margaret Stephenson Scott was convicted of practicing witchcraft in 1692. She was in her mid- to late-70s when she died (her age differs slightly depending on the source). The reasoning (and I use that word loosely) behind her execution is found on the Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project:
Margaret Scott was accused and executed on charges of witchcraft due to prolonged suspicion of her character, the spectral evidence provided in her trial, the maleficium (malevolent sorcery) evidence against her, and the prominence of the accusers in her community. … She most likely was suspected of witchcraft because of her low stature in the community, the number of child fatalities, long widowhood and begging; all common traits among people accused of witchcraft.
It gets even more sickening with the death of my other convicted grandmother, Mary Ayer (married name Parker) – according to another essay posted on the Salem Witch trials archive, she might have been executed simply because she had the same name as the woman who was actually accused.
Learning this stuff made me feel sad and outraged, but I’m glad I know it. The witch trials are no longer something I half-remember hearing as I dozed off in my high school history class. They are my history too.
Your living relatives
Relative Finder isn’t just about famous or dead people. You can create a group with your friends and neighbors. My landlady and I are fourth cousins once removed, for instance. And my 9-year-old daughter found out she is fourth cousins once removed with one of her best friends.
It’s especially fun and a little scary to see if you’re related to your spouse! Fortunately, although my wife and I are related, we’re 10th cousins twice removed (same family in the 17th century), which is OK in the State of Idaho.
What does it all mean?
This got me thinking – obviously we’re all related to each other somehow. So where is the common ancestor in all this? And will someone centuries from now see me in their family tree – along with most of the people I know now?
The common ancestors of all of humanity might have lived 40,000 years ago or as recently as 2,000 years ago, scientists say.
But our extended family relationships are more than a curiosity. They are a reminder of how much all of us have in common.
According to a paper that appeared in the scientific journal Nature, as quoted by io9:
“No matter the languages we speak or the color of our skin, we share ancestors who planted rice on the banks of the Yangtze, who first domesticated horses on the steppes of the Ukraine, who hunted giant sloths in the forests of North and South America, and who labored to build the Great Pyramid of Khufu. (And) within two thousand years, it is likely that everyone on earth will be descended from most of us.”
So if you and a friend aren’t related now, take heart — in a few centuries, you probably will be.
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