Has anyone kept looking up the family tree, after ditching Mormonism?

(danger: LOOOooong winded)

I would say, that I'm at least, a little bit of history buff.

(I have an uncle, that was going to be a history teacher, before Vietnam called)

Sometimes I do it. I was fiddling around with it, tonight. Sometimes I think, that it's just some Moron-ism "busy work". Sometimes I think, *look at where I'm from, who I came from*.

How many (probably, more than I can think of; that *family tree*, has a lot people), can say, that they are descended, from a *personal body guard, of Gen. Geo. Washington*?

A (several) branch, settled, in the Midwest, just after the War of 1812, and have been here ever since. I can trace to local business folks and a whole lot of references to a series of local history books. That *local business folk* seems to a persistent streak, in my family. I work, for myself. So does Pops. He & grandpa, tried to *do it* & work for others. Well, I do that, too. I can find G / GG / GGG grandparents, living within the area, that I live in. Some are *just immigrants, from the *old country**.

I'm, unfortunately, a 3rd / 4th cousin (14? x's removed) of ole' horny Joe.

I make my $$ honestly, tho.

I have a *somewhat* rare last name. *Somewhat rare* is, where I live, you ARE related to me! I can tell you, the exact relationship! Anyone with it, in person, is related, to me. Elsewhere, maybe, not so much.

I sometimes get, *Did you know, there is a *Smith Road, in Anywheresville?*. Yes, and it's named after, someone, who is related to me.

Every time, that I have heard this, it's a street / road, it's in an area, that I can *prove* that someone related to me, has lived there.

Anyone, with my last name, within 300 (or 500 / 1,000?) miles, is a *cousin*. WithOUT the polygamy. I can trace my *family*, in several areas, of the country.

Anyway's, my original question:

Has anyone kept looking up the family tree, after ditching Mormonism?

Oh yes. I'm actually doing more "more" mormonish things than when I was a member. Meaning reading the scriptures, reading the history of the church and of course doing genealogy.

I'm fascinated with my ancestors. Even those that got stuck in the LDS church. Yes, stuck, tricked, sold/bought into through the eternal immigration fund that they sold their lives to. Some of the stories are about a great-great grandmother chasing off Billy the Kid with a broom, Stories of he Mexico immigration into Mexico and then abandoning half of the Mormon colonies when the Mexican Govt. said they could no longer protect the polygamous Mormons. I can match this back up with talks on the Edmunds act and talks by Joseph F. Smith. Also because my dad was a convert, and my great grandfather/grandmother joined in the 1920's I'm learning about how the depression and wars were for them. My dad was a convert so I'm tracking all of the history for all of those Non-mo's. The names themselves are brilliant. I actually had a Great, great grandfather Beverly, Grandfather's name was Golden, Great, Great grandfather Boanerges.

So I've got Domesday ancestors, Potato famine refugees, Native American who had to walk the trail of tears, Mormon polygamous some who went to Mexico, Mormons who lived the United Order, etc...

I'm learning a lot of history, I'm learning a lot of how the church screwed those early people over.

Even nevermos like myself enjoy doing genealogy. It's not just a Mormon thing. I've done it off-and-on over the years.

I was interested in tracing my family history long before I became a mormon convert at 21. Did a bit while I was a member, but really got stuck into it after I was excommunicated. I find it fascinating and addictive.

As a 5th generation Australian of staunchly Presbyterian stock, I certainly never expected to find any mormons in the family tree; so I was very surprised two nights ago when I discovered that one of my umpteenth Scottish aunts had migrated to Salt Lake City in the late 1800's.

Yes, I am an avid genealogist, although out of the church for over 50 years. I spent several years compiling a family history of my nevermo wife's family, with some lines going back 60 generations. Fascinating!

A rotting polygamous branch choked with the parasitic mistletoe of Mormonism is what I see.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2015 11:52AM by donbagley.

Don, the imagery of your description is so fitting! The parastic weed of Mormonism robbed my family of their true cultural heritage. The pronunciation of our family name was even changed, due to a spat between two polygamous wives. We are now trying to learn about our true culture, our true heritage. It will take a few generations to grow a new, vibrant family branch.

Me? Into genealogy?

*grin*

Okay, I got to digging around the roots of my family tree and here are some nuts that fell out:

Moose and Hugh B. Brown
5th cousin 4 times removed
Common Ancestor: Daniel De Veaux
Moose->Moose Dad->Moose grandmother->Robert Wolf->Calvin Wolf->Martha Malinda Elmira Varian->Joseph Varian->Timothy White Varian->Elizabeth DeVoe->Daniel De Veaux
Hugh Brown Brown->Homer Manly Brown->Sarah Ann Woolf->Sarah Ann DeVoe->John DeVoe->John Devoe->Daniel De Veaux

Moose and Ezra Taft Benson (LDS President)
9th cousin 3 times removed
Common Ancestor: Walter Drury Florice Cook
Moose->Moose Mom->Moose grandfather->Hannah Lenora Childs->Moses DeVere Childs->Polly Patten->Archibald Patten->Benoni Patten->Abigail Makepeace->Experience Aldrich->Experience Cook->Walter Drury Florice Cook
Ezra Taft Benson->George Taft Benson, Jr.->George Taft Benson->Ezra Taft Benson->John Benson->Mary Holbrook->Silvanus Holbrook, Jr.->Naomi Cook->John Cook->Walter Drury Florice Cook

Moose and Joseph Smith, Jr.
4th cousin 5 times removed
Common Ancestor: John Fuller
Moose->Moose Dad->Moose grandfather->Pheby Ann Cook->Joseph Ridley Cook->David Cook->Mary Maria Fuller->David Fuller->David Fuller->Edward Fuller->John Fuller
Joseph Smith, Jr.->Lucy Mack->Lydia Gates->Lydia Fuller->Shubael Fuller->John Fuller

Moose and Brigham Young
6th cousin 6 times removed
Common Ancestor: Robert Coles
Moose->Moose Mom->Moose grandfather->Hannah Lenora Childs->Moses DeVere Childs->Polly Patten->Archibald Patten->Edith Cole->J Cole->Jonathan Cole->Solomon Cole->John Cole->Robert Coles
Brigham Young->John Young->Joseph Young->William Young->Sarah Whitaker->Elizabeth Coles->Robert Coles

Moose and Tal Bachman
No relationship found, other than love of music
Common Ancestor: Music

Moose is related to most of the current Q15. Uchdorf is a notable exception.

Am I a something cousin to Moose?

Ole Joe's GG / Grandfather Smith was the common ancestor, or so the IGI says.

(Not that I much faith in the IGI)

(1 of 2 reasons, that I *keep* my stupid *membership*)

Wrong spot.

Meant to be a reply to *amyjo* post below.

Damn,,

I thought that I was doing good, at *personal body guard of George Washington*.

A cousin? Really?

A cousin, to *all* the Presidents? Really?

Maybe, I need to go back, a couple of more generations??

Google can be fun.

I have found some interesting stuff. A Smith, with a Jones, with a Ames, all, just 2 generations before, the person that I'm looking for. All the *right* names, in the *right* place.

Huuhmmm.

Have you *googled* yourself?

*I'm* an international arms dealer! (LOL)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2015 02:43AM by aquarius.

ugh, *DELETE post*



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2015 02:53AM by aquarius.

Hi Aquarius,

Sorry I missed this post. I shoulda clicked on "follow topic."

Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that. His 11th generation Great Grandparents were Joan Beaufort and Ralph Neville. They are my 20th generational Great Grandparents. Then, one of his 10th generation Great Grandpas is brother to my 19th generational Great Grandfather. Joan's first husband, Robert Ferrers, died in the Wars of the Roses at the young age of 23 after fathering two daughters with her (she was 12 when they married!) One of those two daughters became the ancestral great grandparent to the current royals of England (she was Margy, and is also another direct ancestor of Washington.)

Also through the same lineage of Joan Beaufort and Ralph Neville, I'm related as a direct descendant through both my mother's side and my father's side. Two of Joan's and Ralph's daughters are both my great grandmothers, but the generations skip by a couple between the two women. The line closest to you generation wise is the one to ascribe with how many generations between yourself and your ancestor.

When you start getting into the old royals of England, there is much overlapping. I'm related in numerous ways to the same royals going back that far and farther.

Don't forget though, it was mostly the royals who kept records, not the peasants. For every royal I'm related to there are that many more peasants I shall probably never know about.

It just makes sense that since I'm related to Washington then the same people he's related to bloodline wise, means I'm related to them also.

Through Washington I learned I'm related to Katherine Hepburn. Which delights me to no end, even more than being related to Washington. :)

More of us are related than we'll ever know. Once you start connecting the dots between people's common ancestry, it is surprising at all the combinations there are between people and linked ancestry.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2015 06:13PM by amyjo.

Yes, I could trace to the early 1800s as a mormon.

Now I can go all the way back to Chronos, the god who created everything!

My mom was an avid genealogist from the age of ten on. She grew up in Brigham City, Utah, but was Methodist and quite active in that religion. Her interest had more to do with both her parents were orphaned at an early age, and mom and her siblings grew up without any relatives - no living aunts, uncles, cousins, or grandparents. So mom spent much of her life trying to find how she was connected to her past. Mom didn't join the LDS church until well after she married my dad.

When I was a child, and the only girl in my family growing up, mom let me accompany her on her genealogy trips. I was never really interested in it myself until much much later in life. In 2011, I came home one night late from work, and too tired to do much of anything - out of curiosity I googled a name from a German Jewish family tree (custom made by our book printer ancestors of Hebrew prayer books and Talmuds. That I learned only after meeting my German Jewish Israeli cousin.)

The first name I googled from the tree was from more than 200 years ago. I got lucky. There was an immediate search result. The rest was connecting that person to his descendants, which led to my meeting two living cousins - one in Israel and the other in Hawaii - both Jewish - who are avid genealogists. By then I became hooked.

Have met other cousins from online research. Linked some of them in Spain to my cousin in Israel. One is an international attorney in Madrid. His niece is an ambassador to Israel for Spain, and a professor of history. Another cousin in Paris reached out to me last year, and I was able to make his introduction to our cousin in Israel. My Israeli cousin is from London, and his wife is from Paris. They met our Parisian cousin last year while visiting Paris.

Fun stuff.

Interesting relatives through our Jewish family tree include Moses Mendelssohn, Olivia Newton-John, her grandpa Max Born. Just a few of the notables from that side; as there are others. My cousin has prepared extensive mini-bios on several dozen of them. He doesn't think highly of Max Born, because Max turned his back on his Jewishness during the Holocaust. I personally don't have a problem with that, but my Jewish cousin lost his grandparents in the Holocaust, and they were first cousins of Born. So I understand his sensitivity to that. Yet Born at no time rejected his Jewish family or relatives; just disassociated himself from the religion of his birth.

His uncle who was also my cousin, was the AP director for Israel from 1942 through 1968. He covered the three major Israel wars during that timeframe. His most prized possession when escaping Nazi Germany was a rolled up family tree, in a cardboard tube. The Nazis didn't realize its worth or would have confiscated it at the border as he was fleeing to Palestine.

I also learned through a Protestant family line that I'm cousins of George Washington. His 11th generation grandparents are my 20th generation grandparents. And every single US president since Washington is related to George, with exception of only Gerald Ford. Why is that? Gerald Ford was adopted and doesn't know his origins. G Washington is cousins of nearly every other US president, and the ones he isn't he's related by marriage.

So I figure since I'm a distant cousin of his then I'm related by degrees to the other presidents. I'm also reminded how the odds are stacked in their favor if they have any ancestry from England or the UK. That's how the dots get connected, if you go back far enough on a family lineage line.

Genealogy is addicting, and a history lesson in the making. I've learned a bit about the Wars of the Roses, because I've had relatives fighting on both sides. I've also found some missing cousins for my Israeli cousin's family website.

That's a good feeling, is putting names on there that belong there but were missing for some reason.

One of my third generation grandfathers was a bodyguard to Joseph, and a personal courier of his. His wife was a pipe smoking mother of twelve children. Both of their fathers fought in the Revolutionary War. Another Mormon ancestor was a tailor in Ogden, Utah, sent there by Brigham Young after he emigrated from Wales.

One great asset I've found studying genealogy is meeting other genealogists who've laid more groundwork, and don't mind sharing what they have or how they found it.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/2015 10:34AM by amyjo.

I love family history. Before I left the church, I worked in the genealogy library and most of the people

I worked with were non members. These people in my pedigree chart aren't just a bunch of names to take to

the temple, they are interesting people with lives that were very challenging and part of who I am today.

I do a lot of work in ancestry.com and do use the church's "family search"

I actually still listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and anything else that is uplifting without

being controlling or preachy. No point in throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Everyone has to

find their own comfort level. There are no longer wrong answers, that's why god created us all different.

I'm loving my life.

All your genealogy stories are very interesting!

Fairly recently, I found out that I was a 9th cousin three times removed to George Washington's four half-siblings by way of the half-siblings' mother, Jane Butler (my cousin), the first wife of Augustine Washington, George's father.

My Butler ancestors were neighbors to George Washington's great-grandfather, John Washington, and the Butlers and the Washingtons knew each other, even to the point of my ancestor Thomas Butler being involved in legal transactions with John Washington of a nature that made me wonder if they were more "family" than just neighbors.

My Butler ancestors came to America in the 1630s and were on Kent Island, Maryland by 1633 as some of the very first settlers there. The Butlers that came over were three siblings, Elizabeth, John and Thomas. Thomas was my direct ancestor. Some of the descendants of the three siblings were a governor of Louisiana and various Congressional representatives, and Senators and other political people. One Butler descendant is Cokie Roberts, who is a news correspondent on TV.

History is very interesting!

I was in the beginning of doing my geneology when I accidently

clicked on Joseph Smith and low and behold I fond out all kinds

of awful things about him and so one thing let to another and

Now I'm out and I have tons of genealogy.... Thankfully I'm not

related to any mormon royalty... Whew. An exmo friend is and

she has all kinds of weird physical issues because of it.

I did find out I have a couple of family members who were on

the Mayflower and a few who were on the shore bringing the

ingrates turkeys for the first thanksgiving. I'm a Lamenite

and British and french Royalty too, just like twenty million

of the rest of you are. Its interesting to say the least. I've

learned alot.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2015 09:06PM by saucie.

*big grin*

Hahahahhahahahhahahahahha.

braggart

Edit:

Sometimes I am a,,,,a little dense.

I was replying to the *front side*. Not the back.

I did as well.
It was by doing so that I found out I was a product of an 1800's polygamous mormon relationship. I'd know of, and been told about, my g-g-grandather hundreds of times by TBM family -- not one ever mentioned he was a polygamist.

It was by doing so that I found out I was a direct descendant of Chauncey Webb, father of Ann Eliza Webb Young.

Fun stuff :)

I remember reading the book, "Wife No. 19", written by Ann Eliza Webb Young, and also Irving Wallace's book, "The Twenty-Seventh Wife" in the 1970s. The book, Wife No. 19, remains memorable to this day.

At the time I read them, nobody knew what happened to Ann Eliza or when she died.

It seems the mystery has been cracked and she died in Nevada in 1917 as Ann Eliza Webb Denning.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=74547270

That particular mystery indeed has been cracked. I ought to know, since I'm the one who personally cracked it. One of my bright shining genealogy moments.

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1286528

Moose I can't help asking if you're related to HJ through the Hyrum branch or is it through Jesse N?

Methinks our family tree doth suffer from blight.

My "relationship" (I just shivered at that word) with HJ is through a common ancestor, up my tree and then back down to him, via his mother.

Up my tree:
Moose->Moose Dad->Moose grandfather->Pheby Ann Cook->Joseph Ridley Cook->David Cook->Mary Maria Fuller->David Fuller->David Fuller->Edward Fuller->John Fuller

Down his:
John Fuller->Shubael Fuller->Lydia Fuller->Lydia Gates->Lucy Mack->Joseph Smith, Jr.

Common ancestor: John Fuller

Methinks the blight was forming before ol' HJ, but blighted indeed the line is!

Bottom line is, I'm not a descendant of HJ's line. But I am a cousin. Distant cousin. The distance is pleasing to me!

4th cousin 5 times removed.

Moose: I had to read *HJ* several / many times. *HJ* = horny Joe,(or is that Heavenly Joe?). Cracking up, LOL. (or is that CULMAO?)

I *think* you & I may be related. Half plus names, that you mentioned, are in my line, or named roads, in my area.

(singing, *It's a small world, after all*)

Maybe, just part of the Westward Migration, along the Erie Canal route? (Palmyra is there. Damn you, HJ).

To all:

Thanks.

I posted this, do to my life long, general interest, in the *family tree* (although moronism & my mum's interest, showed up 'bout the same time) and do the fact, that speaking with my father, he showed, what seemed to a genuine interest in his family tree.

But,

He knows that his father was in the Merchant Marines ( & has talked somewhat about it), later *drafted* into the US navy (WW2). I've seen the discharge papers. But he didn't seem to know, that his grandfather was, at least registered, for WW1. That his G/ grandfather was a Spanish / American War veteran. Or that his GG / grandfather was a Civil War veteran. Or that, that GG / grandfather lost 2 BIL's, do to that war.

*I'd like to see that, in print*

(another project)

Sigh,,,,

Okay, I'll be serious for once.

My direct line goes back to Jamestown in 1620. I also have Mayflower ancestors. This means that I am related to a lot of people here in the US of A, since many lines descend from these early immigrants. These early lines crossed and recrossed in marriage, so the relationships can be complex. Sometimes I think I could be my own grandpa (remember that little song?).

So, we are probably related! How closely is the question.

Also, a comment was posted above that I can't particularly ascertain for sure was a jab or a joke, but I don't brag about having a certain ancestry. There may be "notables" and "the infamous" among them but they earned their own notoriety. I, myself, have done nothing to earn any accolades.

Other than being a talking ass.

I mean moose!

*returning to usual non-serious mode*

It's not just a Mormon thing, as in my nevermo family, both sides have done their family trees. One thing that has been shown on both sides of the family is that the youngest age anyone has gotten married was at 20, in the 1800's. While Mormons love to claim that people married in their teens as an attempt to defend what Joseph Smith did, that wasn't the case at all in the real world. I guess the US Census is an "anti-Mormon" organization because the statistics show that teenage marriages were rare nearly 200 years ago.