http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1

Sorry for the lull in blogging. I am taking a summer break and focusing on gardening, yard work, writing, and other projects. One of those projects is family history research and temple work! In the past month of focusing intently on this, I have discovered that I have distant cousin relationships to the following:

-Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

-9 or the current 12 apostles of Jesus Christ

-George Mason, the founding father

-The Allerton Family on the Mayflower

-Roger Sherman, the founding father

-Aaron Burr

-eight other signers of the Declaration of Independence, including Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin

-Almanzo Wilder

-Laura Ingalls Wilder

-Walt Disney

I also figured out that I am directly descended from the following:

-William Bradford, the governor of Plymouth Plantation

-Moses Fletcher, one of the Mayflower Pilgrims

and Charlemagne, he’s my 31st great-grandfather!

I love finding these “lost” cousins and ancestors! 

At an Independence Day breakfast with some of my homeschooling friends from my commonwealth school, I found out that one of those friends is my second cousin! I’ve always felt a kinship to her but I didn’t know it was literal! She has been my friend for eight years and I never knew my second cousin was right under my nose! Our grandmothers are sisters, and our moms are first cousins. We share a common great-grandmother, Ethel Winsor. Here is a picture of our great-great–grandmother, Sarah Alydia Terry and her husband, Anson Perry Winsor Jr.,  and children. The little girl is our great-grandmother Ethel. 

Maybe some of you out there are my cousins too! Watch the video above and get excited about “finding our lost cousins!”