"However humble may have been the condition of those who fled to New England, in its primeval and savage state, to found a land of freedom of thought and action, their names will occupy a proud place in history which is yet to be written, and ungrateful must be that descendant of those founders who will not in some way aid to rescue their names from oblivion, that they may be engraved upon the tablets of enduring annals."
— G. S. DRAKE.
I found this quote on a website that traces my paternal grandmother's family name. I don't know who G. S. Drake is, but I think I understand his sentiment. On that website I found my grandmother's name, neatly outlined in a family tree that traces back to ancestors who came to America in 1591.
This same side of the family is cataloged in OneWorldTree, a division of Ancestry.com that pulls common family trees together. I found my grandmother there, and hit the little button that says "find famous relatives."
Then I fell out of my chair.
Famous relatives? I've got them.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
- Samuel Adams
- Florence Nightingale
- Georgia O'Keefe
- Mary Baker Eddy
- Two signers of the Declaration of Independence
- 6 U.S. Presidents
- Elizabeth Browning
- Jack London
- Aldous Huxley
- Isaac Newton
- Lucille Ball
- Nathanial Hawthorne
- Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Bette Davis
- Norman Rockwell
- J.P. Morgan
- Robert Frost
- Gregory Peck
Of course, of all of these, my kids were most interested in the serial killer. His name was Joe Ball and he's suspected of disposing of the bodies by feeding them to his alligators down in Texas.
This is only one branch of my family tree. My mother's side goes back to 1389 and a little church in England. My paternal grandfather goes back to the mid-1700s in Denmark.
I am absolutely caught up in this project right now. And to the lovely gentleman named Ebenezer at the top of the page? I just want you to know that you are not forgotten.
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