Do you want a closer connection to Nikola Tesla?

+28 votes
970 views

Have you all seen the new addition to the Connection Finder? This month's winning Connection Combat profile was electricity pioneer Nikola Tesla, and for the next few weeks you can check how many degrees separate the two of you in the big WikiTree.

Personally, I'm 47 degrees separated from Nikola Tesla which is close to how many steps there were between me and AJ Jacobs when the Connection Finder first debuted. As the Global Family Reunion project added profiles and made connections between existing ones, I saw that number drop until it eventually hit 29 steps. So, who is in to try the same thing with Tesla? Post how many degrees separate you and Tesla, and then let's get to work branching out and making connections. In two weeks, we'll come back and see who had the most dramatic change in connection.

We can also post leads and tips in this thread and encouragement to keep going!

WikiTree profile: Nikola Tesla
in Requests for Project Volunteers by Erin Breen G2G6 Pilot (334k points)

There are several non-Open 19th-century profiles along my 38-step path to Tesla. One of those profiles, DeVilbiss-70, is a person born in 1814. That profile's privacy should be reset to Open.

Thanks, Ellen!
Here's an interesting link, for those of you who enjoy translating cyrillic...

http://boards.ancestry.ca/localities.eeurope.yugoslavia.serbia/456.458.1/mb.ashx
And here's Tesla's family tree - all in cyrillic...

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/9241/n2l.gif

With an attempted translation by Lucy Lavelle:

http://imgur.com/xfFCOGl

I think the part of this that fascinates me more than anything is the existence of a brother to Nikola's grandfather Nikola, apparently named Rade. I can't find any reference to him, but it does appear he was around at some point
Scott, Cyrillic! Be still my heart! Tesla's tree in Cyrllic1

Cousin Dorothy

PS, Time to make those other alphabets available to PM's everywhere. Pleeeze...

I accidentally created a duplicate Peter Mohs who is 14 steps from Tesla. When he is merged with the existing Peter Mohs who is 41 steps from Tesla I hope we will all grow a little closer. 

wow! That's a huge jump! Nice work, Karen.
One giant leap for Peter Mohs, hopefully one or two small steps for the rest of us. :)
Nice work, Karen! Neil Armstrong, the two-steppin' astronaut would be proud. (At least I think it was Neil who coined the "one giant leap" phrase. Could be wrong.)
That's one giant leap for Peter Mohs, and one "how nice for you!" from the rest of us.

We didn't get any closer with that particular connection. Hmm, who shall we branch out from next?
I don't know if Everingham-373 was fully explored for connections. There might be some way to piece together a closer connection through the Everingham line as opposed to going through the Kersting line (Kersting-83) which is where the connections currently branch from. Kersting-83 to AJ is 32 degrees. Maybe the Everingham to AJ link (if one is found) may be closer.
If someone could find the fathers of Duchanie-1 and LaBrot-3 in Wisconsin we might find some good French Canadian links.
I think only here for three months this ain t bad :D Nikola Tesla is 46 Degrees from Astrid Schellenberger
Wow! I'm 25 degrees from Nikola Tesla. I admire his great intelligence.

16 Answers

+16 votes
I'm 51 degrees.
by Larissa Loomes G2G6 Mach 1 (11.0k points)
Psst...49!
+15 votes
I am 35 Degrees
by Dale Byers G2G Astronaut (1.7m points)
34 now. :)
+21 votes
I'm 95 degrees and especially honored to be connected to someone I admire so much.

Truth be known, I'm totally thrilled to be able to connect to anyone at all no matter how distantly - this is such a novelty for me!
by Gaile Connolly G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
That's awesome, Gaile ! I am tooting a horn & throwing streamers for you
Hey Gaile, check it out! Now you're just 66 steps from Nikola Tesla.
40 degrees here, Gaile. But like you, I'm just honored to be connected at all to Tesla. Without those ubiquitous Thorntons, who seem to reach everywhere, I'd be sitting at Tesla's front gate begging for a chance to get into his yard. Thanks, Grandpa Cook…once again I'm grateful to you!

And she exits whistling the "40 degree" rag…

"you put your left foot in, you put your left foot out, you put your left foot in and you shake it all about…"
I am all excited now, Dorothy - if you and I are both connected to Tesla then that means we're related to each other!!!!!  I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather be related to and will be proud to call you cousin from now on!!!!!!!!!!!!

About putting all those feet in, you sure do sound like a relation of mine - the only thing is, where I tend to keep putting my feet is in my mouth.
Gaile,

That's what its all about.

Signed, Cousin Dorothy.
Yo, cuz Dorothy - it sounds pretty hokey to me
Call me hokey any time you like, but never accuse me of being pokey. At least for supper.

DC
Wait, did you just cross your left foot with your right when you were shaking it all about? Because 95 is now 59. That's awesome!
Couldn't happen to a better person than Gaile, Karen. And you (Karen) just made my afternoon. That is, if I can stop laughing.
+15 votes
I have no connection.
by Doug Lockwood G2G Astronaut (2.6m points)
Thank you Erin...I was looking at the relationship finder
36 degrees. Woot!
+16 votes
I'm 43 degrees but, I'm going to get closer!
by Bill Sekel G2G6 Pilot (125k points)
40 degrees. Closer, closer!
+11 votes
Sorry to be late seeing this post but I am 41 degrees from Nikola Tesla.  Cool!   How are the connections going?  Am am sorry that I don't have much time to help right now.
by Judy Lesso G2G6 (8.8k points)
I was late to the party as well. Judy's 36 degrees from Tesla now.
+9 votes

Ooh, I do, I do! I'm currently 42 degrees away from Nikola Tesla, compared to my 28 degrees from A.J. and 25 degrees from Kevin Bacon.

by Liander Lavoie G2G6 Pilot (451k points)
Let's make that 38!
+10 votes
I did this with AJ as well - I found a branch of Guffey relations and added marriages to my Tennessee cousins to shorten my connection.

Today there are 39 steps between Tesla and me.
by Karen Lowe G2G6 Pilot (189k points)

I made a connection that probably won't shorten my own path, but might pull in some others. Eugene Kersting is 5 steps from Tesla along my chain. I added his grandmother Jennie (Oxtoby) Kersting and a bunch of others in a winding path to Christopher Wickwire (1680-1746) of Connecticut, who is currently showing as 35 steps from Tesla. He should get several steps closer in the next server run.

Ooh, that did shorten my connection after all. Christopher Wickwire went from 35 steps to 18, and my connection now includes his descendants and decreased from 39 sreps to 35. Cool!
Nice going, Karen! My Tesla connection "suddenly" went from 38 steps to 32.

I have Howard Wickwire in my connection path now. I found that his brother-in-law's brother-in-law Julius Wilcox has several ancestors that are already connected to Nikola Tesla. By connecting them I see that Dale Byers got one step closer to Tesla. Here are some of Julius' ancestors:

  1. Thomas Gage went from 33 to 23 degrees
  2. Deacon Nathaniel Jones went from 30 to 21 degrees
  3. Mehetabel Holbrook went from 32 to 22 degrees
  4. John Corbett went from 31 to 22 degrees

I'm connecting Rhoda Peak who is 34 degrees away to her parents Jacob Peak and Mary Jane Jones who are 39 degrees away. I don't know if any of us are close enough to them to get a small boost, but there you go.

+9 votes

Nikola Tesla is 41 Degrees from Guy Constantineau

by Guy Constantineau G2G6 Pilot (379k points)
Now 33 degrees through the Wickwire family. Neat!
+6 votes
35 degrees today.
by Chris Orme G2G6 Mach 2 (27.3k points)
+5 votes
I am on wikitree 44 steps and 49 steps by blood lines on Geni.com, but on Geni we are missing the mother of the mother of Nikola.
by Jeroen Mathijs Willem van Dijk G2G6 (6.9k points)
+3 votes
I'm 17 degrees from him.
by Aaron Gullison G2G6 Pilot (179k points)
+3 votes
27 degrees, but no blood relation to him.
by Jennifer Robins G2G6 Pilot (248k points)
+3 votes
27 degrees
by Eric Weddington G2G6 Pilot (513k points)
+4 votes
I'm 28 degrees
by Nicole Boorse G2G6 Pilot (884k points)
+3 votes
26 degrees.
by Lucy Selvaggio-Diaz G2G6 Pilot (821k points)

Related questions

+8 votes
3 answers
+5 votes
1 answer
476 views asked Apr 29, 2018 in Genealogy Help by anonymous
+22 votes
35 answers
+18 votes
7 answers

WikiTree  ~  About  ~  Help Help  ~  Search Person Search  ~  Surname:

disclaimer - terms - copyright

...