Ancestors of Winston Churchill

Question

Gifford-2434, Meribah Gifford, daughter of Benjamin Gifford and Sarah Tompkins is shown on Family Search as the 3x great grandmother of Winston Churchill (Churchill-4).

According to Family Search, Churchill's parents were Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill and Jennette Jerome.  Jennett was the daughter of Walter (Jerome-2) and Clarissa (Hall-8). Clarissa was the daughter of Ambrose (Hall-9) and Clarissa (Wilcox-5).  Clarissa Wilcox was the daughter of David (Wilcox-6) and Anna (Baker-4).  David was the son of William (Wilcox-227) and Sarah (Smith-6542) and Sarah (whose profile currently has no parents attached) was the daughter of Eleazer Smith (Smith-144324) and Meribah Gifford (Gifford-2434).

I haven't had a chance to check sources on Family Search...before I do, does anyone have any comments on this discovery?  If it's bogus, I'd rather know now than to create a problem with Winston Churchill's family tree!

Thanks so much!

Answer 1

Family Search as a genealogical site tends to be quite reliable overall by providing quality sources in a variety of public records. Each person in the line that you have presented should be verified by the use of primary sourcing, preferably birth certificates, if available.

Answer 2

https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/winston-churchills-parents.html

His mother was the American Jennie Jerome. The Jeromes fought for the independence of the American colonies in George Washington's armies.

Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill was born in 1849, the second son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough. Miss Jennie Jerome was several years younger than her husband, born in 1854 and was the second of the four daughters of Leonard and Clara Jerome of New York.

https://winstonchurchill.org/the-life-of-churchill/child/lord-and-lady-randolph-churchill/

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born on November 30, 1874, to a British father and an American mother. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a British politician and aristocrat. His mother, Jennie Jerome, was the beautiful daughter of an American entrepreneur.

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/wc-youth.html

Comments

Thank you!  I finally found the connections on Family Search with enough reliable sources listed that I think I have connected Sir Winston Churchill to the Gifford family of Westport, MA, correctly.

I was tipped off by this connection by chance.  One of my Facebook Groups is the Historical Society of Westport which I joined when I discovered that most of the original founders of what was then part of Dartmouth, MA, settled there in order to establish a Friends Meeting in an area that was safe for them to worship as they chose.

The Historical Society is thoughtful enough to post videos of some of their winter programs which is helpful to me because I live in Upstate New York (the Adirondacks) and can't attend their meetings.  Richard Gifford, a descendant of many of the early settlers recently presented a program about the Gifford family and mentioned that Churchill's 3x great grandmother was Meribah Gifford.  Naturally, curiousity got the better of me and now I can say that the connection is complete!

If there are any Gifford descendants on WikiTree, I can provide the url for the program.

Thanks!