52 Ancestors Week 7: Favorite Discovery

Question

Time for the next 52 Ancestors challenge!

Please share with us a profile of an ancestor or relative who matches this week's theme:

Favorite Discovery

From Amy Johnson Crow: What is the neatest thing you've found while exploring your family's history? What makes you smile even now thinking about it?

Share below!

Participants who share every week can earn badges. If this is your first time participating and you don't have the participation badge, or if you pass a milestone (13 in 13, 26 in 26, 52 in 52) let us know here. Click here for more about the challenge.

Comments

Like so many on WikiTree I am delighted by the connectivity that brings exciting discoveries "free of charge."  Thomas Blossom was certainly one of those for me.  He and his son were on the Speedwell set to accompany the Mayflower to the New World.  His family had to wait a few years to finally make that trip on a second Mayflower after their ship sprang a leak before even getting on its way.

---

My husband, Bob Chancy, came from a line of farmers. His 9th great grandfather,  Charles (Chauncey-8) was quite a surprise. We found him thanks to FTDNA testing. 

He was the second president of Harvard College. 

As my husbands cousin said "Don't you guys like vowels?"

This is my 4th week and this challenge is motivation to find out more about both our families

---

I like this discovery because it was so random. I was looking for my great uncle James Colville at Greenwood Cemetery in Rockford which is a large meandering cemetery. It took three trips to find him. On my first “unsuccessful” try, I saw a stone with a familiar name “Enoch“. I thought she might be related to a pioneer buried in my first cemetery page https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Guilford_Union_Cemetery

Turns out she was his daughter. But that wasn’t the only discovery. She was married to John https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Andrew-1979 my first cousin 3x removed and early resident of the Scottish Settlement in Argyle 

That would not be the last time taking a photo of a gravestone on a hunch would pay off. 

---

My husband's and my family were both in the Boston area in the 1630's, and I have been trying to find out if we are related in a very distant way.  I have not yet found that connection.  But in the process, I found that Richard Warren, one of the Mayflower pilgrims, is my 11th great grandfather.  I found that I also have connections to Myles Standish, and John Alden (although not direct, they are through a couple of great-aunts)!

---

My favorite discovery was finding my dad's family.  I never knew my grandfather, he died before I was born.  I found his Ellis Island record and found the town in Italy that he was from.  I looked online for the town and there were email addresses of 3 people who ran the website.    I emailed all three in hopes one spoke English.  I received an email back from one man who knew my family.  He went to their house and took pictures and sent them to me.  A year after that I went to Italy to meet my family and of course the man who connected us.  It was a wonderful discovery.

Answer 1

Finding another trail to the Mayflower, especially when I wasn’t even looking for it! I was looking for stuff on McCurdys and it leads to Henry Sampson. Now to just get there from where I am now lol