Patterns & Intersections in Genealogy

We all have patterns and intersections in our ancestry—but we don’t always know about them. Sometimes we just stumble upon them. One of the greatest joys of genealogy is finding those connections. Below you will read a collection of such things in my research. I encourage you to be on the look-out for your own. And to anyone reading this on Christmas Eve, Christmas or Boxing Day—may I wish you the good tidings of the season!

I have written two other blog posts about intersections: Genealogy Intersections: Revisiting the 1719 Deed of Little Packington in Warwickshire and The Intersection of Gardening and Genealogy. You can check them out for my ideas. My first memorable intersection was finding out that my husband’s WHEATON line, is also my own. The immigrant Robert WHEATON had a daughter Hannah, who is my 9th great grandmother! Making my husband and I, 8th cousins 3 times removed. I can prove my line—however his is still only proven via DNA. Cousinship in families that have been in this country for a long time or lived in the same area is not that unusual but fun nonetheless.

COINCIDENCE

Then when I was working on my paternal grandparents lines MOSIER and HENAGER I realized they each had an ancestor that came over from Germany to Philadelphia arriving the 21st of September 1731 on the same ship “Britannia”. So Milo Dean MOSIER and Carrie HENAGER, my grandparents, married and never knew they had this connection.

And then there was my piece, A Tale of Two Soldiers, about my two paternal 2nd great grandfathers who both served in the Civil War, one for the Union from Illinois and the other for the Confederates from Texas. And how they served on the same Battlefield. So this makes at least two connections between my paternal Grandparents.

Then recently while working on my maternal 2nd great grandfather, Revolutionary War solider, Peter P HALL I found he served under Lieutenant Colonel Roger ENOS and under Col. Return MEIGS of the 22nd Regiment of the Continental Army. In the records I spotted another familiar name that of my paternal 2nd great grandfather Daniel Bertine STEWART, also serving under Lieutenant Colonel Roger ENOS and under Col. Return MEIGS of the 22nd Regiment of the Continental Army.

PATTERNS

AGE at MARRIAGE: There are lots of patterns that we seldom focus on. One is the tendency to marry older or younger. In my husband’s WHEATON line the men have a tendency to marry younger women. In years going backward 8 years younger wife, 5 years younger with first wife and 24 as a widower, 23 years younger, 13 years younger and 6 years younger. In my mother’s Swedish line the women are older +3, + 8, +2 and another Swedish line the women are +2, +5. Once we get further back in Sweden it seems to even out.

MARRIAGE & ORIGIN: This one seemed strange to me my paternal grandparents were of mixed ancestry but both had German surnames and similar backgrounds. But what caught my eye was that for three generations in the middle all the MOSIER/MOSER men married women of Scottish ancestry.

However when I visited Scotland and a couple of years later it made sense to me, although it is hard to articulate. Both countries pride themselves on their open, hearty hospitality especially if you express that you have ancestry there. The mid day meal with lots of meats bread and cheese was very similar. In Scotland we met quite a number of Germans on holiday and it seems a favored location to visit. There is something of the same artistic, storytelling, Celtic tradition that seems familiar. There is a stress on hearth and home, honor and courage. Traditions that seem deeply embedded in these ancestors. Maybe it is just happenstance—but I couldn’t help noticing it.

Some other things to get you thinking about possible patterns or intersections:

• Longevity
• Cause of Death
• Migration patterns
• Intermarriage
• Birth Order
• Age at Birth of First child
• Age at Birth of Last child
• Number of Marriage
• Occupations
• Religious Affiliation (or lack thereof)
• Twins or multiple births

INTERMARRIAGE & PEDIGREE COLLAPSE

My most recent evidence of cousins marrying cousins is my paternal 2nd great grandfather who married his second cousin. Both descended from Matthew SPARKS and Eleanor BROOKS. But once we get back to New England it becomes a terrible tangle. My most prolific ancestors to populate my tree are my 9th great grandparents immigrant Walter PALMER and wife Rebecca SHORT who met and married in Charlestown, Massachusetts owned property in Rehoboth and settled in Stonington, Connecticut. They had nine children together and of them Hannah, Nehemiah and Gershom PALMER are my ancestors. And one possible cousin to Walter is also and ancestor. Then in Rehoboth, Henry & Mary BUTTERWORTH appear 3 times and Sampson MASON & his wife Mary BUTTERWORTH twice and John MILLARD & wife Elizabeth BAUGH twice and William SABIN and his wife twice.

My son in law is related to me 4 ways. Three on his father’s side and one on his mother’s, all at the 8th cousin once removed. I worked for a man who wanted me to work on a particular connection in his family tree. He turned out to be my fifth cousin on my maiden name line. The connection are all around us—with people we have known for decades and others we just met.

WHY IT MATTERS

The key is to use the information to enhance your understanding and make your stories more interesting. The more you look at patterns the more things make sense. For instance back in my post Deep Diving: Water Wheels and Paper Making in 19th Century Sweden I was able to figure out why my family traveled far and wide across Sweden (Master Paper makers were in high demand.) Sometimes it is impossible to get anything close to a full picture of the past. But the more I have concentrated on one person at a time and attempted to recreating their stories the more I believe a lot more is possible than we can ever imagine.

In a world of chaos we are always looking for things that bring us together.

“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

Kelly Wheaton ©2023 – All Rights Reserved