But my connections with my cousins seem to come through others seeing my ancestry tree...and maybe this blog. I've been recently contacted by a fourth cousin, and had so much fun finding out about her family, as well as re-examing our ancestors in common.
Out great great great grandparents are Capt. Alexander Swasey, Sr. and Ruth Woodward. Cousin Linda visited their graves recently in Newport, Rhode Island and took photos which provided new information on them. These aren't just the birth and date information kind of news.
There are 4 graves clustered in a row, and Ruth is next to Alexander. Then there is another woman buried right next to her. And the women's markers both say that they were the wife of Alexander! So he had a second wife, which I'd never known about.
"Capt. Alexander G. Swasey," "Ruth Woodward, wife of Alexander Swasey," "Delany Clark, wife of Alexander Swasey," "Joseph D. Swasey, son of Alexander Swasey." It is very strange to me that both Ruth and Delany only had their maiden names on their graves, though the "wife of..." was there also. I wonder why. (And now that I think about it, these markers were given these inscriptions based on the memory of a surviving descendent...who we don't know at this point.)
Ancestry gives hints of new information on people, so I don't usually have to go looking for census, birth, marriage, death or city directory data. But lately I'm having to scratch through many documents, and it's paid off. The 12 children of Alexander and Ruth had very interesting lives. I've found one son (William Pitt Swasey) who didn't die in 1843, but in 1890, and he's buried in New Jersey next to his wife.
I found out their (Alex and Ruth Woodward Swasey's) eldest daughter, Delany Swasey, did marry before she died in in St. Mary's Georgia. She married in St. Augustine FL according to the marriage certificate.
Alexander and Ruth Woodward Swasey had many grandchildren of course. I learned today that their 2 year old granddaughter, Mary Jane Swasey, had not perished at sea with Jerathmel Bowers Swasey and his wife and other daughter. Maybe she had not been on that ship for some reason, and though she was orphaned, she lived at least until she was 19, according to a census where she lived with another family of her mother's maiden name.
I could give you all the details, but I'm too excited today. Not a good thing when dealing with all these little details. So I'll just say how glad I am that I got contacted by my cousin Linda.
I am still waiting for the results of my DNA test. That is so strange about people being able to post to your tree. My tree was public for years until just recently when I made it private, and I luckily never had that happen to me.
ReplyDeleteI know...but suddenly there were all these Sevierville grave photos and cousins added to my tree. I was so upset I deleted them, after all, I had no verification that those were our relatives even. There were several Rogers families in Sevier County early days.
DeleteI think I sent in my DNA father's day (when they had that sale) last year. It took about 6 weeks. And there are some interesting people who we're related to (I think they just follow the male line, so no mitochondrial or mother's DNA is researched...do you know?)
Anyway, Linda has contritubed some neat photos from her visit to Newport. I hope she will connect with you also, since you're also her 4th cousin, and know a lot more about genealogy than I do. I'm posting her photos with her permission, this week.