What led to this exciting discovery? ( See Presbury - Mayflower Pedigree Chart, West Pedigree Chart, and Spence Pedigree Chart.)
First, I had always heard the legend, (from Cousin Howie Spence, storyteller extraordinaire, and my grandmother Bessie Spence Robertson) that we are related to Sir Charles Tupper, a founding father of Canada, the first premier, and a governor of Nova Scotia. Super important guy. Sir Charles is supposed to be a cousin of Grannie, Phoebe Esther Rushton Spence, mother of Bessie. Of course when I was a kid I thought all cousins had the same grandparents, and I was a little disappointed to learn that Sir Charles could be our 2nd, 3rd, or 4th cousin.
I looked him up in the encyclopedia, and I found that his father, Rev. Charles Tupper, was a minister in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. I knew that our Rushtons lived in Cumberland County since the time of the Revolution, so that made sense, even tho the encyclopedia didn't show any connection.
When I joined Ancestry.com 15 years ago, I decided that was a great tool to find out who Sir Charles's ancestors were. It took a while, but I saw that Sir Charles's great-grandmother was Elizabeth West. No Rushtons at all. The Tuppers weren't even from Cumberland County, they were from Kings County. Exit the Rushton family, enter the West family. I knew, because Nana, Bessie, talked about her all the time, that her grandmother, Phoebe's mother, was Susan West who married a Rushton. Susan West was from Cumberland County, but there was now a definite connection, the Wests.
Even tho my research didn't go back past Susan, Sir Charles Tupper's family sure did. His great-grandmother Elizabeth West had settled in Nova Scotia as a child with her whole family. The Wests and the Tuppers came from Massachusetts.
Now it looked like our West ancestors, providing they are the same people as Sir Charles's West ancestors, lived in Massachusetts in the 1700s! Could they be Pilgrims???? Just 150 more years to go back!
Turns out yes, Sir Charles Tupper is our cousin. More specifically, he is Levi West's 2rd cousin. Susan West's 2nd cousin once removed, Grannie Phoebe's 2nd cousin twice removed. While Sir Charles was running Canada and Rev. Charles was a Biblical scholar, Susan could read but not write her name. What is wrong with that picture? Oh well.
Ok, years go by, playing around, adding more ancestors. I came across somebody's family tree with a picture that said, Mayflower Descendent. That was too incredible to even look at calmly! But Descendent was spelled wrong, and those online trees are notoriously inaccurate. So I backed waaaaaay up, and gradually began to document my case.
----------------------I have now heard from the Mayflower Society! --------------------------------
APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP To the Society of Mayflower Descendants
in Virginia I hereby apply for membership in this Society by right of bloodline descent in the 13th generation from RICHARD WARREN who was a passenger on the MAYFLOWER voyage which terminated at Plymouth, New England, December, 1620.
Name of Applicant ANNE ELIZABETH (SULZBACH) WENDEL Anne S. Wendel
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments
Post a Comment