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I, Claudius, Great-Grandpa

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Emperor Claudius I of Rome

Claudius (1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54, emperor from AD 24) occupied Britain in AD 43. As part of his pacification program, his eldest daughter Genuissa (Venessa Julia) Claudia married a Briton king, Aviragus (Arviragas Arfyrag). Those two had a son, King Marius, whose son in turn was the aforementioned Old King Coel. As you recall, Coel was an obedient vassal of Rome, and had probably been educated there before becoming king. Turns out he had Roman blood, Emperor blood even, and so have we. Coel was the great-grandson of Claudius, and all of us relatives are approximately 65th great grandchildren of this Roman Emperor. There is also Claudius’ maternal grandfather, Mark Antony, at around 67th.

Mark Antony (83-30 BCE)

All these connections are made in all the sources I have consulted, without significant controversy. If I selected certain of the “alternate parents” suggested for some other descendants, I could reach Julius Caesar himself, plus the Biblical Joseph of Aramathea. But I did not, and so we are stuck with “only” Claudius and Mark Antony.

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Old King Cole, Great-Grandpa

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

A note on sources: Although I am not sourcing this work rigorously, I am only accepting connections that are non-controversial among two or three (unauthoritative) Internet sources, mostly One World Tree($), Wikipedia, and Jamie Allen‘s pedigree. If any of these sources differ, or indicate more than one possible mother (or father) of an individual, I am not including any of them in my data. If you want to be more speculative, here is a site that traces from Charlemagne all the way back to Adam(!)

Old King Cole

The English nursery rhyme, “Old King Cole was a merry old soul …” has been traced by scholars to as early as the third century C.E. (or AD). One of several possible rulers the ditty may refer to is a certain Coel (Latin: Coilus I), a king of Britons who lived from about 85-170 C.E. The Britons were a Celtic people, one of several inhabiting the British Isles before the Roman occupation.

Well, this particular Coel fellow was a willing vassal of the Roman Empire; indeed, he spent much of his youth in Rome. More on that later. Moving forward from King Coel, we find that his daughter, Athildis of the Britons, married Marcomir IV, king of the Franks. By this political matchup, Coel became an ancestor of that “other” Frank, Charlemagne, 26 generations later. Thus for me and all my relatives, “Old King Coel” is our approximately 62nd great-grandfather.

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Beyond Charlemagne

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Now that we have solidly established that the emperor Charlemagne is an ancestor of both the Larson’s and the Myers’, it opens up a rapidly branching path reaching back many more centuries – in some cases beyond the “B.C. Barrier.”

As I argued earlier, it is not surprising that nearly everyone who can trace their genealogy back to the middle ages will at some point get into royalty, and that will likely lead them to Charlemagne. The sheer number of ancestors is overwhelming. At the time of Charlemagne (742-814 CE), each person on earth today must have, mathematically, 68,719,476,736 – 36th great-grandfathers! No more and no less. Hundreds of times the earth’s entire population in that period. One of them almost has to be Charlemagne. Still, following the threads is a lot of fun.

Charlemagne himself was a big genealogy nut, and worked hard at documenting his ancestry. Combine that with the fact that he is an ancestor of so many modern genealogists, and there is huge information on his pedigree, back a long, long way. It is true that in pre-Christian Europe, even the kings were mostly illiterate, their history propagated by oral tradition for centuries before it was formally documented. Even so, the consensus between researchers is quite strong along many of the blood lines. Stay tuned for some really, really OLD news!

Charlemagne

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Conquerors,Vikings, and Saints

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

Cousin Lois has done it again. Her comments always set me thinking. She recommended a book, “1066: The Hidden History In the Bayeux Tapestry,” by Andrew Bridgeford. I haven’t seen the book yet, but I launched into the subject on Wikipedia and other Internet sources about the so-called Norman Conquest of England, by William the Conqueror in 1066. A bloody year in a bloody century, to be sure, and one of the most studied periods in medieval history. William*, you may recall, is my 28th great-grandfather, genes courtesy of my mother. Just to refresh your memory, in October of that year, William’s forces defeated and killed the last Anglo-Saxon king, Harold Godwinson, in the Battle of Hastings. Note that even though he was Anglo-Saxon, the king is known by a Scandinavian-style surname; indeed, his mother was a Danish princess. Of course, the Normans themselves were descended from Danish Viking settlers in Normandy, but that is another story.

William the Conqueror (1027-1087)

Well here is a tidbit I got for my efforts: A different battle, a month before the fateful Battle of Hastings, brought by a third claimant to the English throne, himself another ancestor of mine! I speak of Harald III “Hardrada,” king of Norway. Harald of Norway had invaded England, in collusion with Godwinson’s estranged brother, Tostig. Harald’s claim to the English throne was weak, but so were those of the other two pretenders. The invasion, however, ended in a debacle that for many historians marks the end of the entire Viking era. In September 1066, Harald was in his turn defeated and killed, along with Tostig Godwinson, at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, by the forces of Harold Godwinson. (In fact, control of much of England had swung between Anglo-Saxon and Viking for over two centuries.) Although they had crushed the Norse invaders, it could be argued that Godwinson’s army was weakened by its battle with the Vikings, and less fit to battle the Normans.

I just mention this because Harald Hardrada is another 28th great-grandfather, thanks to my father’s (Lovell’s) mother, Anna Moen.

Oh, and by the way, Harald III Hardrada is also a half-brother of Olaf II, famed in Norsk circles as Saint Olaf, patron saint of Norway.

Oh, and also, Saint Olaf is my 29th great-grandfather, due to a marriage several generations later between descendants of Harald and Olaf.

I guess this helps balance with my “other” ancestors: the peasants and the potato-thief.

Olaf II "the Saint" (995-1030)

*Note that each link above is unique; that is, if there are two links on a particular subject, such as “Anglo-Saxon,” they lead to two different articles.

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Lovell and Reatha Were Cousins, Too!

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

Tracing back from the “Pilgrim connection,” I uncovered not one, but two common ancestors of my parents, Lovell and Reatha (Myers) Larson.

One is the emperor Charlemegne himself (742-814 C.E.), whom Orrin Moen traced as the 34th great-grandfather of Lovell through Lovell’s mother Anna Moen, and Charlemagne’s son Louis I “The Pious.” And now, I have identified another son of Charlemagne, Pepin of Italy, as the 34th great-grandfather of Reatha through her father Dan Myers, making Charlemagne Reatha’s 35th great. This makes Lovell and Reatha approximately 35th cousins, once removed. This is actually a redundant connection, as Charlemagne is again an ancestor of Dan Myers through another marriage several generations later; this time the nearest common ancestor is Louis I. Yet another “nearest common” is Baldwin II, son of Judith Martel. By the time I finished with all these threads, I ended up with at least eight different lines leading to Charlemagne .

The second distinct connection is in Kiev(!) Yaroslav I “the Wise,”(978-1054) Duke of Kiev, is the 28th great-grandfather of Lovell, and the 27th great of Reatha. By this line, my parents are approx. 28th cousins, again once removed. More proof that if you go back far enough, we are all cousins. These 11th-century rulers of Kiev were intermarried with at least one Scandinavian … perhaps my next project will trace Reatha’s ancestors into pre-Christian Norway.

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Pilgrims to Potentates

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Earlier, I mentioned in passing that one line of those New England ancestors of Dan Myers goes back to medieval European royalty. As I expected, those pedigrees are well researched and documented, going back several more centuries. I have now added nearly all of them to my database, and you can view them by going to “full pedigrees” and selecting Dan Myers.

Before I began the “Pilgrim Connection,” my knowledge of Dan’s pedigree totaled about 36 individuals. There are now over 800! About 200 of these were already in the database, due to cross-connections (more on this later). The other 600, I have added manually over the past month. Some of the more familiar names among these ancestors are: King John of England (1166-1216; legendary enemy of Robin Hood), William the Conqueror (c. 1027-1087), King Philip I of France (1053-1108), Duncan I of Scotland (d. 1040; highly fictionalized in Shakespeare’s Macbeth), Hugh Capet (940-996; first king of France), Vladimir I of Kiev (958-1015), and of course our old friend, Charlemagne (742-814). Wait a minute … I was already related to those last two. Stay tuned.

Posted in Myers, The Ancient Past | 4 Comments »

Pilgrim Connection, Update 3

Friday, January 15th, 2010

I am deleting update 2, as this post updates and corrects the same information. Below is a list of the eight ancestors of Dan Myers who were born in New England during the first 35 years of European settlement.

Ancestors of Helen Colby Myers in early Massachusetts :

John Colby (5th great-grandfather) b. 8 Sept. 1633, Boston. Parents Anthony Colby and Susanna Haddon both came from England in 1630 on a ship of the “Winthrop fleet.” House of Names mentions Anthony Colby and Susanna settling in Salem, Mass. In 1630.

Frances Hoyt (5th great-grandmother) b. 1636 in Salisbury, Mass. Parents John Hoyt and Frances Jewell both came from England. Married John Colby.

William Eldridge, alt. Eldred (5th g. grandfather) b. 4 Sept. 1627, Yarmouth, Mass. Parents Thomas Eldred and Anne Watson both came from England.

Anne Lumpkin (5th g. grandmother) b. 1631, Yarmouth, Mass. Parents William Lumpkin and Thomasin (Constable?) both came from England. Parents apparently returned to England eventually. Married William Eldridge.

Mary Rowell (4th g. grandmother) b. 3 Jan 1649 in Salisbury, Mass. Parents Valentine Rowell and Joanna Pinder came from England and were married in Mass. Colony. After a “morals offense,” Mary Rowell married Thomas Frame, who had earlier come from England as an indentured servant.

John Folsom (4th g. grandfather) b. 3 Oct. 1641 in Hingham, Plymouth, Mass. Parents John Folsom and Mary Gilman both came from England.

Abigail Perkins (4th g. grandmother) b. 12 Apr. 1655 in Hampton, New Hampshire. Parents Abraham Perkins and Mary Wyeth both came from England. Married John Folsom. Perkins ancestry is traced back to medieval royalty, which means there are hundreds of them, including William the Conqueror, Henry I of France, Charlemagne, even Judith Martel. And a huge cast of kings, princes, dukes, and counts of England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, with tendrils even back into Scandinavia via Russia. Mind you, these are all direct ancestors, 20-30 somthingth great grandfather/mother of Dan Myers. I’m still working on this. So far, Dan Myers’ pedigree has grown from 36 individuals to over 700. Some of the new ones, maybe half, were already in my data, the rest I have added in the past month. I am not finished yet, but there should be an end somewhere.

Francis Lyford (4th g. grandfather) b. 1647 in Exeter, New Hampshire. Francis was a mariner. His father John Lyford came from England as a child. Francis’ grandfather (also John Lyford) came to Plymouth in 1624, only four years after the Mayflower. The elder John got in some trouble over his preaching, moved to New Hampshire, and soon thereafter to Virginia, where he died a few years later. When he moved to Virginia, he is said to have left his wife and family in New Hampshire, eventual birthplace of Francis Lyford. Origin of Francis’ mother Ann unknown.

All of these ancestors have been verified in additional sources, besides “One World Tree.” They are listed in the following 4-Volume set:

Reference source

A new internet cousin, Nancy Hallberg (approx. 8th cousin) has sent me excerpts from “Fifty Great Migration Colonists …” by John Brooks Threlfall, 1990, which gave us the “morals offense” of Thomas and Mary, among other details.

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Cousins of the Queen

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

This is the story of my 33rd(!) great-grandmother, Judith Martel (844-870 C.E.). That was her English name; she was also known as Judith of France, and as Judith of Flanders. We are related through my paternal grandmother, Anna Moen, according to the research of cousin Orrin Moen.

Judith was the first daughter of Charles the Bald, Holy Roman Emperor and grandson of the emperor Charlemagne. Are you with me so far? There is also a close connection (newly discovered, and Judith Martel is just one of several connecting threads) back in these ancient times, with ancestors of my maternal grandfather, Dan Myers. Stay tuned for more on this fascinating development.

Getting back to Judith: when she was twelve years old(!), her father expediently married her off to the King of Wessex (England), Ethelwulf, at that time 45 years of age and a widower. Trouble was, Ethelwulf died before Judith even reached puberty. Ethelwulf’s son Ethelbald succeeded to the throne of Wessex, and soon married Judith himself. This earned them the censure of the Church, on the grounds of “consanguinity” (incest (!) – not a correct judgment, biologically).

The same year that the marriage was annulled (860), Ethelbald died. So, by the age of sixteen, Judith was twice Queen of England (part of it anyway), twice widowed, and childless. She sold her properties in Wessex and moved back to her father’s court. He sent her to the monastery at Senlis, presumably intending to marry her off again when the politically correct opportunity presented itself.

Judith, however, had other ideas. She eloped with Baldwin (later Baldwin I, Count of Flanders) around Christmas of 861. Not surprisingly, her father was furious; the couple was forced into refuge at the court of another noble relative. Eventually, the Pope himself intervened on Judith’s behalf, and the family was reconciled.

Baldwin I and Judith Martel had three children, one of whom (Baldwin II) became an ancestor of not only Anna Moen and myself, but a slew of royal personalities, including (ironically, through later alliances) the reigning Queen of England, Elizabeth II. Judith died at the age of 26, a short but eventful life, to put it mildly.

So there you have it – we are cousins of the Queen.

Posted in Myers, The Ancient Past | 2 Comments »

Pilgrims Galore – with scandal

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

Those Pilgrims just keep on giving! I first found the connection, and those first 70 ancestors, on my last shift at the LDS center before holiday break. Today, I found another 20-30 direct ancestors via the same Colby – New England connection (ancestors of Dan Myers). These include at least one, maybe two more *very* early New England families, and their ancestors in Europe. I have not added them to the main data yet.

I didn’t even finish; there is one line that goes back to the 1300′s in France, where it hits royalty. You know what that means – we can probably follow this one well back into the first milennium C.E.

Meanwhile, some verification is trickling in on my earlier finds. Here is a detail to add to our “skeletons in the closet.” These ancestors are already entered in the “full pedigree” online (go to Dan Myers after you click here).

My 7th great-grandparents, Thomas Frame(1649-1708) and Mary Rowell, had an affair that “… precipitated a hasty marriage on 18 Sept. 1673. For this morals offense, he was sentenced to be whipped 15 stripes, unless he pay a fine of 4 pounds, and she was to be whipped 10 stripes, or pay a fine of 40 shillings.”

Ouch! I am guessing the “morals offence” was merely premarital sex resulting in pregnancy, but there may have been more to it. The source, “Fifty Great Migration Colonists …” by John Brooks Threlfall, 1990, gives no further details. Oh, those Puritans!

Posted in Early America, Myers, The Ancient Past | 1 Comment »

Pilgrim Connection, holiday update

Friday, December 18th, 2009

I scrambled to put the 70 new ancestors I found yesterday(!) into my master file before leaving home for holiday tomorrow. I am threatening to take our laptop along; if I make good, I may update next week, otherwise not. Anyway, the revised “big pedigree” for Dan Myers is now online, with all those *very* early Massachusetts settlers. At least seven ancestors of the Myers’, via the Colby line, were born in New England between 1620 and 1633, that is, the first 13 years after the Mayflower landed! Many more details remain to be fleshed out. For the names and vital info, go to this link, then use the sidebar navigation to select Dan Myers.

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