Curiosity
…. Where would we humans be without it.
It really is the foundation of everything. From figuring out how to do
things to what's good to eat to "Don't touch that", we are full of
questions. Today, we go into space with thoughts of settling there
someday, just as people settled America's West or the Pilgrims came to Plymouth
400 years ago. But we are not only curious about where else we can go,
but also about where we've been or more specifically, where we come from.
My story this week originates with my Dad. As a child, I was aware of his
frequent questioning whether we were related to one of the Mayflower
Pilgrims, Myles Standish and whether we were related to Pres. Richard Nixon. I think that I can call this the foundation of
my later interest in family history. I came to find out that my Dad's
family had a little bit of family history already due to his Aunt Helen's
research and the names Julia (Standish) Martin and Sarah (Nixon) Heacock both appeared as my Dad's great
grandmothers. But IF & HOW might we be related to Myles Standish and Richard Nixon were the great questions.
I lived with this information for quite awhile, but with our purchase of a computer in 1998, I was able to access an entire new world of information which led me to the answers of HOW. It turned out that Julia was the 4th great granddaughter of Capt. Myles Standish of the Mayflower! Before I shared this discovery, I checked and rechecked to be sure that I had it right. I was satisfied, so I shared with my Dad. I sent him a printout of all that I had found and he was happy to have it. At this time, I had no interest in joining the Mayflower Society. I was happy just to have proven the connection. But as the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower Landing approached in 2020, I thought to myself that I would go ahead with the application for membership, feeling that it would be good to have it officially recognized for future family members who may have these same curiosities. After a little additional work to meet the requirements of the society, as far as having possession of documents that prove each generation, I was approved for membership. A nice feeling of accomplishment.
Now the Nixon question required me to not only find as much out about my Nixon line as I could, but to also research Richard Nixon's line as well, hoping that they intersected at some point. In week 1 of this challenge, I spoke a little about Zachariah Nixon of North Carolina. He is Sarah Nixon Heacock's grandfather. This line of Nixons goes into very early North Carolina and is an English Quaker family. Next on to Richard Nixon.
In looking at Richard Nixon's family, I found that his Quaker Nixon roots came through Pennsylvania and Delaware, but they were originally from Ireland. I was unable to find anything that could connect the two Nixon families. BUT, while looking at his entire family, I started seeing a few familiar surnames. One, on his mother's side, stood out. Mendenhall. I already knew that we had Quaker Mendenhall ancestors so it was just a matter of satisfying my curiosity as to whether his and mine were related. Aaron Mendenhall who was born in 1690 in Pennsylvania was the connection. He is my 7th great grandfather and Richard Nixon's 5th great grandfather. So even though the Nixon connection was not there, we were still related to Richard Nixon. My Dad was pleased.
Richard M Nixon 1913 - 1994So actually, my dad's curiosity led to my proving his suspicions of two relationships. But my curiosity is a forever condition. As all family historians know, answering one question always leads to another question which curiosity cannot ignore.
Happy searching!
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