This week I discovered that two of my husband's new DNA matches have familial connections to both myself and Tom's nephew-in-law.
The first one, Samantha Garland, turns out to be Tom's 1st cousin 2 times removed. She was already in my tree because her great grandmother, Charlotte Betz Bell, is the sister of Tom's mother, Caroline Betz Sinton. She is Wayne Bell's granddaughter. This goes thru Samantha's mother's side. Samantha also already had John Ellsworth Betz Jr and Charlotte Johns in her tree. Samantha's profile says that she is from Carlisle.
This is simple enough, usually end of story, but in looking further at her tree, I saw a surname that I recognized, Growden of Bedford County Pa. I also have Growden ancestors from Bedford County. Samantha's 3rd great grandfather, Francis Grant Growden, was already in my tree and in Samantha's tree as well. Another simple connection made. This one thru Samantha's father's side. This connection makes Samantha and I, 5th cousins 2 times removed thru our common ancestors, William Growden & Ann Cocker, who immigrated here from Cornwall, England. A coincidence that I found when attaching Samantha's line to mine were some Ancestry hints for Samantha's great grandmother, Hazel Growden. These hints were from her high school yearbooks in Bedford. It turns out that she graduated from Bedford High School with my dad in 1947! They are on some of the same pages of the yearbook together. They are also 4th cousins. The real connection was made when Samantha's parents got married linking her to another married couple in Pittsburgh (me and Tom).
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The second discovery, Wilbur Swade, is Tom's 6th cousin thru their common ancestors Johann Adam Schauer & Anna Elizabeth Koch. In adding Wilbur and his line to my tree. I noticed that his mother, Beatrice Semerod, and his father, Clarence Swade, were already in my tree. So, Semerod, why is she already here? It's turns out that Beatrice is Scott Semerod's great grand aunt thru their common ancestor George Semerod and because she married Clarence Swade and is also Wilbur's mother. This makes Wilbur, Scott's 1st cousin 3 times removed. This does not make Scott and Tom or Nina related tho, other than Scott being Nina's husband, just that the three of them are all related to Wilbur Swade and Nina is Tom's niece. So the Scott to Tom and Nina connections are because of two marriages, Beatrice to Clarence and Scott to Nina. Yes, I know, this one is harder to follow!
But this is one of the things that makes genealogy so interesting to me. And I just love finding unexpected connections. So stay tuned, there are always more stories to be found.
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