"We're Related" App - Part 2

Oh, what an interesting week this has been. Since I loaded the “We're Related” app a week or so ago I have received so much information. I am astonished! Every few days, I get a message for the App indicating that it has found another possible relative. Since my first 5 people that I talked about last week, the App has notified me of 10 more, all of whom have provided me with so much interesting information as well as a couple hundred new people to my family tree.

This week I'll talk about two more and in the weeks to come I'll talk about the rest.  I have not had so much new genealogy information to share with you ever!  Brick walls are being broken down!

The first was Kurt Cobain who is a 9^th Cousin. He was the troubled America musician who was born in 1967 and died in 1994. He is related to us through the first Isaac Van Valkenburg. This connection did not provide us with additional sets of Grandparents but did fill information on Isaac's daughter's family, Jannetja Van Valkenburg. There is still a bit of information to sort out here but it all seems to be accurate though a bit confusing. We descend from Isaac's son, Isaac and Kurt descends from Isaac's daughter Jannetja. This family connection comes from Canada and New York about 100 years before the Revolutionary War.
 

Our Family: Me=>Leah Anderson=>Addie Densmore=>Mary Morgan Hayner=>Robert Wesley Hayner=> Henry Hainer=>Catherine Vollick=> Isaac Vollick (Van Valkenburg III) => Isaac Van Valkenburg II => Isaac Van Valkenburg I.

Kurt's Family: Kurt=>Donald Leland Cobain=> Leland Elmer Cobain=>John James Arthur Cobain=>Anna Minerva Van Alstyne=> Abraham Nathaniel Van Alstyne=> Abraham Van Alstyne=>James Van Alstyne=> Lydia Larroway=>Jannetja Van Valkenburg=> Isaac Van Valkenburg I

The next match was Elon Musk, a 10^th Cousin. Who is Elon Musk, you ask?   I thought the same thing. He is a South African born Canadian-American businessman magnate, investor, engineer, and inventor. Well, that is a mouthful, isn't it? He is the founder of SpaceX. The private company who now launches satellites into orbit since NASA no longer does and plans in the future to be able to shuttle people into space. He is a product architect for Tesla Motors, co-founder of Solar City; Co-Chairman of OpenL; Co-Founder of Zip2 and Founder of X.com.  Isn't that an impressive list of companies.

This particular connection is mind boggling to me. Our common ancestor is Gerard Spencer. This connection comes through my Mother's line through the well researched Reynolds, Mudge and Spencer Families. At first glance it provided me with three additional Spencer Grandparents which made Gerard Spencer my mothers 7X Great Grandparent from Stotfold England. This is the first evidence that I have that my mother has English ancestors. As I always do with a new match, I set out to prove the connection. Little did I know what I would find.

Our Family: Me=> Leah Anderson=>Addie Densmore=> Charles Densmore=> Sarah Reynolds=>George Reynolds=>Elizabeth Mudge=>Lucy Spencer=>John Spencer=>Nathaniel Spencer=> Gerard Spencer

Elon's Family: Elon=>Elon's Mother=>Joshua Norman Haldeman=>John Elon Haldeman=>Rowena C Powers=>Mary Coats=>Polly Spencer=>John Spencer=>Ebenezer Spencer=>John Spencer=>Samuel Spencer=>Gerard Spencer

Look through the Spencer's on Ancestry.com, brought me to a Netherlands Genealogy database. This Database took me on a journey through the Spencer's of England (does the name ring a bell?) which dates back to Robert le DeSpencer born in 1018. This family is English Nobility. Who else keeps track of family information more carefully than nobility. I can not help but wonder if eventually the app will find Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales. (This would make my sister extremely happy.) The app continues to compare data and is chugging along. This piece of data, allows me to identify my Mother's 32X Great Grandparents in England. Did you hear that..that is 32 generations ago. To say the least, this is mind boggling. I have not entered all this data. I need the time that I can commit to it.

For the next few weeks I will blog and tell you more about the results that this app is finding. Some of the data I have to work very hard at to confirm and other finds dump the data at you like a bucket of water.

Happy Hunting,

Jan