June 19, 2023: Fast . . . and Slow
For 2023, I’m writing responses to the 52 Ancestors in 52 Days prompts provided by Amy Johnson Crow on her ”Generations Café” website and Facebook page.
Here’s an example of what I mean. I’m descended from Philip Pendleton (1653-1721) through two of his children – his son Henry Pendleton (1683-1721) and his daughter Elizabeth Pendleton (1685-1761). But Philip is my 9th great-grandfather through his son Henry and my 8th great-grandfather through his daughter Elizabeth. Ancestry sometimes gets confused by this, by the way. So how does this happen? Elizabeth’s lineage moved more slowly than Henry’s lineage.
This is my lineage to Philip through his son Henry.
Now here’s my lineage to Philip through his daughter Elizabeth.
It isn’t hard to see how this data explains the generational difference. The average age of Philip’s descendants through Henry when they had the child that connects to me was about 23 years old; the average age of Philip’s descendants through Elizabeth when they had the child that connects to me was about 28 years old – and would have been even older except for the outlier that was 16 years old when he had the relevant child.
My great-grandmother May Wilson (Philip’s 5th great-granddaughter through his daughter Elizabeth) married Howard P. Ellefritz (Philip’s 6th great-grandson through his son Henry) in 1895. May was 20 and Howard was 25. Over the course of the generations between Philip and his two descendants – May and Howard – each generation added (arguably) five years to the span between generations. That more than creates an explanation for the generational difference.
I have this kind of thing all over my family tree. You have probably seen it in your tree as well – particularly when you’re looking at DNA matches. I have found 3rd cousins (who should be my generational peer) who are 20 or 30 years (or even more) older than me. The generations between us and our common ancestor moved at a different rate on our separate lineages. I have a dozen other instances where my ancestors were distant cousins who are at a different level of descendency from their common ancestor.
So – now that I’ve written about two prompts in this week’s essay, what am I going to do for next week’s prompt?
I’m thinking, I’m thinking.
Hmmm. I may be facing that issue on my mother's side of the family in Russia in the mid-1750's.