At first glance, this WikiTree connection follows a path that has become familiar to me. Numbers 0-8 on this chart are family names on my paternal grandmother’s line. This is the same line that connected me to Presidents Madison and Polk. After #8, Richard Gaines, this line moves laterally to his brother James, James’s wife Elizabeth Strother, and Elizabeth’s brother William. All of these connections checked out when I tested them on Ancestry. I continued to follow this line, proving that William had a daughter named Sarah and that Sarah married Richard Taylor. I was also able to verify that the son of Sarah and Richard Taylor was Zachary Taylor, who would be elected president in 1848.
Any of you who have been reading my posts may recall how frequently my Walton family in Virginia has provided the links for these connections, and I’m here once again with my connection to Zachary Taylor. I have mentioned the book I’ve used to confirm the details of this family – Waltons of Old Virginia – and I decided I needed my own copy of this book to figure out these complicated ancestors. My copy will arrive in the next couple of days. At $30, it’s a good bargain.
A quick look at the connection suggested by Geni reveals the same problem – this is the wrong William Walton. Here’s what I wrote about this wrong connection in my essay on President Polk:
Once again, Geni takes me through my Walton family line – and again, through William Walton. And again, through the “wrong” William Walton. My 4th great-grandfather William Walton was born in 1784 and married his cousin, Barbara Allen Walton. The William Walton that Geni thinks I’m descended from was born in 1777 and is the son of Mary Ann Hobson (Walton), which shows on this connection. I can get to Zachary Taylor through the correct William Walton; both Williams have a common 2nd great-grandfather, Edward Walton (1672-1720-1772). This makes them 3rd cousins. So I give this a passing grade – the connection is there, but not the way Geni diagrammed it.
At first, this connection tracks with what WikiTree outlined. But it goes in a different direction after Richard Gaines when it identifies his mother, Isabella (Pendleton) Gaines. This is accurate, as is the identification of her mother as Mary (Taylor) Pendleton. Mary’s father is James Taylor, who was born in England and came to Virginia with his father, John Taylor, in 1648. This is a spot-on connection – I have explored this link in the past, and it’s accurate. My 9th great-grandfather, James Taylor, is Zachary Taylor’s 2nd great-grandfather. This makes Zachary Taylor my third cousin seven times removed.
I like this connection for two reasons:
It has an active descendants’ community with a website (James Taylor I Descendants Association) and Facebook Page (The Taylor Association: Descendants of James Taylor I (D. 1698, VA). This group has regular reunions. The 2024 event is scheduled for June 8 and 9 in Frankfort, Kentucky. I may try to attend.
Tim and I may attend this event together — he and I are both descendants of James Taylor. We are 10th cousins or thereabout.
I wanted to figure out why WikiTree didn’t give me this connection. It wasn’t hard to identify the problem – WikiTree includes all of the relevant information to support this connection, but it involves 14 degrees of separation, one more than the 13 degrees of separation provided in the WikiTree connection that began this essay. Unlike Geni, WikiTree only shows the closest connection.
And although I don’t rely on FamilySearch for the accuracy of its tree, it was reassuring to find that this site also supports my connection to Zachary Taylor. With pictures.
So I think we have a winner here. Every suggested connection checks out with documented information.
I’m happy to be done with this set of presidents. Almost every president up to this point connects to me in Virginia (only Adams pére et fils are through a different connection – but since I wrote about Virginia-born Henry Clay in place of writing about John Quincy Adams, that week’s essay focused on Virginia connections as well). Looking ahead, I don’t encounter my Virginia ancestors again until Benjamin Harrison (#23). After that, Virginia provides my connection to Woodrow Wilson (#28), Lyndon Johnson (#36), Jimmy Carter (#38), Bill Clinton (#42), Al Gore (I decided to look at his lineage in place of Bush Jr.), Barack Obama (#44), and Joe Biden (#46). But until then — New England, here I come!
Excellent!!!