I did a little genealogy search in church today and found out that I'm a direct descendent of William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania. It appears my mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother was Hannah Margaret Penn, daughter of William Penn. Who knew?
I've checked out my descendents before on FamilySearch.org. You can find their website: HERE. One name on my mother's line caught my attention...it was Lady Margaret Jasper, born 1610 in Holland. I did a couple of web searches and found out that she married man named William Penn. It was her second husband. Her first husband was a captain in the Dutch navy and he died.
I saw the name William Penn, Margaret's husband, but the information showed he died in Wansted, Essex, England. So I dismissed the thought that I was related to a famous founder. But, a few more searches and William Penn's son, William has a state named after him.
I also found a cool website that can create a fan chart going back nine generations. You can access that site: HERE. That's mine and the original PDF can be zoomed in to see the names. All the missing spots are names that need to be filled in. I know many people who love to do genealogy. I can definitely understand the draw, regardless of direct descendents. I should do more.
That is pretty neat, Scott. I am related to a couple crazy historical people: Johnny Appleseed (my mother's side) & Meriwether Lewis (father's side, and from whom I take my middle name). Genealogy is definitely cool even if my relatives were all nuts. : )
ReplyDelete~Chris
PS
I put a link to your Home Page at the bottom of mine. Let me know if you would like any changes, additions, deletions made. -Cheers!