Anyone who starts this journey of finding out their ancestral
tree hopes to find someone of historical significance. I was no different. How
cool would it be to discover a past president or a movie star is my cousin? My
father’s paternal tree had been very straightforward, a progression of the name
Cowsert in a very linear line dating from the time my ancestor sailed from
Belfast Ireland to land in South Carolina. I focused on the direct descendants
and left all the other children behind. With Ancestry.com it was very easy to
find the documentation I needed.
A plethora of names pop up on my line (including
another Cowsert…yes, two cousins married) but one name catches my attention…one
of my two times great grandmothers, Lydia Twitchell. Her name to me sounded either
Quaker or Puritan to me, so I researched further. Her grandfather was named
Moses Twitchell, and his grandmother was a woman named Lydia Knapp. And it is
this woman that I find my historical significant. Lydia Knapp’s mother was a
woman named Mary Whitney and the Whitney line takes me back to the 1400’s and to
the name of Katherine Cromwell.
Now, I have studied history, and when I came to the
name Cromwell, I had THAT moment. That what
the hell have I just discovered moment. 1400’s in England, and yes, she’s
part of that Cromwell family. Katherine was married to Morgan Williams
whose mother was Joan Tudor. Wait! What? If
you know history then you know the Tudor name. And at this point, documentation
is pretty much already done for me. To know that I am part of the Tudor line,
albeit a very distant cousin many, many times removed, is still thrilling to no
end.
The Cromwell name and the Tudor name are some of the
most well-known and famous in English history. To come from that, down to my
grandfather was who was a humble poor carpenter, is a wonderfully strange
story. I am just as proud of that as I am proud of coming from the small town
of Dexter, Missouri.
Part 3 coming soon....
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