And the Number is…35
Since the theme for this month’s blog is “random number,” I asked Gary to select a number, any number. He chose 35 for the number of years we’ve been married. I had decided to research whatever ancestor corresponds to that number. Every direct ancestor has a number according to the Ahnentafel numbering system. Ahnentafel is German for “ancestor table.” This is a method for organizing these ancestors. It is a universal system which can be particularly helpful when you get to generations with lots of ancestors. Remember, each generation doubles in size: by the time you get back to 10 generations, you have 1,022 direct ancestors through your 7th great grandparents (1023 people including you). You are number 1, your father is number 2, and your mother is number 3; your paternal grandfather is number 4 and your paternal grandmother is 5; your maternal grandfather is 6 and your maternal grandmother is 7, and so on. (Men have even numbers and women have odd numbers.)
I put 35 into an Ahnentafel calculator (http://www.billiter.com/oldjoe/up/ahnentaf.htm) and this is the result:
- Rebecca Martha Smith is Jacque’s great-great-great-grandmother.[3rd great-grandmother]
- Specifically — Rebecca Martha Smith is Jacque’s father’s father’s father’s mother’s mother.
My 35th ancestor is Rebecca Martha Smith. She is my 3rd great-grandmother on my father’s side and is part of my 6th generation (numbers 32 – 63). According to Ancestry, I currently have 39 DNA matches to Rebecca.
Rebecca was born on December 24, 1797 in Magnolia, West Virginia to Micajah Willets Smith and Esther Hogue. This branch of the family were Quakers.
Rebecca married Nicholas Osborn and they had nine children including my 2nd great-grandmother Susanna Osborn who married Samuel Watkins. (After Samuel died, Susanna and her youngest son, my great-grandfather John Calvin Watkins, moved to Kansas. The Watkins family settled in Kansas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma where many still live today.)
Rebecca died on July 24, 1890 in Haymond, Taylor County, West Virginia at the age of 92.