cousin Misty

Success! Back when I worked for Albion College, I met an incoming freshman who shared my mom's family name, and who also had roots in Kentucky. We joked that we were probably related. This person, whose name faithful readers of the blog will recognize, was Misty. She and I became good friends, and kept in touch ever since.

More recently, I started playing with geni.com, a cute genealogical site, and I decided I would figure out how we were related. Today I did just that. She forwarded me her (massive) family tree, and I was able to find our common ancestor, one

HENRY "HARRY" HENSLEY (ibn BENJAMIN JR, ibn BENJAMIN, ibn JAMES JR, ibn JAMES SR, ibn WILLIAM), born 1754 in ALBERMARLE CO. VA., and died 1819 in BUNCOMBE CO, NC. He married BARBARA ANGEL, daughter of CHARLES ANGEL and ELIZABETH WASHINGTON, in 1770. Ms. Angel was born 1755 in ROWAN CO. NC., and died 1855 in WASHINGTON CO. TN
Amusingly, my family tree now stretches some five generations before this ancestor, thanks to the hard work of lots of random people. I've been amazed as I looked around at how many people were posting these sorts of details on the web. It's really very fun.
Jason in Egypt commented:
So, what family relationship is it that you have to Misty?
on Sun Feb 18 18:26:24 2007

Anonymous commented:
I'm sensing a Spaceballs quote in our future... - ryaN
on Mon Feb 19 13:04:55 2007

David commented:
Yes, Ryan - ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! is the correct answer. Well, close. She is, I believe, my 5th great uncle's 5th great granddaughter, and I am her "second great grandfather's third cousin thrice removed." I'm not sure how that works, but I'm taking their word. Now I've learned that Mara had family in Virginia, so my goal is to tie her in as well. And if I can't get her, Sasha's side of the family might....
on Tue Feb 20 09:48:40 2007

Anonymous commented:
hey cuz, I see we are claiming more people as our progeny...wait... the progeny of our ancestors. Soon the world shall be ours, bwaha, bwaha. --Misty
on Thu Feb 22 09:15:37 2007

David commented:
Yes - that is, in fact, slightly different from 'our progeny'. In fact, I feel kind of dirty having you call me 'cuz' and discuss 'our progeny' in the same sentence.
on Thu Feb 22 10:39:58 2007

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