You Go Girl!

  I have the coolest family tree!  Full of rebels!  Mercy Jones, born in Massachusetts in Sept. 1654 was arrested at age 19.  Court records show the following:

The colonial laws regulated the subject of extravagant dressing.  In September 1673 the court recorded:“Diverse women at Springfeild presentd at ye Courte in March last for that being of meane estate they did weare Silkes contrary to Law vixt Goodwife Labden , Goody Colton , Goody Morgan , Goody Barnard , Mercy & Hephzibod Jones , Hunters wife ; Daughter ;Abell Wrights wife, & warned to this Courte the six former app’ring in Courte they were admonisht of their extyravagancyes & dismist.


Her sister was arrested as well, and with her name I can imagine she needed to do some fancy dressing to get beyond that moniker. What a cool family!  Besides Mercy Jones, my ancesters include the following:

• King Edward I, aka Longshanks, my 21st Great Grandfather
• Patrick Henry is my cousin, 8 generations ago
• Charles Martel (born in 676 AD) 39th Great Grandfather "Were it not for Charles Martel perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Mahomet. . . . From such calamities was Christendom delivered by the genius and fortune of one man." Edward Gibbon: History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, Volume 5, page 156 - 157
• Hugh de Courtenay IV, Pirate of the high seas in the 1460s, my 16th great grandfather
• My 37th great grandfather, Charlemagne the Great
• Princess Diana, 21st cousin by marriage
• Prince William and Princess Kate, 22nd cousins by marriage
• Vladimir "The Great", Grand Prince of Kiev is my paternal grandfather of wife of grand nephew of the wife of my 30th great grandfather.
    (note to self: you might need to take a break now...time to step away from the computer...)

After King Edward I, my family tree follows a line through his daughter, Princess Elizabeth, who married Humphrey De Bohun, Earl of Essex.  The royal blood line thins as it reaches the 1700s and then I find I'm related to commoners after that.  When it gets that far away from Royal blood, at some point, does it turn into a rumor? Anyway, I think I'll send an invitation to Will and Kate for the next family BBQ.  They must have, what... a mere 540,000 22nd cousins?