James Madison’s Montpelier
Have you ever experienced what seemed a degree of separation?
It felt too amazing to be a coincidence? It happened to me as I chatted with my seatmate on my return flight to Washington state from Virginia, and while it may have been a degree of separation – multi-layered actually – it was definitely a God thing.
I recently traveled to hear Ben Franklin’s World creator and host, Liz Covart, speak at UVC on podcasting. If you haven’t listened to her podcasts about early American history, you should – and you can right here. The next day I soaked up history at James Madison’s Montpelier in Orange, VA. And after two wonderful, too-quick days, I was flying home.
I boarded the plane and made my way back to my exit-row middle. As I settled into my seat, I reflected how I’d flown out to Virginia in an exit-row middle 
on the same type of aircraft. My seatmates nodded and smiled as I stored my carry-on and buckled in, but a moment later a gentleman in the aisle was clearly distressed to see me in his seat. I sheepishly looked at my boarding pass and realized that my middle seat was across the aisle. As I gathered my belongings, the man in the aisle seat – 21D – intervened and asked the displaced passenger if he might just take the empty seat I belonged in. To my relief, he agreed.
To Follow Her Heart
The plane took off toward Newark – the short leg of my journey – and I chatted with the gentleman in 21D. I told him about my visit and how much I loved the history of Virginia. Eventually I shared with him that I loved genealogy and was an author of a fiction series, The Southold Chronicles. My stories are based on the real lives of my ninth great-grandparents, the Horton’s. Barnabas and Mary sailed from England to the New World in the 1630’s and were part of the founding families of Southold, Long Island. As he listened, he smiled. He told me his wife had a similar history – her ancestors, the Hussey’s, sailed from England and settled on Nantucket in the 1600’s. He and his wife had recently traveled there to explore her heritage. He pulled up pictures of their trip on his phone, and I shared some of mine from trips to Long Island and England.
But what struck me as amazing was my husband Tom, who on his father’s side of the family came much more recently from Italy, was a direct descendant of Nathaniel (Sr) and Mary (Coffin) Starbuck, on his mother’s side. Edward Starbuck, father of Nathaniel – my husband’s ninth great-grandfather, also came from England in the 1600’s and settled on Nantucket! What was the chance? A side note: a favorite author of mine, Suzanne Woods Fisher, recently published a novel about the Starbucks, Phoebe’s Light. It’s a wonderful story!
As we marveled at what were the chances to sit next to someone with such similar histories, we also recognized the fact that our spouses were most likely distant cousins of some sort. After all, the children of the families who founded these tiny islands would ultimately marry each other. He offered to send me some of the information they had found on their trip, and I continued home intent on finding the Hussey-DeMarino connection. How I love researching genealogy mysteries!
Coffee and Keyboard – my office
Back home, sitting at my computer, I began my search. If I told you I was amazed by what I found, it would be an understatement! I found I had a strong relationship to the Hussey’s of Nantucket! I found that Captian Christopher Hussey, who was born in Dorking, Surrey, England in 1598 and died on Nantucket in about 1685, is my fourth cousin, eleven times removed. And I could trace my lineage from there all the way back to my fourteenth great-grandparents, Sir John and Lady Elizabeth Hussey, of Dorking! Their daughter, Joan, married Sir Roger Forster of Hertfordshire, and this line comes down to me from my father’s side, through the Kemps, Keyes, and Smiths – when Minnie Smith married my great-grandfather, Frank Worley, who was born on a farm in Illinois. It takes my breath away!
And the Hussey-DeMarino connection? Why, yes! There is one. As we imagined on the plane, Elizabeth Starbuck, daughter of Nathaniel (Jr) and Dinah Starbuck, married George Hussey, grandson of Captain Christopher and Theodate Hussey, on September 12th, 1690 on Nantucket. Wait a minute? Does that mean there is a connection in my ancestry to my husband? Oh, my. That degree of separation might be a little too close!
Thank goodness it was actually several degrees of separation! But I couldn’t help but wonder what was the chance the gentleman in 21D would even know his wife’s history in such detail and that we would have the opportunity to talk? After all, I didn’t even belong in 21E. A degree of separation? Maybe – but I think it was a God thing, and with God there are no degrees of separation. He’s here with us, holding our hand – or waiting for us to take it – as we journey through life. Loving us throughout the generations.
How about you? Have you ever discovered you had something uniquely in common with someone you’ve just met, or perhaps even someone you’ve known for a very long time? Did it lead you to find out something about yourself you didn’t previously know? #adegreeofseparation #genealogy #Hortons #Starbucks #Husseys
REBECCA DEMARINO inherited her love of family, baking, and gardening from her mother; a love of horses, history, reading, and writing from her dad—and the wanderlust gene from both parents. She makes her home in the beautiful Pacific NW with her husband Tom. Rebecca is the author of A Place in His Heart, To Capture Her Heart, and To Follow Her Heart. A free prologue to The Southold Chronicles series, based on the lives of her ninth great-grandparents, is available when you sign up for her newsletter-journal here.
Comments 8
Robert Forster and Joan Hussey are my 11GG’s! (That is if I can trust the info I used.)
Author
Wow, Vicki! They are my 13th great-grandparents! It would be fun to see how your line and my line compare! Their son, Thomas Forster, is my 12GG and he married Lady Margaret Browning. Their son was Andrew Forster (he actually shows up as Foster, yet he hadn’t come across the pond) and he married Margery Eliot. They were parents of Andrew Foster II – and he married Ann Alcock – she came over on the ship the Abigail in 1635, but I don’t know which year Andrew came over – only that he was the immigrant in the Forster (Foster) line and he married Ann in Massachusetts. Do any of these descendants show up in your genealogy? I’d love to delve into more of this with you! Please drop me a note at rebecca@rebeccademarino.com. I’d love to hear from you!
I love these amazing stories. Thank you for sharing. I talked with a man at church several weeks ago. We found we are distant cousins through Benjamin Franklin’s line. Fun! I have taught genealogy classes for many years.
Author
That is fun, Patti! You never know where a conversation about family lines will take you 🙂 Ben Franklin is a pretty neat connection!
I haven’t found how many degrees of seperation my friend and I are. But it was no coincidence that we “met” on facebook. I’ve been off and on researching my family and decided to start up again Fall of 2016. I visited with my grandpa Eischen and he told me the story (I taped it) on my 3 great grandma coming to America from Baveria and then meeting my 3 great Grandpa. They homesteaded the farm i grew up in. He was from Luxembourg. I never could find anything on them before the 1900 census. But I found their marriage certificate in Portland. Anyways, I went onto the Luxembourg geneology facebook page and asked if anyone knew anything about the Eischen family. Well, a geneologist from Luxembourg happened to be on there and responded. She told me that she tries to help one person each month and she picked me! Well, she taught me how to look up marriage records/census records and such from family search. and through that I found Mathias parents and grandparents (birth and marriage certificates). I completely stopped reading or watching tv or anything like that and focused solely on research. Well, I was able to share all this with my Grandpa. He was thrilled I was looking. He went in for some surgery last march (2017) and then had complications so ended up back in the hospital. 2 days before he unexpectedly passed away, I was able to show him the church where Mathias’ parents had married and some of the town of moutfort. I know now that that was the Lord who arranged our “meeting”. I have all these good memories now of sharing our family history with him.
🙂
Author
Becca, that’s an awesome story! I love that you were able to do that for your grandpa! What a blessing to him – and to you. I’m so sorry for your loss, I know you miss him. But so glad you have those precious memories, certainly given by our loving Lord. Thank you for sharing your story.
Rebecca – I am a genealogist and absolutely love reading stories like this. My stepsister and her husband both trace back to the Mayflower and are distant cousin (like you said lots of degrees of separation). I have just recently discovered that my husband’s 10th great grandfather was Governor William Bradford. Now we are looking into the connection between he and my stepsister and her husband!
My daughter in law is a Vorhies and descends from the Van Voorhees who settled in Amesfoort (Flatlands) Long Island in 1660.
I am a moderator at Christian Fiction Devourers at Goodreads. I have the read the first book in The Southold Chronicles and absolutely loved it. Need to find the time to squeeze in the rest of the series. Thanks for your wonderful books!
Author
Hi, Loraine! This is fun stuff! I love that your sister and her husband can both trace their beginnings in America to the Mayflower – and that your husband to William Bradford! I am still trying to make a Mayflower connection, but so far nothing. But I can say there are some Van Voorhees in my Horton line of ancestors! I think you would enjoy my second novel, To Capture Her Heart. I have two heroes in that book – one is English, Benjamin Horton, and the other Dutch, Lt. Dirk Van Buren 🙂 Thank you for stopping by!