Yes You Are

We're Not Related To Those Davenports

Oh yes you are. One big thing I have found from searching for people in my "Super Tree" is if people in a certain region share a surname, they are related. I used to think, well maybe there were 2 different Johannson families that settled into Rockingham County, VA and they are not related to each other. But from my long hours of experience I am finding that people with those same last names are most definitely related. The exceptions to this rule are surnames like Smith, Jones, Jefferson, Freeman, Washington, Williams, Johnson, etc.

Most people can tell you who their grandparents are and maybe, just maybe they can name their great grandparents. People descended from your great grandparents give you your 2nd cousins. You may know a few of them from your family reunions. But most people do not know who their 3rd and 4th cousins are. Populations grow exponentially - that is there are many, many more people at the next generation than the previous generation. Picture it like this - you may have 2 or 3 siblings. All of your and their children, cousins, under your mother and father - there may be 10 or 12 of them. Those 10 or 12 will have maybe 20-35 people coming from them. Then the next generation may have 75-100. The next generation may have 200-250 people. That last generation I am talking about can have 4th cousins among them. They will not know that they are 4th cousins, especially since most of them will have different last names.

There is a family here in town with a distinct name: Bobo. I found out that it is from the French Baubau. I had asked someone from that family if they were related to another Bobo guy in a neighboring town. The person said, no I am not related to him. I know now that they are in fact related. They have to be. This correlation is that strong. Almost every time I see a surname I have seen before, I can track that person back to a common person that is the ancestor of another person in that area with the same surname. I know of another family here locally - the Wyatts. Every Wyatt in my part of Alabama comes from one guy, Joseph Albert Wyatt, who came to Alabama from North Carolina around 1830. 

So, if you live in a small town or mid-size town, and you hear about a person with the same last name as you (or your maiden name), then that person is related to you. They may be your 7th cousin, but they are related to you relatively closely.

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