I Discovered Another Surprising Connection

I've said before that I'm easily impressed, amazed, and astounded. It seems, as I research my family and my husband's ancestry, that I make interesting and surprising discoveries weekly.

Pictured above is a young lady named Gwenda, who has posted quite an extensive tree at Ancestry.com, called the "Duff, Crotchett, Maupin Tree". Last year as I was researching the birth family of my adopted son Matt (pictured below), I found that Gwenda and my son are each Crotchett descendants. They are 5th cousins.

Tonight I was looking at Ancestry.com and as I read the words "Duff, Crotchett, Maupin Tree", the name MAUPIN caught my attention. Every time I've looked at Gwenda's work, I was researching the Crotchett family and focused on that name. I knew that my step-grandmother was Laura Casper Maupin Jones, wife of my step-mother's father, Henry James Jones. In reviewing her tree more thoroughly, I found that Gwenda and my step-grandmother Laura Maupin Jones are 5th cousins, 3 times removed.

My step-mother Phyllis Jones Margheim and her step-mother Laura Casper Maupin Jones

I know many people say "We're all related anyway". I don't like hearing that. I'm still wonderfully surprised when I make these discoveries of connections among my family members.