Vita Brevis: The ancestry of Archie Mountbatten-Windsor

More from the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) today. When I earlier tonight wrote about Gary Boyd Roberts' article «On the Ancestry of the New Royal Baby», I was not aware that another article about Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, this time including his ancestry table, had been published at the NEHGS run blog Vita Brevis today. The blog article is written by NEHGS' editor-in-chief Scott C. Steward, but the genealogy is a collaboration with Christopher C. Child.

https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/05/ancestry-archie-mountbatten-windsor/

By the way, late last year Christopher C. Child wrote another Duchess of Susex-related blog article, «Challenging modern records», which is also worth reading:

https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2018/12/challenging-modern-records/

NEHGS: On the Ancestry of the New Royal Baby

Genealogist, author and Senior Research Scholar Emeritus at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Gary Boyd Roberts, has recently written a short article titled «On the Ancestry of the New Royal Baby» about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor's ancestry and especially on his US American connections. It is well worth reading:

https://www.americanancestors.org/specials/ancestry-of-the-royal-baby

Vita Brevis: Further ancestors of the Princess of Wales

Scott C. Steward's third article about the ancestry of Diana, Princess of Wales was published in the blog Vita Brevis on 12 September 2018.

Since the publication of Richard K. Evans' book The Ancestry of Diana Princess of Wales in 2007, new sources have come available, and Steward have made several updates and corrections to the book.




Articles so far:

• 1 August 2018: Revisiting the Princess of Wales
• 20 August 2018: More Ancestors of the Princess of Wales
• 12 September 2018: Further ancestors of the Princess of Wales

Vita Brevis: More ancestors of the Princess of Wales

Earlier this month I wrote a short blog article telling about Scott C. Steward's updates on the ancestry of Diana, Princess of Wales in the NEHGS blog Vita Brevis.

Now Steward has posted a follow-up, in which he has reached the late Princess’s great-great-great-grandparents.

Vita Brevis: Revisiting the Princess of Wales

In 2007 the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston, USA published the book The Ancestry of Diana Princess of Wales for Twelve Generations by Richard K. Evans (ISBN 978-0-88082-208-4).

It is an impressive piece of work, but of course not without errors. More sources have also been made available since it was published. Earlier this month Scott C. Steward, who edited the book and who has been NEHGS’ Editor-in-Chief since 2013, published in the blog Vita Brevis the article «Revisiting the Princess of Wales», in which he corrects errors and adds information which were not available at the time of publishing. The article is worth reading for anyone interested in royal and/or noble genealogy or genealogy in general for that matter.

Maternal family of HRH The Duchess of Sussex

The day before HRH The Duke of Sussex (Prince Harry) married Meghan Markle, the American genealogist Christopher C. Child published the article «Meghan Markle's maternal family» in Vita Brevis, the blog of the New England Historic Genealogical Society.

In the blog article Child shows Meghan's matrilineal ancestry back to a Millie Jones, who was born in Georgia around 1815 and appeared last time in the national census of 1880, then living at Smiths in Hart County, Georgia.

Concerning Meghan's first marriage to Trevor Engelson, Child writes that they married at Ocho Rios, Jamaica on 10 September 2011.

His source is the Wikipedia article about the duchess. While there is no doubt that the wedding was celebrated in Jamaica, genealogists would normally focus on the legal marriage, which seems to have taken place in Los Angeles, USA. In his book Meghan: A Hollywood Princess, 2018 (Kindle Edition, Loc 1329), Andrew Morton writes:

With the ocean as backdrop, the couple recited vows they had written themselves [...] Though the couple had officially married in Los Angeles in a brief civil ceremony, this was the real celebration for family and friends, [...]

In other words, the legal marriage took place earlier than 10 September 2011. I suspect, however, that Child already knows this. In the third paragraph of his article, he stresses that «The lineage should be considered preliminary, as I have ordered several additional twentieth-century records that might lead to corrections or additions to the facts below.» He might have ordered twentyfirst-century records as well?

Postscript 26 May 2018 at 19:25: My article above was cut short because I had to prepare for a meeting. I had intended to comment on Andrew Morton's sources before signing off. Sources for the claim that the couple married in a civil ceremony in Los Angeles are not explicitly given. In the Acknoweledgement section the author refers to among others certain family members and friends, some by name, some unidentified. The way the ceremony at Ocho Rios was described, however, it seems quite plausible that the couple was already legally married before entering the island. I wonder, though, if documentation of the civil wedding in LA, is available, or do we have to wait some time before such details are released?

Updated on Saturday 26 May 2018 at 19:25 (postscript added).

American Ancestors (Spring 2018) Special Edition: Mayflower 400th Anniversary Guide

The Spring edition of American Ancestors, the periodical of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), was published earlier this week. It provides a guide to the Mayflower 400th Anniversary, which takes place in 2020. The English ship Mayflower arrived in what is today known as Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620 with 102 passengers (know today as «the Pilgrims») and a crew of about 30 people.

The 68 pages special edition is packed with information on various events taking place during the anniversary year and articles covering different aspects of Mayflower history, including Notable Mayflower Descendants. A List of 100, with sources by Gary Boyd Roberts. On the list one can find several presidents and first ladies, including Franklin D. Roosevelt and Barbara Pierce Bush, author Laura Ingalls Wilder, actors Clint Eastwood and Henry Fonda as well as Mormon founder Joseph Smith, to mention a few. The contents can be read here. There is so much history to explore, so I look forward to reading the edition in full.

 Photo: © 2016 Dag Trygsland Hoelseth.

Mayflower II, a copy of the original ship. It was built in 1957 and is currently under renovation. The photo was taken during my visit to Plymouth in 2016.

Presidential genealogy in the latest issue of American Ancestors

In the latest issue of American Ancestors, one of the two periodicals of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, there is an interesting article titled The Ancestry of President Donald John Trump. An Initial Exploration, written by Alexander Bannerman, Julie Helen Otto and Gary Boyd Roberts.

Gary Boyd Roberts is Senior Research Scholar Emeritus at NEHGS and is well-known for his book Ancestry of American Presidents, which was printed in 2009 and reprinted with corrections in 2012 (ISBN 978-88082-220-6), and which I (of course!) have a copy of. Julie Helen Otto, a former Staff Genealogist at NEHGS, is currently responsible of indexing the New England Historical and Genealogical Register (shortened to The Register) and serves as transcriber for Mayflower Descendants (which is not included in the membership subscription to NEHGS).

Alexander Bannerman is the editor of the periodical Executive Papers, which is the journal of The Hereditary Order of the Families of the Presidents and First Ladies. An ancestor table for Trump will appear in issue 14 of Executive Papers. The said table will be more detailed than the one published in American Ancestors. The Trump family can be traced to Kallstadt in Germany, while the president's mother was born at the Isle of Lewis in Outer Hebrides in Scotland. Some genealogical information about the president has been published on various webpages, including ThoughtCo.com.

According to the Icelandic genealogist Oddur F. Helgason, Trump is a descendant (of among others) the Norwegian King Håkon V Magnusson, cf. Iceland Monitor 24 Janyar 2017, but I would like to see more details of his sources before making further comments.

Parts of the latest issue deal with early Cape Cod ancestry, as demonstrated on the front cover. Besides the Trump article, I also found the article Bringing the Armenian Genocide to Light by Ann Goolkasian O'Donnell to be particularly interesting.

More on Kate Middleton's ancestry, part II

When I worked on my blog article More on Kate Middleton's ancestry (part I) yesterday, I had planned to add a link to The Washington Post's article of 16 November 2010 titled Prince William's financee has famous US relatives, but other commitments forced me to end the article earlier than intended.

The Washington Post article (or actually the Associated Press article) refers to The New England Historic Genealogical Society, and the original article can be find at its website Americanancestors.org with the subject title NEHGS Discovers American Kinships of Prince William's fiancée. Kate Middleton's American Connections include President, General.

Included in the article is also a link to a chart (pdf) showing the degree of relationship Miss Kate Middleton has with President George Washington and others. Unfortunately the article doesn't tell exactly how Kate is related to the said US notabilities and no references to sources are stated, which would have made the article more interesting.

The NEHGS researchers behind the discovery include the well-known genealogist Gary Boyd Roberts, who is the author of several books including Ancestors of American Presidents. His website can be found here. This gives in my opinion the information more credibility, but still it would be interesting to get more details.

I have earlier mentioned (1 and 2) William A. Reitwiesner's website Wargs.com, which includes among others Kate Middleton's ancestry table. I should have mentioned, however, that Reitwiesner did the work together with the British genealogist Michael J. Wood.