Tripping over my roots

Serendipity or sheer nonsense?

You’re not gonna believe this.

I don’t believe this.

Honestly, I’m not sure if it’s the discovery or the endless serendipity that’s more fun here.

I started reading a bit from Everything You Need to Ace U.S. History in One Big Fat Notebook while working on my John Adams presentation because:

1. I didn’t doodle my way through any books about John Adams! I hoped this might help me remember a few extra details.

2. I want to ace the Q&A

3. It’s a beautiful book and it’s been untouched on my shelf for too long

There’s an amazing doodle in the book of George Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, which reminded me that I have an ancestor in the painting. Awesome. I can use that somehow.

Spoiler: this has nothing to do with me.

So I dug out my family history and started leafing through a copy of A History of the Rockwoods: From the Time They First Emigrated to This Country to the Present Time, 1855.

I also texted my mom, who let me know…

that painting has nothing to do with me.

The painting I was thinking of was Spirit of ‘76, painted by my ancestor Archibald Willard a century after the Revolution. The middle guy in that painting is also my ancestor. At some point, I’ll need to dig into this more (particularly since the painting was originally intended to be funny) but not today. That’s OK though because…

I discovered my ancestors lived in Groton, MA

This blew my mind because Groton Public Library is one of the libraries collaborating on the Virtual Presidential Series. From at least 1739 (perhaps earlier) until at least 1899 (perhaps later) when my great-grandfather was born, I had family in Groton. (My family was in Groton before the Groton Public Library was in Groton!)

🤯 SEMI-COINCIDENCE: My ancestors lived in the same community as one of the partner libraries.

Also cool — one of my other ancestors was among the first to settle in Dorchester in 1630 and then “he removed thence to Braintree.” Braintree — where John Adams was born! Braintree is now Quincy — and the libraries in Quincy are also part of the collaboration!

🤯 SEMI-COINCIDENCE: My ancestors lived in the same communities as two of the partner libraries.

I added my ancestor to my presentation on his birthday.

On February 4, I added James Rockwood to my presentation. He was born February 4, 1797 which was a convenient segue (“and one month later John Adams was sworn in”) to get my presentation back on track after my long tangent.

It wasn’t until the next day that I realized I researched my ancestor on his 225th birthday!

I researched James Rockwood on his birthday

🤯COINCIDENCE: I added James Rockwood to my presentation on his birthday without realizing it.

But then I started to dig around more.

I’d noticed an Adams in my family tree before but thought nothing of it. I mean, what are the odds, right…?

But I’m nothing if not a Master Procrastinator and the only thing I had left to do in my presentation was to figure out some really complicated maps. So …

I dug into Elizabeth Adams…

and discovered that her dad was James Adams I, and his dad was Moses Adams, and his dad was Lt. Henry Adams, and his dad was Henry Adams, born in England.

That Henry Adams was also father of Captain Adams, Sr., who was father of Joseph Adams, Jr., who was father of John Adams, Sr., who was freaking John Adams’ father!

Holy cow — John Adams!!!

So very distantly, I am related to John Adams*… and also John Quincy Adams. But if you think about the fact that Henry Adams’ father was John Adams (born in 1555), technically you could say I’m the 11x granddaughter of John Adams. Not, like, Thee John Adams. But still!

🤯COINCIDENCE: I’m related to John Adams?! And I discover this for the very first time after never hearing this is a possibility while working on a presentation about John Adams?!?!

My very crudely scrawled family tree

The next day a friend commented on my Instagram post about James Rockwood: “Also…if you’re looking for a second fun tangent, Sara Haines just found out on Finding your Roots she’s related to…John Adams 😝”

I hadn’t told my friend yet that I discovered the same thing… the day before. (And all of the posts about Sara? That’s when her news came out!)

In any case … Here’s a little clip. Through tears, Haines said: “I’m related to a president. And he was a good one.”

Yeah he was!

Apparently, in the entire history of Finding Your Roots, this is only the second time they’ve found someone was related to a president! And she’s related to two! And get this — we’re related to him the same way — through Henry Adams!!! (ALL THE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!) He’s her 11th great-grandfather.

🤯COINCIDENCE: the news came out that Sara Haines found out she’s related to John Adams on the same day that I found out — but I didn’t find out she found out until the next day.

🤯COINCIDENCE: the friend I found out about Sara Haines from? She’s my namengroot. In fact, we are only friends because we were both Heather Rockwood and people kept mixing us up. Otherwise, we may never have met each other. We are not related. Unlike me and Sara Haines…?

*I do not know at all what I’m doing.

I’m not even an amateur genealogist. I don’t have Henry Louis Gates, Jr. or his team in my corner. It’s possible that I’ve completely gunked this all up relying on unreliable sites and am spewing nonsense.

It’s also possible that I just tripped over my roots and accidentally discovered I’m related to our 2nd and 6th presidents.

Finding Your Roots with Henry Gates, Jr.

Sara Haines is in season 12, episode 6. Watch it here.

PS Where is Waldo…’s relatives?

Mere hours after watching Finding Your Roots, I looked up Ralph Waldo Emerson. I was about to doodle something he said, but wasn’t sure how he meant it. Whew. He was an abolitionist. Born in Boston. And his middle name? He was named after two relatives — Ralph Waldo (mom’s brother) and Rebecca Waldo (great-great grandmother on his father’s side). Waldo was a last name!

Do you know who else has a Waldo in their family tree? John Adams’ distant cousin, several times removed — Sara Haines! I saw it on the show mere hours earlier! Is she related to Ralph Waldo Emerson?

Who’s to say.

Certainly not me.*

*I dug around a little bit, but got too twisted around and gave up. In any case — I had things to do. I had doodles to doodle — like this one, inspired by President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier, by CW Goodyear. I bet sometimes when people look into their ancestry, they find out they are related to John Calhoun.

[ shiver runs down spine ]

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Watch me prattle on about my cousin (or if you just want to skip to when I start talking about how we’re related¹ — here you go):

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NEXT MYSTERY

Am I related to George Rockwood?

Seems more likely — due to proximity, if nothing else. Thus far, I’ve lack the patience / skill to find any conclusive evidence. But I should be related, right?

1. I think.

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