52 Ancestors Week 50: You Wouldn't Believe It

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 50

The theme for Week 50 is "You Wouldn't Believe It." Sometimes in our family history journey, we discover things that surprise or amaze us, things that almost seem unreal. There are also times in our research that we're amazed at *how* we found something. Share a surprising tale this week.

Mind. Blown.

    Genealogy is full of surprises. Everywhere you go on your genealogical adventure you're bound to find a new cousin who messages you out of the blue or some random document you've spent hours trying to find. It's the nature of the hobby/profession. You're going to find surprises both good and bad wherever you go. As for me, I've found some whoppers. You all know I am connected to European actor Pasquale Aleardi who is my second cousin once removed. What if I told you I was also connected on my mother's side to a rather famous baseball player. Not just ANY baseball player, by the way. We're talking about the Colossus of Clout, the King of Crash, the Sultan of Swat, the Great Bambino himself....George Herman "Babe" Ruth!

There's heroes and there's legends. 
Heroes get remembered. Legends
never die.

    Now, obviously it's not a blood connection. Let's get that out of the way before we go any further. I don't want to be blamed for the curse of the Bambino that the Boston Red Sox had to deal with before they won a World Series in the early 2000s. Several marriages had to happen which made this connection a possibility. Hang tight, kids. We're going to go through some genealogical gynmastics. See you on the other side, I hope!

    How I discovered it was totally random. What happened was I was doing some descendency research on my Stevens line and I came across a woman named Julia Hodgson. I checked her out on Wikipedia as the page was one of her sources on WikiTree and the page said she was the stepdaughter of the Babe since her mom, Claire Mae Merrit was once married to him.

    Interesting, right? That's still not where the connection come from because Julia married a man named  Brenton Maurice Stevens in 1956. I know what you're thinking. Stevens is a VERY common name and you're right of course. It is a crazy common name. However, with the power of plot convenience research, I have proved the connection to Mr. Ruth via Brenton.

    Try to follow along as it gets a wee bit complicated. Brenton was born on April 18th, 1920 in Portland, Maine to Earl Webster Stevens and Mabelle Ida Hall. Vital records in Maine confirmed that much. He lived to be 84 and died just before the Red Sox started the World Series run in 2004. Sigh....if only he hung in there one more week! I'm sure he and his father-in-law would have had some things to discuss in the Hereafter *IF* he made it. The Babe was the reason there's a rivalry between the Red Sox and the Yankees.

    Joking aside, I researched Brenton's father, Earl and quickly discovered that he was born in Dover, New Hampshire on May 24th, 1895 to William Earl Stevens and Lilla Randall. Vital records and censuses confirmed he was the son of Alonzo and Susan Stevens.

    Here's where things get a little tricky. You have to be careful when you look at these common names or else you'd literally be barking up the wrong tree. Thankfully, users on Familysearch found Alonzo's parents and they turned out to be named Wheelright Stevens and Martha Corban. No pages on WikiTree for them, yet. Soon, I promise!

    Alonzo's parents aren't ancestors of mine. So, where would the connection be? If you're saying to check out the wife, you get a cookie. Because that's exactly what I did and that's exactly where the connection can be found!

   Susan was born on April 6th, 1835 in Parsonsfield, Maine to William Stevens and Rosanna Taylor, my 5th great-grandparents. Birth documents in Maine and censuses all confirmed the relationship and I smiled. I have a pretty solid if not interesting connection to one of the greatest baseball players of all time. I don't want to brag or anything. But, that's pretty awesome! You have to admit! Confirming everything while tempering my hopes with caution was a little crazy. But, it was worth it. Brenton is now a confirmed third cousin three times removed.

Allon-sy, Alonzo! I had to. I'm a Doctor Who
Fan! Plus, you knew it was coming!

    Confirming everything was pretty easy to do because thankfully records in Maine and New Hampshire are pretty decent and easy to come by. Everything seemed to click and my connection to Babe Ruth remains one of the coolest connections I've discovered in the family tree.

    Does it hold water? Ummm....Yes. Do you think I'd be posting about this if I wasn't absolutely 100% sure of the stuff I'm saying? This isn't hyperbolt and I'm not one to brag. I had to make sure all the ts were dotted and is were crossed. ;)

    I was cautious, I'll admit. It's much easier for me to believe a closer connection like my and Pasquale because my father and  I have DNA backing that up. Not to mention gigaquads of family data, photos and stories. Solving that close a relation was easy for me because of various circumstances. It's not so easy for everyone else, I'll admit!

    Though, you know if you go back far enough, you'll find that everyone's connected. Some might find that connection in the distant past and some might find that connection before everything was written down. You never know. We're all humans and we're all connected to each other one way or another. It really makes you think.

    My connection to Babe Ruth is cool and all. But, my connection to Mark Hamill is infinitely cooler because on one hand I'm one with the Force and on the other....I'm connected to the clown prince of crime, the Joker! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

See you next time!

P.S. Having a notable connection is cool and everything but don't let it go to your head. If anything, it's a great conversation starter at parties. =D