Wont You Be My Cousin-Fred Rogers

Family Tree History Research
Deitz Family Tree
Pope-Jenny Line

On a lark today I decided to do the "Geni.com Spin the Relative Wheel" and came up with a cool cousin connection to a "Childhood Friend" through my mom's family tree lines back to New England.

That line then goes back to England and connects way back in history around 1428 with one of my 15th Great Grandfathers named Sir John De Neville, who was the Earl of Northumberland and his sister, my 16th Great Aunt named Lady Eleanor De Neville Stanley, who was the Countess of Derby and who would be Fred Roger's 14th Great Grandma.

I grew up watching Fred and his pals and learning about manners and how to be nice to one another.
His shows taught me much about the world and I so looked forward to his being my neighbor each day of the week. On weekends I couldn't wait until Monday rolled around.

Each episode began the same way: Mister Rogers is seen coming home, singing his theme song "Won't You Be My Neighbor?", and changing into sneakers and a zippered cardigan sweater.
In a typical episode, Rogers might have an earnest conversation with his television audience, interact with live guests, take a field trip to such places as a bakery or a music store, or watch a short film.
Typical video subjects included demonstrations of how such inanimate objects as bulldozers and crayons work or are manufactured.

Each episode also included a trip to Rogers' "Neighborhood of Make-Believe" featuring a trolley with its own chiming theme song, a castle, and the kingdom's citizens, including King Friday XIII. The subjects discussed in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe often allowed further development of themes discussed in Mister Rogers' "real" neighborhood.

Mister Rogers often fed his fish during episodes. They were originally named Fennel and Frieda.
Typically, each week's episode explored a major theme, such as going to school for the first time.
Originally, most episodes ended with a song entitled "Tomorrow", and Friday episodes looked forward to the week ahead with an adapted version of "It's Such a Good Feeling." In later seasons, all episodes ended with "Feeling."

Come meet "my neighbor" and my cousin.....

Charlotte Saunders Cushman -5th Cousin

Family Tree History & Research
Deitz Family History
Cushman Family Line
Charlotte Saunders Cushman
5th Cousin
Stage Actress 19th Century

I came across an article today in the New England Historical Society Email Newsletter about Charlotte.
I remember seeing her name in my family tree on the Cushman side somewhere.
I did a little climbing of the branches and came upon our relation to each other.
Another of my New England kin from my mother's family tree.

Charlotte led a very interesting life and by all accounts was very famous in her time.
Read on for her story (taken from the article from the NEHS email newsletter and a few other sources) and a few tidbits from yours truly.......

Piers Gaveston- 24th Great Grandfather

Family Tree History & Research
Deitz Family Tree
Gaveston-De Clare Line
Piers Gaveston-24th Great Grandfather

My research into my family history has taken me back to the 13th Century quite a bit lately.
I have always found the medieval era fascinating and now lately even more so since I discovered that many of my mother's lines go back to some of the most written about people of the time.

Today I discovered that Piers Gaveston, the Earl of Cornwall and the doomed lover of King Edward II was the 1st husband of my 21st Great Grandmother, Margaret De Clare Galveston Stafford, Countess of Gloucester.

Then as I continued my research I discovered that he was also my 24th Great Grandfather while researching one of my other lines!!

Piers and Margaret had one daughter, together named Joan, who died at age 13.
But Piers also had an illegitimate daughter named Amie (Amy) with another woman and this Amie would become my 23rd Great Grandmother

My 24th Great Grandfather lived a very interesting life. He was born of parents that held no special social standing and rose to become one of the favorites of a King as well as the Earl of Cornwall.
He was given a wife of royal lineage and was given much wealth by the same king who favored him intimately.
And because of his relationship with that King, he met an untimely death.

Come along as I try to tell the story of a man who's blood runs through the veins of myself and my siblings and their children......

Gaveston Coat of Arms

Almira Swart Deitz-3rd Great Grandmother

Family Tree History & Research
Deitz Family Tree
Swart Branch

Today, September 23rd, 2018 is the birthday of my 3rd Great Grandmother.
She would have been 187 years old.

Her story is one that I do not know very much about and though I have only begun researching that branch of my mother's tree, the following is what I have been able to discover:

Richard Warren-11th & 12th Great Grandfather

Family History Research
Richard Warren
Mayflower Passenger & Plymouth Pilgrim First-comer


About 398 years ago, my 11th (& 12th) Great Grandfather boarded a ship in England and traveled to America, just as many people have done since.
The only difference is that the journey across the ocean that my ancestral great grandpa was on was a voyage that was documented fairly well and one that would become a huge part of American History.

Today I would like to introduce Richard Warren, whose blood runs through the veins of myself and my siblings and their children because of our mother, Marlene Deitz Repinski.

This is his story and thus part of my story.....My Pilgrim Ancestral Great Grandfather.

My Journey to become an Official Mayflower Descendant

Family Tree History & Research
My Mayflower and Pilgrim Roots
My Journey to Become and Official Mayflower Descendant

September 2018

A few weeks ago I received a letter that I have been anxiously awaiting and now the quest to prove the pedigree that my siblings and I and their children inherited from my mother has officially commenced.

The letter to which I reference came from the General Society of Mayflower Descendants and it was in response to my initial inquiry to them to ask them to trace my family lineage back to two 11th Great Grandfathers who just happened to be Mayflower passengers;
Isaac Allerton and Richard Warren.

It was just about two years ago when I discovered by pure coincidence while digging into an online family tree that I didn't know existed, that these two men (among many others) from Plymouth Mass. were ancestors of myself and my siblings through our mother.

Read on....

The Mayflower-Part of My History

Family History & Research
September 16th, 2018

On This Day in History: September 16, 1620

On this day in 1620, the Mayflower departs Plymouth, England and sets sail for the New World. The Mayflower is one of the most important ships in American history and one which carried many of my ancestors who settled in Plymouth Colony. This cargo ship brought the pilgrims to Massachusetts during the Great Puritan Migration in the 17th century... Click here to read more: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-mayflower/ And read on to see my historical connections to this "Ship of Dreams"