From the Land Down Under to the Rising Sun

(Subtitle: Family Connections!)

This post is about cousins….bear with me as this blog post could be also titled Nerd Alert. Recently as I was doing more in-depth research on the Ancestry site for the Furner Branch of the Wayne tree, I encountered someone who had posted lots useful sources, such as ship logs and newspaper clippings. It turns out this lady and I are third cousins. This was a fun surprise for me because I have never known a cousin on the Furner side. Since June Furner had no nephews or nieces, there were no Furner first cousins. So even if its 3^rd cousins, second cousins , or second cousin once removed on the Furner side a cousin is a rarity!

And here is where the nerd alert comes in: To determine who is a first cousins once removed or a second or third cousin, a handy way to remember is to count how many G’s there are as in Great or Grandparent that makes the connection to you. In case of first cousins you share a grandparent – one G – First cousin. If you have to go back to a Great Grandparent – two G’s – second cousins. In the case of the cousin I “met” on the ancestry website, we share the connection with Owen Furner, my Great- Great Grandfather, so 3 G’s thus this lady was my third cousin.

I came across this image that helps visualize the relationships.

Our First Cousins are easy to identify because they are your Aunt of Uncle’s children you share a grandfather. But to figure out who the other people are – you can place yourself in the “YOU” box and trace back to where the connection is. Most of us reading this blog are connected either through Milton and June Wayne or back to Milton’s parents Matthew & Margaretta Whan. (Or your spouse is connected)

If your eyes have glazed over and you are about to close this browser, I did warn you that this is post appeals to nerds like me. But keep reading let’s get to the two people named in the title of the post – Winne & Luke!

To illustrate the cousin connections I thought it would be fun to use the two most recent Whan descendants, Winnie and Luke. Luke just celebrated his first birthday on December 20^th and Winnie, the youngest just came into this world on December 22^nd 2020! By the way, I’m using only first names because while this blog is just read by family connections, it is on the world wide web and so thought it best to keep it slightly vague.

Also to keep this tree explanation simple, I am only naming one parent in each example – the one with the Whan ancestor. Since Winnie is the youngest, let’s put her in the “YOU” box  of the chart posted above. We trace up following the arrows  >Sophie -Parent >  Philippa- grandparent > Loloma – Great grandparent and then Matthew. Matthew Whan is Winnie’s Great Great Grandparent (3 G’s).  From that spot in the top far right box, move directly down to the box below which is Winnie’s Great-Grand Uncle, Milton. Then > Stan her First Cousin Twice Removed then > Rachel, her Second cousin once removed > and finally we get to Luke! As the box shows, Winnie and Luke are third cousins! A year and two days apart in age they are the youngest Whan descendants at the moment!

And there you have some family connections.  

Post Script to the last Furner ancestry blog post. Through the research the third cousin I mentioned provided, I discovered that June’s Grandmother Ada Mary Jones was indeed Welsh but she was born in Australia. Ada’s father William Jones came from Wales when he was just 5 years old with his parents. Henry Jones was a farmer from Anglesey Wales and mother Margaret a “dairywoman” – I wonder if that means she was milking cows? The ship’s name the William Sharples, arriving on January 29, 1842.  William Jones grew up, got married to Emmeline Flood (also Welsh) and their first daughter was Ada Mary. Ada Mary somehow met and married George Arthur Furner. Mom often said, there was musical talent in her Welsh ancestry.  One daughter,  Doris Furner,  became an accomplished violinist and I found plenty of announcements in the newspapers about her concerts.