Illustrious Ancestors - Looking for Links

 One of the activities on FamilySearch is "Famous Relatives" ... tracing back in your family tree to find some of those well-known scientists, political figures, artists, etc.  Here is the challenge Chris sent out:

Today the goal is to report back on one famous relative that you found fun and interesting. I chose Thomas Edison. Send me back a screenshot similar to mine. There are three extra rewards (1) for the quickest result submitted (2) the CLOSEST relationship to a famous person (you may want to try out a few) and (3) the person who BEST explains what "Three Times Removed" means (see the example in my Thomas Edison screenshot). 

Below - you'll see the screenshot that Chris sent. Any of the Westra siblings (shown here with Jen's screenshot) would trace the same line back. So you'd think any grandchildren would just be another branch down on the tree. Surprise ... when Colton clicked on Edison, he had a closer link through the Blackham side. That was true for Calder too!

Rella won for first/fastest response ... Jane Austen, the author of Pride and Prejudice. That's one of Jen's favorite books, so Jen looked up that relationship for her too. Neither Jen nor Rella went through the Westra side of the family for the link.

Next up ... Diana and Disney!

Derek and Danielle's crew connected with Princess Diana and Walt Disney along the Westra line.

The Blackham's linked to those two too --  but they found a different route.

Here's a look at Lincoln. Three grandkid links ... Three different paths.

Here is Kaden's winning explanation of "cousins" and "removed"

I must admit I'm still a little confused.

Here's a chart from Family Search ...

... and an explanation from Ancestry.com

Each cousin can be numbered based on how many generations back your shared ancestors are and “removed” a given number of times, based on how many generations apart you are from each other.

One thing to bear in mind when dealing with “removed” cousins is that determining whether you are first, second, or third cousins is a little trickier, since you end up with different numbers when counting back to your common ancestor. In these cases, the number is based on which one of you counts back the fewest number of generations. For example, if your cousin counts back three generations while you count back five, then you would be second cousins twice removed. The “second” would be due to the number of generations back your cousin counted to a common ancestor, and “twice removed” thanks to the difference in generations between you.

I'm STILL not quite sure, but luckily when all the ancestors are in place along the family lines, then family search figures it all out for us! 

Several of the Jensen kids were feeling presidential ...

Janelle found a link to Thomas Jefferson (3rd president)

Josh found a link to Andrew Jackson (7th president)

Jaiden found a link to Franklin Pierce (14th president)

Janika found a link to William McKinley (25th president)

Lincoln (shown earlier) was the 16th president ... now this is also a history lesson. 

None of the Jensen's presidential paths connected through the Westra line, but ...

Elvis is apparently a 9th cousin ... removed differently. And NOT a Westra/Norman.

Cayson. Jenna. Colton - Linked through the other side of the family.

 

... and a couple more from Jared and Ellen (and Colton)

Again - no Westra connection.

Now before you think Colton was super excited about this project with all his contributions ... admittedly, it was Mom, looking up some on his account to get some different paths to the same people. Colton didn't actually participate, and didn't get the reward.

Cooper did though ... and won the award for the closest connection.

Removed by a lot ... but first cousin!

Cooper wasn't even trying for the extra reward - this was the only match he looked up. His Physics class has been studying Newton's three laws, so he had Newton on the brain. Maybe he has a little of the brain power too? After all, they are totally related!

With Roots Tech going on this week, Facebook has been full of "are we related" challenges, which would match your family history to see if you just might link up to some of your Facebook friends. Most "matches" were ## cousin ## removed ... but that's true for some of these famous individuals as well. Many people are related if you go back far enough, and with family history ... we can see pretty far!

What will the next challenge be ... will YOU participate?