Summer Activities: Weddings and Family Trees
The wedding date’s been set, the cozy German Protestant church has been chosen, and now we need to find a venue for the reception. After that, it’s time to start looking at dresses!
This summer will be filled with wedding planning, but not only that, it will have a good dose of historical research going on, too. What better way to prepare for a wedding than take a look at the history of the families being joined? I would also like to document our families so that I can join the Daughters of the American Revolution and Aaron can join The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
Sounds ironic for a supporter of the British Royal Family, doesn’t it?
Americans and Britons share a common history. Indeed, most of the country is - in some way - British. There are millions of Americans who proudly claim English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh ancestry, so we are all British-American brothers and sisters. America and Great Britain, though not on good terms back in the 1700s, are now regarded as close friends and “cousins”.
The fact that we fought each other is a part of world history, a fact that is celebrated as a search for freedom and democracy. It should also be celebrated that we had a successful restoration of peace and harmony between us later on, for which we can be thankful.
Our Personal Ties
My fiance Aaron is related to the American Revolution patriot Nathan Hale, whose famous quote was “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country”. I am related to Ute Warren Perkins, who helped settle Southern Nevada. He was a great-grandson of a Revolutionary war patriot, also named Ute.
It is also through the Perkins family that I am related to Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin. The start of our Whitney line begins with John Whitney and his wife Ruth Reynolds, who had several children. Two of their sons, Joseph and Nathaniel, each married and had their own families. I am descended from Joseph, while Eli Whitney is descended from Nathaniel.
I find genealogy so fascinating. You never know who you’re related to! It was all discovered on the LDS Church’s FamilySearch.org website.
