Theory of relativity: If you go back far enough, we're all related.

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THE FAMILY TREE
I think that I shall never see,
A thing so involved as a family tree.
A tree whose myriad boughs are spread,
To include the living as well as the dead.
A tree whose roots are imbedded deep,
to the beginning of time they do seep.
A tree whose branches multiply
Many leaves recorded I.
Though too
complex for
a being like
me, I'm
glad I'm
part of a
"Family Tree."

WHO ARE THE ORSON BROWN'S IN THE FAMILY ?

Orson Pratt Brown - named after Orson Pratt 1811-1881
Orson Pratt Brown 1863-1946 born to Captain James Brown and Phoebe Abbott Brown
[Orson Pratt McRae 1884-1917 born to Joseph McRae and Maria Taylor]
Orson Pratt Brown, Jr. 1890-1892 born to Mattie Romney
Orson Juarez Brown 1908-1981 born to Mattie Romney
Orson Pratt Galbraith Brown 1905-1960 born to Jane Galbraith
Orson Erastus Brown 1909-1910 born to Eliza Skousen
Orson "Sylvestre" Gustavo Brown 1919 born to Angela Gabaldon
Orson Pratt Brown 1945 born to Tony Morelos Brown and Nelle Weiler Brown
Orson Pauly Brown 1949 born to Pauly & Lilia Gonzalez Brown

CAN YOU NAME MORE ? 

Orson Pratt McRae 1884 born to Joseph McRae and Maria Taylor
"Orson" Silvestre Gustavo "Tavito"  Tarin Brown 1952 born to Gustavo and Emma Brown
"Orson" Silvestre Gustavo Clark Brown 2002 born to S. Gustavo Soto & McKelle
"Orson" Silvestre Gustavo (from G. Soto) ??? born to S. Gustavo Soto & 2nd wife
"Orson" Silvestre Gustavo Fonda Brown 1975 born to "Tavito" & Kathy Fonda Brown
"Orson" Silvestre Gustavo Pena Brown 1997 born to "Tavito" & Irma Pena Brown
"Orson" Silvestre Gustavo Soto Brown 1976 born to S. Gustavo & Nubia Soto Brown
"Orson" Silvestre Gustavo Vega Brown 1989 born to "Tavito" & Yolanda Vega Brown

Six Degrees of Separation

There is a good chance of making a chain of personal connections between you and anyone else on Earth using no more than six links of separation. That means that a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend knows anyone you care to name -- Brad Pitt, Sarah Palin, Prince Charles, or Al Gore.

Anyone on the planet is most likely only six links away in a chain of relationships. To estimate the total divide them into a few broad groups, family, friends, casual acquaintances, and work colleagues probably cover most of the people you know by first name.

Start with an average family in which parents have about two children and assume that grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins are included in the extended family. So if you are a child or young adult, there are probably around sixteen members in your extended family. Now imagine going back two or three generations. A century ago, most couples had four or five children who survived into adulthood. Cousins multiply almost exponentially with family size, and it is they who most likely provide the connectivity.

List your work associates, your friends, casual acquaintences whose names you know, such as the window cleaner, postal worker, dog park friend, or your children's friends parents. Your list will probably stand at around eighty people in your social circle. Each of those people also stand in the center of around eighty "pals".

As a start, we can say that the number of pals of pals we have is about 80 X 80 = 6,400. So 80 pals to the power of six covers the world's population of around 6.6 billion people.

Does it really work for anyone? Finding a link to Prince Charles could begin by looking for connections with pals of English heritage. A good bet would be to look for a link between yourself and someone in Great Britain, England or Wales. Once you have found that link there are likely lots of links between that pal and someone connected to Prince Charles's family. These links will connect you to almost anyone on the planet.

In 2001, Duncan Watts, a professor at Columbia University, attempted to recreate on the Internet Milgram's experiment, using an e-mail message as the "package" that needed to be delivered, with 48,000 senders and 19 targets (in 157 countries). Watts found that the average (though not maximum) number of intermediaries was around six.

REPORTING IT WITH OPTIMISM

Thomas Edward "Black Jack" Ketchum and a group of others were named as the robbers of an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway train that was en route to Deming, New Mexico Territory with a large payroll in 1892. The gang supposedly robbed the train just outside Nutt, New Mexico Territory, a water station about 20 miles north of Deming. During that time, "Black Jack" and his gang would often visit the ranch of Herb Bassett, near Brown's Park, who was known to have done business with several outlaws of the day, supplying them with beef and fresh horses. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Ketchum)

If you read some of Orson's journals you will see the collaboration between some of the above named individuals and Orson's stories. This story is one variation of an often used biography of Ketchum. It is placed on this website to demonstrate genealogical and political enthusiasm for ancestry, or for notoriety. (http://www.snopes.com/politics/humor/horsethief.asp)

PLURALISM

"Dear guests....[many principled men have been cruelly punished, tortured, killed, abolished] by those who could not understand that it is quite permissible for rational men to differ on important points of belief or doctrine. The world in which they lived had yet to develop those qualities of tolerance of difference of opinion which we take for granted, but which we must remind ourselves are of rather recent creation and are by no means assured of universal support. There are amongst us still those who would deny to others the right to hold a different understanding of the fundamental issues of our time. Thus, if we look about us, we see dogma still in conflict with rival dogma; we see people of one culture or belief still at odds with their human neighbours who are of a different culture or belief; and we see many who are prepared to act upon this difference to the extent of denying the humanity of those with whom they differ. They are prepared to kill them, drive them out, and innocent others in the process, in order to strike at those whom they perceive to be their enemies, even if these so-called enemies are, like them, simple human beings, with families that love them, and with hopes and fears about their own individual futures.

How would our ancestors, by some thought experiment visiting the world today, recognize those self-same conflicts and sorrows which marred their own world and made it such a dangerous and, ultimately such a fatal place? They would, I suspect say that much has remained the same that even if we have put some of the agents of division and intolerance to flight, there is still much evidence of their work among us.

Here in this place of worship and learning, let us remind ourselves of the possibility of combating, in whatever small way we can, those divisions that come between man and man, between woman and woman, so that we may recognize in each other that vulnerable humanity that informs our lives, and makes life so precious; so that each may find happiness in his or her life, and in the lives of others."

A.M. Smith

Elusive Ancestor

If....

If you could see your ancestors
All standing in a row,
Would you be proud of them?
Or don't you really know?
Some mighty strange discoveries are made
In climbing family trees,
And some of them, you know
Might not particularly please

If you could see your ancestors
All standing in a row
There might be some of them
You wouldn't care to know.
But here is another question
That requires a different view.
If you could meet your ancestors,
What would they think of you?

--Mable Baker

"I'm My Own Grandpa"

How Many Relatives Do You Have?

TERMINOLOGY OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

Ancestor is the person from who you descend "directly", such as a parent, grandparent or great-grandparent.

Collateral relations are those relatives who are linked by a common ancestor, such aunts, uncles, and cousins; and through polygamy, though here it gets complicated.

Descendant is the person who descends "directly" from you such as a son or daughter, or a grandson or great-granddaughter.

Halt sister (or half brother) is the child of your mother and stepfather, or of your father and stepmother, or of either parent, by a former marriage; or a child of your father from a plural wife.

In-laws are your connections by the law of marriage (as distinct from relatives by blood);. In particular your husband's or wife's relatives and your own brother's wife or sister's husband.

Lineal relations are those in the "direct" line of ascent or descent, such as a grandfather or granddaughter.

Siblings have parents in common. Brothers and sisters are siblings.

Stepchild is the child of your husband or wife by a former marriage.

Stepfather (or stepmother) is the husband of your mother (or the wife of your father) by a subsequet Marriage.

Stepsister (or stepbrother) is the child of your stepfather or stepmother.

~ ~ ~ ~

Your first cousin is your parent's brother's (or sister) child. However, the first cousins child is not your second cousin, as is sometimes thought to be the case, but your first cousin once removed. The child of the first cousin once removed is your first cousin twice resoved, and his child your first cousin three times removed,

Your second cousin is your grandparent's brother's (or sister's) grandchild. That second cousin's child is your second cousin once removed) his child your second cousin twice removed.

Your third cousin is your great parent's brother's (or sister's) great grand­child, The third cousin's child is your third cousin once removed, his child your third cousin twice removed.

~ ~ ~ ~

Grandnephew (or grandniece) is the grandchild of your brother or sister. Great-aunt (or great-uncle) is the sister (or brother) of your grandparents.

Great-grandaunt (or great-granduncle) is the sister or brother of your great-grandparents.

Where Are the Wicked Folk Buried?

'Tell me, grey-haired sexton,' said I,
'Where in the field are the wicked folk laid?
I have wandered the quiet old graveyard through,
And studied the epitaphs, old and new,
But on monument, obelisk, pillar, or stone,
I read no evil that men have done.'

The old sexton stood by a grave newly made,
With his chin on his hand, his hand on a spade:
'Who is the judge when the soul takes its flight?
Who is the judge 'twixt the wrong and the right?
Which of us mortals shall dare to say
That our neighbour was wicked who died to-day?'

'In our journey through life, the farther we speed,
The better we learn that humility's need
Is charity's spirit that prompts us to find
Rather virtue than vice in the lives of our kind.'

'Therefore good deeds we record on these stones;
The evil men do, let it rest with their bones'
I have laboured as sexton this many a year,
But I never have buried a bad man here.'

-- From "Journal of the Association for the
Preservation of the Memorials of the
Dead in Ireland," Vol. 2, Part 1 (1895)

General Naming Patterns ...

Naming patterns are an extremely useful tool for finding your ancestors. I relied on them to find an ancestor's death which had been particularly elusive. Using naming pattern rules I was able to discount most of the possibilities, leaving an entry which turned out to be the correct one. They can, however, also create confusion. Before relying completely on the naming pattern relevant to your line of research, I recommend you read Barking Up The Wrong Tree. While this page relates mainly to US genealogical research, it's definitely an eye-opener to other possible naming methods!

United States