ALL KNOWLEDGE IS CONNECTED TO ALL OTHER KNOWLEDGE.
THE FUN IS IN MAKING THE CONNECTIONS.
Arthur Aufderheide
Arthur Aufderheide
As family historians, we all know how true this quote is but sometimes curiosity makes a connection that can be bizarre. Such was my experience when I was researching my husband's great-grandaunt, Mary Jane Corbin. Mary was born in 1837 in Newfoundland to George Allen Corbin and Phoebe McCoubrey. On December 7, 1857, Mary Jane married John W. Farquharson Jr. in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Their relationship was a short one as Mary Jane died on April 23, 1858, in Halifax. Given the short period of time they were married and no other information to the contrary, I assumed the union did not result in any children.
While searching for information on other Corbin family, I connected with Beth who also had the couple in their tree. Unexpectedly, it turns out she is actually a DNA match to my husband at about the 4-6th generation. The only obvious connection in our trees was John W. Farquharson. Curiously, however, Barbara is a direct descendent of John and his second wife Minnie Rebecca Eaton. How could she possibly be related to my husband ??
There is another Farquharson connection in the family in the form of Jane Farquharson, daughter of Alexander Farquharson and Margaret Simpson. Jane married widower George Allan Corbin Jr., brother of the above Mary Jane on September 18, 1873, in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. This must be the connection I thought but it was only a moment before I remembered that George and Jane had no children. Another dead end!
I have not been able to find the connection, but occasionally check Beth’s tree to see if anything new might help my research. One day, I pulled up her profile and was about to check it out when I realized something surprising. I had inadvertently called her up using my own profile rather than my husband’s…wait a minute…Beth is a DNA match to me ??? Sure enough, I had been so focused on the Corbin relationship that I had not seen our own connection. As it turns out, Beth and I are 5th cousins, sharing a 4th great grandfather, Robert “Deacon” and Elizabeth Marshall. Even more curious is that my Marshall connection married into her Farquharson line.
So am I in some way connected to my husband? We had not thought so, but still curious. Time and more investigation will tell.
