Me----Kin to Thomas Jefferson??????????

Can you tell that I'm really 'into' this Family History STUFF????? My husband can vouch for that!!!! ha.... Well---when you dabble into 'family,' you find all kinds of neat things (and some maybe not so neat)..

I do my research with the help of cousins who are sending me information and also the internet (Ancestry.com). It's VERY detail-oriented type of work, and there are LOTS of errors on the internet, even in sites that supposedly are 'sourced.' BUT--I know that it's easy to type in the wrong dates and names and connect the wrong people together!!! But---it's still FUN to TRY!!!!

While researching, I heard an interesting story about my 5-Great Grandparents (on my mother's mother's side of the family). Martha Matilda Karr (sometimes spelled Carr) is my great grandmother (who married Daniel Hoge Bruce). Martha's parents were Robert Karr and Sallie King. Robert's parents were John Carr and Margaret Crow. John's parents were James Carr and Ann Eliza Thomas . AND my 5-Great Grandparents were John Carr and Barbara Overton.

Their grandparents (William Overton and Mary Elizabeth Waters ) got married in 1670 on board ship from England to the USA. Apparently, they were of different faiths and could not marry in England. William Overton died in 1697 in Jamestown. Their granddaughter Barbara Overton married John Carr in 1736. They are my 5-Great Grandparents. They had quite a few children. Their son, James, is my direct descendant. BUT---another son, Dabney Carr (1743-1773), was Thomas Jefferson's best friend and he married Thomas' sister, Martha Jefferson (1746-1811). They had SIX children: Jean, Lucy, Mary Polly, Peter, Samuel, and Dabney. Father Dabney was in the forefront of political changes in Virginia pre-1776 but unfortunately he died at an early age in 1773 (age 30). Thomas Jefferson helped raise his good friend's children after his death. Dabney is buried at Monticello along with Martha and Samuel.

Here lie the remains of
Dabney Carr
Son of John & Barbara Carr
of Louisa County, VA
Born October 26, 1743
Intermarried on July 20, 1765 with Martha Jefferson,
Daughter of Peter & Jane Randolph Jefferson
Died May 16, 1773
at Charlottesville, Virginia


I tried to visit Monticello when George and I were there in June of 2007. We got there late in the afternoon---and even though we talked to some people in charge, we couldn't just 'go' in to see the cemetery. AND--we didn't want to pay the total price that late in the afternoon just to get in. One day I will visit that cemetery (I hope) ---but I want to make some arrangements ahead of time to get in. Here's a picture of the marker to the Monticello Graveyard, and the inscription.

This graveyard had its beginning in an agreement between two young men, Thomas Jefferson and Dabney Carr, who were school-mates and friends. They agreed that they would be buried under a great oak which stood here. Carr, who married Jefferson's sister, died in 1773. His was the first grave on the site, which Jefferson laid out as a family burial ground. Jefferson was buried here in 1826. The present monument is not the original, designed by Jefferson, but a larger one erected by the United States in 1883. Its base covers the graves of Jefferson, his wife, his two daughters and of Governor Thomas Mann Randolph, his son-in-law. The graveyard remains the property of Jefferson's descendants and continues to be a family burial ground.

Interesting, huh???? Does that make me 'kin' to Thomas Jefferson??.. Well-- not really! I guess since my relative was Thomas' best friend, that counts for something though...ha

Have a wonderful Thursday. We're headed to Hendersonville to check on George's parent.
Hugs,

P.S. All photos in today's post came from the internet.