April 30, 2018
I have this theory that pretty much all early, northern New Englanders are related.
It sure seems that way.
Today I decided to test that idea.
I did a search in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives for anyone “born in Lewiston” (Maine).
Since Lewiston is a small town and many of my ancestors and relatives were from there, I wanted to see if I was actually related to any random person I found who was from there.
OK. Here is Wallace Cyr’s obituary – he was born and died in Lewiston, Maine – in 1914 and 1959 respectively.
Cyr – I don’t recognize that surname from my family tree.
The obituary informed me that his parents were Edmond and Florence (Davis) Cyr. (Discover Davis last name origin!)
Plugging them into my family tree on FamilySearch.org, I quickly found that his mother – Florence (Davis) Cyr – was already in FamilySearch.
Knowing that, I could quickly determine that Wallace Cyr and I are 9th cousins – we both descend from Roger Eastman (1610-1694) and Sarah Smith (1622-1698), who raised their family in Salisbury, Massachusetts.
Well – we might not have been at the table together for Sunday dinner – we might not even have made it to the Christmas card list – but, now that we know that we are actually cousins – it is different.
We are family.
Amazing.
