POST 8: Tick Tock

1/21/2012 Note: Welcome to the 8th post of this blog.  If you would like to see the earlier posts leading up to this point, please scroll to the bottom on the page. The first post is entitled, "The Beginning....He Did What????  ...or, you may start here....I welcome all comments or information you may have.

Hi all!  Wanted to push out a short post to let you know "Lucy" emailed me this week and we're making progress...

"Hello Mitch,

Your research is in the queue for our Colonial Research specialist. It is now my first session in line for him. I want to let you know it can take time to review all the necessary records during the research process. Early Colonial research can be very difficult and several records will need to be reviewed which can take extensive time. Also, no new research by the client will be accepted because the researcher may have already reviewed records before the client sent them creating a duplication of effort. It has been a pleasure assisting you with your research. I will update you again as the work proceeds."

I'm happy that we're "in the queue" If any of you ever to decide to hire Progenaologists.com, at least you'll know the drill!  Now we wait some more....Tick Tock! And so it goes.


Question: Have you ever met someone with the same last name as yours and thought,  I wonder if we're related?  Here's an example: It was 1966 in Charlotte, North Carolina. My dad sold his company and merged with a larger organization.  While being introduced to the staff of the acquiring company, he met the comptroller who, when hearing dad's name, said that her mom was a Sutton.  Turns out the comptroller was also born and raised in Jackson County just a few miles from where my Dad was raised.  Over the years, this lady became a close family friend and although we would often laugh about being related, no one could find a connection.  That is, until last week!  She is (by definition of Ancestry.com) "my 2nd  cousin of husband of paternal 1st cousin". I'm not at all sure what that all means but I  think it likely translates to a 2nd cousin X times removed but I have never been able to get a handle on all of that. Math was never my strong subject!

 The same thing happened with a fellow I met on Ancestry.com. It's the same guy whose wife was an account manager for my employer 20 years ago (See Post 5; paragraph 5). I recently asked him to send me some information on his Sutton side so as to see if we were related.  He agreed, but confessed he really didn't know a lot about his Sutton ancestors and had always wanted to know more.  Within a couple of hours I found we both are descended from John Sutton and both of us are descended from John's first born son,William, as well.  From there, my line continues through William's son James.  My friend's family comes from William's son David.  Here's the kicker.....although he didn't know much about his Sutton ancestors, he got a pleasant surprise when he found that he and his wife had just happened to have named their daughter the same name as a great aunt...it's a very uncommon but beautiful name. I call that too cool and I'm also humming the theme to the Twilight Zone! So, again, (as defined by Ancestry.com) this fellow is my 4th cousin once removed!      


I'm beginning to think it's very likely that if you're a Sutton and have any ties to the southwestern mountains of North Carolina, we're kin! I've gotten the biggest kick out of meeting new cousins on this journey and from all of the correspondences, they are all very nice folks! If you've never said hi to me, please do.  I look forward to meeting many more of you!  


That's all for now....until next time.....

• While working on Ancestry.com, I found this picture of the grave of my great grandfather and the man I'm named after. I have never been to this cemetery where many of my ancestors are buried but looking forward to that trip! It is the old Savannah Baptist Church Cemetery just south of Dillsboro, North Carolina.  John Sutton, our original ancestor to settle in America, donated the land for the church and asked to be buried there.  His grave was the first.  For you Sutton's, Cordelia Cagle was Mitchell's second wife.  My great grandmother was his first wife, Mary Messer.