Oh, We Go a Long Ways Back
We recently got back to working on our Family Tree and although it is always interesting to connect with relatives that we didn’t know much about, and we were amazed at a newly discovered connection with a really significant ancestor, on Malc’s side of the family.
We traced back to Malc’s 10 x Great Grandmother named Rebecca to the year of her birth in 1600 – the furthest back we have gone. This Rebecca had (at least) two children and Malc’s genealogy followed down through her eldest son.
We only have to follow down the line of Rebecca’s daughter, four generations, to reach her 2x great-grandson whose name is William Ellery Jr.
William was born in 1727 in Rhode Island USA, at the time that King George III was on the throne of England. Although his ancestry was from England, William was a true son of the United States and later became one of the 56 men who signed the US Declaration of Independence in 1776.
William Ellery is Malc’s third cousin, (and a mere eight times removed) connected by a great grandmother. The same lady who is Malc’s 10x great grandmother is Williams 2x great grandmother.
William was a representative of Rhode Island in the continental congress, and also a Deputy Governor of Rhode Island and a true patriot, and graduated from Harvard as did his older brother Benjamin and their father before them. When William graduated in 1747 ‘she returned to his hometown where he started out his career as a merchant but discovered this was not his true passion. In 1770 that he started practicing law and at 43 years old discovered his love for politics.
In 1776 the Rhode Island delegate Samuel Ward passed away leaving an opening which William Ellery was asked to fill. That year, William Ellery signed the Declaration of Independence which affirmed the inevitable oncoming war. After the war, Ellery served as a Supreme Court Justice of Rhode Island and stood for the abolition of slavery. He died in 1820 in Newport Rhode Island happy, knowing that he had served his country to his fullest.
As we look back’s we can see what an amazing and large family we have gathering information made much easier by the advent of the Internet which we simply could not have done a couple of decades back. It has been a real blessing when we started the family tree Malc knew nothing of his family except for close and direct relatives. Some of our discoveries have been quite mind-blowing. Families can have such wonderful stories to tell, and we have discovered so many along the way.
But our greatest discovery was back in 1985 when Malc and I both discovered that there is a Saviour and that He gave His perfect and sinless life to pay the price for our sinful lives. We have walked with Jesus since then and day after day, as we have trusted Him, we have discovered more and more of His love for us and His plans for us – now and for all eternity.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
We pray that you too will discover many great stories from your past but find Jesus, who will take good care of your present and your future. He will lead you and guide you along life’s way and He will be with you too, day after day.