My Cousin the Queen Celebrates Her Platinum Jubilee

As this weekend’s celebration of Queen Elizabeth 70 years on the throne wind down, I decided to check out Wikitree’s Connection Finder to see if and how they say I am related to the crown jewels.

My fav tiara!  https://pin.it/4cJMItk

The shortest distance between myself and the Queen is on my dad’s side, but the connections are not all blood related and include Wallis Simpson so doubt there is any tiara borrowing options with this connection.

Now my mom’s side is interesting.  Wikitree says Queen Elizabeth II and I are 12 cousins twice removed. 

I would think a 12^th cousin should at least be granted an overnighter in one of the lesser castles, a private showing of the crown jewels and a photo op wearing ones tiara of choice.

God Save the Queen!

Happy Heavenly Birthday to my 3rd Great Grandma

Happy 139^th Heavenly Birthday to my 3^rd great grandma Mary AnnWoodward.

Mary Ann Woodward was born on June 3, 1839, in Abergavenny in the coal mining area of Monmouthshire,Wales. Her parents John and Sarah Price Woodward married at 17. Mary Ann was the second of their five children.  Mary Ann’s time in Wales was as turbulent as it is sad. Her education was lacking, she never learned to read or write. Her sister died before her first birthday. Mom Sarah died when Mary Ann was 11, her father died a scant two years later, leaving Mary Ann and her siblings orphans. The eldest, her brother William remained in Wales working as a puddler [Puddling is a process converting pig iron into wrought iron with the use of a furnace]. I haven’t been able to trace sister Emma after her parents died.  Mary Ann left the coal region of Wales for the coal region of Pennsylvania. There she reunited with her younger sister SarahMaria Armstrong.

Mary Ann married an Irish coal worker, Thomas Forbes in 1855 in Schuylkill County, PA. They had eight children: Bridget [my 2^nd great grandma], Catherine, John Patrick, Mary Anna Fisher, Thomas Jr, Ellen Purcell, James and Michael Henry.  

During the Civil War many miners including Thomas moved their families to the Shamokin area for work. The late 1870s were difficult times as the country reset itself following the war while railroad and mining management/labor unrest grew. In 1877 the first major uprisingin Shamokin took place, leaving miners like Thomas once again unemployed with little or no resources at their disposal. Daughter Bridget presented her parents with their first grandchild. Little Emma lived with her grandparents for her first few years of her life as shown in the 1880census.

Mary Ann like her parents, died an early death. She passed on March 13, 1884, in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, at the age of 44, and was buried in St Edwards Cemetery.