It's a small world

after all.

Last night at Knit Night, Kristina chastized me for not blogging in so long. Sorry folks. I got home Wednesday night and thought about blogging all weekend, but I didn't download photos from my camera until this morning. And btw, I got out of bed at 7:30 this morning. I know. I hope you were all sitting down for that info. I don't normally get up before 9 without a reason. Thunder woke me up and C was moving around and showering and after he left I tried going back to sleep, but my mind was up and working and when that happens, going back to sleep is not possible.

So last night, Kristina was talking with another lady about Native American heritage and percentages that make you eligible to register as a Native American, etc. when she mentioned that she is descended from Quanah Parker.

Queue the annoying song.

Quanah Parker is descended from Elder John Parker of Fort Parker fame, and so am I...through both Elder Daniel Parker (John's oldest son) and Susannah Parker (John's youngest daughter). My mom's dad's parents were distant cousins in the Parker clan. Kristina is descended from Elder John through his son Silas, the father of Cynthia Ann. Every seventh grader in Texas has heard of the massacre at Fort Parker and the abduction of Cynthia Ann. I probably paid more attention than most because I am related.

So that makes Kristina and I very, very, very distant cousins.

Very cool.

By the way, Kristina, Elder John fought in the American Revolution, which makes us both eligible for the DAR. (That was also a topic of conversation last night.)

It just so happens that when I went home to my parents' with my oldest brother, we took a road trip a week ago Tuesday to visit the Starr Cemetery where Susannah Parker Starr and her husband John Starr are buried, with many of their descendants. Here is a photo of John and Susannah's graves:

They were buried in 1872 and 1875, respectively.

Not far from this cemetery is the old homestead of John and Susannah. It is gated and we could not get close at first. But we went to the house next door and asked if there was anyone related in the vicinity and the guy at that house pointed us down the road in the other direction to a couple who had been there a long, long time. The wife of this couple is a Starr and they welcomed us in to talk. They had a photo of the old homestead, taken back in 1926 or so, that they allowed me to photograph:

Then the gentleman...was his name Bill? Let us borrow a key to the place to check it out. He told my brother that another Starr descendant had bought the place and was renovating it to be a historical show home. As it is now, it is in a rather sad state, with much dated wood paneling within, some holes in the walls, and trash-filled rooms. The chimney is supposedly the only truly original part of the house, having survived fire.

So after all that, we were off to the Perry Starr Cemetery. This is a smaller, more hidden cemetery, and years ago when Mom and Dad first visited it, they needed permission, but it is now open to the public...if they can find it.

One of John and Susannah's sons, Perry Starr, is buried here. I'm descended from him.

My mom's great aunt was "sleeping with the fireants". We didn't get too close to her grave...it's hard to see, but all those blurry dots are fire ants. ick.

Then it was off to the Pilgrim Cemetery, where Elder John's son, Elder Daniel, is buried. There is a replica of the log church he preached in here...the original was destroyed by fire long ago. There is also a working church next door...the congregation still survives to this day. This cemetery was confusing. It has more burials than the others and it seems like every other man was named Daniel, John, or Benjamin and every other woman was Lucinda or Irene. After a little confusion and a good look at the family tree we had with us, we determined that there were actually two different Benjamins (of two different generations) who married an Irene and an Irena. How weird is that? Even more weird than some other ancestors of mine, from the 1500's... Francis Heydon of The Grove who married Frances Longueville. And then whose son, Edward (who had a brother named Francis), married Frances Burr. It's like a game...how many Francises/Franceses can you get on one family.

Here are some other photos of Pilgrim Cemetery. This is the most photos I've taken all year.