For those of you Lee cousins who have been following along with all of my genealogy obsession…read more..
I have an update on my research on the Mary Jane Dease line. The last some of you heard, I had found some shocking information that indicated that she was not a daughter of the Deases of Turbotston House in Co. Westmeath according to James Dease's will. I was shocked, but not totally surprised, because there had been soooo many mistakes and untruths in Aunt Gert's family history, that I wondered if she hadn't dreamed up/fabricated a little of the royal ancestry. And yet, I still thought that there was some truth to it too. So even after finding that record, it did not sit right with me, and I continued to dig for information and search for other records or other information.
I wanted to see an actual copy of the will, rather than just an abstract, and started asking people in Ireland where I could find the will. I was told that virtually ALL the wills in Ireland were lost in a fire in the 1920s. But a man named Betham had collected genealogical info on many of the more influential families and made notes in a book of "replacement wills" for as many of these important individuals from the info he could pull together. We are fortunate enough that Mary Jane Dease's father was one of these wealthy men and that he made one of the faux wills from whatever family records and cemetery stones he was able to find. However, that also leaves a lot of doubt in the soundness of the proof. It definitely does not rule her out any more. And I'm still linking to too many distant relatives along that line for it to be bogus.
But since her birth record is among the church's missing records, and she left the country in her early 20s, she left behind no records in Ireland, so there were no records for him to find to include in the Dease faux family will that was "rewritten" decades after her father died when she was four years old. - Heck! Probably after SHE died! But for now, there just seems to be way more evidence weighing in the I am reinstating her to the family
So, Ann, I apologize. You get your Saint Oliver back!
And everyone else, we are still related to Henry VII. (Sorry!) AND every one of his wives!!!
But, in double checking all of this, I came across a new story, that I had to read and reread and double and triple check, because it was so convoluted and unreal that I couldn't believe it was true. But I have to share it, because the history lover in me just can't believe it, and all the amazing history stories seem to always be on my Dad's side, so it's about time, the Lee side gets one! This one is unreal!!
George Washington's father, Augustine, died when he was just 11 years old, and he went to live with other relatives until he reached adulthood, including his much older half-brother, Lawrence Washington, who owned Mount Vernon. I wonder if he ever whiled away time pestering the estate's miller, William Daniel Poole, (who happened to be my father's 4th-great-grandfather) with annoying questions...?
But Augustine Washington's father, Capt. Lawrence Washington, also died when his son, Augustine was young - just three years old. Augustine's mother, Mildred, then married George Gale, moved back to England, and died a year later. Washington's family sued Gale for Mildred's thousand pounds of inheritance and they won. As a result, the children were awarded to a cousin of Augustine's, Needham Langhorne.
It just so happens, Needham's brother, William Langhorne, was the 4th great-grandfather of Theresa Plunkett, Mary Jane Dease's mother!!
So George Washington's father was a foster child in our family (mansion)!
And that is just one of many, many fascinating stories in the many branches of Mary Jane Dease's family tree. If you are interested, let me know, and I can continue on with many more stories for you!
Following up on some family history here. Pardon.
