4Family great-grandparents? Who were they?

Joseph David Burbidge (1902-1966)¹ & Moiselle Stoney (1908-1988).² They were married on September 1, 1927, in Salt Lake City.³

Earl O. Cummings (1894-1972)⁴ & Nellie Frances Silver (1894-1975)⁵ They were married on September 4, 1915, in Bethel, Maine.⁶

Lorum Elmer Jackson (1897-1972)⁷ & Leah Meeks (1902-1995).⁸ They were married on June 20, 1926, in Salt Lake City.⁹

David Meyer Sorofman (1898-1969) & Ida Frances Klein (1901-1985). They were married on May 26, 1921, in Auburn, Maine. ¹⁰

Generational calculations. Simply put, these couples, who are grandparents to my husband and I, are the great-grandparents of our children and their cousins. They are three generations back from our children. My great-grandparents are three generations away from me.

Three of these eight individuals were born at the very end of the Nineteenth Century. The rest were born in the first decade of the Twentieth. They were members of the Greatest Generation; this generation lived through two world wars and the Great Depression. Most of their great-grandchildren are of the Millenial generation; they may be known as having lived through the current pandemic and the ensuing economic fallout.

Our great-grandparents also saw the birth of most of the modern conveniences we take for granted from the automobile and airplane to the beginnings of the space age and the computer age, if not the internet. What did they think of these changes? I know Earl O. loved automobiles, and Moiselle worked at the nuclear test site in Nevada. She would bring home ashtrays that had been irradiated during above-ground nuclear explosions. But she wasn’t interested in computers or the internet.

The oldest great-grandparent today would be Earl O. Cummings and Nellie Frances Silver both were born in 1894; they would be about 126 years old. The youngest, Moiselle Stoney, would only be 112 years old. And finally, their average age was 77.5 years with Leah Meeks living the longest at 93 years. This bodes well for their descendant’s longevity.

What is the DNA connection? In genealogy and even in family history there is always a DNA connection. We inherit about 1/8 of our DNA from each great-grandparent. This 1/8 depends on what amount and what combination our parents inherited from their parents and what amount and combination those parents inherited from the great-grandparents in question.

Each of our brothers and sisters will inherit a completely different combination and amount of DNA from our parents, and thus from our grandparents, and great-grandparents.

We always share DNA with our first and second cousins. We share grandparent DNA with first cousins; we share great-grandparent DNA with second cousins, but we don’t share grandparent DNA with those second cousins. So those second cousin matches at the DNA testing companies will help to identify our great-grandparents, usually only one set. ¹¹

DNA and its combinations and recombinations allow for each of us to be born as unique individuals even though we share genetic material with parents and siblings, cousins and grandparents all the way back through time. ¹²

Look for biographical sketches. I intend to post a biographical sketch for each one of these great-grandparents from birth to marriage. The time period after their marriages is still too recent to make public. This concerns the privacy of their children and grandchildren. Of course, I will make exceptions when reasonable. And when possible I will add siblings, because after all, what’s a childhood without our siblings and cousins.

Series Navigation

Lorum Elmer Jackson and Leah Meeks: First Generation >>

Notes & References

1. Utah, “Birth Records (1890-1915),” database and digital images, Salt Lake County Digital Archives (https://slco.org/archives/vital-records/birth.aspx: last accessed 10 April 2020), search term > Burbidge > unnamed male > 2 Dec 1902 to Joseph Edward and Fanny Parry. Utah, Department of Health, Joseph David Burbidge death certificate, 6 July 1966 (privately held).[↩]
2. Utah, Washington County, Moiselle Stoney birth certificate, file no. 114, 10 Aug 1908, (privately held). Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 10 April 2020), memorial page for Moiselle S. Burbidge (10 Aug 1908–29 Apr 1988), Find a Grave memorial no. 179938411, citing Salt Lake City Cemetery, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, USA; maintained by Ryan D. Curtis (contributor 46858513).[↩]
3. Utah, Salt Lake County, Joseph David Burbidge and Moiselle Stoney marriage certificate, 1 Sep 1927, (privately held).[↩]
4. “Maine Birth Records,1715-1922,” database with images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : 2 Nov 2017), Earl O. Cummings, 17 August 1894, Oxford County, Maine. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 10 April 2020), memorial page for Earl Orlando Cummings (17 Aug 1894–24 Feb 1972), Find a Grave memorial no. 153061988, citing Riverside Cemetery, Bethel, Oxford County, Maine, USA; maintained by John Wilby (contributor 47593713.[↩]
5. “Maine Birth Records,1715-1922,” database with images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : 2 Nov 2017), Nellie Frances Silver, 10 March 1894, Oxford County, Maine. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 10 April 2020), memorial page for Nellie Frances Silver Cummings (10 Mar 1894–31 Mar 1975), Find a Grave Memorial no. 153062076, citing Riverside Cemetery, Bethel, Oxford County, Maine, USA; maintained by John Wilby (contributor 47593713).[↩]
6. “Maine, Marriage Records, 1713-1922,” Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : 10 April 2020), Earl O. Cummings-Nellie Frances Silver, 4 Sep 1915.[↩]
7. Arizona, Department of Health Services, Arizona Genealogy Birth and Death Certificates  ( http://genealogy.az.gov/azbirth/399/399-1839.pdf : last accessed 10 April 2020) search terms> “Elmer Jackson”, and “Coconino County” > line number 14, Lorum Elmer Jackson, 2 Nov 1897. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 10 April 2020), memorial page for Lorum Elmer Jackson (2 Nov 1897–27 Jun 1972), Find a Grave memorial no. 13213427, citing Kanab City Cemetery, Kanab, Kane County, Utah, USA; maintained by Jan Dixon (contributor 46818175).[↩]
8. Utah, Kane County, Registers of Births and Deaths, 1900-1905, p. 3, entry for unnamed daughter of Heber J Meeks and Clara B of Orderville, Feb 4 1902; citing FHL microfilm 484,819. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 10 April 2020), memorial page for Leah Meeks Jackson (4 Feb 1902–14 Dec 1995), Find a Grave memorial no. 13213413, citing Kanab City Cemetery, Kanab, Kane County, Utah, USA ; maintained by Jan Dixon (contributor 46818175).[↩]
9. Leah Meeks Jackson and Jalee Clark, transcriber, Life Story of Leah Meeks Jackson (1965).[↩]
10. Sorofman-Klein marriage certificate. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 10 April 2020), memorial page for Earl Orlando Cummings (17 Aug 1894–24 Feb 1972), Find a Grave memorial no. 153061988, citing Riverside Cemetery, Bethel, Oxford County, Maine, USA ; maintained by John Wilby (contributor 47593713). Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 10 April 2020), memorial page for Ida K. [sic] Sorofman (9 Dec 1899–Nov 1985), Find a Grave memorial no. 105431468, citing Woodlawn Cemetery, Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA; maintained by Miracle Mile Tim (contributor 46835124).

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11. Blaine Bettinger, “Second Cousins (or Closer) That Don’t Share DNA?” The Genetic Genealogist (https://thegeneticgenealogist.com/?s=second+cousins : last accessed 9 April 2020).[↩]
12. Autosomal DNA links us to our more recent ancestors, to our great-grandparents. The Y and mitochondrial DNA connects with our deep ancestry.[↩]