Finding the name of my great grandmother’s mother – Mary Emma Goodger – took some doing. But it was worth the effort because it’s revealed new and unexplored tree branches. One of these branches – the Veazey branch – has been remarkably well-documented by other family members. So, there’s not much more for me to do other than to reap the rewards of their research and explore hundreds of new cousins. A dozen or so of the living ones show up as DNA matches on Ancestry.com. That’s always a plus. They’re like little beacons lighting my way up the tree, letting me know I am on the right path.

Julia A. Veazey was Mary Emma’s paternal grandmother. That makes her my 4th great grandmother. Julia is a descendant of John Veazey, who settled in Cecil County, Maryland around 1670. (Little did I know that when I moved to Maryland I was getting back to my roots.) Thanks to my distant Veazey cousin and author, Ann Veazey Davis, I’ve been able to determine that John is my 8th great grandfather. Ann’s extensive research into the Veazey family culminated with the publication of her 1995 book: Descendants of John Veazey.

Twenty years later, she’s still researching the family. When I contacted Ann via her website, she was happy to hear from me because Julia’s descendants are “missing” from her work. She knew Julia had married a man by the name of Stephen Goodger but that was it. She hopes that I’ll be able to help fill in some of the gaps. In our first exchange of information, Ann revealed that Julia’s parents were most likely first cousins. Uh oh. Unfortunately, it gets worse. There’s a strong possibility that her maternal grandmother was her paternal grandfather’s stepdaughter. Eek.

Another researcher and Veazey cousin named her book The Veazey Vine. That seems very appropriate.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: 4th great grandmother
Common ancestors: Julia’s 2nd great-grandparents John and Mary (Broccus) Veazey are my 8th great grandparents (twice)