Nelson Seymour Trowbridge and Adeline Martha Mann Turner were cousins whose families moved to Jackson CA in the gold rush. They grew up and had six children each. Two of their kids married each other and became my great grandparents. You can contact me at mlwilson at ucsc dot edu.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Small World: St John & Dement

Elliot's first husband, who she met at UC Berkeley, was this guy:

Lucien Bela St John, 1908-1997


Years later, her sister Ruth married this guy in Denver, Colorado:

Theodore Lee Dement, 1902-1991

Turns out Lucien and Ted were freakin' third cousins of each other!

Back in the 1700's in Virginia there was a George Dement (or Demint) m. Sarah Gordon. Among their children were two sons, William (1768-1853) and Elias (1775-1847).

William Dement moved to Ohio and fathered William Harrison Dement (1815-1887), who quite late in life fathered Glenn Vernon Dement (1879-1924).  Glenn fathered Ted, and moved the family to Colorado.

Meanwhile, Elias Dement fathered Louisa Dement (1810-1847) m. Watson George Parrish, and they moved to Illinois.  She had Amanda Louisa Parrish (1845-??) m. Bela Taylor St John who had Burton Little St John (1873-??) m. Io Barnes.  They went to China as missionaries, where they had Lucien, and when they returned to the U.S. they settled in Berkeley.

So really, Lucien and Ted were third cousins once removed.  Ted was third cousins with Lucien's father Burton.  Going down a generation on one side but not the other makes it a "once removed."