Hunting History - Finding Family

 Today I was watching Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail (as one does) and it got me wondering what notable Knights I may have had in my tree! While I can't exactly search and verify the Knights of the Round Table, we absolutely know and can follow the Knights Templar!  To be honest I was surprised to see just how many direct line ancestors I had that were Knights! All of them are from the same line, which doesn't really shock me because I am sure these families of Knights were all intermarrying and funneling down to the same line, which in my case all of them run through the Sutton/Dudley's (the same ancestors that give me Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV) to my Wheeler/Weller line on my mom's side.  Knight's Templar: William de Ferrers - 23rd Great Grandfather William Marshal - 23rd Great Grandfather Fulk D'Anjou - 25th Great Grandfather Robert de Sable' - 26th Great Grandfather Robert de Craon - 27th Great Grandfather And just for shits and gig...

 Cornelis Barentsz Sleght was born in 1616 in Woerden, Reeuwijk, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands to Barent Cornelis Sleght and Jaquemine Pietrtgen. In Woerden he was listed as a distiller and a brandy wine maker after taking over his fathers lands in 1640.  In 1645, he expanded his lands u 'One Morgan and 47 Rods" (or about 2 1/2 acres.)  Around 1635 Cornelis married Trijntgen "Tryntje" Bosch (Boz) but we do not have a clear record of this.  They had at least five children together - Heydnerick, Jan, Jaquemijne, Annetgen, Petronella, and Mattijs.  The last mention of Cornelis and Tryntie in Woerden was in March 17, 1653, where he gave power of attorney to Jan Corsz Rietvelt, where they sold what possetions they had and those left over of her parents' estate.  They were clearly planning to Emigrate. The family arrived in New York, then being called new Amsterdam, where Cornelis was named as the brewer.  The family lived in Esopus, later named Kingst...

My favorite monthly email is the ancestor connector from WikiTree - it selects a theme and then shows you how many steps away you are from a particular notable person or group of historical people. Last month was War of the Roses, and while I can't say that subject has ever been anything I've ever been particularly interested in, this email changed that! I really went down the connection rabbit hole with this one, and I'm still finding notable people on this line. WikiTree told me I was 20 degrees from Henry VII, but it wasn't a direct line (my main focus) or even close to it, my line only connects to Henry through his brother's, wife's, sister.  Now, typically that isn't even a line I would follow, but I did, and the son of that brother's wife's sister was Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, son of John Grey and Elizabeth Woodville.  John and Elizabeth are my 15th Great Grandparents. John Grey of Groby was born in 1432, in Groby, Leicestershire, En...