I Am A Big Fat Liar

Hey everybody!!!

I really love this idea of all of us keeping in touch this way. Thanks to everyone who has posted and all the stories and obituaries. We have a great family.

So I lied to everyone, and I want to apologize. I said that we were related to Edward Rutledge (youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence and Paul Rubens). That is not true! There is a place on Ancestry.com where you can ask who your famous relatives are. So, we typed our info in and out came those famous relatives. Yesterday, I dug a little more, and Ancestry had it wrong. Here is the positive though - Rutledge wanted to stay part of England and loved slavery, and Rubens painted some very questionable paintings! We don't have to be embarrassed now.

On to some good news! I discovered that we are related to one of my all time favorite people in history. Her name is Catherine Swynford, and she married John of Gaunt - considered the "last knight" of England. There is an amazing book written about her titled, "Catherine" by Anya Seton. If you get a chance - read it. Basically through her we are related to big players in the War of the Roses and the Tudor line. It is really one of my favorite books, and one of the best things about it is that every single name and character is based on a true person. As a side note, her sister married Geoffrey Chaucer ... which is pretty cool if any of you have read the Canterbury Tales.

Anyway, we are also related to Mary Boleyn, Ann Boleyn's sister. I also discovered that we are related to a very famous Revolutionary War hero named General James Screven. There is a museum in Georgia based on him, war memorials built by congress to him and war markers talking about him all over Georgia ... I think its Georgia. He was killed on the battle field. Don't worry, we are still a really cool family - and these relatives are for real. The relatives mentioned above come from the Nettles line, which is Wickman's mother's maiden name - look it up if you get the chance.

I hope you are all doing well. It was great to see everybody. Lots of love, Marisa