Beyond astonishment

In an earlier post I said there was more to come about the connection between my husband's ancestors and my ancestors who came to this land nearly four hundred years ago.

I've already written about Tony's direct descent from at least three Mayflower passengers, and my connection to William Ring, who would have accompanied the Mayflower but for the leaky boat on which he was traveling. In searching further, I found another group of my ancestors from the early colonial period, by the name of Doane.  John Doane, who became a Deacon in the church, is my tenth great grandfather. He came over to Plymouth around 1630 with his wife Ann and one child.  Later, they had more children.  One was named Daniel, and he is my ninth great grandfather. 

Daniel married twice, according to records of the time.  The name of his first wife is unknown, though she is considered the mother of all of his children.  Genealogists have long speculated about the name of his first wife.  Many believe her name is Constance Snow, the daughter of Constance Hopkins and Nicholas Snow.  There are strong reasons to believe this as one child's name was Constance, possibly after her mother and grandmother, and because of a book written several years later on the families living in that area at the time.  In that book, Constance Snow is identified as the wife of Daniel Doane. 

Now this is significant to me for one reason only.  Constance Snow was the granddaughter of Stephen Hopkins, a Mayflower passenger.  If this information is accurate, then Stephen Hopkins would be my 11th great grandfather.  As he is also my husband Tony's direct ancestor (his 9th great grandfather), that would mean we share a common ancestor and we can both call Stephen Hopkins "Grandpa."

I told you it was spooky!