This is the Wakefield branch of Esther’s family tree. Elizabeth Wakefield was her grandmother.
I mentioned that I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time trying to sort out various anomalies in Esther’s family tree. I thought I’d provide a visual aid. It took me all morning to unsnarl this one once and for all. Part of the problem is that various researchers have conflated two of the women: Mary Jane Wade and Elizabeth Morton became Mary Jane Elizabeth Wade. Eeep! Another problem is that there are several Roberts in the line, and some of them have also become conflated and generally mixed up.
And, yes, if you look closely, not only are there distant cousins marrying (hint: family trees should branch out, not come together), but also a case of a woman marrying her nephew. That was the bit that nearly gave me an aneurysm, because it meant that the same set of ancestors were showing up multiple times, in multiple generations.
And also yes, I work out these snarls the old-fashioned way, using paper and pencil. I’ve found that graph paper is most excellent for family tree work, because it allows you to line up everything very neatly in two dimensions.
red paper boat 