Tombstone Tuesday: Edson Benjamin and Martha Jennie Slade

1901_BENJAMIN_Edson_Martha Jennie Slade-headstone_odd Fellows cem_The Dalles_OR_FAG_permission — *Headstone of Martha “Jennie” Slade (1865-1927) and Edson Benjamin (1863-1901). Click to enlarge.*

Edson Benjamin was the son of Jonathan Felix Benjamin(1838-1913) and Hannah E. Marple (1842-1900). He was a first cousin to our Hannah Melissa Benjamin (1854-1932), who married Frederick Asbury “F. A.” McMurray.

If you are a Malissa Benjamin-F. A. McMurray descendant, Edson is a distant cousin. How distant? Edson’s father, Jonathan Felix, was the brother of Hannah’s father, Sylvanus Rufus Benjamin (1821-1892). He was Dr. E. A. McMurray’s First Cousin Twice Removed, because E. A. was the direct descendant of a first cousin, but two generations distant.

To calculate your own relationship to Edson, count the number of generations you are from Dr. McMurray, add that to 2, and that will show how many times removed you are from a first cousin to Edson. For example, if you are a grandchild of Dr. McMurray, you are 2 generations from The Doctor, thus a first cousin 2+2= 4 times removed.

Why research distant relatives? The ‘FAN Club’, or “Friends, Associates, Neighbors” can help us find information about our own relatives when they are mentioned in other obituaries, biographies, newspaper articles, etc. We all share some of the same DNA too, so learning more about distant rellies can tell us a bit more about ourselves, in addition to more about the family members who came before.

Edson and Jennie’s tombstone is in the Odd Fellow’s Cemetery in The Dalles, Wasco County, Oregon, USA.

More of Edson’s sad story in another post.

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Using a chart is an easy way to determine relationships. You will need to know your common ancestor, which in this case is Jonathan N. Benjamin (1799-1876), the father of Jonathan Felix and Sylvanus Rufus Benjamin. Just Google “Genealogy Relationship Charts” for dozens of examples, or use the About.com Genealogy Relationship Chart. If you have an Ancestry.com membership, under the person’s name will be “View relationship to me.” If you are the home person in the tree, clicking here will give you the relationship without having to use a chart.

2) “Rellies” is an affectionate term used by family historians to describe their relatives.

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