Well I thought my goal this week was to simply write about William "Blinky" Smith marrying his step mother's sister aka his father's wife's sister. I can't make this stuff up. The chart below is the summary of the rabbit trail I went down. As I as building the chart the Lucinda's began to emerge as winners! I put this chart into Chatgpt to help me tell the story and do a few images.
Can you imagine for just a minute that your loved one's headstone epithet looks anything like this imagined one?
Let's take a peek at what story our family left for us to untangle.
So the tale begins:
A Smith-Rednour-Fueston-Pilgrim Family Tangle
Let’s begin with a fair warning: this family tree is less of a “tree” and more of a topiary hedge sculpted during a windstorm. What started as a simple tracing of 3x Grandpa Robert Smith’s line turned into something between a Shakespearian love triangle and a 19th-century matchmaking game show. Except… everyone’s a cousin. Or a sibling. Or both?
It Started with Two Brothers and a Woman Named Nancy
Robert Smith (1812–1882) and his brother Gregory (1808–1882) were just a couple of regular frontier guys who happened to marry and raise families. Gregory married Sarah Dobbs, and Robert married Nancy Sloan. Seems tame enough.
Until Robert’s wife Nancy passed away. That’s when things took a twist sharper than Aunt Thelma’s meringue pie knife.
Robert remarried in 1862… to Millicent Rednour, who of course had a sister named Lucinda. Robert’s son, William “Blinky” Smith (yes, really), decided to keep things in the family — by marrying Lucinda Rednour, Millicent’s sister, in 1864. So if you’re keeping track:
- Blinky married his step-aunt (who was also his step mother's sister).
- His father is now also his brother-in-law.
- Lucinda Rednour is both his wife and his step-aunt.
- They have 2 sons, they marry a set of Daniels Sisters! -brothers marry sisters.
Lucinda of Another Generation
The next generation decides “Let’s keep the family name of Smith going, how about it Lucinda?!” and Harrison Smith and Lucinda Ellen Smith (yes, yet ANOTHER Lucinda) — cousins — married in 1879
and had six kids.
The Double Wedding Bonus Round
Now let’s swing over to the Fueston family, who brought their own flair to the drama. In 1905, Henry Fueston married Lucinda Pilgrim (yes, another Lucinda), and just a few months later his sister Malinda Fueston married Lucinda’s brother James Pilgrim.
So we’ve got:
- Brother and sister marrying…
- Sister and brother.
That’s a lot of Fuestons at Thanksgiving.
Let’s pause here to ask the burning question:
“What’s Up With All the Lucindas?”
Honestly, we don’t know. Was Lucinda the Jennifer of the 1800s? Did the midwife have a naming chart with only one name on it? Or did the Rednour-Smith-Fueston-Pilgrim clan just have a Lucinda quota to fill?
By the third Lucinda, we stopped trying to track who was who and just started assigning nicknames:
- Lucinda the Step-Aunt-Wife,
- Lucinda the Pilgrim-Wife-Sister,
- and Lucinda the Cousin-Bride.
Final Thought: It's All Relative (Literally)
At some point, this family gave up on branches and just started braiding the tree. And while we might never fully unravel who married whom without a color-coded spreadsheet, one thing is clear:
These folks didn’t just marry into the family — they doubled down.
So next time your family reunion feels a little crowded, just remember — at least your brother isn’t also your uncle, and your stepmom didn’t introduce you to your wife....Probably.
And That is a Wrap....
The threads of another story told, keeping our family story alive.
Barbara
Next week: #17 DNA
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