Wedding gown in ivory with champagne lace and sash; furry genealogy assistant Roux.
Genealogy hounds will no doubt be amused to hear that we are 7th cousins once removed, our common ancestor being a Stevenson born about 1700, probably in Scotland (father to James and William of N. Ireland & the Carolinas). Some online trees have the ancestor as Henry Stephenson, b. 1698 in Roxburghshire, Scotland, but I don't know if this actually has been proven, and I haven't been investigating the Stevenson trail lately.
Wedding gown, back view.
We'd been dating 10 years before I even discovered we were related. I decided to visit his mom's online tree one day, spotted a familiar surname, and before you knew it, we were "kissing cousins"! Of course, at the 7th-cousin level, there's not really much "ick" factor to worry about, as we'd have only a speck of genetic heritage in common.
Bodice detail
Still, it makes a good story, doesn't it? His parents and siblings always made me feel like part of their family; little did we know, I already was! :)
Train and sash detail.
All text and images copyright 2009 by the author.
