It is hard to imagine sometimes how many ancestors we have when we go pretty far back in generations.
When you start counting these things it’s easy, at least for me, to be amazed.
Everyone has two biological parents, no matter how complicated the fertilization process is, because, let’s face it, things have changed. There are all kinds of technologies and procedures that complicate matters, but just for the sake of this lesson: We each have two (biological) parents, and every one of our ancestors has two parents.
So…
2 Parents
4 Grandparents
8 Great Grandparents
16 Second Great Grandparents
32 Third Great Grandparents
64 Fourth Great Grandparents
128 Fifth Great Grandparents
256 Sixth Great Grandparents
512 Seventh Great Grandparents
1024 Eighth Great Grandparents
2048 Ninth Great Grandparents
4096 Tenth Great Grandparents
Side Note: For those of us who are kind of into computers these numbers, this pattern, should look really familiar. They take the form of a binary scale (1’s & 0’s, etc). Computer memory chips (RAM, for instance), are described in terms of binary numbers, because data is stored in the form of 1’s and 0’s, called bits and bytes. Some of us probably remember the days when computer manufacturers would advertise the memory capacity of their devices, like “128K Memory Capacity!!!” or “Unbelievable 512K of Memory!!!” Now, even Terabytes are becoming outmoded.
So, back to ancestry:
When thinking about how many cousins we have, as Riverss, as Schemeringss, as Clemonss, as Wrights, as Hayess, etc, it helps to go back pretty far to see how many siblings our ancestors had and try to imagine the many trees of descendants those siblings created, in addition to our own tree. For me, it’s really exciting to think about how many families we are related to, from which we can connect ourselves, as a descendant of two individuals (an ancestral couple from 350 years ago, or more!).
Lieutenant John Rivers IV had at least five children that I am aware of — Robert Rivers I, William Rivers, Daniel Rivers, John Rivers V, and Nehemiah Rivers. I believe that all five of these Rivers men lived to produce many descendants, and I am not entirely sure that Lt. John didn’t have more children who lived to produce even more descendants. In any case, we (** meaning those of us who descend from Abraham Isaac Jacob Rivers and Celie Manker Rivers, for example, from about 180 years ago!) are descendants of Robert Rivers I.
Robert Rivers I had two children, at least, that I am aware of. One was Captain Robert Rivers II, and the other was George Rivers, Sr. Both of these Rivers men lived to produce many descendants. We (again, see above **) are descendants of George Sr.
Then, when George, Sr. got married and had children, he had eight children that I am aware of, or maybe more. Those children were George Rivers, Jr., Robert Rivers (nephew to Capt. Robert), Thomas Rivers, John Rivers, Daniel Rivers, Ruth Rivers, Elizabeth Rivers, and Mary Rivers. All of these children, from what I understand, lived to produce many descendants also. We (see above **) are descendants of George Jr.
George, Jr. got married, and that marriage produced at least the five children I know about, and they are David Rivers, John Rivers, George Michael Rivers, Mary Christina Rivers, and Jacob Rivers. Sheet Four of the Joseph D. Rivers Pedigree Chart goes into great detail on the descendants of David Rivers (who we ** descend from), as well as George Michael.
George Michael’s line may have died out with two sons with no record of family or children. I am only aware of the two sons that Joseph D. Rivers indicated on his chart, Abram and Michael, and he listed no record of marriage or family for them.
It is possible that John Rivers’s line ended with him, as Joseph D. Rivers stated in his chart that he found no record of a family for him once he settled on James Island, but he was, apparently, born at Pond Town (which later became known as Hampton, South Carolina).
David Rivers’s descendants are laid out on Sheet 4.
Descendants of Mary Christina and Jacob are laid out on Sheet 5 of the Joseph D. Rivers Pedigree Chart.
David Rivers (who we ** descend from) got married and that marriage produced at least fourteen children. Instead of listing them all I will list those who lived to marry and possibly produce descendants. For some of these individuals no record was found when Joe Rivers compiled his charts of children produced by their marriage. In some cases the spouse of some of these Rivers women are known only by their surname, as their first names were unknown to the researchers. For those children who lived to marrying age and likely produced descendants, there was George Mixson Rivers, Jacob Strohacker Rivers, Rebecca (Rivers) Terry, John Michael Rivers, Reuben Jordan Rivers, Rachel (Rivers) Freeman, David Gray Rivers, Jane (Rivers) Pope, Fanny Rivers, Abraham Isaac Jacob Rivers, and Nancy (Rivers) Tuten. We (see above **) are descendants of Abraham Isaac Jacob Rivers.
Abraham Isaac Jacob Rivers (who we ** descend from) got married and that marriage produced, from all records I have found myself, nine children. All nine of those children, but one, Abraham Purrington Rivers (died in his fourth year), lived to marry (some more than once) and produce descendants (some from multiple marriages). So, there was Lewis William Rivers, Sarah Rebecca (Rivers) Moore, Mary Elizabeth (Rivers) Hutchinson, Celia Margaret (Rivers) Parnell (no children, he died in the Civil War) Russell, Julia Adelle (Rivers) Mole, David James Rivers, Emma Caroline (Rivers) Pratt, and Martha Jane “Mattie” (Rivers) Havird.
Greg‘s family descends from David James Rivers, as does Susan Espenship and her sister Nancy Baildon, their mom, Kathryn.
Angie‘s family descends from Celia Margaret (Rivers) Russell, as does Ann Ragan Crutchfield.
My Grandpa Thomas, Aunt Vera, Uncle John, my dad Jim, Aunt Debbie, cousin Michael, sisters Sarah and Carol, cousins Katie and Patrick, and I all descend from Lewis William Rivers.