I made an interesting and unexpected find today. I was following some descendants of Abraham Harless and this particular branch, like so many other families, had moved from Missouri to California in the 1920’s. I was having fairly good luck in finding them on Find-a-Grave and in various census records, adding new generations and more details to the generations I had already found, when my computer program flashed a warning. “Possible matching people: 1” Because this is a one name study, I have my preferences set so that this warning only comes up when both the first and last names are spelled identically AND the birth date is within 10 years. It still flashes up from time to time and it is about 50/50 on whether or not I am entering a duplicate person. Obviously I check all of the warnings, but this time I found something I really didn’t expect.
Laura Ethel Compton was the name that triggered the warning. According to Find-a-Grave she was the mother of Kenneth Odell Cook and Kenneth Odell Cook had married Lillian Elizabeth Harmon, the 4th great-granddaughter of Abraham Harless. So Laura was an in-law. Surely this was just a coincidence. When I looked at the other Laura Ethel Compton in my database I was even more puzzled.
The new Laura was married to Samuel Cook. The other Laura was married to Archie Marion Cook. This was a crazy coincidence. Two Laura Ethel Comptons and both were married to men named Cook? I had to make sure.
The original Laura descends from Henry Harless and was born in Oklahoma, but she died in California and is buried in Santa Maria Cemetery. The same cemetery as Kenneth Odell Cook’s wife’s grandfather.
The Find-a-Grave page for Kenneth Odell Cook didn’t link to his parents, but a quick search found her. And other Laura. This was no coincidence. Ethel Laura Compton, daughter of Charles Byrd Compton and Mary Etta Harless, married Samuel Paton Cook AND Archie Marion Cook. Find-a-Grave lists four children for her, and although Kenneth is not among them, the 1940 Census has both Kenneth, the four children named on Find-a-Grave and a few others.
I have more research to do of course, but at the moment it looks like Kenneth Odell Cook married his 6th cousins twice removed. I wonder if they knew.