Information on known self relationships among descendants and ancestry of Gilbert Belnap, Adaline Knight, and Henrietta McBride is available here:
Self Relationships of Gilbert Belnap Descendants
As the posterity of Gilbert Belnap continues to grow exponentially each succeeding generation, the likelihood of intermarriage among his descendants also increases. Here are currently known instances of consanguinity where descendants of Gilbert have married each other (with or without issue):
- First Cousins: David Evan Belnap (1896-1996), grandson of Gilbert Belnap and Adaline Knight through their child Amasa, married Ethel Beamy Belnap (1896-1980), granddaughter of Gilbert Belnap and Adaline Knight through their child Reuben. (No issue.)
- Second Cousins: Aaron Belnap Ross (1917-1973), great grandson of Gilbert Belnap and Adaline Knight through their child Joseph, married Elma Hall Belnap (1916-1995), great granddaughter of Gilbert Belnap and Henrietta McBride through their child Francis Marion. (Issue: 5 children.)
- Third Cousins: Jimmy Richard Williams (1938-unknown), great great grandson of Gilbert Belnap and Henrietta McBride through their child Francis Marion, married LaRae Greenwell (1938-unknown), great great granddaughter of Gilbert Belnap and Adaline Knight through their child Martha Jane. (Issue: 1 child.)
- Fourth Cousins: Darin Mac Belnap (1969-unknown), third great grandson of Gilbert Belnap and Adaline Knight through their child Amasa, married Kellee Evan Porter (1968-unknown), third great granddaughter of Gilbert Belnap and Adaline Knight through their child Martha Jane. (Issue.)
Self Relationships of Gilbert Belnap, Adaline Knight, and Henrietta McBride
Perhaps most everyone residing outside Appalachia is concerned about inbreeding. However, if we trace our ancestry back far enough, each of us is related to ourselves—many times over. Such known “self relationships” (sometimes also referred to as “consanguine,” “duplicate,” “double” relationships or ancestors or a “collapsed” or “collapsing” pedigree) are not uncommon, especially for Americans with extensive and well-documented family trees extending into the colonial New England era and the royal houses of Europe. For example, Queen Elizabeth II is a direct descendant of Sir Robert Belknap at least a dozen different ways. Her daughter-in-law, Diana, Princess of Wales, is a direct descendant of Sir Robert Belknap at least two dozen different ways, making both Prince William and Prince Harry “Belknaps” through an astonishingly high number of separate lines of descent. If we were able to identify all of our ancestors for 25 generations (back about 900 years), each of us would have over 16 million ancestors–more than the entire population of most countries that existed back then. Certainly, many of those 16 million+ ancestors would be duplicates. Go back just five more generations–to 30 generations or about 1,000 years ago–and the total number of one’s ancestors would equal over half a billion, more than the entire then-existing world population!
NOTE: Calculating degrees of consanguinity through “self relationships” becomes particularly confusing where additional duplicate ancestors, as found below, are found among an already self-shared ancestry.
Known Self-Relationships (showing first known self-related direct ancestor):
- Duplicate ancestors of David Knight (1721-1804) (2nd great grandfather of Adaline Knight)
- William Backus (about 1606-1664) and Elizabeth ____ (before 1610-1643)
- Duplicate ancestors of Rodolphus Knight (1768-1809) (grandfather of Adaline Knight)
- Francis Griswold (1635-1671) and Mary Tracy (about 1633-unknown)
- Duplicate ancestors of Betty Waterman (1724-1791) (2nd great grandmother of Adaline Knight; grandmother of Rodolphus Knight)
- Thomas Tracy (1610-1685) [through separate spouses]
- Duplicate ancestors of Rizpah Lee (1774-1853) (grandmother of Adaline Knight)
- Henry Lee (1686-1745) and Rebecca Heywood (1689-1725)
- Duplicate ancestors of Hannah Morse (1720-1750) (2nd great grandmother of Adaline Knight; grandmother of Rizpah Lee)
- Joseph Morse (1637-1677) and Susanna Shattuck (1643-1716)
- Duplicate ancestors of Abigail Mead (1770-1854) (grandmother of Adaline Knight and Henrietta McBride)
- John Mead (about 1634-1699) and Hannah Potter (about 1638-after 1700)
- Duplicate ancestors of Enos Mead (1721-after 1794) (2nd great grandfather of Adaline Knight and Henrietta McBride; grandfather of Abigail Mead)
- Robert Husted (about 1596-after 1652) and Elizabeth Miller (1614-1652)
Last update: 1 Dec 2022