Easter Bunny's Family Tree & Bible Found!

Breaking news - a few years ago a little girl named Alice was playing in the garden of an old house in England when she fell down a large rabbit hole. 

Before climbing out she made a unique discovery. In a small wooden box under a pile of rabbit fur hats Alice spotted a yellowed letter. 

The letter was addressed to "Dear Easter" and signed "Uncle Wiggily", and it provided details of an interesting family tree!

Here's the letter Alice found:

Dear Easter,
I'm glad you asked about your family. Time is getting short for me and I think I'm the only one left who knows the stories of our family.

Your great-grandfather, Bugs, was one of three brothers (Bugs, Peter and Brer). The brothers left their home and sailed for America in the late 1800s. The ship they were on was caught up in a terrible storm and the brothers had to tie themselves to the mast. The ship sank but Bugs, Peter and Brer were lucky enough to find a plank and they climbed up on it and drifted for several days until they were rescued by the SS Lollipop.

When they got to Ellis Island, the customs officials changed the brothers' last names before allowing them to leave the ship, and so the three branches of our family began.

Bugs, Your great-grandpa, kept his Bunny name. Peter's was changed to Cottontail and all his descendants have kept that name. Brer's name was changed to Rabbit and it is from his line that our famous cousins White and Velveteen descend.

Great grandpa Bugs later met and married your great-grandmother Bunny Fufu. I don't know anything about her parents. My cousin Willy Bunny has photos and her family bible but he is stingy with the family information and refuses to share. Apparently Bunny Fufu's family bible was tossed into a fire by Indians when they attacked the settlement where she and her parents lived, but Bunny's father leapt into the flames and saved the bible. I wish Willy would not be so secretive with the information!

It gets a bit confusing, but Velveteen Rabbit, your mother, was your father Energizer's second wife and his third cousin once removed. It wasn't unusual for cousins to marry each other, but it does get confusing as we all seem to have large families.

Velveteen's father (your maternal grandfather) was Peter but I don't know too much about your mom's side of the family. I did hear there was an Angora in there somewhere way back. Some say she was a Princess and Peter rescued her from .....

Some say she was a Princess and Peter rescued her from pirates!

Of course you know your grandparents - Buster and Trix. One day you should ask your grandma Trix why she calls your grandpa Buster by his nickname "Hassenfeffer" whenever she is mad at him, it's a cute story.

I've done some research on our family but am stuck on your great-great-grandmother. That would be your Great-Grandpa Bugs' mother. Great-Grandpa Bugs' father (your great-great-grandpa) was named Cadbury but I think your great-great-grandma was left by aliens. She is my brick wall. I know Cadbury called her Flopsy and they had 54 children but even though I've searched everywhere, I can't find what her SIRname was.

I guess I should tell you about the family scandal involving your Great great grandpa Cadbury Bunny. My Aunt Babbity told me she heard the grownups whispering about this when she was little. It seems that Cadbury's father fell in love with a chicken and Cadbury was the result of that love match! This might explain Cadbury's strange behaviour....

Well Easter, I think I've given you enough details to confuse you, but I hope I've gotten you interested in learning more! I know where some of the graves are of your ancestors and will take you there one day if you want to go. It's just a hop, skip and jump away.

Give my best to all the little children when you make your rounds this year,

As ever,
Uncle Wiggily

Since that exciting discovery in 2009, Easter Bunny has found more genealogy goodies!  In 2010 Easter found a family tree chart! You can see it here

In 2011 Easter was delighted to discover a Family Bible that once belonged to his great-grandmother Bunny Fufu! He's been hunting ever since, tracking down leads on the Bunny Trail and exploring every nook and cranny he can find.

Stay tuned for more news as Easter texts us to let us know of his new and exciting genealogy adventures.

Create a Fun Ancestor Score Card

Thanks to Tangled Roots and Trees for this fun idea on measuring your genealogy research. First you create an Ancestors Score Card like mine below. I opted to do an 8 Generation Chart but you could list as many or as few as you wish.

 Then you start counting your ancestors in your tree. Fill out the numbers then calculate the percentage. For those who aren't sure how to calculate that, write your numbers as a fraction with the numerator (top number) from the Known column and the denominator (bottom number) from the possible column. Divide numerator by denominator and multiply by 100.

My chart becomes this when I count my known ancestors in each generation:

It's obvious that I have 100% in Generations 1 to 5. For Generation 6, I divide 31 by 32 and multiply by 100 for 96.875% I'll round that off to 97%. Here is my final score card

I don't collect names. It's not about how many ancestors I can find, but I like to see how I'm doing.  I research, find my ancestors one by one, and then I look for their stories. When I'm done I create what I call Family Memory Books consisting of those stories and facts for each person. 

Who's Got Blacksheep Ancestors?

Blacksheep ancestors. We all love 'em. Let's be honest - there's something exciting and intriguing about having a bad boy or bad girl in our family trees. What constitutes a blacksheep ancestor though? It ranges from someone who sold booze without a licence to a murderer.

So without discussing the human tragedy aspect of an unsavory character's influence on family members, let's have some fun and list our blacksheep!

Here is my list of blacksheep ancestors

New Netherland (New York)

* 1657 & 1658: 8th great grandparents Jan and Dirckien Van Alstyne were fined on several occasions for selling beer to the Indians, and he was fined for selling brandy "after the ringing of the bell and during the sermon".
* 1657 & 1658: 8th great-grandmother Dirckje Van Alstyne taken to court several times for monies and goods owed and not paid
* 1659: 8th great-grandmother Dirckje Harmens Boertgen charged with theft of goods from a home
* 1682 : 9th Great-grandfather Albert Andriessen de Noorman aka Bradt charged with "behaving improperly before the young people" in an indecent way. Also charged that year with assaulting a neighbour with a knife
* 1685: 9th Great-grandfather Albert Andriessen de Noorman aka Bradt charged with starting fires and threatening his son. His other sons were ordered to confine Albert or "remove him from town"

Ontario Canada

* 1869. Great-grandfather Alexander McGinnis charged with assault
* 1879. Great-grandfather Alexander McGinnis sentenced to jail for selling liquor without a license.
* 1895. Great-grandfather Stephen Peer the victim of an axe attack by a neighbour and involved in a lengthy court case
* 1901: Great-grand-uncles Albert and Herman Vollick sentenced to 18 months in Kingston Penetentiary for stealing a cow
* 1916: Grand-uncle Ernest Simpson court martial for "having allowed a prisoner under his charge to escape" (found not guilty)

My daughter-in-law's interesting criminal ancestors (so far!) are:

*1672: Trois Rivieres Quebec. Her 11th great-grandmother Gillette Bonne, wife of Jacques Bertault hung for poisoning then beating her son-in-law to death

I am going to make a list of my husband's blacksheep ancestors and have him post it on his blog (AncestorsAtRest.blogspot.com) for fun! Meantime why not visit my son's website Blacksheep Ancestors.