English: Photo of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Genealogy Road Show has a lot going for it. They are able to cover many more family stories in a single episode than WDYTYA (either US or UK) and Finding Your Roots with Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Not that the others aren’t worth watching. Quite the contrary. I enjoy the stories and I enjoy hearing how the deep family stories are uncovered.
Tonight, I wanted to mention an odd “koincidence” that I noticed in last night’s show.
Dream a Little Dream (Cass Elliot album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
First I should mention that although the surname “Kunkle” isn’t on any list of the most popular. It’s far down the list after all the “Smith” and “Jones” families. But “Kunkle” jumps out at me simply because I know of an individual named Kunkle who lives and works here in Massachusetts. This particular Kunkle is also related to a very famous personality from the 60’s, Mama Cass Elliot! As most of us from that generation already know, Mama Cass was a spectacular talent (IMHO) who died tragically over 40 years ago. I can still hear her singing “Dream a Little Dream of Me.”
OK, back to genealogy. Last night’s show featured an elderly woman, Emma Musgrove Dasenbrock, who was accompanied by her son, Timothy. She knew literally nothing about her mother’s side of her family as her mother had died about a year after Emma’s birth. Mary Tedesco did a marvelous job with Mrs. Dasenbrock making her and her son feel quite comfortable as she rolled out the unknown family mysteries. As it turns out, her mother was a descendant of the immigrant Phillip Kunkle who arrived around 1840. Phillip and his wife Margaret had a son named Edward who married Anna. Their daughter and Emma’s mother was Barbara Kunkle. Kunkle…an seemingly rare if not odd name. But a Kunkle nonetheless.
Now here’s the part I believe most people missed. Later in the show, as Josh Taylor was working with Julie Bryar, he displayed a 1933 Canadian Immigration document which, on line 5, showed Julie’s great grandfather, Julius Marsalko. Who noticed the name on line 4? It just happens to be “James KUNKLE”!!
It’s a small world after all!
FYI Both Julius Marsalko and James Kunkle were stamped “REJECTED” for admission!!
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