Ancestry Saturday: A Kinship with a Fourth Cousin Four Times Removed

One has a lot of fourth cousins.  So, one wouldn't want to dwell too much on fourth cousins four times removed unless they were famous. 

Curtis Verne Priest wasn't famous, but I'm tracking him nonetheless.

 

Verne lived in Newark, Ohio.  That's where I live.

 

Newark Advocate, 6 Dec 1961.  Cousin Verne is front row, far right.

He was a 1916 charter member of the Newark Rotary Club.  I'm a member of the Newark Rotary Club today. 

 

Since I grew up an hour and a half away and Verne's family was the only one I could ever find that has Newark roots, it's pretty extraordinary to have Newark Rotary in common as 2016 looms.  2016 is the 100th anniversary of Newark Rotary.

 

Newark Advocate, 8 Jul 1905 has Verne out at my stomping grounds almost 100 years before I stomped there

He is mentioned in the local newspaper for having been out to Black Hand Gorge in Eastern Licking County.  I've been mentioned in the same paper for my treks out to Black Hand Gorge.

 

In fact, I'd be willing to bet Verne ventured into the Black Hand Gorge interurban tunnel that was built in 1903.  I didn't go through it on a train, but I've walked through it dozens of times, albeit more than 100 years after cousin Verne.

 

I definitely feel a kinship to this kin.

 

Verne's third great grandfather, Gabriel Cock, was my seventh great grandfather.  He is part of that same family with the surnames Cox and Friend.

 

His mother was Agnes (Cox) Priest who was third cousin to my great great grandmother Lummie (Cox) Bernard.

 

I'm still tracking my fourth cousin four times removed.  Where else did he go that I've yet to discover in my town?