Just recently I was invited to join a Facebook Group by my cousin Timothy Dodge. The group is called:
Dodge, Madrid, Page, Padilla Families - Puerto de Luna, New Mexico
I've had a really great time on this Facebook page getting to know my cousins who I never really got to know, on my mom's side of the family because our closest connection, my mom's older sister, Marcelina Padilla Page, died in 1939.
Marcelina married Joseph Page and her daughter, Marcelina married Antonio Dodge.
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| Marcelina Padilla Page and Joseph Page |
However, the families from Puerto de Luna are related sometimes several times over. My Great-Great Aunt Juana de la Trinidad Sandoval was married to Henry Lafayette Dodge, the first Dodge to go to New Mexico from Dodgeville, Wisconsin.
As I was looking at my family tree, I noticed that the Page-Nelson family connected to the same founding families of Virginia that my children are connected to through their father's lineage. With a little research I discovered that we are all related to William Randolph I, born November 7, 1651. He was a politician in Colonial Virginia who played an important role in the development of the colony. He married Mary Isham, born November 21, 1717. Due to their many progeny and marital alliances, they have been referred to as "the Adam and Eve of Virginia." For instance, President Thomas Jefferson was the great-grandson of William and Mary Randolph. Their descendants also include other prominent individuals including John Marshall, Paschal Beverly Randolph, Robert E. Lee, Peyton Randolph, Edmund Randolph, John Randolph of Roanoke, George W. Randolph, and Edmund Ruffin.
In July of 2020, I discovered that my ex-husband, Davis Ethridge and my sister, Nita's ex-husband, Jack Hatley are 5th cousins in that same lineage. I wrote about it in this blog post. The discovery was uncanny because Nita met Jack in Amarillo and I met Davis in Austin. The two of them grew up on opposites ends of Texas and only met once at my wedding in 1977. So it seemed unlikely that they would be related and my children and my sister's son would be related on their dad's side of the family as well as their mother's side. It seemed so miraculous that I created a blog specifically for my extended family including my children Adriane Ethridge and Christian Ethridge, my grandchildren, Dylan Ethridge, Andrew Ethridge and Jacqueline Ethridge. My step-daughter Sarah Ethridge and her daughter Emerson Ethridge. Also for my nephew Derek Hatley, his wife Heather and their two daughters Bianca Hatley and Ava Hatley. And for my ex-husband, Davis Ethridge and my sister's ex-husband, Jack Hatley. Now this blog is dedicated to my extended Dodge, Madrid, Page, Padilla Families of Puerto de Luna, New Mexico.
As a genealogist, it's extremely exciting when I discover a new lineage that has in depth documented information. I have been studying our founding families of New Mexico for about 12 years so the new found Virginia and St Louis connections are fun, especially now that I am in St Louis for the winter.
Here's just a couple of samples. The first one is of the lineage back to William Randolph for both the Ethridge and Page families. But just like all our families from Puerto de Luna, the overlap many times over.
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| William Randolph was my children's 9th great-grandfather and would also be all of my cousins' in New Mexico reading this, 8th great-grandfather. |
Always. Bless you all.
