In Search of an Ancestor

In Search of an Ancestor

Cinnaminson NJ

By John

During the past decade I have been involved in expanding our family tree.  Each year we attend a reunion near Anacortes, Washington of our oldest American branch of the family, the Ginnetts.  My mother’s mother was born Sarah Ginnett and we were always told stories about how the family worked its way to the West Coast, with various stops along the way. 

Several members of the family tried researching the family’s roots and we found the name of a Moses Gennet (spellings changed over the generations.) who was born in the late 1700s in Cinnaminson, Burlington County, New Jersey. 

Since we had a spare day, we drove the 75 miles from Newark to Cinnaminson, which is located not far from Philadelphia.  There is not much to say about the central part of the state, but approaching Cinnaminson we were pleased to see beautiful the farmlands that explain why New Jersey is called the Garden State.  The surrounding towns and suburbs were similarly scenic.

We were able to find the name of the Methodist cemetery, Ashbury, on line, with the help of our GPS, that we have named Susie.  The burial ground is still in use and dates from the early 1800s, but the headstones did not seem to be in any order. 

Looking at older stones, Donna’s sharp eyes soon spotted a monument to a Moses Ginnett and one for his wife, Elizabeth.  Upon closer examination, the dates did not seem right and we came to the conclusion that this must be the grandson of my great-great-great-grandfather Moses.   We spent another hour inspecting the cemetery and eventually found a Robert Gennet, the son of our patriarch.  We determined that he was my great-great-great uncle.  Later research determined that he was the father of the Moses Gennet, whose headstone we had found earlier.

We stopped by the town library branch for more research, but found nothing except for one listing in the local telephone directory with the same surname.

We were planning to drop our rental car off at Newark airport on the way back to the hotel.  Our goal was to keep the tank as close to empty as possible. A short distance from the airport, the tone sounded indicating low fuel.  Another $5 and we finally made it.  Note: The approaches to Newark’s airport are among the most confusing we have ever seen.  Fortunately, Donna is a very skillful driver.

We celebrated our 44^th anniversary with dinner at an airport restaurant.

Our working cruise to Bermuda leaves on Sunday, the 16^th, so we will offline for some time.

Look for us down the line.

John and Donna