I have noticed many peculiar things in my time researching the different branches of the family tree. One thing that I find most interesting is the number of times that there were chances for us NOT to have been born. In many instances, the birth of our ancestors occurred only because someone else died. If any of the survivors had not remarried, our ancestor would never have been born, and we would not be here today. However, thanks to these "second chances", we are here, and I am quite thankful.
I am sure there are others, but I have found and recorded here twelve examples of "second chances" that have resulted in the births of either me or Cathy, and some of the rest of you as well.
| 1 | Joseph Sill married Jemima Belcher in 1660. She died in 1675. He then married Sarah Clark in 1676. I am descended from their son Joseph Sill. |
| 2. | Sarah Clark was also married twice. She married first Reinhold Marvin in 1663. He died in 1676. She then married Joseph Sill in 1676. |
| 3. | Montgomery Harper married Sabrina Rice in 1816. She died sometime between 1825 and 1829. He then married Angelina Parshall in 1829. I am descended from their daughter Charlotte Emily Harper. |
| 4. | Angelina Parshall was also married twice, first to Thadeus P. Alger in 1825. He died in 1828. Her second marriage was to Montgomery Harper in 1829. |
| 5. | Nelson Sill married Adelia Brown in 1859. She died in 1870. In 1871 he married Charlotte Emily Harper. I am descended from their son Nelson Alexander Sill. |
| 6. | Elnathan Botsford married his first wife, Elizabeth Fletcher, in 1665. She died in 1666. He married his second wife, Hannah Baldwin, in 1667. I am descended from their son Henry Botsford. |
| 7. | William Bentley married Elizabeth Gardiner in 1699. She died sometime between 1719 and 1734. He then married Bathsheba Greene in 1734. I am descended from their son Greene Bentley. |
| 8. | Joseph Hewitt married his first wife, Philena Clark, in 1828. She died in approx. 1830. He then married Philena's sister, Arathusea Clark, in 1832. I am descended from their daughter Philena Hewitt. |
| 9. | Arathusea Clark was also married two times. She was first married to Charles Keith, who died in 1829. She then married Joseph Hewitt in 1832. |
| 10. | Antoine Weibel was first married to Marguerite Meyer, who died in 1829. He then married Marie Catherine Dossman in 1829. Cathy is descended from their son Joseph Weibel. |
| 11. | August Meyer married Wilhemine Gehrke Martin in 1906. She died in 1907. He then married Anna Marie Weiss in 1908. Cathy is descended from their daughter Louise Anna Bertha Mata Sophie Meyer. |
| 12. | It has been said that Otto Hess was "asked" to leave Germany and that he may have been married and left behind a family in Germany when he came to America. If that is true, then his marriage to Elsa Braun was his second marriage. I am descended from their daughter Margaret Amelia Albertina Hess. |