Ralph Arrives in Oysterville
Cuzzin Ralph arrived Thursday for a brief-27-hour visit. He lives in Virginia “in the DC area” and was out here in ‘the other Washington’ to visit his dad and to attend a family reunion in Walla Walla. We felt complimented that he borrowed his sister Cheryl’s car and drove clear out here to the coast to say “hello.”
Ralph and I are third cousins twice removed. His great-grandfather, William “Kentuck” Espy, and my great-grandfather, Robert Hamilton Espy were brothers. That’s what accounts for the third cousin part. Then it gets a little harder.
I’m not sure about the why of it, but Ralph’s grandmother and I would have been third cousins straight across. It has to do with how many generations each of those early Espy brothers spawned. Since Robert Hamilton waited until he was 40 to marry, our branch is always a little ‘off’ from the other third cousins. And since my mother was the youngest of seven siblings, that skews things even further. I’m sure there are other reasons but, without actually drawing a family tree, it’s hard to visualize and harder still to explain.
In the short time Ralph was here, we managed to visit some other Espy cuzzins here on the beach. I think Ken Ross – the newest ranger at Cape D. who I think of as ‘Ranger Ross’ – is Ralph’s second cousin straight across. I’m unclear about Ken and myself. Maybe third cousins three times removed?
Marc, Sydney, Ralph
And then there is Marc Boone who lives in Maryland not far at all from Ralph and who has a summer place in Ocean Park. Marc is a painter of considerable note and apparently our paths have ‘almost’ crossed over the years. Marc also traces his Espy line back that same generation if Espy brothers (maybe to a brother named George?) so he, too, is a third cousin twice removed to both Ralph and me.
Ralph, the genealogist among us, keeps telling me that I have all that information at my fingertips here in the house. On our library shelf are three volumes of The Espy-Espey Genealogy Book with branch lines and allied families written by Rita Espy Kuhbander and William G. Espy and published by Gateway Press, Inc. in 1987.
Ralph says that our line (and Ken’s, too) can be found in Volume I and Marc’s line can be found in Volume III. Good to know…
I always enjoy reading about your extended family coming “home” to Oysterville. Besides the draw of delightful company, it helps that you live in such a delightful place that can lure someone to the tip of nowhere.