My 5th great-grandfather was Francis Lewis signer of the Declaration of Independence, through his daughter AnnLewis, who married Captain George Robertson of the royal Navy. It was one of those stories I heard as a child from my grandmother, but she passed away in 1972 and I never really about it again. My mother passed away in 2012 I was trying to document her side of my families history. She had searched 4 records for nearly 10 years without much luck so when I found out that's what she was trying to do for our family before she passed I decided to take up the challenge and try to search out our family history. To say I was amazing about what I found would be an understatement. My mother's maiden surname was Blankenship and her mother's maiden surname was Sumner. The Blankenship side of the family are direct descendants of Ralph Blankenship of Virginia. And has some pretty interesting history behind it , but the Sumner side of her family has me in awe. It turns out my grandmother married Beatrice Sumner was the great-granddaughter of John Bird Sumner the Archbishop of Canterbury. ( which would make John Bird Sumner my third great-grandfather )It turns out the story I heard as a child were true, so imagine my surprise when I found out that the wife of John Bird Sumner ( and my third great-grandmother ) was a woman named Marianne Robertson, the daughter of Captain George Robertson of the royal Navy and his wife Ann Lewis.( my fourth great-grandfather and fourth great-grandmother ) I am trying to save the funds to collect and document all the proper records so that I might turn them in to the society of descendants of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. I have contacted them several times and they seem to be as excited as I do about this discovery. It's like a wonderful romantic story that went horribly wrong. Francis Lewis forbid his only daughter from having anything to do with Captain Robertson, because he represented English rule in the colonies. But love would not be denied. Ann Lewis and Captain Robertson were wed secretly and left for England soon afterward. Francis Lewis and his daughter Ann never spoke nor saw each other again. Her daughter, Marianne, ended up marrying John Berg Sumner who ended up becoming the Archbishop of Canterbury afterward. Their son John Henry Robertson Sumner, was my second great-grandfather. John Henry Robertson Sumner and his first wife Antoinette Maria Edwards, hadtwo daughters and one son together before Antoinette died. That son's name was John Robert Edwards Sumner and he married a woman namedAbby Page Carew of Massachusetts after he immigrated to America. They married in 1890 and moved to Florissant Colorado, where they started their family. They had two children one daughter Mary Beatrice Sumner and one son, John Robert Carew Sumner. Somehow my grandmother Mary Beatrice Sumner and get up meeting and marrying Clarence Rufus Blankenship a coal miner from West Virginia, very bad trip and Clarence Rufus ended up moving to La Jolla California in 1920, and that's where they started their family. They had 4 sons and two daughters. One daughter died at the age of 3 after being hit by a vehicle in the early 1930s ( my mother sister ) The sons, William Carew Blankenship married but had no children, Francis Sherwood Blankenship married and had three daughters , John Robert Sumner Blankenship married and had six daughters and three sons, Josephine Blankenship died at the age of 3 in 1934, Powell Blankenship never married or had children, and Margaret Hope Blankenship ( my mother ) married John Henry Reason and had two daughters and two sons. Constance Elizabeth Beason who was married and had 1 daughter and one son, John Henry Beason Jr never married or had children, William Francis Beason ( myself ) never married no children, although now that I found out our family history I wish I would have. And Victoria Angelina Beason who married and had one daughter and one son. Sorry I started a novel but I thought you might want to know some of the facts I found, in the near future I want my DNA tested and like I said earlier to document all the records I found to show it wasn't just a story that somebody came up with, in this case the truth turned out to be better than any story I couldhave ever came up with. Any information would be greatly appreciated thank you for your time.
@Francis Lewis
