It’s time for the Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge with Randy Seaver on Genea-Musings. This week, my 30 year old pedigree chart was much easier to use to find the answers than my computer software program.

He asks a two-part question this week:

Who is the person with the earliest known birth date in your family tree?  Describe how you figured this out.

Extra credit 🙂  Who is the person with the earliest known birth date in North America in your family tree?

First, although I have some lines that tie into royalty, way way back, I have not entered them into my family tree because there is too much of a gap between my 1500s ancestors and those lines that I can’t verify myself.

I generated a RootsMagic 7 Timeline List for everyone in my tree to figure out these two answers.

My earliest documented birth date is that of Mary Cramphorne, an 11X great grandmother. She was the daughter of William Cramphorne and Joan Plowright, baptized on 27 September 1562 in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England.

For the extra credit, I knew that the first North American birth would be in the 1630s in Massachusetts, so I scrolled further down the timeline. First to appear was Lydia Brown.

Lydia Brown is one of my 9X great grandmothers. She was born 22 March 1631/32 in Watertown, Massachusetts. She married Lt. William Lakin and they are two of my ancestors from whom I descend more than one time.

Thank you, Randy, for this week’s fun challenge!