Which Palin Family Branch Are You In?

Many times I have been asked how are we related?  Sometimes this is not an easy question to answer.

To make life easier to find which branch you are in, I have colour coded branches of the tree.  As of today there are ten different lines/branches on the family site.  There are many occasions where a descendant will have more than one colour box beside their name.

The main branch of this site is the purple branch.  This starts with John Palyn born circa 1600.

Then we go down that line to Thomas Palin and Elizabeth Smythe, the Portrait Palins.  We affectionately call this couple the Portrait Palins because of their portraits.  The portraits are suspected to have been done by Sir Joshua Reynolds.  (more on this at a later date) They had three sons which start three new branches.

John Palin, a son of the Portrait Palins is my direct ancestor and his descendants are in the pink branch.

Thomas Palin, a son of the Portrait Palins born 1754 starts the yellow branch.

William Palin, a son of the Portrait Palins born 1759 starts the navy blue branch.

The white branch is suspected where my Palin Guru's line connects with the main purple line.  There is a connection via marriage though.  You can see a blog about this here.   Note to self - I will have to write a future blog about why the below connection is strongly suspected.

The aqua branch has just been coloured today in honour of our American cousins and their Thanksgiving.  William Palin moved his family to Quebec circa 1830 and the children went to the USA.  We are thankful that we found the connection!

When a Palin marries into the tree I will research their ancestors to see if I can find a link to the main purple branch.  If no link is found the earliest ancestor is given a  new colour.

The gray branch below is when a Mary Palin marries Charles William Sant who is a descendant of the main purple branch.  I have not as of yet found where Mary Palin's ancestors connect with the purple branch.  The farthest back I can go for Mary Palin's ancestors is John Palin marrying Hannah Hartless in 1731.  (There is also a case of the two "Gale" sisters.  Helen Gale's son is part of the gray branch and sister  Dororthy Gale marries into the green branch.)

The red branch below is where a Thomas Palin from the purple branch marries an Elizabeth Palin.   I researched Elizabeth ancestors and the furthest back I can go is to a William Palin that married Sarah Buckley in 1614.

The green branch below is an unknown branch at this time.  We had originally thought that the James Palin that married Martha Boffey was son of Thomas Palin and Elizabeth Smythe, the Portrait Palins.  We have since found out that was not true.  Instead of deleting all that research we have given this branch it's own colour.  You can see the blog about this here.  The furthest back on this green branch is to a Thomas Palin that married Margaret Griffeth in 1721.

The black branch is another branch that was at one time thought to be connected.  I have not found proof of the parentage of James Palin that married Sarah Plant in 1817.  (see an earlier blog about this here)

However, a descendant of the above Sarah Plant and James Palin did marry back into the tree.

It can be very confusing keeping all the lines straight.  My family research started off looking for direct connections and ended up becoming more of a one name study.  Colour coding helps!