More About My Ancestors

The Luther Family Coat of Arms

Every day that I spend on Ancestry.com working on my family tree, I find something totally amazing.  Today was my biggest day yet.  Are you ready for this.  Maybe you should sit down:  Martin Luther (1483-1546) THE Martin Luther, THE German Priest who founded Protestantism, was my 15th Great-Grand Uncle.  There is probably no person in history that I admire more.  Like my lineage to William the Conqueror, this also comes from my mother's side of the family--the Johnsons--the Texas farmers, whom all the rest of my families looked down upon because they were poorer than all the other relatives.

I think I inherited Luther's religious gene, because I'm extremely religious, too, but not so hot on the Catholic Church or organized religion, which is a little ironic because most of my favorite thinkers have been Catholics and I have the Catholic mindset.  I wonder if how spiritual a person is could possibly be in their genes.  No one in my immediate family was religious, but I know it was just in me from the very beginning.

Luther wasn't against Catholicism.  He couldn't stand the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church.  Jesus didn't intend to start a new religion, he just wanted to reform Judism, likewise Luther didn't want to form a new religion, he just wanted to reform the Catholic Church.  There's no one in history I admire more than Martin Luther (not counting Jesus, Plato and Kierkegaard), so it blew my mind to find out he was an ancestor.  I think it's also interesting to learn that a branch of the German Luther family immigrated to England and then after a couple of generations came to America.  I figure they liked the American ideal of religious freedom.

Martin Luther--my 15th Great Grand Uncle

Hans Luther--father to Martin, 
and my 16th  great-grandfather

Margarete Lindemann--Martin Luther's 
Mother and my
16th Great Grandmother

Katharine von Bora--wife of my 
15th great grand uncle Martin Luther

Martin Luther (1483 - 1546) 15th great-grand uncle
Hans Luther (1459 - 1530) Father of Martin - 16th great-grandfather
Jacob Luther (1490 - 1571) Son of Hans - 15th great-grandfather
Johannes Luther (1517 - 1584) Son of Jacob - 14th great-grandfather
Johann Jacob Luther II (1537 - 1558) Son of Johannes - 13th-great grandfather
(immigrated to England from Germany)
Johann Jacob III LUTHER (1561 - 1597) Son of Johann Jacob - 12th-great grandfather
Capt John Samuel Luther (1595 - 1644) - Son of Johann Jacob III - 11th great grandfather
(immigrated to Massachusetts from England)
Elizabeth Luther (1626 - 1687) Daughter of Capt John Samuel - 10th great-grandmother
Abraham Weeks (1625 - 1691)  Son of Elizabeth - 9th great-grandfather
Francis Weekes (1653 - 1715)  Son of Abraham -  8th great-grandfather
Elizabeth Weekes (1678 - 1751)  Daughter of Francis - 7th great-grandmother
George Goodloe (1701 - 1741)  Son of Elizabeth  - 6th great-grandfather
Mary Goodloe (1731 - 1790)  Daughter of George -  5th great grandmother
John Quarles (1746 - 1789) Son of Mary - 4th great-grandfather
Lucy Quarles (1786 - 1854) Daughter of John  - 3rd great-grandmother
Moses J. Johnson Jr. (1832 - 1900) Son of Lucy  - 2nd great-grandfather
Harrison "Hal" C. Johnson (1854 - 1922) Son of Moses J. - my great-grandfather
Raleigh Homer Johnson (1885 - 1952) Son of Harrison "Hal" C. - my maternal grandfather
Frances Louise Johnson (1919 - 1983)  Daughter of Homer - my Mother
Gayle Manning Alstrom (1942 -     ) Daughter of Louise - Me