Today is January 26, 2017. I just listened to an NPR story remembering the tragic loss of three astronauts on this day (tomorrow, January 27th) 50 years ago. That was when three suited astronauts: Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee perished in a rehearsal for the Apollo 1 launch when the spacecraft suddenly ignited. I remember that day. I was only 10 years old but was a curious boy interested in things science (okay, I guess I still am… ;-)). It was one of my first notable memories of following the space program including that Christmas eve in 1968 when I remember (and will never forget) that touching reading of Genesis by one of the astronauts as they completed the first orbit of the moon and it was televised live. But, I digress….
While listening to the NPR program I heard them read the names of the three astronauts. I recalled that I have the Chaffee surname in my maternal line. Now, I don’t know what it is but for me it’s just fascinating to tie history to genealogy (or family history). So, I pulled up my family tree and decided to see if there was a link. My great-great grandmother was Arzelia Cummings, born in 1859 in Marcellus, Onondaga, New York. Her great-grandmother was Esther Chaffee (1767-1838), my latest occurrence of the Chaffee surname. Esther was born in Ashford, Connecticut before this country even existed. Her husband was a Revolutionary War hero, Oliver Cummings (see https://goo.gl/EvfVvX), my 5th-great grandfather, who served with the Massachusetts Militia. Neat!
Now, what about Roger, the astronaut? Well, using the great resource Wikitree, I was able to easily find Roger’s family tree and quickly discovered similarities where his ancestors lived in the same towns that mine did such as in Michigan, New York, Ashford Connecticut, and Rehoboth, Plymouth, Massachusetts. So, I figured I was hot on the trail. I traced my family tree further back along with Roger’s and sure enough, found the common ancestor: Nathaniel Chaffee, my 9th-great grandfather was born in Hull, Massachusetts way back in 1638. Hull was settled in 1622 as part of the Plymouth Colony and so was certainly one of the very first European settlements of the “New World”. That’s another must-see visit on one of my future road trips.
Map of Hull (from Google Maps): 
Nathaniel is also Roger Chaffee’s 7th great-grandfather, according to WikiTree. So, doing the “genealogical math” that makes Roger Chaffee, the astronaut, my 8th Cousin, twice removed.
Thanks, Dear Cousin for the valuable contributions and most significant sacrifice you took to help us explore space. Cheers!
