Genealogy

I love JAG, in all its fantastic, cheesy gloriousness. The dramatic music, the ridiculous plots, the long-lost relatives, the unnecessary shots of Mac in a bikini, it's all so over-the-top and yet irresistible. While Noel is out of town I'm watching episodes of season 3 (back when Mac was clock-psychic) since I know that once he comes back I won't be allowed to watch any more.

While watching JAG I was doing a little work on my family tree. A few days ago I made an alarming genealogical discovery, and yes I realize that the combination of "alarming" and "genealogical" must seem oxymoronic, but it's totally true in this instance. For at least a year, I have thought that one of my great great great great grandmothers was a woman named Mariette Alger. Then, a few days ago, I discovered that in fact she was the first wife of my great great great great grandfather, after Mariette's death he married a woman named Margaret Naylor, and then they had a son named Charles, who is my ancestor. That means that for a whole year I thought I was descended from someone that I'm not. Which I guess, considering how far back it is, wouldn't be such a big deal. Everyone has 64 great great great great grandparents, which means that I was only wrong about 1.57% of my bloodline. And yet...now I'm wondering about the rest...what if I'm wrong about more?!?

So one the one hand, while part of me wants to research Margaret Nayor and learn more about my recently discovered grandmother, the other part of me wants to slow down on the new research and go back and vet what I've already done. I want to know exactly who my ancestors were, not just who they might've been! While this is the first mistake I've found in more than seven years of research, it still alarms me that I took so long to find it. Oh well, in the meantime, I'll have Harm's intense stares, and Clayton Webb's bizarre secrecy tactics to keep me company until my husband comes back to town...oh JAG, beautiful JAG.