Ancestor Wish List: How many of you have famous people you hoped you were related to when you first got into genealogy? I do have a handful of famous ancestors, both direct [Roger Williams] and collateral [Thomas Sumter, Nathanael Greene and Benedict Arnold.] There were two childhood heroes that I was hoping to link to in some fashion. Guess what? I did it! It took some stretching, but the ties are there!

#2: Wyatt Earp: I got hooked on Wyatt Earp through the TV series and have read tons of material on the Earps and the "Gunfight in the vacant lot next to Fly's Photographic Studio" [or better known OK Corral]. David Cawby, brother of my 3rd great-grandfather Martin Cawby Jr., married Nancy Earp. She was Wyatt's 4th cousin twice removed. Like I said - a wee bit of a stretch!

#1: David Crockett: I was one of the thousands of kids who caught "Davy Mania" thanks to Walt Disney. Again, it stuck. Reading about Crockett and the Alamo has been a passion. We won't discuss this surrendering issue. Lucinda Morris Cunningham was the 2nd wife of John Simmons Jr., my 4th great-grandfather. Her eldest son from her 1st marriage was Robert W. Cunningham. Robert went to Texas and found himself in an artillery company at the December 1835 siege of Bexar [San Antonio]. He stayed on as an artilleryman with the Tejanos at the Alamo in March 1836. Along with William B. Travis, James Bowie and, yes, DAVID CROCKETT, Robert W. Cunningham followed Travis' words to fellow Texans - "Liberty or Death, God and Texas!"