I hear that some people can use these ancestry research sites to go back quite some generations, but as far as I know, and as far as I care to know, my known family tree dead-ends with a Civil War deserter. We know he was a deserter as the oldest bit of family “memorabilia” is a letter from Uncle Sam, typed by hand of course, informing this ancestor of mine that no, he would not be getting the veteran’s pension he had applied for.

How do you top that? I certainly have no desire to log onto Ancestry.com only to find out that I had some respectable genetic predessors. I’ll stick with this guy.

But a woman from outside of Pittsburgh has traced her family tree back—way back—to biblical times. Would you believe it if Mary Elizabeth Webb of Murrysville, Pennsylvania told you that she’s the Virgin Mary’s cousin 65 times removed? Webb, who also says she can speak to those who are “beyond Earth,” claims she is the 64th great-granddaughter of Joseph of Arimathaea, who was the paternal uncle of the Virgin Mary.

Via Matthew Paul Turner‘s blog:

But Mary’s not really surprised by the news. She’s known for years, through a number of conversations with her dead brother as well as her dead mom and dad, that something was very special about her. Which is why she decided to write a book about heaven.

And no one is really surprised by this news either…