Charles Darwin, explorer, scientist and author, most famous for his book "On the Origin of Species". Today considered the father of the Theory of Evolution.
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The numbers next to the headings below, indicate the position of that person in the Ahnentafel (Ancestor Table) with Charles himself in position 1
1 Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin, author, was born 12 Feb 1809 at "The Mount" in Frankwell a part of Shrewsbury, Shropshire the son of Robert Waring Darwin of Shrewsbury and his wife Susannah Wedgwood. His mother died, when Darwin was eight years old. He was then sent to a Unitarian boarding school run by Rev. Case. At college, Darwin first studied medicine like his father and grandfather, but then switched to theology. He took an interest in geology and began traveling the world collecting fossils. He first formed his ideas of evolution by natural selection about 1838 but did not publish his work in abstract until 1859. Read that first abstract at this link free on Google Books. Darwin died in 1882, his autobiographical recollections were collected and published by his son Sir Francis Darwin in "The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin" which you can read at that link free on Google Books.
2 Robert Darwin, M.D.
Robert Waring Darwin was born 30 May 1766. On 18 Apr 1796 he married "... Susannah, the daughter of his father's friend, Josiah Wedgwood, of Etruria, then in her thirty-second year". About 1800 he built a house which he called "The Mount" in Frankwell, a part of Shrewsbury. Robert died 13 Nov 1848
3 Susannah Wedgwood
Susannah Wedgwood was baptised at Burslem 2 Jan 1765, the eldest child of Josiah Wedgewood the famous potter. (See "The Personal Life of Josiah Wedgwood", p264) Some details of her early life from the letters of her father are related starting on page 347. In her youth, at age 11, after her father had remarried, she was handed over to be further raised in the household of Josiah's good friend and business partner Thomas Bentley and his wife who were childless. Read a letter written by her to her father here on page 353. On 18 Apr 1796, she married Robert Darwin MD, son of Erasmus Darwin, her father's good friend. Robert and she were the parents of the scientist, explorer and author Charles Darwin. She is ascribed a gentle and sympathetic nature. She died 15 Jul 1817, thirty-two years before her husband. She was a Unitarian, and the year she died, her son Charles Darwin was sent to a Unitarian boarding school for his education.
4 Erasmus Darwin, M.D.
A letter he wrote to his first wife Mary Howard just before marrying her is quoted at this link.
5 Mary Howard
Mary Howard of Lichfield, was the first wife of Dr Erasmus Darwin
6 Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood, the famous "potter to her majesty" (Queen Charlotte) was born in Burslem (now Stoke-on-Trent), Staffordshire, baptisted 12 Jul 1730 there, as the youngest of the thirteen children born to Thomas Wedgwood and his wife Mary Stringer. He married his third cousin Sarah Wedgwood. The life of Josiah Wedgwood was written by Eliza Meteyard, which you can read free at this Google Books link. She there relates many details also of Erasmus Darwin who was Josiah's friend, but for some odd reason never once mentions that Josiah's daughter Susannah married Erasmus' son Robert. See further "Josiah Wedgwood", Wikipedia.
7 Sarah Wedgwood
8 Robert Darwin
9 Elizabeth Hill
10 Charles Howard of Lichfield
11 Penelope Foley
12 Thomas Wedgwood
Thomas Wedgwood of the Churchyard House and Works. The family lived in Buslem, Staffordshire where they had been potters for several generations. He died in 1739 leaving minor children including the later-famous potter Josiah Wedgwood.
13 Mary Stringer
14 Richard Wedgwood
15 Susan Irlam
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