When we first arrived in Moab we saw Parriott's Salon on Center Street in the heart of town (see Sep 27, 2014). I eventually went into the salon and met Jason Parriott, the owner. We talked for quite a while and realized we had to be related somehow, although neither of us had ever met a Parriott outside of our immediate families. Besides our unusual name, we both traced our heritage back to Iowa. He gave his father my contact information and Dale called soon thereafter. We both wanted to get together and see if we could discover any connection between our families.
It took a little while, but we were finally all able to meet today. Dale and his wife, Glee, invited us over for lunch. Dale's sister, Gwyneth, also joined us as we talked over what we knew about our families. We could not find any connection, but that just meant we needed to dig a little deeper.
Dale showed me his large and well-equipped workshop. His current projects included restoring a racing motorcycle and building a unique truck that will be equally at home on the street or a backcountry Jeep trail.
We had a pleasant afternoon (we stayed for more than three hours) before saying our goodbyes and promising to get back together again someday.
My mom had an obituary for my great grandfather that gave us a good start going back four generations to my great-great-grandfather. Joani started researching online to fill in the blanks. She used familysearch.org and was able to trace back to William Parriott, born in 1720 in Prince George, MD. He was my great-great-great-great-great grandfather. When Joani traced Dale's lineage she found he descended from the same William Parriott. We found a common ancestor seven generations back making us sixth cousins!
It was interesting to dig into our family history. Joani's research uncovered so many branches there will be a good chance we will find a link to almost anyone we meet with the same family name. You can be sure we will be looking for them in our travels from now on.
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