THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY - FROM BESS TO JOSS

"MURDER SHE WROTE: THE LAST FREE MAN"

Thomas Mercer was not the only character in this TV movie sequel to 'Murder, She Wrote' who would have a descendent working in law enforcement in New York City (despite the ancestor being from Culpeper, Virginia.)

Bess Pinckney was a slave from another plantation who was secretly married to Samuel Pinckney, a slave owned by Miss Sarah McCullough.  Miss Sarah helped them to flee north by the Underground Railroad, although Sam unfortunately never made it.  

Bess was pregnant at that time with their child and raised her in Pennsylvania.  Eventually some member of that family tree headed farther north to New York City, which is where one of Sam and Bess' great great great grandchildren* became a police detective - Joss Carter, who looked remarkably like her ancestor Bess Pinckney.

SHOWS CITED:

• "Murder, She Wrote: The Last Free Man"
  
• 'Person Of Interest'

BCnU!

* When Cassandra Hawkins counted off her own line of descent from Sam and Bess Pinckney at the end of "Murder, She Wrote: The Last Free Man", I believe she lost count on the number of generations involved.  She listed at least seven "begats" which I think was far more than possible in a lineage stretching from 1860 to 1948.  (Cassandra Hawkins should share the same birth year as her portrayer, Phylicia Rashad.)

Although it could be that several members of that family tree had their own children at VERY early ages; that could account for so many generations.