Suppose that John Site and his wife Joan came to Rhode Island about 1650 and had two children, a boy and a girl, who lived to marry and have children. Suppose that each of these children also had one boy and one girl who lived to marry and have children. And suppose that this pattern carried on - each descendant had exactly two children, one boy and one girl, who lived to marry and have children. What can we say about the descendants of John and Joan Site?

If we look at each generation:

• Children of John and Joan: One boy, one girl, surnames Site. He will have a family named Site, she will marry a man with a different surname, so the Site surname will vanish from her line.
• Grandchildren of John and Joan: One boy named Site, one girl named Site (she will marry and take another surname). The other two are not named Site.
• Great grandchildren: One boy named Site, one girl named Site (she will marry and take another surname), 6 with other surnames.
• By now the pattern is clear: in each generation there is only one boy named Site, and only he passes on the Site surname.
• So today, after about 11 generations, John and Joan would have roughly 2000 descendants, but there would be only one family named Site!

And that's why this web site only includes folks named Langworthy..... including all descendants could increase its size a thousand times, making it difficult to manage and use. But the web site does try to include the spouses of the Langworthy ladies, so that those of you whose ancestors married into the family can trace your Langworthy lines.

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