Jan is my wife’s Great Aunt Esther’s third closest match at AncestryDNA. The first is from a family we know and shows as a 1st cousin. Esther’s second DNA match shows as a second cousin. I wrote to this person in 2015 and never heard back. This person also last logged in to Ancestry in 2015. The third person was Jan.
I wrote to Jan in October 2016. She says her paternal grandmother was a Jessie Dicks born in Newfoundland and wonders if Jessie is related to Esther’s Dicks? I noticed that Jan’s DNA kit was administered by someone else. There was a tree associated with the administrator, but no Dicks in the tree. Perhaps I can create a tree to answer Jan’s question:
Here is Jan’s tree based on what she has told me so far. I wrote to Jan to try to find out some more and to see if she would be interested in uploading her DNA results to Gedmatch.com. I assume that her ancestor was from Harbour Buffett where Esther’s ancestors lived.
Looking for Jessie Dicks in Newfoundland
First I went to this site:
They have some pretty good information. I then searched for Jessie Dicks, but the results were not specific enough. Then I tried Jessie Dicks, Harbour Buffett. The first person I found was married. I assume that the Jessie Dicks I’m looking for is a Dicks by birth. The second person I found was here:
Jessie Dicks was born in 1913 as shown in the 1921 Census of Harbour Buffett. However, according to the Census, she and all of her family were born outside of Harbour Buffett.
Esther’s Tree
In order to see if Jan is connected to Esther’s ancestry by the Dicks family, I’ll need to look at Esther’s tree:
On Esther’s tree the connection would have to go back to the father of Catherine Dicks, who I have as Christopher Dicks. Another possibility would be the father of Jane Ann Dicks. I’m not positive about either of these Dicks lines at the level of Christopher and Joseph. The Christopher line seems somewhat confirmed by DNA (see below under the Dicks DNA Project).
Back to Jan’s Tree
Assuming, I have Jan’s Jessie in Harbour Buffett in in 1921, I now have this tree:
This tells me that Jan’s possible great grandfather was born around Esther’s dad’s time or Esther’s maternal grandparent’s time. That means that there could be a difference of between 2 or three generations between Esther and Jan.
A search for Henry Dicks at Ancestry leads to a birth record at FamilySearch.org which gives Henry’s parents:
The Dicks Family DNA Project
This is where I pull out the trees of the people that have uploaded their DNA results to gedmatch.com. I have a tree in it with John Dicks and Elizabeth Reid.
I assume that this John Dicks who married Elizabeth Reid is the same as the couple that I have as Jan’s 2nd great grandparents. If my guesses are right, then that would put Jan on a level with Hayley who is a 2nd cousin twice removed to Esther. Now Barry and Hayley both show as shared matches to Esther and Jan at AncestryDNA, so that is further evidence that I am on the right track. Joan is my mother in law. She didn’t test at AncestryDNA. Edward also did not test at AncestryDNA.
Questions Brought Up by the DNA
- Jan shows up as a predicted 2nd cousin by DNA at Ancestry. She shares 423 cM across 26 segments
- Barry who on the chart is an actual 2nd cousin once removed shows 196 centimorgans shared across 16 DNA segments with Esther
- Hayley who on the chart above is an actual 2nd cousin twice removed like Jan shows 93 centimorgans shared across 6 DNA segments.
- Barry and Hayley’s match results with Esther seem to be more in line with the image below.
Here are the ISOGG web page numbers for cousin statistics:
This tells me that 423 cM is off the charts for a 2nd Cousin, twice removed. The previously reported high for this was 261 cM. That means that there is more than meets the eye between Jan and Esther. Assuming I have the genealogy right (which is a big assumption) that means that Jan and Esther likely have at least one other common ancestor.
Perhaps if Jan uploads her DNA results to Gedmatch.com and I find out more about her ancestry, this mystery will be solved.