A New Clarke DNA Match at Ancestry

I have very few DNA matches at Ancestry on the Clarke side. For that reason, I was glad to see that I have a match with Melissa. Ancestry also shows that Melissa and I have the likely common ancestor of Thomas Clarke:

One interesting thing that I see is that Melissa’s great-grandmother died 57 years after my great-grandmother. Melissa has a very nice tree at Ancestry:

This shows her paternal line going back to Thomas Clarke and Jane Henderson. Whereas, I am descended from Thomas’ first wife who was Jane Spratt.

Clarke DNA

According to Ancestry, Melissa and I are likely half 3rd cousins. That can be a good thing as that means that I am related to Melissa on her Clarke side only and not the Henderson side or Spratt side (assuming Thomas’s two wives were not related). My match of 22 cM fits in well with the expected relationship:

Shared DNA Matches with Melissa

I notice that two of the matches I have with Melissa have Lougheed in their ancestry. That name has come up a lot in my matches in the past. Here I started to look at shared DNA matches and put them into a spreadsheet:

At first I tried to look at whether the shared matches were shared with my siblings that tested at Ancestry (Heidi, Jon, Lori and Sharon). Then I looked at shared matches with DE who was the largest shared DNA match between myself and Melissa. I only looked at my own shared matches . with DE. This would take a long time to go through all the permutations, but I did come up with a lot of Lougheed or Loughead ancestors. This suggests to me that Thomas Clarke has a Loughead ancestor. This is actually helpful as that makes me think that my Spratt ancestor Jane who married Thomas Clarke may not have Loughead ancestors.

Mapping Clarke DNA

It has been difficult to map the Clarke DNA. That is because until now, my Clarke DNA matches have aslo been McMaster matches in earlier generations. This is what I have for myself at DNAPainter:

It would be helpful to map my match with Melissa also, but her match is at AncestryDNA and AncestryDNA does not show where the matches are o the Chromosome. If Melissa were to upload her results to Gedmatch, FTDNA or MyHeritage, I would be able to see where we match on the specific chromosomes.

More on the Genealogy

I feel no need to check on Melissa’s genealogy as we have a DNA match and the connection from her grandfather to our shared 2nd great grandfather seems clear. I have Melissa’s great-grandmother Susan as the eldest of the second wife of Thomas Clarke:

That means that my great-grandmother, Margaret Clarke would have been about 3 yeaers older than Susan Clarke. The 1911 Census turns out to be important for Susan Clarke:

This shows Melissa’s grandfather, Hubert bell with Hubert’s parents. Here are Susan and Henry’s memorial stone:

Here is where the Carrownanty Cemetery is outside of Ballymote:

Susan and the Clarke family was from near Collaney and my great-grandfather was from near Derry on the map be Lough Arrow. It is interesting that my great-grandparents apparently met in Boston. Here is Tonaponra where the Bell family was in 1911:

I find it interesting that Henry Bell has Tiraree on his memorial stone as that was not too far from Ballindoon where my Frazers were from:

I am guessing that these two places are about 4 miles apart.

Summary and Conclusions

  • I found what I believe to be my first DNA  match from the Clarke/Henderson Line
  • As Thomas Clarke married first Jane Spratt who died young and then Jane Henderson, any shared matches between Melissa and myself must be from the Clarke side only
  • Looking at the shared matches at Ancestry, makes it look like Thomas Clarke could have Lougheed or Loughead ancestry from County Sligo.
  • If Melissa uploads her AncestryDNA results to Gedmatch, MyHeritage or FTDNA, I will be able to see on which Chromosomes she matches with my siblings and myself and perhaps other DNA matches.
  • I have learned some more about another line of Clarkes which is always interesting.

 

 

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