I was checking MyHeritage DNA matches recently and found a match for my mother who had Gangnus ancestry. As this is an uncommon surname, I was quite sure that there must be a connection.
Gladys and Maiga
Here is the match between my late mom and Maiga from Germany:
Maiga also has matches between other surnames that are in my ancestry. Here is part of Maiga’s Tree at MyHeritage:
According to her tree, our common ancestors should be Philipp Julius Gustavus Gangnus and Anna Eva Muller. Here is part of my current Gangnus DNA/Genealogy Tree:
However, I am missing Maiga’s ancestor Johann Gangnus:
Next, I’ll check my Ancestry Tree to see if I already have Johann:
Here is where things get complicated. My Johann Jacob Gangnus was born 1777 from Philip Jacob Gangnus and Anna Eva NICLAS. Did Philipp JG Gangnus and Anna Eva MULLER also have a Johann born in 1777? My tree says they did:
I’m glad I didn’t jump to conclusions here. This Johann was born about 10 months earlier:
Now for some more complexity:
Maiga descends from Philipp Gangnus and Anna Eva Muller twice. Once by Johann and once by Jacobina M Gangnus. This was pretty normal for the German Colony of Hirschenhof in Latvia.
I also have Jacobina in my Ancestry Tree:
My next decision is whether I should accept Maiga’s tree as is or try to evaluate it.
A Quick Check on Maiga’s Genealogy
This will get Maiga into my tree at least. Here is some information on Maiga’s Line:
I am not sure how the Kaufmann name fits in. This is what the internet shows:
The German word Kaufmann is a masculine noun that translates to “merchant” or “businessman” in English. It can also refer to a trader, small shopkeeper, grocer, or someone with business or commerce qualifications.
This shows information from St. Peter on Maiga’s father and grandfather. Here is some more information on Gustav:
This links him to his father and mother. Here is where it gets complicated as both of Gustav’s parents had Gangnus ancestors:
Georg Philipp marries for a second time:
At this point, I would be happy to follow Maiga’s tree.
The DNA and DNA Painter
Here is the DNA match between Maiga and Gladys:
So far, I do not see any Gangnus DNA matcing on that part of Chromosome 3 for my mom:
Here is the new match:
This match gets my mom’s painted side up to 47% from 46%. Also, it shows a crossover apparently from the Rathfelder to the Gangnus side. Actually the crossover is between Rathfelder and Scwechheimer (I think):
I say that because this match is on my Rathfelder side, but on the Schwechheimer side of my Rathfelder side. Johann H Rathfelder born in 1846 also married a Gangnus. At any rate, that is quite a large hunk of DNA to be shared between Maiga and Gladys coming down all the way from the mid 1700’s.
By crossover, I mean that the red DNA match with Katja goes down the Rathfelder Line while the blue match with Maiga goes down the Schwechheimer side to Gangnus. Usually where there are two DNA matches on one’s profile and one stops and the other starts, that is an indication of a crossover in the DNA – that is, a crossover from paternal to maternal DNA or maternal to paternal DNA.
Updating the Gangnus DNA/Genealogy Tree
Here is my first shot:
Notice that I need two lines for Maiga. The problem is that some information is missing from Maiga’s tree.
I just realized that I have a book on the Gangnus family, so I can use that. Jacobina apparently led an interesting life. She married at age 17 and had 17 children. Unfortunately, not all the spouses of the children of Jacobina are listed in the Gustav book by Gustav Gangnus dated 2003. I do have the name of her husband who was Johann Gurg Gottlieb Spengel. Interestingly, a Google search for the word Hofspowsky returned nothing.
Here I finished the Gagnus DNA/Genealogy Tree but I put some color in the box that I had a question on:
This shows that there is one good connection to the Gangnus/Muller common ancestors. Then there is another likely connection to the same common ancestors.
From Ancestry
Here are my mother’s ThruLines (through Philipp Julius Gustavus Gangnus):
Donna is actually a much closer relative. Reinhold is on my three. It is likely that Tristan and Michael could also belong there. This may be something to look into in a future Blog.
Summary and Conclusions
- Maiga is an important match adding a significant piece of DNA to my mother’s DNA profile
- The DNA match between Maiga and my mother appears to describe the crossover in DNA between my mother’s great-grandparents of Johann Rathfelder and Rosine Schwechheimer.
- Maiga also has a very good tree. I could write to her to see if she has more information on the couple listed as private.
- The Gangnus family was a large and important German family living in the German Colony of Hirschenhof. Many of these Hirschenhof families moved later to Riga.