Quite a while back, I took a sample from my father’s cousin to get a better representative sample of Hartley DNA. I will look at Joyce’s custom clusters. In the past, I have built a Hartley/Bracewell Tree on the assumption that that could be the correct genealogy:
The tree looks promising in that it is large, but I have trouble proving the genealogy. The part that is proved is on the Burrows > Rasmussin Line:
This gets the common ancestors back to Hartley and Emmet. The common matches also filter out the large number of Snell relatives. Kristen has a good match to Joyce, so would be a good pick for custom clusters:
A Custom Cluster between Joyce and Kristen
There are 4 small clusters. The first cluster:
This has Kristen and Emily who have been identified, but also Jennifer who I have been unable to place. The next cluster:
Zachary and Rachael are related to Jennifer. They are niece and nephew. I do see from previous correspondence that Jennifer’s father was John Williams:
Jennifer’s father or grandfather could be the John B Williams born in 1906. Here is the family in 1906 in Fall River:
But perhaps that is the wrong family. This is John A. Here is John B. Williams in 1940:
This could be the same family if John Williams remarried. This is John Burroughs Williams in October, 1940:
Here is 291 Maple Street:
Earlier in the year, the family lived here:
I won’t clear up where Jennifer fits in, but it is clear it is part of the Williams’ family.
Here is the next Cluster:
Kristen is the match in common with the others. Ruth fits in on the Pilling family:
Mary was a single mother, so that means I do not know who the father of John Pilling was. Perhaps that adds some uncertainty to the Cluster. [Actually, it would not, as I do not desend from the unknown father of John Pilling.]
Here is the last cluster:
I guess that Emily down and to the right is a Pilling Cluster. That means that Sheryl up and to the left could be a Hartley Cluster. Interestingly, Sheryl’s match shows this:
In this Blog, I questioned the connetion shown above. That leaves me with confusing DNA and confusing genealogy.
Maurey and Kristen
Another of my father’s cousins has tested his DNA at Ancestry. I can try the same shared clusters with Kristen as I did for Joyce. This resulted in three clusters. I’ll skip to the third:
Derek and Ruth are on the Pilling Line. Jane and Catherine are related on the more recent Hartley/Snell Lines.
Summary and Conclusions
- Questions on Jennifer’s ancestry lead me to previous enquiries which revealed that Jennifer is the daughter of John Williams. However, is this the John born in 1906? There is some confusion on the genealogy in that line.
- I have questions on Hartley genealogy and DNA. How do the Pilling and
Emmet Lines fit in as well as Hartleys. - There are other lines in there that should fit in but cannot be placed.
- Overall, it is helpful to observe to observe the arrangement of families in the clusters. This may result in some fresh thinking on the problems in the genealogy.