Category: Genealogy

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Esther’s Newfoundland ThruLines at AncestryDNA

Esther is my wife’s 1/2 great Aunt and has Newfoundland Ancestry on both sides. AncestryDNA’s ThruLines takes DNA matches and matches those up with Ancestry Tree matches. Let’s take a look at Esther’s ThruLines to see what they show.

Esther’s Parents

Here are Esther’s Parents:

Here are the ThruLines for Fred Upshall:

These people are not related on the Shave side, so the relationships show correctly as half relationships. These people are my mother in law, Joan, her sister Elaine, my wife Marie and Marie’s niece Tina. These four should show up in Esther’s more distant Upshall side ThruLines.

Esther’s Grandparents

 

Very quickly, Esther is back to 1841 with her Upshall grandfather. I am more interested in the Upshall and Dicks side as that is the side where my wife and her mother are related.

Here are the Henry Upshall ThruLines:

On the right is Karen. I have written Blogs about her family. I put her great-grandmother Jessie as the daughter of Henry Upshall based on DNA evidence even though there was no genealogical evidence. This was a bit dicey, but based on the amount of DNA shared between Esther and Karen, it seems like the right thing to do. According to Ancestry DNA, that amount of shared DNA is most likely to be a 1st cousin, twice removed relationship:

Nicholas and Esther

How does Nicholas fit in? For one thing, 1st cousin four times removed goes right off the chart:

I would think that a 1st cousin four times removed would be similar to the 2nd cousin once removed. Either way, the chances of this being right are <1% according to AncestryDNA.

Nicholas’ Genealogy

Here is the expanded view of ThruLines:

One problem is that Nicholas’ parents and grandparents are shown as living, so I don’t have information on them. Nicholas’ tree is managed by Kara. She has Gladys Uppshall Knight as Nicholas’ maternal great-grandmother. From there, Stephanie’s tree kicks in with Theodore the father of Gladys.

Here is the 1935 Census for St John’s West:

The assumption is that this is the same Gladys in 1945:

Here is a replacement birth record for Malcolm:

This shows that Malcolm’s mother was a Shave. That makes it more surprising that Esther and Nicholas don’t have more matching DNA as Esther’s mother was a Shave.

Here is another after the fact record for Malcolm’s brother:

This could be William in the 1945 Census living next to his brother:

Was Alexander the Son of Henry Upshall?

I have it that way on my Ancestry Tree, but not on my Upshall Web Page. I don’t see any genealogical evidence that would put Alexander as the son of Henry Upshall. It is that way in some on-line Trees. Based on the low amount of DNA match and the shaky genealogical evidence, I would call into question this particular ThruLine at this time.

Esther’s Upshall Great-Grandparents

Here, things get more interesting as there is no known genealogical evidence for Esther’s great-grandparents. These ancestors are a best guess scenario. Here are the ThruLines for best-guess Peter Upshall:

At first look, it seems as though there are a lot of different DNA matches for these likely children of Peter Upshall.

George Upshall Branch 1829

Here, note that Pat, like Nicholas has Shave and Upshall in her ancestry. I note she also has Burton which Eshter has, so perhaps other names also. 280 cM is a huge match for a 2nd cousin twice removed:

Ancestry says that Pat and Esther look like 2nd cousins. However, that is assuming that they are not related on other lines which they are.  For comparison, I had mentioned above that Nicholas’ match to Esther should have been equivalent to a 2nd cousin once removed. Another thing I’d like to do is to see if these people have shared matches with each other. I note that Nicholas does not have a shared match with Pat. That means that he shares less than 20 cM with Pat.

Checking with Joan and Elaine

One way to check these matches is by Joan and Elaine. They are Esther’s half nieces. That means that they match on the Upshall side and not the Shave side. Here is what Joan shows:

Now the DNA matches are quite a bit different. When I look at the numbers for Joan and her sister Elaine, I get this for the proposed George Upshall Branch:

Sarah Upshall Branch 1831

Here Esther has 10 DNA matches on the Sarah Upshall Collett Branch:

Here are the results for Eshter, Joan and Elaine:

  • I added in a Maximum % column, so we could see what the highest likelihood is for the DNA match
  • Green indicates that the DNA matches got that highest mark
  • This seems to indicate that Esther does not match this Sarah Upshall Collett on other lines.
  • None of the numbers seem unreasonable. The <1% can be explained by matching on many other lines and getting too high of a match.
  • Joan and Elaine match Sarah and Esther doesn’t. That means that Florence (who is Joan and Elaine’s mother) got DNA that her sister Esther did not.
  • Esther went off the chart with the 2nd cousin 4 times removed category.
  • To do this right, I would need to check all the genealogy. I didn’t. The genealogy is likely good up to the children of Peter and Margaret Upshall and then missing.
  • All these numbers seem to confirm that the trees are likely trees.

Jane Upshall Branch

Jane appears to be well documented by DNA. Esther has 14 matches to Jane’s descendants along the Tulk Line. I have noted close matches to Tulk in the past, so this may explain those DNA matches.

Jane also has a rare Upshall birth record:

However, I find it odd that she was born in November and baptized in September. Perhaps she was born in 1838. I assume that there was only one Peter and Margaret Upshall at the time. Burin was about 90 miles away from Harbour Buffett, so I assume there was a travelling minister who performed these baptisms on 29 September 1839. I have that Jane was born in Burin which is not accurate. She was born in Garnish Gut according to this record. I’m not sure where Garnish Gut is, but I assume that it is part of or near Harbour Buffett.

An additional confusing point is that Peter was the father of Christopher Upshall also in 1833:

This means that Peter may have had a first wife Mary or the transcription may have been off. Christopher doesn’t show up on the ThruLines. I don’t see many trees for Christopher. Here is one:

This person shows Margaret as the mother and the birth at Famish Gut which perhaps makes more sense. Perhaps there were few descendants on this line.

So far the matches for the descendants of the three potential children of Peter and Margaret Upshall looks like this:

The evidence looks pretty good. I added Karen from the more recent Henry Upshall Line to show how good her numbers were.

Susan Upshall Born 1848

This Line is a little more confusing:

Roy’s grandmother is Margaret Collett. That begs the question of Elizabeth Webber. Shouldn’t she be a Collett also? Here is some information from http://www.collettfamilyhistory.net/Part-32-The-Newfoundland-Line-Rev.12.htm:

The same web page has this on Elizabeth:

According to this information, Elizabeth Webber is really Elizabeth Collett.

Here is the last of Esther’s ThruLines at this level:

This was a bit of an annoying exercise, but it does seem to verify the trees for the descendants. However, I have not tried to disprove the theory. That would take a bit of work. I do recognize interfering influences of the DNA matches through intermarriage.  I showed some of those effects by comparing Esther’s matches to her half nieces Joan and Elaine. The main interferences could be other relationships with the Dicks, Shave and Burton families. The other thing I didn’t do was to check the genealogy of each line. This would take a while to do. The last confirmation would be to check to see if each of these matches match each other. The best way to do that is with Genetic Affairs’ AutoClusters.

Esther and AutoClusters

Here is a ‘basic’ AutoCluster I ran for Esther.

Esther has all Newfoundland ancestry, so almost all her clusters match other clusters. This AutoCluster ran January 9, 2019 between the match levels of 50 and 250 cM. I checked my Chart above to see which clusters the matches were in:

It turns out that the Jane Upshall Tulk Line were all in Cluster 14. In the other Lines, there was not enough information or the matches were outside the range. However, the other two Clusters found were 8 and 11.

This means that while Esther is matching Cluster 14 by Peter and Margaret Upshall, all the 10 in my Chart are matching each other by Jane Upshall and her Tulk husband.

Esther’s ThruLines With Christopher Dicks Born 1812

Christopher was married to Elizabeth. My best guess is that she was Elizabeth Crann. Esther has 12 new DNA matches on the Christopher Dicks Line. These matches could have gotten their DNA from Christopher Dicks or from his wife Elizabeth or both.

The matches under Catherine Dicks have already been looked at. Compare this with the Gedmatch Tree I have been working on for the Dicks Family:

ThruLines has a David Branch that I don’t have and I have a Christopher Branch that Thrulines doesn’t have.

The David Dicks Branch

Here is a partial opening of that Branch:

One interesting thing here is that Frances is also related to Esther through the Jane Upshall Tulk Line:

That is because Caroline Dicks married Edwin Kingwell Tulk according to the trees at Ancestry.

Cathy in the David Dicks Branch

Here is how ThruLines shows Cathy:

I had Cathy in a different Branch. However, if the ThruLines are right and I am right, she could be in two Dicks Branches of Frances Dicks Burton and Christopher Dicks:

Here is a summary of the David Dicks Branch:

It seems like everything checks out OK. Esther was matching too high to Newf due to matches on Esther’s maternal side. Joan isn’t related to Esther on Esther’s maternal side, so that took the extra DNA out of the equation. I skipped checking Joan’s sister Elaine’s results to save time. Joan matched one person David, who didn’t match Esther.

Going Up One Generation to Christopher Dicks Born about 1784

The Dicks family was huge and then spread out from there.

Here are nine children of Christopher who have matching DNA with Esther:

  1. John Michael – before 1808 – I haven’t been following this Branch. Has some Joseph’s in this Branch
  2. Elizabeth – 1809 – Married Thomas Adams
  3. Joseph – born 1810
  4. Frances born 1811 – Married Charles Burton
  5. Christopher Born 1812 – covered in previous section
  6. Rachel born 1817 – married James Joyce
  7. James Dicks born 1830 – also has a Joseph Dicks son. I haven’t been following this Branch either.
  8. George born 1832
  9. Robert born 1824 – so should be above

I trace six children in my Dicks Gedmatch DNA project. I didn’t have John Michael, James or Joseph. Altogether, there are 77 DNA matches represented in these 8 proposed children. That would be too many matches to check for this Blog.

Joseph Dicks

Although I don’t have Joseph Dicks on my Dicks DNA Chart, I have that Esther descends from Joseph Dicks on her maternal side:

I have Joseph Dicks born at Famish Gut in 1810 to Christopher and Margaret. However, this does not appear on Esther’s ThruLines or on my own Dicks DNA Chart.

I’ll look at the genealogy behind the John Michael and James DIcks Branches as I am unfamiliar with them.

John Michael Dicks Born 1808

The ThruLines Profile for John Michael shows this:

This information is a bit sparse. It shows that John Michael would have been over 105 years old when he died.

In a previous Blog I note this Joseph:

My thought was that this was a more likely ancestor for Esther.

Joseph Dicks and Violet

After changing Esther’s Jane Ann Line, I noticed that ThruLines did have a Joseph Dicks Branch with one large match:

However, this follows from the way I had Esther’s tree. Violet has a huge match with Esther at 359 cM. Here is a much closer relationship between Violet and Esther at 2nd cousin:

My mother-in-law, Joan also has a good match with Violet:

Violet’s Tree

Now I’m suspicious that Tulk may be related to Upshall.

Upshall of Dorset ThruLines

Newfoundland is too complicated with the intermarriages and lost records. Lets go back to Dorset, England:

My current thinking is that Peter Upshall born in 1800 in Dorset was the daughter of Sarah Upshall. Sarah is shown here with three of her siblings. This Dorset, England ThruLines appears to confirm that Sarah was the sister of Joseph, George and Charles who shows a Private above. This is a chance to find out what my wife’s Upshall relatives have been up to since 1737. Judy above is probably in Australia. Margaret’s paternal grandmother was born in England and died in Rhode Island.

The Charles Upshall Branch

Ross and Peter’s parents were both from Dorset, England.

Here is one of the trees I had been working with:

For some reason I am missing the Jane Upshall/Tulk Branch. I also need to go up two levels to John Upshall.

I had previously added an additional sibling Ann Upshall due to a match with my wife’s Aunt Elaine. Due to the fact that none of Peter’s Aunts or Uncles did not live in Newfoundland, my guess is that the DNA matches represent John and Elisabeth Upshall.

Here are some potential siblings to Sarah Upshall that I took from an online Ancestry Upshall Tree:

After quite a bit of typing, I get this:

This is a small version of the Upshall DNA match tree. I didn’t add in Ann Upshall or many of the Newfoundland Upshalls.

Shared DNA Matches

When I check how Judy on the bottom left of the chart above matches Esther, I get these shared DNA matches:

Many of these shared matches are with descendants of Newfoundland Upshalls.

Elaine and Joan’s Hazelbury Bryan Thrulines

One of Elaine’s Hazelbury Bryan Thrulines is with Peter on the Charles Upshall Branch shown above. The other is with Hazel on the Joseph Branch.

It looks like Hazel’s Branch stayed in England while Judy’s branch went to Australia:

Joan also has a ThruLines match with Hazel.

More of Esther’s English Upshall Shared DNA Matches

Elaine and Margaret from the George Upshall Branch have a shared DNA match named Trenton. Trenton has a good sized tree:

Trenton’s father’s mother’s father was Peter Upshall Boutcher. This sounds suspicious. There must be an Upshall in Peter’s ancestry. The Collett Genealogy that I referred to above is very helpful:

Here is one relationship that ThruLines didn’t figure out, but it helped in conjunction with Shared DNA Matches:

Putting the Upshall’s Together

Here I added a representative person from the Upshall/Tulk Branch:

Based on the ThruLines there are over 10 matches each on the Sarah Upshall Collett and Jane Upshall Tulk Branches. So the above tree is just a skeleton.

One Last Shared Match Between Esther and Judy

I don’t want to leave too much low hanging fruit. AU is a shared match with Dorset descendant Judy and Esther. Here is his three person tree and his DNA match:

AU and Esther have a DNA match of 69 cM. Here is Jacob in 1935 in Harbour Buffett:

Edward and Martha married in 1916:

Unfortunately, I soon got stuck at the level of Edward Upshall:

Summary and Conclusions

  • Going Through many of Esther’s ThruLines was a large undertaking. I may have been better off just looking at the Upshall ThruLines.
  • It was helpful have two of Esther’s 1/2 Nieces to compare the results. This is because Esther matches on many intermarried lines and Joan and Elaine only match on Esther’s paternal side.
  • Esther’s ThruLines complemented and expanded upon the previous DNA work I have done on the Upshall and Dicks Families.
  • I compared Esther’s Upshall ThruLines with her AutoCluster results. The Jane Upshall/Tulk Line showed clearly in one of Esther’s Clusters.
  • I brought Esther’s ThruLines back to John Upshall born 1737 in Dorset, England and his wife Elisabeth Ellis. To me, the results clearly show that Esther descends through John Upshall and his daughter Sarah Upshall to Peter Upshall who was an early settler in Newfoundland in the Harbour Buffett area.
  • I was a little surprised that Esther had four DNA matches going back to a common ancestor who was born in 1737
  • ThruLines work well with Shared DNA Matches. I was able to find at least one new Upshall Line using Shared Matches to ThruLine Matches.
  • In the future, I would like to concentrate more on the Upshall Branches and build them out in my Excel spreadsheet.
  • It may be helpful to also check to see how many Upshall descendants have their DNA at Gedmatch, FTDNA and MyHeritage. This would allow for more detailed DNA analysis.
  • ThruLines are able to put together many trees and DNA matches in order to see a possible big picture solution to some genealogical problems.

 

 

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Some Upshall and Hollett Genealogy

I recently had this request from Shirley:

My Mother was Lillian Florence May Hollett who was born in Montreal, but her father was Samuel Hollett from Spensers Cove Placentia Bay NL.
My father was Cecil Llewelyn Upshall, born in Harbour Buffett NL.
Can you give me any information on either of those backgrounds?

This could be the couple in 1945:

Cecil was born in Placentia and Lillie in Canada according to this Census. Here is Grand Falls where the couple were in 1945:

The 1921 Census

This gives some more information. Cecil’s parents were Isaac and Rebecca. Cecil’s grandmother was Lizzie Hann from Harbour Buffett. Here is the marriage record for Isaac and Rebecca:

Isaac was a fisherman. Both Isaac and Rebecca were living in Harbour Buffet at the time of their marriage. Before this, the genealogy gets a little shaky:

Martha shows that Isaac’s parents were Peter and Hannah. Martha has this further information:

Martha has Peter dying in Kingwell:

Here is the tree I have for my wife:

My wife’s ancestor Henry Upshall was born around 1841. Perhaps Peter was a brother or other relative to Henry.

Shirley’s Hollett Side

So far Shirley’s tree looks like this:

Here is the marriage record for Samuel and May:

This couple married in a Methodist Church in Montreal. Samuel was a carpenter and his parents were John and Susan Butcher. It appears that Samuel was born at Sound Island in 1860.

This is not too far from Spencers Cove.

 

Records have his death at Botwood:

Botwood is to the Northeast of Grand Falls. Samuel is listed as 84 years old in 1944. The number next to the cause of death is for something else. He shows as being born in Burin. This record for another Hollett birth appears to tie things together:

This shows that Sound Island was in the District and Parish of Burin. I was not aware of this connection previously:

Sound Island and Burin appear to be about 100 miles away from each other.  It is a good thing that the Holletts were Methodists as those records appear to have survived better than some of the other records.

Here is the tree that I have for Shirley:

Due to missing records, it may be helpful for Shirley to take a DNA test. This could help to solidify existing connections and perhaps suggest some new connections.

 

 

 

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A Look at Kathy’s Frazer ThruLines

In this Blog, I’d like to look at Kathy’s ThruLines. Kathy is in the Frazer DNA project. Actually I’ll be looking at her mom’s and her Aunt’s ThruLines. Here is a combined DNA/genealogy tree:

Kathy is in the 4th row. Kathy is in the James Line of the Frazer Project. James is one level above that which is shown above.

Kathy’s Mom Charlotte

Here is Charlotte’s ThruLine based on her great-grandfather Edward Wynn Frazer:

Charlotte has four DNA matches shown below her mother, but those matches would be with close relatives such as daughter, niece, nephew and sister. It would have been nice if there were a first cousin match – someone descending from Minnie Frazer. That way we could walk the DNA matches up. Sort of like a chain of evidence.

Edward Wynn Frazer

On the Edward Wynn Frazer, Charlotte matches WG:

Charlotte has a match with WG, but not a great one. I’ll start a table for Charlotte:

The <1% is not very good. According to AncestryDNA 2nd cousins once removed share 19 cM less than one percent of the time.  This is likely a red flag issue. In my Blog for Joanna, she also had a <1% match with a 2nd cousin once removed. This would make me want to check WG’s tree. However, his mother is private. I would have to check the tree starting at WG’s maternal grandfather who is listed as William Archibald Frazer. Here is William A in Poughkeepsie in 1910 at age 5:

Here is Poughkeepsie:

I’ll assume that WG has his grandfather correct in his tree. In 1920, William’s father decided that his parents were really born in Scotland and England:

A clue is that the oldest daughter is Mena, transcribed as Ismerie in the 1920 Census.

On to Edward Frazer Born About 1870

This looks to be Edward’s grave stone:

A child Phibbs may be another hint. Here is some more information from Find A Grave:

A father is missing for Edward and his son William A Frazer is missing for some reason.

Here is Edward in 1900:

He is naturalized, arrived in 1886, and married in 1897. Here we have a differnet rendition of their first daughter Ismena. This matches with the Ismena Jane White Frazer from Find A Grave.

Here is a possible birth record for Edward:

Many trees for Edward have him born in County Leitrim, Ireland including Kathy’s Tree. Here is another record for Edward in Ballina:

Here is Edward’s marriage record from St. Paul’s in Poughkeepsie:

Here are the parents:

Unfortunately, Edward was transcribed as a Frager in the Ancestry records.

It seems like all roads lead to Edward and Ismena Frazer. Here is Kathy’s tree for Charlotte’s mother:

 

A Quick Look at Minnie (Mary) Frazer Born 1865

The goal here is to match up Minnie with Edward. Here is Minnie in 1900 in Stonington, CT:

According to this record, Minnie was born in Ireland in November 1865. She came to the us in 1888. She married about 1895 and had two children in Rhode Island. Then they moved to Stonington, CT. Stonington is just over the line from Rhode Island:

On the next page of the Census we see that Minnie’s mother Emma J. Frazier was also living with them. She was born February 1838 and came to the US in 1893. She had six children and five were still living. It looks like she had been married for 37 years. The census says her husband was still alive. That means that Emma married in 1863 if I’m reading the Census correctly.

That means that this record is a good match:

Emma  or Ismena J Frazer Born February 1838

Here is Ismenia J Frazer in 1910 in Stonington, CT living with Minnie:

Here is a 1915 NY Census for 202 South Ave, Poughkeepsie:

Here is an Ismenia Frazer who is staying with the Cline family in Poughkeepsie. She is from Ireland and has been in the US since 1889. Perhaps this is the connection? At 75, she would have been born in 1840. The problem is that I don’t recognize the other people in the house. If she is living in Poughkeepsie, why wasn’t she staying with her son Edward A Frazer?

Edward Frazer was living at Linwood Ave, Poughkeepsie in 1920:

That is very close to 202 South Avenue. This shows to me a connection between Edward’s family of Poughkeepsie, NY and Minnie’s family of Stonington, CT. It doesn’t prove that Ismenia was the parents of Both Edward and Minnie, but it suggests that she was.

Bringing Charlotte Up the Frazer Tree to Archibald Born 1792

Quite quickly, Charlotte is back to the 1700’s with her 2nd great grandfather Archibald Frazer:

With Charlotte’s connection to Edward Wynne Frazer through her cousin WG, the DNA looked sketchy. There was less than 1% chance that the DNA match could be accurate. However, going up one level, Charlotte has many more matches to descendants of Edward Wynne Frazer’s two brothers William Fitzgerald and Thomas Henry.

Charlotte and the William Fitzgerald Branch

William Fitzgerald was the older brother, so we’ll start with him:

I was just looking at a grave marker for William Fitzgerald:

This William was a busy man and made his way from Ireland to Sacramento, CA. Here are the DNA results on the Whitten Branch:

I would be interested to see how WG matches MP and Pamela, but I don’t have access to those results. Somehow, the DNA perked back up in a further out generation.

Charlotte and the Thomas Henry Branch

I like how this branch has DNA matches on three different sons of Thomas Henry Frazer. I get confused sometimes because as I understand it, William Sarsfield was originally William Fitzgerald and he decided to change his name. I’m getting lazy now and not checking the genealogy.

Here is the summary I have:

I’ll add these matches to my Chart:

The orange-colored matches are in Ancestry but haven’t uploaded their DNA results to Gedmatch for comparison. The green line is a family that I’m not quite sure where they belong on the chart. In my DNA chart, Gail has the highest match to Charlotte by far. In fact, the top 40% mentioned would have her at 2nd cousin once removed. That means she matches more than is likely rather than less.

Up One Level to Archibald Frazer Born 1751

Charlotte has only one match here, but it is on an interesting Branch. That is the Edward Frazer Branch. I have to be careful, as I think I accepted the wrong genealogy last time. On Joanna’s matching branch there was a line with an Edward Wynn Frazer who died as a bachelor. Obviously, if you have an ancestor with no children, you have a problem. However, I didn’t see Edward Wynn Frazer in this tree:

This tree is stitched together, but I am assuming that it is correct. It appears that the Private 3rd cousin 1x removed was our famous Frazer cousin Maureen O’Sullivan:

That gives another person on Prudence’s lonely line on the right below:

This match that Charlotte has with Brittney is also a little larger than expected. AncestryDNA uses a cutoff of 20 cM for a fourth cousin and Britney is a fourth cousin, once removed to Charlotte.

Next Level: To the Top of the James Line

This next level will bring Charlotte over to the Michael Frazer Line. He was the brother of the Archibald we just looked at.

Charlotte has 3 matches on the Michael Frazer Line and 14 on the Archibald Line. If it were the other way around, we might wonder if Charlotte really belonged in the Michael Line. However, having said that, there are about three times as many DNA-tested descendants on the Archibald side compared to the Michael side.

Here are Charlotte’s three matches:

It is sort of like two matches because two matches are parent and child.

Charlotte gets her first perfect scores with BV and Bonnie with a 33 out of 33%. A few notes:

  • Charlotte matches Cheryl at a slightly level than her mother BV. This happens sometimes and is normal.
  • Charlotte only gets a score of 5% for her match with SH but gets a 32% with her sibling Gail. I will assume that these two are full siblings. This shows the variation that is possible in DNA.
  • We can’t say that Charlotte is not a 2nd cousin once removed to WG at 19 cM. There are reported values of 0-316 cM and a typical value is 123cM. However, the relationship comes under more scrutiny at this level.
  • Overall, I would say that Charlotte’s matches make sense. It looks like once you get to the 5th cousin level, if you have any sort of a match under 20 cM, Ancestry says that it is pretty good.

Kathy’s Aunt Madeline

Next we’ll look at Kathy’s mother’s sister Madeline to see how the numbers compare. As Madeline is a sister of Charlotte, I would expect many of the same results. Like Charlotte, Madeline has no ThruLines for her grandmother Minnie Frazer and one for her great-grandfather Edward Wynn Frazer. However, the match is smaller than Charlotte had:

I also added in Madeline’s other matches while I was at it.

I’m beginning to see how AncestryDNA does it’s top percentages. Gail, with a 97 cM gets a top match percentage of 40. As I recall, that top 40% was if Charlotte and Gail were 2nd cousins once removed. That means with a larger match there is more certainty. When Ancestry’s top percentage is at 27%, the match levels are just above 20 cM. Ancestry uses 20 cM as the threshold for a 4th cousin. However, the results just above 20 are somewhat ambiguous. Below the 20%, Ancesty is more sure that the results will be in the 5th cousin range, so the top percentage goes up a bit to 33%.

Here is the same chart sorted by relationship:

  • The problem match is at the top. It would be good to have more 2nd cousin matches to compare.
  • There are not many 4th cousin matches, but that is a result of the genealogy. It appears that there aren’t as many people in that Edward Frazer Line – at least not many that have had their DNA tested.
  • In general the likelihood of the matches representing the relationship go from low to high as the relationships get further out. The one exception is Charlotte’s match with Gail. I take that to be unusual based on the other matches and with Gail’s match with Charlotte’s sister Madeline.

Summary and Conclusions

  • Like Joanna’s Thrulines, Kathy’s mom and Aunt had a match with a 2nd cousin once removed that had a very low probability of <1%.
  • I took a quick look at some of the genealogy between Kathy’s descent from Edward Wynne Frazer and her low probability match’s descent from Edward Wynne Frazer. I found a connection between them and the wife of Edward Wynne Frazer who was Ismenia or Ismena [Jane?] Whtie Frazer. She appears to visit her daughter on Kathy’s side in Stonington, CT and her son on the DNA match’s side in Poughkeepsie, NY.
  • Kathy’s mom and Aunt had a lot of DNA matches in the 3rd cousin range.
  • Kathy’s mom and Aunt had an interesting match with a granddaughter of Maureen O’Sullivan at the 4th cousin level
  • I am still gaining experience with the ThruLines. I have noted a general rise in probability of matching from the 3rd to 5th cousin levels. At least in these James Frazer Lines so far.
  • I expanded my James Frazer DNA Chart to include those matches on ThruLines. This fills in a lot of the blanks.
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A Tale of Four Irish McMaster Sisters (and More)

In my previous Blog I set out to try to show that Margaret Frazer, wife of William McMaster from County Sligo was the daughter of Michael Frazer. In the process, I came upon a lot of genealogy for the four daughters of William and Margaret. My idea was to put this information into a narrative to work out some of the bugs in my genealogical tree and in others’.

A Tale of Four McMaster Sisters

I have done some research and now have a better idea of what was going on with this family.

William McMaster probably from Kilmactranny Parish married Margaret Frazer probably from North County Roscommon in 1813. I have information on four of their daughters, though they may have had other children. Those daughters were Jane (born 1816), Mary Ann or Marrianne (born 1820), Catherine Frazer (born 1827) and my 3rd great-grandmother Fanny McMaster (born 1829). These four sisters were probably born in Kilmactranny Parish, County Sligo. The older three sisters traveled to Canada and beyond and the youngest stayed in Kilmactranny.

Jane McMaster (1816 – 1893)

Jane’s younger sister Catherine gave testimony concerning a pension for Jane based on the death of Jane’s son George in the US Civil War:

That claimant and deponent are sisters and lived in County of Sligo, Ireland under the same roof, until the claimant above named was married. Deponent says though she was not present at claimants marriage with GEORGE MCMASTERS , yet they came back to my father’s house a day or two after as man and wife and that they lived in the neighborhood as man and wife until he died. That they were married by a minister named Scott. That the date of claimant’s marriage was August 25th, 1839. That deponent was present when George McMaster late of Co. B, 8th NY Heavy Artillery was born on the 22 day of May 1847 in York County, Province of Canada and parents were then both living and living together. The name of his mother was Jane McMaster and his father’s name George McMaster.

My records show that Jane had the following three first children in County Sligo:

They were said to be born in Dramore or Dramora, but I believe that Dromore may be the correct name:

Land records tie some of the McMasters to Dromore.

Kilmactranny Parish vital records are missing between about 1830 and 1840, but I have this one:

I don’t know where Burwich is or if it exists. I’m not sure where the reference comes from. Jane has two more children, Annie Wilmena and George Arthur, then her husband dies – presumably in Vaughan, Ontario.

Jane re-marries a carpenter who was also born in Ireland. Here is the 1851 Census which is a bit confusing:

These are Jane’s children from her first husband. Thomas and William are shown as 11 and 8 and born in Ireland. Thomas would be about the age that I have for James McMaster. William I mention above. Catherine and George are shown as 7 and 4 and born in Canada. Catherine is the age I would have for Annie Wilmena McMaster. William Thompson and Jane have a daughter Wilmena, so the Wilmena I have three images above may be wrong. George is the one that dies in the US Civil War. I have that Jane’s mother dies in 1853 though I don’t have that documented. [More about Jane’s mother Margaret later.]

The Trip from Ireland to Canada – 1844?

Assuming that the 1851 Census is correct and that these children belong to Jane, then we can place Jane’s move from Ireland to Canada quite precisely between the birth of William and Catherine. William was baptized 18 August 1843. That means the ocean voyage took place between then and when Catherine was born probably no later than 1845.

The Rest of the Story for Jane McMaster

It is unclear why George, a Canadian, fought and died in the US Civil War. Jane and family move to nearby Tecumseth. Here is the 1871 Census:

As William and Jane married in 1851, I assume that these were the four children of this couple.

This is Jane in 1881 in Tecumseth:

 

I can now read that Jane’s youngest son is Fraser A. Susan E Bates is listed as a servant. She looks suspiciously like Susan E Thompson from 1871.

In 1890, Jane was in Milwaukee applying for a Civil War pension with the help of her sister Catherine,

Here is Jane in a photo taken in Janesville, Wisconsin:

Janesville is about 60 miles WSW of Milwaukee. Jane is in the middle.

Here is the death record for Jane in the Costa County records. Under remarks, it says Antioch, so that may be where she died of pneumonia:

Jane is buried in Antioch, California with her sister Mary A. Shannon:

At the end of her life, Jane re-connected with her two American sisters, Catherine and Mary Ann. She likely visited her brother also who lived in Janesville, WI where her photo was taken.

Postscript on Jane

Much more could be said about Jane. However, I am checking the DNA also. I see my sister Heidi has an AncestryDNA ‘ThruLine’ with Jane here:

The match is with Joseph who is managed by KAH. I must say that KAH’s tree is in much better shape than mine. Joseph connects with my family through Mary Etta Jane “May” Thompson. The following is from KAH’s tree and profile on “May”:

We see that this family was in Janesville so perhaps May is one of the other two women in the photo of Jane. I used KAH’s Thompson children for Jane, now I have a better line-up of Jane’s nine children:

I see that Jane remembered her Frazer heritage through the name of her last child.

Maryann McMaster (1820-1893)

I have been following Maryann for a while. I have a good match with BV who descends from Maryann and wrote to Cheryl who manages a tree for BV and Maryann. Here is my DNA match with BV:

I have this record from the Kilmactranny Parish Church:

Marrianne daughter of William and Margeret McMaster

Born                                  Bapt. Jan 09, 1820

Cheryl has this great photo of Maryann:

I’m not seeing a huge resemblance between Maryann and Jane. Perhaps someone else will. However, these two died about two weeks apart and share a grave marker as seen above.

Unlike her older sister Jane, Maryann came to Canada as a single woman. I don’t know if these sisters came to Canada together, separately or in combinations. I assume that Maryann was in Kilmactranny Parish at the time of her sister Jane’s marriage and would have been about 19. If Maryann joined Jane in her trip to Canada that would have been about 1844 and Maryann would have been 24.

Maryann’s Years Between 1827 and 1864

Maryann was in Canada about 20 years or so. She married Thomas Shannon in the Wesleyan Church in 1849:

James McMaster and Maryann’s recent brother-in-law William Little were witnesses.

Here is Thomas Shannon, again, thanks to Cheryl:

Here is the family in 1852:

Thomas was 35, Mary Anne says she is 29 and John, an apparent relative of Mary Anne is 11. 25-year-old Isabella is also on the next page as well as some Shannon’s:

I don’t know who these extra McMaster’s were, but it was nice of Thomas and Mary Ann to have them.

Mary Ann was on Page 177 of the Census for Vaughan. Jane was on Page 183 of the same Census. Here is Vaughan – outside of Toronto.

 

Next, I have said that Mary Ann’s mother Margaret died. However, I don’t know the actual date. I don’t see her in the 1861 Census.

Some information is missing for this family at this time. It appears that this family had two children, William and Elizabeth, 14 or 15 years after they first married. Mary Ann would have been in her mid forties at this time.

Mary Ann from 1870 to 1893

The family made its way from Canada to Contra Costa County, California:

The family appears to go missing from the Census again in 1880. Thomas dies in 1880:

This looks like it could be the same marker that marks Mary Ann and her sister’s Jane’s daughters. Again, I don’t see a death record for Mary Ann. It seems ironic that I found one for her sister Jane who was apparently just visiting but not for Mary Ann.

Elizabeth Frances Shannon

As if to offset all the mystery in Mary Ann’s genealogy, I still have a large DNA match with BV. BV is the granddaughter of Elizabeth, so she got about 1/4 of her DNA from Elizabeth.

Cheryl shows that Elizabeth married while her mother was still alive:

The 1900 Census shows that Elizabeth entered the US in 1865. She would only have been one year old then.

Catherine Frazer McMaster (1827-1917)

Catherine was born 7 years after Mary Ann and lived the longest of the three sisters. I was spoiled by photographs of Jane and Mary Ann, but don’t see any readily available of Catherine.

1827 – 1852

Catherine’s early life was similar to Mary Ann’s. Catherine’s sister Jane married in 1839 when Catherine was 12. Catherine gives testimony to living under the same roof as her sister Jane and recollects the day that Jane married George McMaster as well as some other events in Jane’s life.

Note that Catherine arrived in Canada in 1844. This is from the 1900 Census and matches the date I had guessed that Jane came to Canada from Ireland. Jane’s date was based on the births of two of her children. That lends credence to the idea that the three sisters and perhaps at least the mother arrived in Canada at the same time.

An Extra Confusing Marriage for Catherine

The above timeline shows that Catherine married Henry DeWitt Clinton Bennet at the end of 28 December 1850. Then what about this record?

This shows Catherine marrying William Little in November 1848. Thomas Shannon who is to become Mary Ann’s husband in 1849 is a witness as well as James McMaster. Then, to complete the symmetry, William Little and James McMaster are witnesses for Mary Ann’s marriage four months later in March 1849:

Both of these weddings take place at the Wesleyan Church in the Home District. That would lead me to believe that these are the sisters: Catherine and Mary Ann. The main possibilities seem to be that 1. William died not long after the marriage or 2. This is the wrong Catherine (not as likely).

The Bennett Family

Whatever happened in 1848, there is a less documented marriage between Catherine and Henry Bennett in 1850. Here is some information for a Sons of the Revolution application from 1956:

This says that the couple wed in Hamilton.

Here is the young family in 1852 in Burford, Ontario:

Catherine’s husband Henry is listed as a miller. Here is some more information from the 1851 Census:

It looks like Catherine has extra McMaster’s, including probably her mother Margaret Frazer McMaster. I would assume that she arrived in Canada also in 1844. Catherine gets extra points for housing relatives.

Further down on the page:

Perhaps this is the witness at the two weddings above. He is a cooper from Ireland married to Elizabeth from Canada and living with two people from England.

This is probably James’ marriage in 1851:

This looks to be James in Janesville in 1870:

The plot thickens. With any luck, Margaret could be his mother, Margaret Frazer McMaster. Until recently, I never knew Margaret left Ireland. Now she seems to be popping up in Canada and Janesville, Wisconsin. I shouldn’t have written Margaret off so quickly.

Refresher: May Lowry, daughter of Jane McMaster lived in Janesville in the 1870’s. Here’s Janesville:

Quite a trip from Burford, Ontario.

A Side Trip with James A McMaster

I need a place to put all this information, so I can create a tree for James or assume that he is a long-lost brother. I’ll go with the long-lost brother and add him to my tree for now. I’ll say he was born in 1832 as that was during the time when entries were not made into the Kilmactranny Parish Register. Here it is, written in stone:

 

This is from the Find A Grave Index:

This puts James Archibald in the right Parish, but doesn’t prove his parents.

Next, I’m interested in seeing what the 1900 Census says about his immigration. It says that his year of immigration was 1845. That fits in with what I had for Jane and Catherine. Catherine had 1844, but these dates can be off by several years. That means that he could have come over with the three McMaster sisters and his proposed mother Margaret. Here is Wayne Township where James was in 1900:

The family moved West from Janesville.

Backing up in time a bit, here is James and family in 1860 in St. Claire, Michigan:

I wonder where the mother, Margaret McMaster was in 1860? James likely named his first two children for his parents: William McMaster and Margaret Frazer. The McMaster family were just over the border in the United States:

I’m jumping a bit, but here is the family business in Janesville in 1876:

A Survey of Ancestry Trees for James McMaster

Many trees had Margaret as a mother for James. No one had a guess for James’ father. Two trees had Margaret Frasier as James’ mother which I think is brilliant. There must be a clue somewhere unless this is from oral tradition in their family. One tree had this information:

Some McMasters were from Cuilnagleragh, but I don’t know how they could know that. All this tends to support my theory that James is a brother to the four McMaster sisters.  Assuming his 1822 birth is correct, he would help fill in a gap between McMaster births between 1820 and 1827.

I can come back to James later, but the evidence seems to support James being a son of William McMaster and Margaret McMaster.

More on Margaret McMaster Born About 1789

I did some searching and came up with this record:

I think the ‘has bio?’ refers to the one who took the photo. I feel like this must be Margaret:

If Margaret was 82 in March 1872, she could have been born in 1789. Here’s another listing giving the plot address:

It looks like a substantial marker; however, it has minimal genealogical information on it. The heading above says M McMaster – even though I can clearly see that is not right from the head stone. Perhaps there was additional information from the Cemetery records.

A Quick Re-Cap for Margaret Frazer McMaster (1789-1872)

Margaret was probably the daughter of Michael Frazer born about 1764 and Margaret Stuart. Margaret was born about 1789 – probably in North County Roscommon. In 1813, Margaret married William McMaster. Some trees have William as the son of Abraham McMaster. However, this may be due to a misreading of a land lease. Now that I see he had a son James, that could be the name of his father. In a story about Jane (see my previous Blog) it was mentioned that Jane came from a McMaster family in Scotland and married into an Irish McMaster family. Abraham could have been the Irish McMaster and James could have been from Scotland.

The Tithe Applotment for McMaster’s

I might assume that there could be reference to the William McMaster lands in the Tithe Applotment but not in Griffith’s valuation. I see records for the Tithe Applotment for McMaster’s dated 1825 and 1833:

Here is Kilkere above.

Here is the 1825 listing for Kilcare:

Here is the 1833 listing:

I don’t see any difference in the two lists. I assume that the widow McMaster cannot be Margaret as she had children up to 1829.

Griffith’s Valuation

Here is the listing for McMasters in Sligo:

I assume that the William above is different than the one in the Tithe Applotment. This William is in Cloghmine:

This was printed in 1858 after Margaret McMaster was in Canada. In 1858. There is one house in Kilkere:

Archibald could be a son or relative of my ancestor William McMaster.

William and Margaret McMaster had four daughters – the subject of this Blog – and now we see one son. These children appear to have been born between about 1816 and 1829 in Kilmactranny Parish, County Sligo. It is unclear why Margaret, Jane, Mary Ann, James and Catherine moved to Ontario. It is also unclear what happens to Margaret’s husband William. One Ancestry tree has a different William McMaster who died in Aylmer, Ontario in 1835. There is no reference for this death. I don’t know if William traveled to Ontario or died in County Sligo. I assume that he was dead by 1852 when Margaret is shown living with her daughter Catherine McMaster Bennett in Burford, Ontario. At that time she was living doors away from her son James Archibald McMaster and about 100 km away from her daughters Jane and Mary Ann who were living in Vaughan, Ontario:

Margaret in the 1860’s?

We lose track of Margaret in the 1860’s. Here is a summary of the McMaster family as now known:

Based on what I don’t know Margaret could have been with Mary Ann or another unknown child or relative in 1860.

Margaret in the 1870’s

Margaret goes from Catherine Bennett’s house in Burford in 1852 to James McMaster’s house 18 years later in Janesville, Wisconsin.

Margaret would have been in a busy house in Janesville with 10 people in it:

You can trace James’ travels just based on the places of births: Ireland to Canada to Michigan to Wisconsin. James would have moved to Wisconsin between 1866 and 1869.

Here is Central Ave. The McMaster Cooper family business was somewhere along this avenue. Margaret was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in 1872:

Back to Catherine McMaster (the Miller’s Wilfe) the Years After 1852

1852 is important due to the Canadian Census. The 1851 Census didn’t start in Ontario until 1852.

It looks like Henry and probably the rest of the family moved to Wisconsin in 1855 – soon after the birth of Sylvia:

William was the couple’s fourth child [Note: actually the third. See below] and the first born in the US . He was perhaps named for Catherine’s father.

Catherine had her last child, Harry, when she was 40.

This shows that Catherine’s husband Henry was a grist miller. Son Charles also worked in the grist mill.

This brings us up to the year 1900:

I had trouble finding the family in the 1880 Census. Here are a few directory listings for Henry to fill in the gaps:

1877, Milwaukee:

I added in Wauwatosa for reference.

1879, Milwaukee:

1885 Milwaukee:

This family moved around a bit within Milwaukee:

1899 and 1896 Milwaukee:

Some of these Street names may no longer exist. I couldn’t find Grove on Google Maps:

In 1900, the family is still at Grove Street:

Out of Catherine’s 7 children 4 were still living in 1900

This brings us to the end of Catherine’s life. In 1910, the couple had moved back to the suburbs of Wauwatosa. Harry is still with them and now their widowed daughter Lannie is also living there at 352 Second Street:

Here is the Wauwatosa Cemetery location where Catherine is buried:

It seems like this family lived a settled life. They stayed in the Milwaukee area most of their lives where Henry was a miller. I don’t know much about Catherine’s personal life other than a little from the testimony concerning her sister Jane and family. In 1852 she and her husband were listed as Presbyterian. Her mother Margaret was listed as Wesleyan Methodist along with two other unknown McMaster’s. James McMaster a little further down the page, Catherine’s brother, was listed as Episcopal.

Fanny McMaster (1829-1875)

Fanny McMaster is my 3rd great grandmother. She was the baby of the family:

Fanny’s mother and four siblings left her for Canada. They appear to have left Fanny behind or Fanny decided not to go. The other question is: did Fanny get married young because she was left behind or was she left behind because she married? I think that the McMasters left for Canada in 1844 or 1845. I don’t think that Fanny would have married before 1845 as she would have been 16 in 1845. I don’t know if Fanny’s mother and fours siblings were around when she married or not. My guess is that the five McMasters made up their mind to go to Canada and asked Fanny to go. Fanny likely intended to marry James, so decided not to go. When my second great-grandmother Margaret was born, Fanny was only 17. I don’t have a marriage record for Fanny and James McMasrter. It seems I just missed having my ancestor leaving for Canada. Then perhaps she wouldn’t have been my ancestor if she did that!

At any rate, Fanny did marry James McMaster Sr. He was born about 1806 or 1807, so he was about 22 years older than Fanny.

Fanny and the Potato Famine (1845-1852)

It is unclear to me whether Margaret McMaster and her four children left Ireland as a result of the Potato Famine or not. The Potato famine started in the 1845, so if they left in 1844, it would have been before the famine. If they left in 1845 it would have been right at the start of the famine. Whatever happened, it appeared that Margaret and her four children missed the Potato Famine and that Margaret’s youngest went through it. In fact, Fanny married James in 1845 at the beginning of the potato famine. Margaret would have been born in the second year of the potato famine.

Fanny After the Potato Famine

Again, we see the names of William and Margaret named for Fanny’s parents. William was born the year the Potato Famine ended. Margaret had children between the ages of 17 and 30. Fanny likely lived in Cuilnagleragh. Fanny’s daughter Margaret, my 2nd great-grandmother married in 1866:

Mar 15, 1866 George Frazer of Ballindoon son of James Frazer

                      Margaret McMaster of Cuilnagleragh, Kilmactranny daughter of James McMaster

If Margaret was from Cuilnagleragh, it stands to reason, that was where her parents James and Fanny lived.

And if Fanny lived in Kilkere as I guessed, then she would not have moved far from where she grew up.

Bad things happened in three’s for the McMaster family in the 1870’s. Fanny’s youngest son James was buried in Kilmactranny in 1873:

Mar 20, 1873     James McMaster   Age 13

Fanny’s husband James was buried in the same Parish in 1874:

June 15, 1874  James McMaster  Age 68

About a half year later, Fanny was buried at the age of 45:

Jan 16, 1875    Frances McMaster  Age 45.

I wonder if Fanny had moved to Canada with her family, would she have lived a longer life? Mary Ann, her sister, died at the age of 73. Her sister Catherine died at the age of 90 – twice the age of Fanny when she died.

Loose Ends: Margaret and Anna McMaster

I’m curious as to who Margaret and Anna McMaster are in the 1851 Census in Burford, Ontario:

It may be important to figure out who these two girls were. It turned out James was another sibling I didn’t know about. And finding James lead to other connections. He is also listed lower on this same page of the 1851 Census.

One interesting thing is that these two McMaster Girls were born in Canada. A search for Anna brings up nothing. Perhaps she was not interpreted as being a McMaster. I did find Margaret. Here she is in 1861 in Vaughan, Ontario:

Margaret is living in the household of Christopher Scanlon. Now Margaret is shows that she was born in Ireland.

Margaret in 1862

This looks to be the answer:

Remember Tecumseth? This shows that Margaret is the daughter of George and Jane. Mystery solved. That brings me back to this family tradition  about Jane McMaster that I quoted in my previous Blog. It is perhaps half-true. I have bolded some names for easy reference:

The following information written about my 2nd great grandmother, JANE MCMASTER, comes from a family history titled ‘The Wheeler and McMaster Family History as told by May McMaster Timmel, 1960’. It was sent to me by Geraldine Fickel of Glenwood, Iowa before her death in the 1990’s. William McMaster, Jane’s first child was born in Edinborough, Scotland although his home was Dramora, County Sligo, Ireland. A child of wealthy parents, he was never taught to work. Jane, his mother belonged to the Stuart line and was a lady in-waiting to one of the Queens. Her name was McMaster before her marriage to a McMaster. She was Scotch and he was Irish. Her husband (George) died when William was about 6 yrs. old and a few months before his sister Anna was born. Not wishing inter-marriage in her family as was the custom in Scotland, William’s mother Jane started to America with her family leaving six year old William with her brother in Edinborough. Anna was born at sea. The other children were Sue and James. She with her young family stopped in Canada for a short time and then came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where her sister Margaret lived. After a few years she married again, a man by the name of Thompson. He died some years later and she continued to live in Wisconsin. She was very dainty and aristocratic and we all waited on her for she knew nothing of work. Sister Carrie looked very much like her and was our father’s favorite. ‘Grandmother’ Jane went back to Milwaukee with her sister Margaret who came for her and was much like her. Later she went to Oakland, California to live with her husband’s half brother E.A. Thompson and passed away there. She was extremely religious and often took the place of the circuit rider in (Wisconsin) in the winter when the snow was deep and the circuit rider could not make his rounds. She also lived with her son ‘Mac‘ and daughter-in-law Laura in their hotel in Western, Nebraska for about a year. Jane and ‘Grandmother’ Wheeler were exact opposites. They were given rooms as far as possible away from each other. Grandmother Wheeler firmly believed every one should work and wasn’t slow in speaking her mind. Written by Laura May McMaster Timmel Written 1957, Assembled 1960. 

In the above story, Margaret is listed as a sister to Jane. Perhaps the one they refer to as a sister was actually her daughter. As I pointed out above, Catherine lived in Milwaukee, but Catherine doesn’t sound like Margaret. Another interesting thing is that is if Anna was actually born at sea, that would put Jane’s trip to Canada in 1846. Anna is 6 in the 1851 Census. However, that Census in Ontario didn’t take place until January 1852. To be more confusing, the Census asked for the age at the next birthday.

The 1852 Census now tells a story. Here is Jane in 1852 in Vaughan, Ontario:

Jane’s husband George McMaster had died and she remarried William Thompson in 1851. Perhaps that was too many children to handle so out of Jane’s six children, two end up with grandma Margaret and sister Catherine in Burford. Note in the family tale above, William stays in Edinburgh and Anna travels to America. In my version, William lives with Jane and Anna lives with Catherine and Margaret – at least in 1852.

I will have trouble squeezing in these two new children in addition to the nine children I already had for Jane:

If I have it right, Mary Frances Thompson on the right was from a previous marriage that William Thompson had. Here are the children on the George McMaster side:

Margaret and Anna are the ones living with their grandmother Margaret Frazer McMaster in 1852. I wonder if Anna really was born at sea. That would have been a wild situation.  Now I have Margaret married off. Here is one tree for Margaret:

I don’t see Margaret going to Milwaukee in this tree. The closest she gets is Sand Beach Michigan in 1870:

This Margaret later moves to Southern California where she is buried in 1925.

Mac and Laura from the Family Story

As I was bopping around Ancestry Family Trees, I came upon this one which included a photo of William McMaster [who I assume was ‘Mac’ in the McMaster family story from above] and his wife Laura:

Here again is the tale of being born at sea, but this time the tale goes to William as a possibility. Laura is Laura Rickey Wheeler, so grandma Wheeler in the family story above. She must be the one who thought that Jane should do her share of work.

She also lived with her son ‘Mac‘ and daughter-in-law Laura in their hotel in Western, Nebraska for about a year. Jane and ‘Grandmother’ Wheeler were exact opposites. They were given rooms as far as possible away from each other. Grandmother Wheeler firmly believed every one should work and wasn’t slow in speaking her mind.

Based on Kilmactranny Baptismal records, I would say that William was not born at sea or in Scotland:

William son of George and Jane McMaster

Born                                      Bapt. Aug 18, 1843

At this point, I need to apologize for the length of the Blog. I could have easily done a Blog just on Jane McMaster.

Back to Anna McMaster Born 1846

A tree search for Anna brings up this top tree:

Above in the Blog, I had disregarded this Annie Wilmena because Jane McMaster and William Thompson had a daughter named Wilhemine Thompson. Also I could not find any Burwich in Canada. Time to take a second look. This same Tree had a marriage in Wauwatosa, WI:

Anna’s Aunt Catherine was in Wauwatosa at this time. Here is the family in 1860:

Here I missed something. Anna was living with the Bennett family as Anne Bennett. There are a few hints. First, is the six years between Anne and Charles. The second is that Anne is born about 1846 according to the Census and Henry and Catherine married in December 1850. Details. That means that Catherine gets more bonus points for taking care of Anna in 1852 and apparently bringing her to Wauwatosa with the family in the 1860’s. I imagine that Anna helped out in the Bennett house.

Anna Evans in 1870 in Mineral Point, Wisconsin:

So now I have Margaret and Anna safely married off. I also found Anna living with her Aunt Catherine in 1860. I also found a photo of their brother William and his wife Laura. These loose ends are tied.

Loose Ends #2: John and Isabells McMaster

In 1852, Mary Ann or Marrianne McMaster was living in Vaughan, York County, Ontario. She was married to Thomas Shannon, a Farmer. Also in the household were John McMaster aged 11 and Isabella McMaster aged 25. It would be nice to figure out who these two are. My assumption is that they are related to Mary Ann McMaster Shannon.

The two children living with Mary Ann’s sister Catherine, Margaret, 12 and Anna, 6 turned out to be Jane McMaster’s children. However, Isabella at age 25, would be too old to be a daughter of Jane.

Here is Thomas, Mary Ann and John in 1852 in Vaughan, Ontario:

There religion looks to be New Comer Methodist. Here is Isabella on the next page:

1861

10 years later, this appears to be John:

The Census is a little difficult to interpret, but I think that it shows that John and James above were labourers on the James Hardie farm. In the household above the Hardie farm, I see an Isabella:

Isabella is about the right age to be Isabella McMaster. Did she marry the surgeon John De Evelyn? I found this grave marker:

It looks like this Isabella died that same year. However, Isabella appears to be 25 years old. At this point I am stuck with Isabella and John McMaster. However, I have them here as a place-holder.

Summary and Conclusions

  • When I went off to write about four sisters, I didn’t know that the story would be so long and intertwined.
  • The intertwining was helpful in finding a brother to the four sisters: James Archibald McMaster.
  • I was happy to find my fourth great-grandmother Margaret Frazer McMaster living with her son James Archibald at the end of her life in Janesville, Wisconsin.
  • I found out who Margaret and Anna McMaster were and how they tied in to the McMaster family. They were daughters of Jane McMaster.
  • I took another look at the family legend that I have had for a while. There was a lot of interesting and helpful information in it – along with some things that still don’t seem to be right.
  • When researching ancestors, I would recommend researching their siblings also.
  • Telling a story of your ancestors and siblings helps to tie the facts together and points out records or information that may be missing.
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My Brother’s MyHeritage Theory of Family Relativity Leads to Lancashire

I am finding MyHeritage’s Theory of Family Relativity interesting. I looked at a few of “Theories” in a previous Blog, and will now look at my brother Jim’s. My brother JIm has six matches under MyHeritage’s (MH’s) Theory program. Three are ones that I have. Of those three two are mother and daughter. The three matches that Jim has that I don’t have all appear to be related to each other also.

Jim and Marcus at MH

Here is how MH shows Jim and Marcus’ merged trees:

Unfortunately, these two trees don’t seem to match well. How could Mary Pilling and Betty Wilkinson be sisters? When I look at MH’s full Theory, I see this:

Marcus shows Mary Pilling in his tree, but I don’t know how she is connected and I see no parents listed for Mary in Marcus’ tree.

Jim and Marcus: the DNA

I’ll look at Jim and Marcus’ DNA and then get back to the genealogy. Jim’s best match with Marcus is on Chromosome 1 shown in yellow below and circled:

Jim and Marcus also triangulate with Stanley who is from Great Britain and shows as the red match. Marcus is from Australia.

This Chromosome map below shows that Jim has Hartley DNA in the part of Chromosome 1 where he matches Marcus:

When I look at Jim’s match spreadsheet, I find that Marcus also appears at Ancestry, FTDNA and Gedmatch. I have been in touch with Marcus at Ancestry, though it is difficult to retrieve old messages there. Marcus wrote me in 2017:

I have a James Moorhouse born Bacup c1830, son of John Moorehouse and Betty Wilkinson. While the names are shared, I can’t make the connection fit correctly. I would love to identify this MRCA. cheers Marcus

Building a Tree for Stanley

Stanley, Marcus and Jim triangulate meaning that those three should have a common ancestor somewhere. So I’ll try building out Stanley’s tree to see if there is a connection. Here is Stanley’s tree:

Here is my version:

Ancestry has a lot of hints, but I am wary of Ancestry’s hints. Here is the family in 1939:

The family was living with a daughter, but I didn’t include her for possible privacy reasons. The family was in Stainforth. That leads me to the 1901 Census:

Here is Thomas as part of a large family in Stainforth, living on a farm. Here is Stainforth:

I am trying to make a connection to my Lancashire ancestors from Colne or Bacup. Muriel was born further North in Westmoreland, so I’ll stick to the Towler side for now. As I build out Stanley’s paternal side, I get this:

Somehow Nancy Berry pops up from all the Yorkshire ancestors as being from Colne. I also see a Wilkonson, but she is living in Yorkshire. I’m not too excited about the Wilkinson name as I don’t descend from the Wilkinson family. My Pilling ancestor married a Hartley, then a Wilkinson, so Wilkinsons were half siblings to my Hartley ancestors.

I don’t think Nancy died in 1825, because I see this entry in Giggleswick, Yorkshire:

Let’s not bury her yet.

Here is Nancy in 1841 when her husband was still alive:

The 1841 Census taker has Nancy born in Yorkshire which is apparently wrong.

Two Nancy Berry’s at Colne Parish

Noyna End is to the East of Foulridge. Great Marsden is to the West of Trawden.

Now that I’ve shown that Stanley’s tree goes back to Colne, can I show the same for Marcus’ tree?

Looking at Marcus’ Tree

I followed Marcus’ tree out to where it appeared the match with my family should be. There was a sticky point at Walter Humphreys. Ancestry wanted me to add a different father named Snook. However, I went with Marcus’ tree:

Here is information from one of the Ancestry Snook trees:

There must be some sort of Snook/Moorehouse debate going on somewhere.

James Moorehouse (1830-1886)

I’m still getting Snook suggestions for the parents of James Moorehouse, so I’ll take a look at James on my own.  Marcus has him born in Bacap, which I believe should be Bacup as that is where some of my ancestors came from.  Using the Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerks, I find this:

The only difference is in the Moorehouse/Moorhouse spelling. This appears to be James’ parents’ marriage record:

Here is the family in 1841 living at ‘Lower Crossrow’:

Lower Crossrow appears to be a location in Bacup.

Betty Wilkinson

I have Ancestry hints for the parents of Marcus’ Betty Wilson:

and:

I’m not sure about the Moses Wilkinson from Tynemouth. This would be quite far from Trawden.

Here is what I have at my Willkinson web page:

The biggest problem with merging these two trees is that I show Betty marrying Robert Stansfield. Here is the marriage of Betty Wilkinson and Robert:

Here is a marriage for Moses Wilkinson and Jane Shaw:

This could be Jane’s baptism:

If this is the right person, she would have been baptized at a rather obscure Inghamite Church in Winewall which was part of Trawden. This is where my Hartley ancestors were from. So, nobody sneeze as this is quite the house of cards!

This is probably John and Jane:

More on Marcus’ Betty Wilkinson

There is one record that would indicate that Marcus’ Betty was from Bacup and not Trawden. The marriage record from St. Nicholas, Newchurch in Rossendale states that both bride and groom were “…in this Chapelry”.

The 1851 Census would have been helpful, but it appears that Betty had died by this time. John Moorhouse, said to be born in Burnley is a widow at this time. Although there is a connection between Trawden and Bacup for my Hartley ancestors and their half sibling Wilkinson not too long before the 1851 Census, there is no reason to believe that Betty Wilkinson would have moved from Trawden to Bacup before her supposed marriage to Moorehouse in 1820.

Assuming that Betty was from the Newchurch Chapelry, this could be her birth record:

It would have been customary for Betty to name her second son after her father. That could have been the case with her second son George:

According to Google Maps, here is Heap Clough to the West of Bacup and Haslingden:

Here is an older map:

I have also circled Goodshaw where another of my ancestors (Emmet) was born:

I note that my ancestors Edmund/Emmot and Mary Omerod married at St. James. This is the same place as I have the probable baptism of Betty Wilkinson about 45 years later.

Following Up On Betty Wilkinson of Haslingden

Here is a candidate for Marcus’ potential ancestors:

This could be the same George:

That would put George at just under 20 at the time he married. I think that Grain is Haslingden Grane. Grane looks to be across the street from Heap Clough:

Here is my guess for Mary Duckworth:

However, there was another Mary Duckworth born less than a year before this in the same Church. I’m guessing Heap Clough is right. Here are the likely parents:

I’m starting to get a tree for Betty Wilkinson:

I have two choices for Jonathan Duckworth:

Grane sounds familiar.

Here is the marriage for George and Betty Haworth:

A Haworth/Howorth Connection?

I have Howorth ancestors from the Bacup area.

I’ve already mentioned Edmund Emmet. James Howorth is shown above also. Another interesting thing is that Ancestry is suggesting this mother for George Wilkinson:

This is just about outside the reach of DNA matches. The Ancestry hint could correspond with this birth:

And this marriage:

 

So Where Am I?

  1. My brother Jim, Marcus and Stanley triangulate with their DNA matches. That means that they likely have a common ancestor. However, it may go back quite a way.
  2. I took Stanley’s tree back to a Nancy Berry. There were two Nancy Berry’s baptized in the Colne Parish Church around the time of Stanley’s Nancy in the 1770’s.
  3. I looked at Marcus’ genealogy tree and see that he had a Betty Wilkinson who could be the Betty Wilkinson I have at my Wilkinson website. However, this Betty would not be my direct descendant. My direct descendant married Betty’s brother Robert after my male direct descendant died.
  4. I decided that Marcus’ Betty Wilkinson was more likely a native of the Bacup area. I found a Betty Wilkinson from Heap Clough to the West of Haslingden.
  5. I traced Betty’s lineage back as well as I could. Heap Clough is not too far where some of my Emmet ancestors were from. I also found a Haworth and Howorth. I descend from Howorth in Bacup. I have not found where they lived before Bacup.
  6. So while I favor a Bacup area connection between Marcus’s family and mine, that doesn’t account for how Stanley ties in. As I guessed, it is likely far back – as in the late 1600’s or early 1700’s.

Summary and Conclusions

  • MH’s new Theory of Family Relativity resulted in my taking a fresh look at a DNA match who had a good tree.
  • It is still a bit unclear to me how MH’s Theory made Mary Pilling and Betty Wilkinson look like sisters given the trees I have seen.
  • As with many other genetic genealogy problems, I feel I am getting closer to a breakthrough, but I don’t quite get there.
  • I would say that the new information is that I have brought in a third person whose DNA triangulates with mine and Marcus’. His name is Stanley. Our three genealogical lines appeared to converge on Colne Parish in the mid- 1700’s, but as always, there are uncertainties.
  • A more likely candidate for Marcus’ Betty is Betty Wilkinson of Heap Clough, Haslingden of the St. James Parish. If I brought her ancestry back correctly, she has Haworth and Howorth ancestry. It is possible that one or both of these families are related to my Howorth ancestors.

 

 

 

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Sorting Out the Philip Frazers of Roscommon, Ireland

I’ve written a bit about Philip Frazer. He was born probably in Roscommon, Ireland between the 1750’s and 1770’s. In one of my previous Blogs, I proposed this tree:

 

In a recent e-mail from Richard to myself and Bonnie, we have this to consider:

I am trying to tie up some loose ends about my Frazer family in Ontario in the mid-1800s.  

In Joel’s blog about my third cousin, Martha, http://www.jmhartley.com/HBlog/2018/10/22/frazer-dna-analysis-for-martha-richards-3rd-cousin/

Joel speculates that Philip W. Frazer, in the household of Philip Frazer and Jane in Plympton, Lambton County, Ontario in the 1871 census, is the son of Philip Frazer, the first child of Philip Frazer (b. 1805) and Mary Taylor, b. in Kilmactranny Parish in January 1825.  However, Bonnie’s Frazer tree on Ancestry shows this Frazer family as descended from James Frazer and his wife Violet Frazer.  It seems clear that the Frazer family in Plympton, Ontario is related to my ancestor, Ann Frazer (b. 1832), m. Robert Johnston c. 1853 and raised their children in Blenheim Twp., Oxford County, Ontario and died in 1871.  Based on Bonnie’s Frazer tree, Philip Frazer (father of Philip W.) and Ann Frazer would be first cousins rather than siblings.  Does this sound right to both of you?

I have trouble picturing all this, so let’s look at Bonnie’s tree:

The way it worked, is that it would have been traditional to name your first son after your father. Well, Philip and James, under this scenario both were the sons of Philip and both named their first son Philip. Bonnie has Philip’s first son born in 1825 and James’ son born 1828  – both named for the elder Philip. This makes life for genealogists quite confusing. Under Bonnie’s tree, Richard descends from James and Violet Frazer. I would say that Bonnie’s tree looks better than mine:

I don’t even have Philip as the son of James and Violet – even though I have had him on my web page for a long time:

My October 2018 Blog – Philip Frazer Son of Philip Or James?

Here is the Blog that Richard was referring to:

In my Blog, I assumed that the 45-year-old Philip Frazer in the 1871 Ontario Census descended from Philip and not James and Violet. I can see that I did not at the time consider the other possibility.

Arguments For Philip Frazer of Ontario Being the Son Of James Frazer

Seeing as I did not consider this before, I will now. First, Bonnie’s tree has Philip Frazer married to Jane Hayward. I notice in the 1861 Ontario Census, Jane Hayward Frazer was living in the Haywood household:

Philip was an early Frazer with a connection to Kilmactranny. My own 2nd great-grandfather, George William marries a woman from Kilmactranny Parish and later moves to the area. This may or may not be a coincidence.

Richard Frazer who would have been Philip’s brother under this scenario also lived in Ontario for a while. This could also be considered coincidence.

Here is a photo from my grandmother’s photo album from Toronto:

I have no idea who this mysterious young woman is.

If Philip was the brother of my ancestor George, he may have named a son for him. However, I have that both Philip and James had a brother named George.

I have that my ancestor George lived in the house of his father James. If Philip or Richard, George’s older brothers, continued on in Ireland, then this may have not been the case.

I have not come up with a convincing argument, but I think that Bonnie’s tree is probably right. It feels right.

Other Trees

Joanna, who is a noted Frazer researcher, has this in her Ancestry Tree:

 

Joanna agrees with Bonnie though I think they do collaborate some.

The Counter-Argument: Philip Frazer is the Son of Philip Frazer

My original suggestion was based a lot on naming patterns. It would have been traditional for Philip, son of Philip to name his first son Philip. If Philip was the son of James, why didn’t he name his first son James instead of Philip? James’ first son was Philip. James’ second and third sons were Richard and George William. Richard’s first son was James Archibald born 1856. He died in 1861. George William’s first son was also James Archibald who was born in 1867.

Philip in Kilmactranny or Ardcarn?

I believe that Philip was from Ardcarn Parish. A search for Frazers in the Tithe Applotment Books shows 18 entries for Frazers in County Roscommon and none in County Sligo. Ardcarn Parish is in Roscommon and Kilmactranny Parish is in County Sligo. Here is Philip in 1834 in Derrycastle aka Derrycashel with some of his relatives:

Here is an early marriage record from the Kilmactranny Church:

This clearly indicates that Philip was from Ardcarne and Jane was from Kilmactranny. A search for Johnstons in Kilmactranny Parish in the Tithe Applotment reveals three Johnston families in Dromore in 1834: William, Alexander and John. Perhaps they were brothers of Jane. Here is Dromore:

The dotted line to the South of Kilmactranny is the County Roscommon border.

Here is another try at a Philip Frazer Tree:

 

This tree focuses on the Philip’s and omits some of the siblings. I have a Philip marrying Jane Johnston and then Mary Taylor. If he first married in 1818, I would guess that he could have been born around 1795.

Another Ancestry Tree

Here is a Tree that is not associated with the Frazer DNA Project:

Here they have more information on George Frazer. They also have a William Frazer who would make for a young parents for James and Violet Frazer. This William is also unexpectedly born in Edinburgh. The tree has the generally accepted Philip husband of Jane Hayward as the son of James and Violet Frazer:

 

The DNA?

I mentioned in the Blog that Richard referred to, “All we need to do next is to see if there are descendants of Philip W, Alfred, Mary, Emily and George and see if they would take a DNA test.” I don’t know of any of the descendants of the Philip Frazer family of Plympton, Ontario who have had their DNA tested. Perhaps one will soon. This would be especially interesting to me as we would have the common ancestors of James and Violet Frazer – assuming the above tree is right.

Summary and Conclusions

  • Thanks to Richard’s diligence, he pointed out a disagreement between my previously proposed Philip Frazer tree and what others had in their Frazer Trees.
  • Given what I know now, I think that the most recent tree above should be fairly accurate. Next time I need to check existing trees before suggestiing a new line.
  • If any descendants of Philip Frazer and Jane Hayward have their DNA tested, it would likely give more proof as to whether the above trees are correct.
  • I haven’t seen a death record for the elder Philip Frazer. It could be that he died before there were good death records available. If that was the case, that would mean that it would be his son Philip who was in the 1834 Tithe Applotment.

 

 

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Genealogy for Heather and JJ: Part 11 – Jeremiah Warren Born 1812 Ireland

This is a follow-up on Part 10.

Jeremiah Warren Born 1812 Ireland

Here is Jeremiah at the top of Heather and JJ’s maternal grandmother’s tree:

Here is Jeremiah’s birth record on his Naturalization index card:

Perhaps there is more information in Lowell or at the National Archives. Jeremiah was born in Ireland, but I don’t know where yet.

Mary Kelly (1812-1854)

Much of what I have about Jeremiah’s wife Mary Kelly is from death records:

Mary died at Cross Street in Lowell in 1854. The names of her parents are given as John and Ann Kelly. Mary died of consumption which is: “a wasting disease, especially pulmonary tuberculosis”. Here is Cross Street:

Here is Mary in the 1850 Census:

This was an $8,000 house, which seems quite expensive for the day. Note that daughter Bridget was born while Mary and Jeremiah were in Nova Scotia. Bridget’s death record adds that she was born in Halifax. I included the following family as they were from Nova Scotia. James Dalton was a Shoe maker. I notice that there was a Jeremiah who served in the Civil War who was a shoe maker at one point in his life:

Some More On Jeremiah Warren (1812-1857)

Here is Jeremiah in 1855:

This would have been shortly after the death of his wife Mary. Daughter Bridget married John Sullivan in May this same year, so she must have just moved out of the house at the time of the 1855 Census:

That left Jeremiah five boys to take care of on his own. Two years later Jeremiah dies. However, here is something to ponder:

Jeremiah is said to be 65 on his death record. If Jeremiah was born 1812, he would have been 45 in 1857. It appears to say he was married. However, he may have re-married. It also says that he died of old age. That leads me to this marriage record in 1856:

Here a Jeremiah Warren marries a Mary Cahill. Jeremiah has somehow gotten younger and then the next year, he ages 30 years.

After Jeremiah

In my previous Blog on the subject, I noted no Jeremiah Warren in the 1858 Lowell City Directory. However, a widow Mary appears:

This must be Mary Cahill. Unfortunately, she was to have a short marriage of a year and a half.

Two years later, Mary was appointed administratix:

Mary had three months to come up with an inventory.

This shows that John had seven children:

It looks like I missed the last child James. This must be James. However, he did not live long:

Jeremiah’s Children

I believe that the oldest three boys served in the Civil War: Robert, Thomas and Jeremiah.

Bridget, the only daughter married John Sullivan.

Here is Bridget in 1865 taking care of John and Patrick. I have that John was born in 1845, so shouldn’t he be 20 in 1865? Was this to keep him out of the Civil War? And what happened to Jeremiah’s second wife?

Robert J Warren

The oldest son married Margaret Kelly in 1862. He is likely listed as James in the 1870 Census:

He was a painter. He was listed here as born in Ireland, but I don’t think that is right. Robert died six years later in 1876.

In this record, he shows as being born in Boston. I checked and this is likely his baptismal record:

This would be one of the earliest records of the family in Massachusetts. That makes sense that he would be born in Boston if his older sister Bridget was born on the way from Ireland to Massachusetts in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Thomas A Warren Born 1840 Lowell

So the Warren family made it’s way from Ireland to Halifax to Boston to Lowell.  Thomas married Mary Jane White in 1861. Here he is in the 1865 Lowell City Directory:

I get the impression that Thomas served in the Civil War.

Thomas ended up in Maine:

Thomas died in 1906 and his body was shipped back to his brother Jeremiah who lived at Cross Street, Lowell:

I suppose that’s a good lead-in to Jeremiah

Jeremiah Warren Born 1842 Lowell

Jeremiah married for the second time in 1872:

Here is Jeremiah in 1870:

Perhaps his first wife had died by this time as he is living with Francis aged 2.

Here is Jeremiah and Ellen with son Albert in 1880:

Here is the same family at Cross Street, Lowell in 1900:

Jeremiah died in 1908 at 27 Cross Street – two years after his brother Thomas died and was shipped to Lowell.

Patrick H Warren (1853-1875)

Before I get to John Warren, I’ll look at John’s younger brother Patrick. In 1870, Patrick was living with his older brother Thomas in Boston:

Patrick died at age 22 of Consumption at Lincoln Street, Lowell:

John J Warren (1845-1882)

John J Warren is my best guess for the father of John Edward Warren aka Cavanaugh. Here is the published record for John’s birth:

I believe that C.R. means cemetery record. John shows as being 5 in the 1850 Census. As the 1850 Census was taken on June 1st, John would probably been 4 at the time of the Census if his above birth date is right.

John’s mother died before he was 10. I lose track of the family in 1860, but by 1865, John’s father Jeremiah had also died and John was living with his married sister Bridge Sullivan.

John J Warren and Bridget J Welch

Here is a marriage on November 11, 1866 between young John and Bridget:

They were both born and living in Lowell and here are their parents:

  • Mary J was born to this couple in 1867
  • Margaret was born in 1869. In this record, it says that Bridget was born in Boston
  • Bridget T Warren was born in 1871. In this record both parents are reported as born in Ireland.
  • Thomas G Warren was born in 1875.

Mother Bridget died in September 1878 at age 30.

Here is widowed John J with his four children living on 7 Bleachery Street on June 7, 1880:

12 year old Mary J was home ‘keeping house’.

John Warren, Louisa Gately and John E Warren aka Cavanaugh

Based on this record for John E Warren aka Cavanaugh, John E Warren son of John [Warren] and Louisa Gately married ‘Laoner’ M. Morrow in 1911:

This marriage record for John E Warren record states that John Warren and Louisa Gately were the parents of John E Warren. One interesting thing about this record is that there is no record of the Cavanaugh name. For whatever reason, John chose to omit the Cavanaugh name on his marriage record. Louisa was technically a Cavanaugh at this point and John E went by John Edward Cavanaugh for most of his life.

Seven and three quarter years after his marriage, here is John Edward’s WWI Registration Card where he gives the date of his birth:

Assuming this birth date to be correct, Louisa would have been past mid-term in her pregnancy with John Edward at the time of the 1880 Census:

Louisa lived at 38 Bleachery Street.

John J Warren worked at the bleachery. Louisa worked at U.S. Bunting. This was a company that made material for the US flag. Louisa’s husband Michael Cavanaugh also worked at the bleachery before his death in 1872.

John J Warren died less than two years after the birth of John Edward Warren/Cavanaugh in 1882 of an ‘accidental drowning’. Probably in Amesbury.

Any Holes In the Story?

I have tried to show the history leading from Jeremiah Warren to John Edward Warren aka Cavanaugh. Are there any holes in the story? I think the story holds together, but there are a few questions or issues:

  • I have not found a birth record for John Edward Warren/Cavanaugh. Perhaps there is a baptismal record for him.
  • Why didn’t John J Warren marry Louisa Gately Cavanaugh?
  • I am sure that there must be a newspaper article or two on the drowning of John J Warren. That would be interesting to read.
  • Why did John Edward go by Warren in his marriage record, then go by Cavanaugh after that?
  • John Edward is difficult to trace in his later life and his death record has not yet been found

 

 

 

 

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A DNA Match With Kristin Who Has Hartley Ancestry and a Possible Hartley Genealogical Breakthrough

I recently noticed that my daughter had a Shared Ancestor Hint with Kristin. Not long ago,  had my daughter Heather’s DNA tested. Kristin is Heather’s first Shared Ancestor Hint (SAH). An SAH means that two people have a DNA match and have a common ancestor or ancestors. Here is what that looks like for Heather:

This shows that Heather and Kristen are 4th cousins. Here is the amount of DNA that Heather and Kristen share:

AncestryDNA predicted that Heather and Kristen would be 4th cousins and they guessed right.

The Hartley Branch of Fall River

Many of my closer Hartley relatives are perhaps not aware of the Fall River branch of the Hartley family. They know that the Hartley family lived in Rochester, Massachusetts. Many know that Greenwood Hartley and Ann Emmet lived in New Bedford before that. However, not many know that Greenwood and Ann were first in Fall River for a short time. Here is the Hartley Family in 1870:

This Census record is very difficult to find in that the last names are all written wrong. Here is how Ancestry sees the name:

I’m glad the Hortcliffe name didn’t stick. Soon after this time, the Hartley family moved to New Bedford. They lived in Fall River for only one or two years.

Abel Burrows

Mary Ann Hartley married Abel Burrows on 12 February 1874- probably in New Bedford.

Abel was later to be a jeweller in Fall River, but at this time he was a weaver. Perhaps Abel and Mary Ann met while she lived in Fall River.

Here is the Burrows family in 1880 at 63 Pleasant Street, Fall River:

This appears to be Mary Ann Hartley Burrows at a Hartley family gathering in Rochester, MA around 1921:

Looking at the photo, my grandmother is to her right.

Connecting the DNA and the Family Tree

Here is the tree that I have so far:

The people in green have had their DNA tested and uploaded to Gedmatch where the DNA can be compared. Emily in yellow has tested at Ancestry, but has not uploaded her results to Gedmatch which is now Gedmatch Genesis. Mary Pilling at the top of the chart is Mary Wilkinson in the 1870 Census. I mentioned Emily here in a Blog on AutoClustering Joyce’s AncestryDNA results.

It looks like Kristin is a close relative to Emily:

Adding a Pilllng Line

Mary Pilling was a single mother before she married Robert Hartley and had Greenwood. Robert then died ans she married Robert Wilkinson:

Ruth is a Shared Match with Kristin and my father’s cousin Joyce.

Shared Matches Between Kristin and Joyce

Kristin may be the key to unlocking clues on my Hartley genealogy. Here are Kristin’s shared matches at AncestryDNA with Joyce, my father’s 1st cousin.

  • Jennifer – I messaged her. She has Williams ancestry and is checking on possible connections
  • Emily and Ruth – They are in the chart in yellow above.
  • Paul – shows two parents in his tree. This could be built out.
  • Luke – He has a private tree. I have sent him a message.
  • Sheryl – She has an ancestor from Colne

Colne is next door to Trawden where my ancestors lived. My ancestors were born, married and buried at the Colne Church.

Bracewell came up in another tree of a shared match of a shared match if that makes sense.

Building Out Paul’s Tree

At the risk of making this a long Blog, I’ll try and build out Paul’s tree. Paul’s parent’s were both from New Bedford, so that is interesting already. My guess is that my match with Paul is on his mother’s side. I wasn’t able to easily fill in all the names, but did make it back to a Hartley and a Bracewell. The Bracewell name is new to me but apparently common to some of these shared matches:

Robert Hartley is an ancestral name, so that is hopeful also. Robert Hartley in the tree above would be Paul’s 5th great-grandfather if I have the tree right. However, having said that, there still are many gaps in the tree and the connection is quite a ways back.

Sheryl’s Tree

This is the one with the Bracewell born 1778 from Colne:

This is as far as I got with the Ancestry suggestions. It seems like the father of Susy Hartley should be John Hartley like in Paul’s tree:

Combining Paul and Sheryl’s Trees

When I combine the two trees, it looks like this:

 

This means that, on paper, Sheryl and Paul are potentially 6th cousins with each other. I also see that Sheryl has potentially two Bracewell lines. All this gives me a lead to check into.

A Third Bracewell Tree?

I had mentioned above that I had seen a third Bracewell tree. This was from a Shared Match of a Shared Match. My father’s cousin Joyce and Kristin have a shared match with Luke. I mentioned him above, but his tree is locked. So I looked at Shared Matches between Between Luke and Joyce and came up with an additional Shared Match. This shared match is Mark and he is on a list of Shared Matches with Kristin, Paul and Sheryl, so he is in good company, so to speak.

Mark’s Bracewell Ancestors

Here are Mark’s Bracewell Ancestors:

This looks like Ellin Bracewell married John Hackin and they had a child named Margaret Hakin. Mark’s ancestral location map shows his ancestors in orange:

Margaret Hakin is Mark’s ancestor who was born in the area that I am interested in. Does it make sense that Margaret’s mother Ellin was born in New York?

This appears to be the marriage record for John and Ellin:

Here are a few choices for Ellin’s birth record. I’ll go with the more recent one as it has George as the father and it seems more reasonable:

Here is a hint for Ellin’s mother’s name:

Here is a guess for George’s birth:

Here is what I get:

This tree is more confusing as Reuben Speak is shown as the father of Susannah Cronshaw. There is no father’s name given on Susannah’s birth record. It is possible that this is right and that there is another link in Mark’s ancestry to Hartley/Bracewell. However, this route does not easily match with the same Hartley/Bracewell family as the other two DNA matches. The other possibility is that this DNA match is on the Bracewell side only and that Mark matches further back in his ancestrry.

Building Down from Hartley/Bracewell

The next logical step would be to build down from John Hartley born 1730 and his wife Anne Bracewell to see if I can link up my tree to this line.

Here is a tree from Ancestry with John Hartley born 1733 and Anna Bracewell:

This tree has two John’s as sons. A previous tree I looked at had three sons named John.

It looks like John and Anne were married on 23 September 1752 and they both lived in Trawden:

Trawden is good in that my known Hartley ancestors came from there. At this point, I assume that the family stayed in Trawden. I then looked for children born to John Hartley in Trawden:

If Anne lived long enough, she could have had children for 25 years or more. So, until about 1777. Here is the start of my tree:

Then I ran into a snag:

Here is another Robert. Also the mother is called Nanny now which could be a nickname for Anne.

Next is another John:

The mother’s name is back to Anne. If the first John died, then it would make sense if they have another John.

Finally, in 1772, we are back to Nanny:

I’ll add in the extra John above, just in case. I’m looking for a Hartley connection, so I’m more interested in the male Hartley’s.

James Hartley and Betty Baldwin

One of my top guesses for the parents of my ancestor Robert Hartley (father of Greenwood Hartley) is James Hartley and Better Baldwin. What if the James above born 1763 married Betty Baldwin?

One Holgate Tree I see at Ancestry has Elizabeth Southgate as the wife of James Hartley:

I don’t know if the creator had special knowledge of this marriage or if they were guessing.  I searched for this marriage at the Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerks Website and coud not find it.  I would follow up on the tree, but when I search for Elizabeth in trees, I find this:

Perhaps Elizabeth got attached to James above by mistake. It appears that the tree intended to have her married to John Hartley.

Did James the Son of John Hartley and Anne Bracewell Marry Betty Baldwin?

My best guess when I was researching Hartley genealogy was that James Hartley and Betty Baldwin were the most likely parents for Robert Hartley born about 1803. Now shared DNA matches with a good Hartley DNA matches Kristin and Joyce show a common ancestor of John Hartley and Anne Bracewell. This couple has a son named James. I’ll combine these lines and see how it looks:

  • Kristin and Joyce have a Shared Ancestor hint with Greenwood Hartley and Anne Emmet. This genealogical and DNA connection is quite certain.
  • Kristin and Joyce also have shared DNA matches with Sheryl and Paul
  • This shared DNA could be on the Hartley side (Trawden) or the Emmet side (Bacup). Sheryl and Paul have ancestors in the Colne/Trawden area.
  • Sheryl and Paul appear to have the shared ancestors of John Hartley and Anne Bracewell.
  • John Hartley and Anne Bracewell had a son James who could be the father of Robert who was the father of Greenwood Hartley.
  • This would combine my genealogical research with DNA evidence. There may be other explanations, but this one looks good right now – at least good enough to flesh out.

Fleshing Out the New James Hartley (Born 1763) Connection

One other item I see for James in Ancestry trees is his death:

This seems a bit sketchy to me. I have found no marriage record in Ancestry Trees for this James. Why would James be born in Trawden and die in Lancaster?

Lancaster is quite a ways from Colne. Unless, the record means to say that Lancaster represents the County of Lancashire.

Here is the record:

This does show that a James Hartley, son of John Hartley was buried in Lancaster. However, I’m not convinced that this is the same person.

Here is a James Hartley who was buried in Trawden in 1769:

and:

There are many other James Hartley burials in the Colne Parish. Here is another possibility:

This James was 82 in 1845, so he was born about 1763. Here is the same person in 1841:

Little Lather in the Burial record is better rendered on page 2 of the 1841 Census as Little Laith.

Another Elderly James Hartley Farmer South of Trawden Village

Just to confuse things, there is another elderly James Hartley South of Trawden Village:

 

Little Laithe is listed in the Census as near New Laithe and Hole is listed as near Naze End on Page 11 of the 1841 Trawden Census. These places would be a short walk from each other. I like the second James for a few reasons. One reason is that he is married to Betty, The second is that he lives near Seghole. Mary Pillng who married Robert Hartley was born in Seghole in 1802. I haven’t found death records for this James and Betty Hartley. Perhaps they moved to be with relatives after this time.

Summary and Conclusions

  • Kristin’s DNA match with the Hartley family and especially with Joyce has been helpful
  • Kristin descends from Ann Hartley born 1855, so shared matches with her would be more likely to represent Hartley ancestors from England.
  • I looked at the Hartley’s of Fall River
  • I looked at shared matches between Joyce and Kristin. They had two shared matches that both had the same ancestors: John Hartley born 1730 and Anne Bracewell.
  • I started to build a case that John Hartley had as his son, James Hartley who married Betty Baldwin. They had Robert Hartley who was my 3rd great-grandfather born 1803 in Trawden.
  • I looked at two elderly James Hartley’s in the 1841 Trawden Census. I favored the elder one as a potential 4th great-grandfather because he was married to a Betty and because he lived very close to the birth home of Mary Pilling who was my 3rd great-grandmother.
  • Before I had this match with Kristin, I had no known DNA connection to my Hartley ancestors in Trawden, Lancashire. Kristin’s DNA results appears to have provided that DNA connection and given good evidence and direction for genealogical research.
  • This is a potential break in my genealogical brick wall that I have had for around 25 years. I will do some more work to see if this theory makes sense.

 

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My Children’s Maternal Genealogy – Part 5: Gately

In my previous Blog, I showed that John Edward Cavanaugh’s mother was Louisa Gately.

Louisa Gately is my children’s maternal 2nd great-grandmother. I find it interesting that many records I’ve seen for Louisa show that she was born in England and that her dad was born in the West Indies or Jamaica and her mom was born in Ireland.

Here is Louisa Gately in 1860 Lowell:

Even though I mentioned Louisa was said to have parents from the West Indies and Ireland, this census has them as being from England. Louisa was part of a good-sized family. There appears to be 24 years between the oldest and youngest child. This means that Mary married very young, or William remarried. This Census seems to indicate that her parents were both born in England.

Five years earlier in 1855, the family was living in the house of Thomas Freeman in Lowell:

In Louisa’s marriage record, she gives her mother’s name as Catherine. This is perhaps a different person than the Mary listed above.

The last Census Louisa appeared in was in 1920:

Here Louisa is with her Daughter Ellen and niece Ellen A Ryden or Byden. This Ellen may have been the daughter of Ellen Gately who was Louisa’s sister or half sister.

Ellen A Ryden

The older Ellen A Ryden died on March 1, 1901. Her parents were listed on that record:

This gives us a mother for Louisa.

Tracing the Gately’s Across the Ocean to England

The next step is to see where the Gately’s lived in England. This must be the family on Regent Road in Salford:

Here is current day Regent Road to the West of Manchester, England:

This record gives a further refinement on Louisa’s mother’s name:

It appears that Catherine Etherington died in Lowell 15 years after she married in Manchester, England:

William Gatley/Gately Born About 1815 in the West Indies

It appears that William Gately (or Gatley) married three times and died in Lowell on July 25, 1895. Here are his parents listed on his death record:

I see them as Joseph and Jane Savage. They were both born in England, so may be possible to trace. I’ll check William’s other two Lowell marriages. William’s third marriage was in Lowell in 1874. He married:

Elizabeth’s last name is transcribed as Kate. Interestingly her mother was a Hartley. William’s parents are just given as Joseph and Jane.

Here is William’s 2nd marriage:

This is the Mary we see in the Lowell Censuses. Again, William’s mother is Jane. Int means publishment of intention of marriage. Perhaps William’s mother’s name was given as Frances in that publication. I also see what looks like an ‘I.’. Perhaps this means Ireland. If that is the case, the William was from Ireland but in the intentions of marriage record, he is from the West Indies. I suppose that both could be true.

Here is part of William’s Oath of Allegiance:

It looks like William signed his name more as Geatley than Gately. Here is the family in 1850:

William’s Parents: Joseph Gatley and Jane Savage

In the 1841 Census for Salford, England, William was listed as a Gatley, so I’ll go with that. A logical place to look for Joseph and Jane is in a marriage record. Here is one possibility:

Here a Joseph Gatliffe married Jane Savage on June 5, 1808. The timing seems right and Gatliffe sounds close to Gatley.

Here is Leigh – 9.5 miles West of Manchester:

I searched for births to Joseph and Jane Gatley in Lancashire County and came up with one:

Perhaps the family moved to the West Indies, had William and moved back.

Warrington is between Liverpool and Manchester.

An Ancestry Clue

Here is an Ancestry Tree Hint for Joseph:

I have two choices here. I can accept the hint, or I can not accept it. If I don’t accept it, then I’ll have to do my own research. I think I’ll accept the hint. It seems reasonable. The names are right and I have already come across the places of Salford and Warrington. I can only assume that James had children and some of his descendants either looked up his ancestry or kept track of family history.

Once I entered James Gatley in the tree, I got this further hint:

It seems like James was a fustian cutter, so this occupation must have run in the family. I found a question on-line from Andy who was wondering what his fustian cutting ancestors did and he got this answer:

Hi Andy

Fustian Cutter / Weaver 
A person who lifted and cut the threads in the making of Fustian, formerly a kind of coarse cloth made of cotton and flax. Now a thick, twilled cotton cloth with a short pile or nap, a kind of cotton velvet. A long thin knife was inserted into the loops and the threads cut as it was pulled through, stretched between rollers. The cloth was then brushed to raise the pile. Fustian is the old name for corduroy / A weaver of Fustian 

best wishes & happy hunting 🙂
Lynda 

A Summary for Agnes Cavanaugh

In this Blog, I looked at Agnes’ father’s mother’s line which was Gately or Gatley in England. Possibly even Gatliffe.

I had shown previously that  John E Cavanaugh’s mother was a widow when he was born.

The Warren Family

My top guess for John’s father is John J Warren. I don’t like seeing the Potential Father above as it gives a bad hint, so I’ll add John Warren in:

Here is some more on John Warren:

John died two years after Louisa’s son John was born in an accidental drowning. The death was recorded in Amesbury and John Warren lived in Lowell. The death record gives John’s parents as Jeremiah and Mary Warren. They were both from Ireland.

James had an older brother Jeremiah. Here is the family in 1855:

There were no women in this house at the time of the State Census.

This also fills in all eight maternal second great-grandparents for my children, Heather and JJ:

 

 

Summary

  • My children have roots in Lowell
  • The Gatley’s or Gately’s were fustian cutters in the area of Manchester, England before coming to the US
  • I haven’t found records tracing Louisa Gatley’s father to the West Indies or records of her mother from Ireland.
  • William Gatley lived quite a long life. A bit of a sketch could be written up about him.
  • I’m starting to look into the Warren family. They appear to also have Irish roots.

 

 

 

 

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My Children’s Maternal Genealogy: Part 4 – Cavanaugh

So far in looking into my children’s Jarek genealogy, I had good results on the Jarek side, and then I got stuck on the Morrow French Canadian side. In this Blog, I’ll see if I can discover more about the Cavanaugh side.

The Mystery of John Cavanaugh

Agnes Cavanaugh Jarek’s father was John:

Here is apparently a different John Cavanaugh with a wife and daughter Agnes in 1930 Providence:

John was listed as a mechanical engineer. His father is listed as being born in the Irish Free State. This is to distinguish it from Northern Ireland. Here is the area of 40 Dover Street today:

Actually, it looks like there were two John Cavanaugh families. Here is John with “Laoner” in 1920 Providence, RI:

The family lived at 3 Hospital Road:

So where was the other John Cavanaugh family in 1920?

Here is John F Cavanaugh again at 40 Dover Street:

Checking Ancestry Trees

There is one tree with a John Edward Cavanaugh. However, that tree has a reference to John being 3 months old in 1870. The other John Cavanaugh’s were born around 1881.

Mystery Solved

I solved the mystery by searching for WWI Draft Registrations:

Here is the real John Cavanaugh with real signature. Now we have a birth date and a middle name. From the 1920 Census, John and his father were born in Massachusetts. His mother was born in England. Here is the rest of the Draft Registration:

So now it looks like all my previous research based on the wrong John Cavanaugh was also wrong.

I took out the top paternal part of the Cavanaugh Line. Now the bottom maternal part has to go also.

Here is my clean start:

Now I am left with three records. The first record says that John is John E. Warren. This is Leona’s marriage record. It also says that John E was born in Lowell to John and Louisa Gately. The big three records in genealogy are birth, marriage and death. So far, I have no birth or death record for John Cavanaugh. In addition, the marriage record where I would have expected him to be, had someone with the last name Warren.

A Short Sketch of John Edward Cavanaugh

John was born 1880 in possibly Lowell to possibly a John Cavanaugh and Louisa Gately. However, his marriage record has him as John E. Warren.

He was a wool sorter and had four daughters. The last we hear of John is in the 1920 Census.

This is possibly John in 1900 Lowell:

John was listed as a day laborer. If this is him, he has a brother Thomas and sister Mary. This looks to be the same family living on River Street, Lowell in 1880:

This John was born in October 1879.

Below, this is more clearly John, as he was listed as a wool sorter in 1910:

John was living on 16 State Street. If I can connect the 1910 John to the 1900 John, I will know his parents.

Looking at the Details

Here is a Lowell Directory for 1906:

 

John E may be John Edward. I don’t know who John J is. The other John could be the John E’s father. Maggie, Mary and Thomas were also mentioned in the 1900 Census, but we can’t be sure if they are the same. John J and Thomas F are boarding in the same place.

Cavanagh/Cavanaugh in Lowell in 1900

Here I see no John’s, but I do see a Louisa. Remember Louisa Gately came up in John Edward’s mother on Leona’s wedding record. I also see Louisa in the 1906 Directory. Here is Louisa in 1900 with her daughter Ellen at 24 Crowley Street:

Note that in the 1906 Lowell City Directory, John E was also living at 24 Crowley. This suggests that Louisa and not Maggie could be his mother.

1911 Directory

Here is Louisa Cavanaugh. This Directory gives the name of her deceased husband, Michael. Her home is at 24 Crowley still and a Nellie A Cavanaugh lives with her. There seems to be a connection with Cavanaugh, US Bunting Co. and 24 Crowley Street.

More On Louisa Gately Cavanaugh

Louisa is mentioned in the Veteran’s Schedule of 1890:

This shows that Michael served in the Civil War and that Louisa was a widow in 1890.

Here is Louisa’s marriage to Michael Cavanaugh:

This was in 1864, so before the Civil War was over.

In 1880, Louisa lived at 38 Bleachery Street, Lowell:

Here she is with her daughter Ellen. The Census was taken June 8, 1880. If John Edward was born August 24, 1880 he wouldn’t be in this Census. However, Louisa was already a widow at the time. For MIchael to be the father of John, he would have had to have died while Louisa was pregnant. Possible, but not likely.

Louisa in 1870

There are trees at Ancestry which use this Census to show that John Edward’s parents are Michael and Louisa. This Census was taken in July of 1870. This John Cavanaugh was born about April, 1870. This raises some questions as John Edward gave his birthday as August 24, 1880. Perhaps he was off 10 years. But then I don’t see this John in the 1880 Census with Louisa, so where did he go? Perhaps this John passed away.

Here is a record from May 13, 1871:

Lizzie is close enough to Louisa for me. Based on his age at death, this John would have been born about April 3, 1870 which is the same month the John in the 1870 Census was born.

Here is this short-lived John’s birth record on April 3, 1870:

This means that the clue that Ancestry is giving me for John Edward Cavanaugh’s father is not looking good:

Before I put Michael to bed, I wonder when he died. Michael died July 13, 1872 of consumption:

This means that MIchael is ruled out as a father for John Edward Cavanaugh. Assuming that John Edward was born in 1880 or close to it, that was 8 years after Michael Cavanaugh died.

Who Are John Edward Cavanaugh’s Parents?

Right now, I have two top contenders:

  • Louisa Gately Cavanaugh and an unknown father. Louisa was 38 in 1880, so she was of child-bearing age. This theory is supported by the confusing marriage record listing her as the mother of John E. Warren, the husband of Leona Morrow.
  • John and Margaret Cavanaugh. They had a son named John born around the time that John Edward was supposed to have been born. This is supported by the dates. The marriage record for “Leoner” Morrow gave her husband’s father’s name as John.

Who do you vote for? There is always a third alternative, but let’s focus on these two first. If the first option is true, there should be a birth record.

Going Down the Rabbit Hole – John and Margaret

This appears to be the birth of John and Margaret’s son:

Sometimes you need to be creative on the spelling. This corresponds to the 1880 Census:

I would like to browse the Lowell Birth Records for Aughust 24, 1880 as that is when John Edward Cavanaugh stated that he was born. I looked and I couldn’t find anything that looked like a John Cavanaugh’s birth.

Next Steps

One way to do this is to wait until Heather and JJ’s DNA tests come in and see if this sorts anything out. I think that those DNA results will be helpful. Another strategy would be to build two trees. One would be with Louisa Gately Cavanaugh as the mother of John Edward. The other would be to build a competing tree with John and Maggie Cavanaugh as competing parents. Another possibility is that John Edward Cavanaugh could have been adopted.

Back to the City Directory

It occurs to me that if I could find a death record for John Edward Cavanaugh, that might clear some things up. Here is the 1927 Directory:

Laoner is at 263 Thorndike and I don’t see John Edward Cavanaugh. The latest John Edward sighting I had was for the 1920 Providence Census.

Here is the 1931 Directory:

Here Leona is not called a widow, but also there is no sign of John Edward. There are other Cavanaugh widows listed. Agnes is now working where her mom used to work. Louise and Helen are also listed but not the other Leona.

1936 Lowell

This is similar to the 1931 Directory except that the daughter, Leoner, is listed separately. I don’t see Louise this year. I didn’t see a Leoner or Leona in the 1946 Lowell Directory.

Here is a different look at the 1940 Census:

From this, I might infer that John Edward died between 1936 and 1940.

Here is a John Cavanaugh in 1930 in Providence County, Rhode Island:

This John is working and living at the race track. He is married and married at an older age (33). He is also the right age.

Here is Burrilville, Rhode Island where this John was living:

 

William and Maggie Cavanaugh

Perhaps a further look at William and Maggie will reveal something. It appears that William and Maggie Cavanaugh had a son John Kavaney but he died in 1908:

Michael Cavanaugh and Louisa Gately

So far I have shown that Michael and Louisa Cavanaugh had a son John but that he died young. They also had a daughter Ellen. According to the 1900 Census, she was born in 1865.

Ellen Cavanaugh Born 1865

So far, I have not found a birth record for Ellen. Here she is in 1865:

 

Ellen is assumed to be the daughter of Michael and Louisa above. Ellen McNabb is perhaps a relative of Louisa as they were both born in England. Fast forward to 1920. Ellen is with her mom and her mom’s niece (Ellen Ryden):

Ellen lived at 24 Crowley Street with her mother:

The two Ellens were book keepers at a Bunting Mill.

Here is Ellen in 1940:

Now her mother Louisa is dead. Ellen lives at 22 Crowley Street. She is now a payroll clerk at the bunting company. This is likely US Bunting which made bunting for the US Flag.

Bleachery Street, Lowell in 1880

Here is Ellen when she was in school in 1880:

Ellen and her mother lived on Bleachery Street in Lowell. Louisa is listed as being born in England. However Louisa’s father is listed as born in Jamaica and her mother is born in Ireland. Here is Bleachery Street in 1881:

Finally, this is from the Find A Grave Website:

A Brief Summary of John Edward Cavanaugh

  • I haven’t found a birth record for John
  • John’s marriage record gives his own name as John E Warren. It gives his father’s name as John [Warren] and his mother as Louisa Gately
  • I don’t have a death record for John
  • John was listed as boarding at the same house as his Louisa Gately Cavanaugh in 1906

I am beginning to think that perhaps John Cavanaugh was really John Warren but was raised as a Cavanaugh.

John Warren Father of John Edward Cavanaugh?

Next I will look at the possibility that John Warren was John Cavanaugh’s father. Here is a John J Warren on Bleachery Street in 1880:

He is widowed and has four children. In 1880 Louisa Gately was living at 38 Bleachery Street and John J Warren lived at 7 Bleachery Street. Seem like John J. is at least a possible father. At least he seems like a better candidate than Michael Cavanaugh who died 8 years before John Edward Cavanaugh was born.

Here is John J’s marriage in Lowell in 1866:

This is probably John’s birth record:

This means that I have come full circle. I originally thought that Leona Morrow’s marriage record was mistaken in saying that she married John E Warren. Now I see that it was probably the truth in who John Edward really was.

Summary and Conclusions

  • Initially, I was having trouble figuring out who the correct John Cavanaugh was. A WWI Draft Registion card straightened that out.
  • I was able to eliminate two potential Cavanaugh father’s for John Edward Cavanaugh.
  • It appears that the marriage record for Leona Morrow that had her husband as John E Warren was actually right.
  • I chose John J Warren as a father for John Edward Cavanaugh. John J Warren lived on the same street as John Edward’s mother who was Louisa Gately Cavanaugh
  • If I am right, John Edward and Nellie Cavanaugh were half siblings. John would have had Warren family half siblings also.
  • I would assume that John Edward was raised by Louisa Cavanaugh and her daughter Nellie. Nellie would have been about 15 when John Edward was born.
  • The records have Louisa Gately born in England and that her father was born in Jamaica and mother in Ireland.
  • Of course, I have been wrong before and would accept any corrections.