Category: DNA General

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Another Hartley Relative in Fall River Newspapers: Abel Burrows

In my previous Blog, I wrote about Abe Pilling who was a policeman in Fall River from about 1890 until 1925. I had good luck with finding out a lot about this very public man. Next I thought that I’d check around for other relatives. This Blog will focus in on Abel Burrows who was the husband of Mary Ann Hartley. However, some other Hartley relatives will be mentioned.

1 Nov 1870 – Death of Twelve Year Old Esther Hartley

 

One of the first entries was a sad one. The Hartley family arrived in the US not much more than a year before this time.

Other Wilkinsons were listed on the previous page. Mary Wilkinson was Greenwood’s mother. The ship arrived in Boston on  25 Ocober 1869. The Hartley family lived in Fall River for only a year or less before moving to New Bedford.

Mary Ann Hartley and Abel Burrows

I had to find this 16 February 1874 article by searching for Burrows. Hartley was hypeneated in the paper. Mary Ann looked to be 18 but is listed as 19 on the State Marriage record. Abel was a weaver at the time. I wonder how the two met as Mary Ann lived in New Bedford and Abel in Fall River.

Mary Ann’s grandmother Mary Pilling Hartley Wilkinson died not too soon after the wedding:

The above is from 25 Mar 1874.

18 May 1878

14 April 1880

7 June 1880

5 August 1880

19 June 1882

21 June 1882

Was Abel a cricket player? Cricket is a very English game, but there were many English in Fall River.

13 Feb 1884

30 April 1884

27 June 1884

Friends of the family?

Here is Linden Street:

6 Sep 1884

Here are Abel’s wife and children:

8 Sep 1884

Now we know Nancy’s nickname.

29 Jana 1885

Here is a map:

There is a balloon located at 47 South Main located at the intersection of at least two streets. I circled where the old business was and Linden Street. I wonder if the family home moved also at this time. If he did move, it was not right away. Here is the 1885 Fall River Directory:

20 Mar 1885

That would explain how Abel came by the jewelry business. Emanuel decided to stay. According to the 1900 census he arrived in the US in 1885 with his wife and daughter.

24 March 1885

24 April 1885

Here was a way to get people to Abel’s store:

25 June 1885

23 Dec 1886

 

8 Mar 1887

I guess I didn’t expect to find out so much about Abel.

15 July 1887

10 August 1887

This is of interest to me as I grew up in Rochester. Perhaps Mary Ann visited her brother James Hartley while in Rochester. According to the 1885 Fall River Directory, John Slinn was in the insurance business.

It turns out that John Slinn wrote an article of his trip to Rochester in the Fall River Daily Herald published 12 August 1887.

That is quite the fish story and I had to chuckle picturing where most of this took place. My guess is that the fishing took place at Snow’s Pond not too far from the Hartley farm. What the article doesn’t mention is that Annie Hartley was due to give birth to her 2nd child later in September of that year and already had a one year old Daniel Emmet Hartley.

8 Nov 1887

15 Dec 1887

19 June 1888

30 July 1888

24 Sep 1888

1 Jan 1889

Apparently Abel owed some money.

25 Jan 1889

15 Feb 1889

28 Feb 1889

17 Sep 1889

14 May 1891

12 June 1891

20 August 1891

Mrs. David Wilkinson is Marion Ann nee PIllng the sister of Abe Pillng who lived in New Bedford. She was born in 1861. I wonder if the vacation was actually in Rochester at the Hartley farm.

30 Jan 1992

More problems for Abel:

The same day:

15 Feb 1894

15 May 1894

9 Feb 1895

25 Feb 1895

Tessie must have been a nickname for Esther.

13 Jan 1897

I assume that the Burrows attended the Baptist Church.

1 Oct 1897

29 Dec 1897

27 Jan 1899

4 Feb 1899

15 FEb 1899

21 August 1900

Who knew my great-grandfather was in the Fall River Daily Herald or that he had visited Niagara Falls? I can’t tell if James was travellng alone or not.

5 Sep 1900

This is a bit of a mystery as there is no Joseph Hartley. My guess is that this was my 9 year old grandfather James Hartley and his 7 year old sister Nellie. Henry Bradford was born January 1900 and would have been the 7th chlld in the house, so perhaps James’ and Nellie’s trip to Fall River gave their mom a break.

14 Feb 1901

8 Jun 1901

The follow-up article two days later:

My guess was that they went to visit the Hartley family. This is the type of article I was not expecting – a story about Rochester in a Fall River paper.  Mrs. Williams must be Elizabeth Burrows Williams:

The child must be Florence Williams.

6 Sep 1901

16 Jan 1902

5 Mar 1903

So that was the end of Abel. His son-in-law became exectutor and sold off the contents of his jewelry business. I felt I got to know Abel a bit through the eyes of the Fall River newspapers. He was very active in sports and a supporter of cricket, polo and biking. He was in good shape and an avid biker until near his premature death. He had his share of problems with the death of two of his daughters and more than his share of robberies.

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Abraham L Pilling of Fall River as Seen in Newspaper Articles.

I have been looking at Newpapers.com lately for articles of genealogical interest. Some people have more written about them in the newspaper than others. Abe Pilling had a lot written about him.

Pilling

My 3rd great-grandmother was a Pilling. Her son was John Pilling. He had Abraham Pilling who lived in Fall River. Newspapers.com covers Fall River. This article is 02 May 1925 from the Berkshire Eagle:

Those were a lot of vetoes. Abraham had actually died in February 2nd before this veto took place. Here is an article that preceded the above from the Boston Globe on 14 April 1925:

Here is an article from the Fall River Daily Evening News from 6 September 1907:

Here is some basick information on John Pilling and his family:

Abraham was born in 1865 and was the son of John Pilling. Mary Pilling had John before she married Robert Hartley, my ancestor. Abraham was born five days after the Civil War was over.

This is probably an early mention of Abraham in the Fall River Globe on 6 May 1889:

Abraham was apparently on a sports team called the Olympics. Abraham was not afraid to get into a fight.

Here an entry from 19 July 1889:

A day later Pilling was in the paper for a quarter mile race:

More from July 23:

22 Feb 1890

7 April 1890

Sounds like an exciting game.

Now I’m curious about his trip to England as Abe’s father abandoned the family and took off to England in 1877 when Abe was only 12.

Here is one record:

This must be Abe’s return. At this time, he was a weaver:

 

Here is a later trip:

Here he took his wife and two children:

25 Jul 1890

31 July 1890

A report of the annual Sons of St. George Day at Rocky Point:

11 Nov 1890

James Pilling

26 October 1891

James’ obituary was posted in the Fall River Daily Evening News on 1 April 1919:

 

In 1891 and 1892 as Abe worked on the police force, he changed from footballer to referee.

25 Nov 1892

16 Oct 1895

The Fall River Daily Herald reported:

5 Mar 1896

15 Aug 1898

28 Jul 1899

31 Jul 1899

Perhaps Abe’s wife needed a break from the police force drama. Marion was Abe’s sister.

14 Sep 1899

Some criticism of Abe on the baseball team:

10 Apr 1900

25 Jul 1901

Abe also played quoits:

Quoits was a type of ring toss game:

15 May 1902

More problems for Abe:

 

5 Sep 1907

From the Fall River Daily Evening News:

9 Jul 1902

I mentioned this trip the Abe took with his family above. I’m curious as to whom he visited. His father was dead by now. It seems that I recall that my great Aunt Nellie aslo traveled to England at some point.

24 Sep 1902

Here is some more news on Abe’s trip:

The name Thomas Wilkinson is interesting. The article doesn’t mention the purpose of the visit.

21 May 1903

19 Jul 1906

I like how the paper covers the local news:

I still have a few years to go.

26 Jan 1907

15 August 1913

The next day’s paper:

4 Sep 1918

    • My guess is that at least one of Abe’s visits to England was to visit the Halliwell family.

20 Oct 1920

There are many more details. Alice’s brother Everett was an usher.

2 Nov 1920

After this time, there are few significant newspaper articles about Abe.

Here is Abe with my Hartley relatives around 1921 or 1922:

Abe is in the back row with white hair, a mustache and bow-tie.

24 June 1922

Actually, there were a few later articles that I mention at the top of this Blog. That article mentioned injuries that Pilling sustained in the line of duty. I wonder if these were part of those injuries.

Summary and Conclusions

  • Abe certainly had a difficult start in life as his father deserted his family when Abe was 12
  • Abe lived a very public life as seen through his appearances in many newspaper articles
  • Abe was apparently a very physical man charged with what today would be called police brutality. He was also fond of playing sports and traveling. Of course these were different times. He also seemed to like to drink and was accused of being intoxicated on the job, but never found guilty of the charges. However, Abe stayed with his family, so in that way was a better man than his father.

 

 

 

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Newpaper Articles on My Mother’s Side

My mom was from the Philadelphia area.

Rathfelder

Here is something from the Philadelphia Enquirer on 30 August 1936:

Various people then answer my grandmother’s question.

The Philadelphia Inquirer on September 17, 1943 announced the death of my mother’s brother:

My Uncle Russel’s death noted 12 January 1999:

Lentz

Here are some Lentz names from my mother’s ancestry:

This appears to be an early mention of George Lentz of Northern Liberties in 27 September 1805:

George was a butcher in Northern Liberties, so it would make sense that he would want to be on a vigilance committee. Here is George listed in the 1810 Census in East Northern Liberties:

Here is the translation:

I have that Georg (or George) was born in 1770, so he would be 40 in 1810. The two older people would be George and his wife. The four younger ones could be George’s children.

Here is the 1800 Census:

This indicates perhaps a son under 10. So he would have been born between 1790 and 1800. Here is what I have on my web page:

This does not seem to match with the Census. As I have my line through John above, then Georg born 1798 may not be right. However, based on the 1810 Census, there were two males who were between 16 and 25. That means that they were born between 1785 and 1794. Something still seems off.

This John is probably George’s brother:

He is listed near George in the Direct Tax of 1798:

Here George was living at New 4th and Coats. It looks like John was on West 3rd Street. Here is an 1802 map of Northern Liberties:

4th Street is the Street on the left going up and down. 3rd Street is the next long Street to the right of 4th. As I only see one house on the corner of 4th and Coates, I assume that is the George Lentz house. In the newspaper ad above John lives on 3rd Street above the Coates Burying Ground, which I assume is on Coate’s Street. So using a newspaper, tax records and an old map, it seems we get an idea of where some of these Lentz families lived. There is another John Lentz listed in Philadelphia newpaper articles but he lives in Passyunk.

This ad from 31 August 1812 in the Aurora General Advertiser mentions the George Lentz property:

It appears that this property just happened to be next to where George Lent lived.

Here is an ad from 20 December 1851:

I recognize the firm of Lentz & Young as a place one of my ancestors worked. I found that Lentz and Geisler also had many contracts with the almshouse such as this one recorded on 13 August 1861:

Jacob Lentz was my third great-grandfather. Here is part of a poster that one of my relatives sent me from 1851:

10 July 1863:

Here is Jacob’s death notice from the Evening Telegraph on Saturday 6 Feruary 1869:

Jacob’s wife died over thirty years later. Here is the 1 May 1900 Notice:

George Washington Lentz

Here is George death notice:

This was from the Philadelphia Inquirer on 20 February 1888. Here is another notice from the Philadelphia Times from February 17:

Baker

I have that my 2nd great-grandmother was Mary Baker. Her father was Conrad Baker (1800-1881). Here is the notice from 28 February 1881:

Here is East Mongomery Ave in Fishtown:

Nicholson

I can start with my mother’s grandmother. This is from 24 September 1951:

This appears to be the Cemetery:

Here is Annie’s father in the paper of 11 June 1919:

He was also buried in the same cemetery.

Agnes D Nicholson

I have that Agnes who was Annie’s sister married David Vickery. She died at the same place that Annie died. This was at a Presbyterian Home for Widows and Single Women on 58th and Greenway Ave.

Agnes died about 7 years after Annie.

Summar and Conclusions

  • There could be many other paths to follow in the newspaper aritcles
  • The newer articles have the most information, so they are important in bringing the various family lines forward
  • Reading these newpaper articles spurs research using sources other than newspaper.com which also helps to fill in missing family information.

 

 

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Pilgrim 400th Anniversary: My Brewster Ancestors

I have quite a few Pilgrim Ancestors. They tended to marry other Pilgrims. I descend from Elder William Brewster in two different ways. All my Pilgrim ancestors come from my third great grandfather, Harvey Bradford. Harvey was born almost 250 years after Elder William Brewster.

Harvey descends from William Brewster on his father and mother’s side.

Harvey’s Paternal Brewster Connection

Harvery was the youngest son of Samuel Bradford. Unfortunately, I have that Samuel died in 1812, when Harvey was about three years old.

In the above image, we finally see a Brewster. Here is Sarah Brewster who married Benjamin Bartlett. Here is an expansion of her tree:

Sarah must be my 8th great grandmother and Elder William Brewster is my 10th great-grandfather.

Elder William Brewster Born About 1566/67

I’ll start will William to keep the Blog in chronological order. Doncaster looks to be about 12 miles NorthEast of Sheffield. Some of my mother’s ancestors lived in Sheffield in the 1700’s and 1800’s.

Although I have that William was born in Doncaster, I see that the Mayflower Families Book on Brewster has him born in or near Scrooby, Nottinghamshire – to the South of Doncaster:

Scrooby is quite small with a current population of about 329. According to the Mayflower families book, William’s father who was also William Brewster was appointed to the office of Baliff-receiver of Scrooby manor by Archbiship Grindal on 4 january 1575/6. So when William, Jr. was about 9 years old.

Here is a photo of Scrooby Manor:

This home was later occupied by William Brewster (Jr.) who served as did his father as Master of the Royal Post. This house played an important part in formation of Separatists later to be called the Pilgrims. Brewster and Bradford would meet in this house to pursue their religious freedom while in England.

In addition, William was unique in some ways compared to the other Pilgrims:

  • The only Pilgrim known to have had a college education
  • The first Pilgrim to visit Holland
  • The only Pilgrim with Government experience
  • William also held the highest non-pastoral Church position as Elder and very often filled in as preacher to the Pilgrims.

William was a much respected part of the Pilgrims. He nursed the sick to health in the first winter the Pilgrims were in Plymouth – even including William Bradford. At the time of his death, he had over 400 books in collection.

William Brewster Places

I have already mentioned Scrooby where William came from. While at Cambridge University, William was at Peterhouse Hall built in 1290, so already old when William attended.

Here is Peterhouse Hall:

In Leiden, William lived in the “stinksteeg” or stink alley in the Pieterskerk section.

The alley William lived on is now named William Brewstersteeg.

Here is Mr. Brewster’s location in Plymouth:

Isaac Allerton was William’s son-in-law. From Plymouth, William moved to Duxbury where he lived with his son Love. This is the likely location of his house:

The location of the house is known as Elder Brewster Lilacs:

Wililam died on 10 April 1644.

Love Brewster Born about 1614

Love was born in Holland and would have lived near or with his father William most of his life. Love and his brother Wrasling (or Wrestling) were on board the Mayflower accompanying their father. Love’s older brother Jonathan and his two sisters Patience and Fear arrived not too long after.  Jonathan, Patience and Fear were likely born in Scrooby. Love married Sarah Collier in Plymouth on 15 May 1634.

Love had four children probably all born in present-day Duxbury:

  • Sarah born about 1635 – probably named for her mother
  • Nathaniel born about 1637
  • William born about 1645
  • Wrestling

Love died late in 1650. His brother Jonathan wrote a letter to Love’s wife Sarah after the death of Love and gave her some land in Duxbury. Jonathan desired to return to England but never made it back. Based on the number of books in Love’s inventory at the time of his death, he appears to have been educated. This education was likely from his father Elder William Brewster.

Sarah Brewster Born about 1635

Sarah was last in my line of Brewster ancestors and still born in the early 1600’s. She was actually twice my ancestor. Here she is as my 8th great-grandmother on my 3rd great-grandfather Harvey’s paternal side:

Here she is as my 9th great-grandmother on Harvey’s maternal side:

It makes more sense that Sarah would be further back on Harvey’s maternal side as women tended to marry at an earlier age. Sarah grew up in her father Love’s house in Duxbury as noted above. In 1654 or 1655, Sarah married Benjamin Bartlett. He had been married previously to Susannah Jenny. In 1656, Sarah received a gift of land from her Uncle Jonathan Brewster. The birth record and marriage record for Sarah are missing. So wills and land records are used to patch the information together. Benjamin’s mother was Mary Warren also of Mayflower lineage.

Sarah’s husband Benjamin Bartlett was a cooper. Here is an excerpt from werelate.org:

The matchmakers were soon at work again, and in 1655, Benjamin married Sarah Brewster, daughter of Love Brewster and Sarah (Collier) Brewster, and grand-daughter of the spiritual leader of the Plymouth Colony, Elder William Brewster. They moved to Waiting Hill in Duxbury, near the Collier home on North Hill, where the North Hill Country Club now stands. Sarah’s maternal grandfather, William Collier, had been one of the original merchant adventurers who financed the Colony and an assistant governor. Benjamin was soon active in politics and was elected Constable in 1662. He was elected a Selectman in 1666 and was reelected for 14 terms, until 1686. In 1685 he was representative from Duxbury to the General Court of the Colony.

Here is a three mile walk near Waiting Hill that also shows North Hill:

Put this walk on my bucket list. Here is the actual Waitin Hill shown between Routes 3 and 3A:

Before there were so many trees in the area, the story goes that people would wait for ships returning from England on this Hill where they could see the Ocean.

Sarah died before 21 January 1678.

Summary and Conclusions

  • I have three Brewster ancestors who lived in early Plymouth and what is now Duxbury.
  • I have always been interested in Elder William Brewster due to his education and spiritual role and other roles he played in the life of the early colony.
  • These three people are fairly well documented as to where they lived and the lives they lived. I have a special interest in where my ancestors lived.
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An Update On My Mitochondrial DNA from 2020

While looking over my old draft Blogs, I came upon this one last updated in November of 2020. I had not finished it, but I wanted to post this now to show the progression of my Mitochondrial DNA Matches.

My last Blog on my Mitochondrial DNA or MtDNA was in 2018. I won’t go over everthing I wrote there. At that time I had four perfect MtDNA matches:

At that time, I noted that I was getting about one perfect (or Genetic Distance of zero) match per year. That rate has kept up and now I have seven perfect matches:

My three new matches are with Anne, Elizabeth and Ann. The two additional female surnames noted are for Gallagher and McLaughlin.

Triangulation of Female Ancestors – Back to Ireland, or Not?

At the time of my previous 2018 Blog, it seemed like my mother’s female line went back to Ireland based on the common ancestors. FTDNA has a map of my current matches, but only the ones who have listed a location for their female line oldest ancestor:

Here is a key to the pins:

However, along with the map, the dates have to be considered. My female line, from what I can tell goes back to the 1700’s:

Ann Nicholson is my great-grandmother. Ann Scott was certainly born in the 1700’s. I am not certain of Roebuck and Scott, but onely mostly sure. My MtDNA Haplogroup of H5’36 certainly goes back to the British Isles, but I would like to know more than that.

However, 9 people list an earliest known ancestor. These are:

  1. Gallagher
  2. McLaughlin
  3. McKelvey
  4. Jennings
  5. Coleman
  6. Francis
  7. Chiffink
  8. Roberts, Jolly
  9. Touhey

These names are helpful, but adding dates and places would be more helpful.

My MtDNA Matches’ Genealogy

The map above only shows the location of most distant female ancestor where that was added. Most people don’t add this information. Out of 21 matches:

  • four people made it to the map
  • 10 show that they have family trees at FTDNA
  • 9 list an earliest known ancestor (see above)

The last two bullets have some overlap but some are only in one category or the other.

I’ll start a spreadsheet:

Already I have an issue. Anne’s tree has Anne O’Donnell as the oldest on her female-only line. But she listes Annie Gallagher.

A Tree for Newest MtDNA Match Anne

I can build a quick tree at Ancestry Here is Anne’s grandmother:

Anne’s great-grandmother is Margaret Campbell who was born in Ireland. Here is Maggie in 1900 in Philadelphia:

If this is right, Maggie came to the US as a baby in 1862. This appears to be Margaret’s death record:

Conlin is transcribed as Coulin.

This appears to be the passenger list for Maggie and her family:

It is more likely that Maggie was born in December 1862 than 1861. This ship, the Hecla, arrived June 29, 1863.

Summary and Conclusions

  • The rate continues that I get about 1 new perfect Mitochondrial DNA match per year.
  • Going through the genealogy on the maternal side for these matches – if these matches  have provided trees – takes time
  • So far, I have not found a genealogical connection in any of my matches

 

 

 

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Another Nicholson Heard from at 23andMe

Lately I have been reaching out to Nicholson descendants at 23andMe who match me by DNA. The last one that I had identified was Dave and I wrote a Blog about my match with him here.

It turns out that this match is with Cynthia who is Dave’s sister. I didn’t realize that until I just checked. Cynthia’s common matches with me.

This shows that David is my third cousin and Cythia’s brother.

Here is how we match. I’ll need to add Cynthia into David’s box on the lower right. Cynthia didn’t know much beyond her Nicholson grandfather. I have more on the Nicholson family here. Here is Walter’s baptismal record from Kensington Presbyterian Church:

Walter is Cynthia’s Nicholson great-grandfather. Walter and his brother George Dockrill Nicholson were both baptized on April 4, 1886 when they were 10 or 11. Cynthia’s grandfather George Dockrill Nicholson was named for Walter’s brother.

My DNA Match with Cynthia

My DNA match with Cynthia is similar to the one I have with her brother David, but larger:

Here is my match with David:

I match David on the same Chromosomes but for less on each Chromosome.

I had added David to my Chromosome map, now I can add Cynthia. Here is Cynthia on Chromosome 8:

My match with Cynthia is represented by the third purple bar. Her match overlaps some with Linda. In order for these people to match me, each of our unique mixes of chromosome inheritances have to match up. David and Cynthia’s DNA matches with me do not overlap with each other

Other people that match me on this Chromosome are Linda, Carolyn, Beth and Robert.

Robert and Beth are the great-grandchildren of Sarah Nicholson, my great-grandmother Annie’s older sister. Linda and Carolyn descend from Nellie Nicholson and David and Cynthia descend from Walter Nicholson. David and
Cynthia also have a 1st cousin Robert, but he tested at AncestryDNA, so he doesn’t have detailed DNA comparison information unless he uploads his results to Gedmatch, MyHeritage or Famly Tree DNA (FTDNA).

My DNA Match with Cynthia on Chromosome 20

We have two copies of each of our chromosomes. Both Cynthia and I match on our maternal copy of our Chromosome 20. That is because that is our Nicholson side.

Chromosome 20 is one of the shorter chromosomes. Judith descends from my closer Lentz and Nicolson ancestors, so she is in a different color. Cynthia’s DNA match with me on this chromosome overlaps my match with David and Carolyn, meaning we all got the same DNA from William Nicholson or his wife Martha Ellis there.

Here is what my maternal chromosomes look like now:

Cynthia brought my maternally mapped DNA up a percentage to 38%. The purple represents DNA from my great-grandmother Annie Nicholson. I have eight great-grandparents, so that represents roughly 12.5% of all of my DNA or 25% of my maternal side DNA. Taking this one step further:

5.5% divided by 12.5% is 44%. That is the amount of DNA from William Nicholson and Martha Ellis that I have mapped now.

Visual Phasing

I have mapped out by visual phasing where I got my DNA from each of my grandparents on all my chromosome. Here is Chromosome 8:

I am the third person on the chart. All my maternal side (green) DNA came from my maternal grandmother who was a Lentz. However, this is my Nicholson side also as my grandmother’s mother was a Nicholson. That explains why I match Nicholsons well on this Chromosome. My sister Lori has the second most Lentz DNA on the bottom row.

Here is Chromosome 20 for me and my siblings:

Again, I have all green or Lentz. By looking at my siblings’ DNA, you can get a good idea how DNA is inherited differently by each sibling. For example, my sister Sharon would not match Cynthia on this Chromosome as she has a lot of Rathfelder DNA on Chromosome 20. But she may match on another chromosome where I con’t match Cynthia.

23andMe Family Tree

23andMe suggests that I add Cynthia to their tree:

I also added David on the lower left part of the tree.

 

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Cousin Rusty’s BigY Results

It has been a while since I have written about my cousin Rusty’s YDNA. Rusty’s YDNA testing resulted in his finding out that a rumored adoption of I think his grandfather in Ireland was true and that the name he was accustomed to having was not the same name as his ancestors. Here is my last Blog.  At that time, Rusty had not taken the BigY test. Since then he has. I see that previous results lead Rusty to believe that his paternal line was origingally McFarlane or McFarldand. Previously, Rusty was confirmed to be R-BY674.

Rusty’s New Group of R-BY38907

It sounds like a bunch of numbers, but it is really Rusty’s place in the tree of mankind. Here is Rusty’s Block Tree view of his results:

 

The BigY testing brought Rusty down a level to R-Y38907. There are three people in Rusty’s group with 4 variants. There is a McFarlane and a McFarland and Rusty. There are two other testers who hae split off from BY38907 to R-FT91061. If I use 100 years per variant or SNP, then McFarland are 500 years from a common ancestor and Rusty’s group are 400 years away. So a wild guess could be that these five people have a common ancestor around 450 years ago or in the 1500’s.

SNP Tracker

Let’s see what the SNP Tracker has to say about Rusty’s Haplogroup. This is a web based program.

SNP Tracker has BY38907 in Northern Ireland in Roman times. If I add in the group directly below Rusty, it brings us into modern times (1900):

I think I like my estimate better. As there  is only one SNP difference between BY38907 and FT91061, I don’t know why SNP Tracker has about 1900 years between them.

BY38907 in Context

In general terms, BY38907 is a R1b Haplogroup. This is a very common European Haplogroup. The FTDNA L21 project has what is called a Tip of the Iceberg Map or Tree for L21 people. As a Hartley, I am also in this group.

L21 has been associated with people with Celtic background, but it includes more than that. Here is Rusty’s Path:

DF63 is at the top right in brown. I know that I am in L513 in the Orange. That means that Rusty and I are related back to 2600 BC. That is actually not that distant in terms of YDNA:

Also I see that the DF63 is one of the smaller early branches of L21. From there we branched off:

My group is on the left and Rusty’s is on the right. His CT6919 is still at 2100 BC.

BY674 to BY38907

This view takes Rusty’s Block Tree back to BY674 (which descends from CTS6919):

The column on the left gives a measurement of SNPs. This shows that Rusty went from about 11-14 SNPs away with BY674 to four Private Variants away with his present designation of BY38907. The other interesting thing is that there are many McFarlands under BY674. This makes me think that BY674 was around at the time of the McFarland surname. This name is a fairly early surname dating to around 1100 from my understanding. This could also help date BY674. If any of the three people in Rusty’s group get a closer relative to test, then that closer relative and that person should form a new branch.

Rusty’s Private Variants

Rusty’s Private Variants represent his line since the common ancestor he shares with his two other matches who tested positive for BY38907 (and tested negative for FT91061).

Here are Rusty’s Private Variants:

Rusty has more than average Private Variants. The average of the group is four and Rusty has nine. This is partially explained in that Rusty took the BigY 700 and the other two testers probably had the BigY 500. That means that Rusty’s test was looking at parts of the YDNA that McFarland and McFarlane did not look at. That also means that if those two were to upgrade to the BigY 700, they may match on some of Rusty’s Private Variants. Of course, this would make them no longer private. This would also either add more SNPs to the current BY38907 Block or create or create a new branch (or both).

Rusty’s Non-Matching Variants

I’ll look at those listed with Rusty’s two closesty BigY matches:

These are Variants that Rusty has and his matches don’t have. Or they may be Private Variants that Rusty’s matches have and Rusty does not have. As Rusty has more Private Variants, these should be mostly Rusty’s Variants. Rusty’s Private Variants is really what the BigY does well at finding. These should be Variants that have not been discovered in anyone else before.

Here I have highlighted Rusty’s Private Variants in his two closest matches’ results:

This means that McFarlane has one Private Variant that Rusty does not have and McFarland has two Private Variants that Rusty does not have. Add Rusty’s 9 PVs plus the three above to get 12 PVs. Divide those by three testers to get the four Private Variants shown in the Block tree below BY38907.

If Rusty was to have his son take a BigY test, that would name most or all of Rusty’s Private Variants and put Rusty and his son into a new branch. Actually, these Private Variants are all probably already named, but they would then be shown as named. If Rusty’s son takes the BigY test, it would not tell Rusty anthing more about his genealogy. It would just give his branch of the YDNA Tree a name. Instead of Rusty having a bunch of Private Variants, he would have a named branch with a bunch of SNPs in it. This is what I did by having my brother tested:

My results are on the left. After having my brother tested for BigY, my brother and I split off from A11132 to form FT225247 in a block with 7 SNPs.

A Name for Rusty’s Private Variants

In general, FTDNA keeps the Private Variants as position numbers rather than named SNPs. Once they find a match, FTDNA reveals the name and puts the SNPs on a tree. The way to find out the names of your Private Variants is to go to ybrowse.com. Let’s try Rusty’s first which is 5173895.

Put the position number here and search:

This is where the position is on the Rusty’s Y Chromosome:

Here is the name:

This SNP (or Private Variant) was discovered when Rusty had his BigY test in 2019.

 

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DNA Relative Chris at 23andMe – a Lentz/Nicholson Descendant?

I wrote to Chris about a year and a half ago because we had a good DNA match at 23andMe. I perhaps confused Chris by mentioning another common relative named Judy as Chris would not have known the last name of Judy. I sent a message recently about being able to see Chris’ DNA results and got a message back that Chris didn’t know Judy but was curious about her ancestry. I’m curious as to where we connect also.

My DNA Connection with Chris

Here are the places that Chris and I share DNA. Based on the amount of DNA we share, 23andMe guesses that we are 2nd cousins once removed. 23andMe also put my match with Chris onto their Family Tree:

 

The Judith who I mentioned is on the left. She descends from William Lentz. By the way that 23andMe has the tree, it seems like Chris should descend from one of William’s siblings. That is assuming that the tree was created correctly. I know that Judith is my 2nd cousin. 23andMe think that Chris and I are 2nd cousins once removed. That means that he was born a generation after me.

Here are Jacob Lentz and Annie Nicholson:

Jacob is wearing a bow tie and Annie is to his right. My grandmother Emma is in front of Annie and my mother is in front of Emma. This is what I have for the other people:

TOP – Uncle Stanley, grandfather Lentz, Grandmother Lentz
MIDDLE – Aunt Agnes, Cousin Hazel, Gladys’ Mom
BOTTOM – Cousin Doris, Rob, Cousin Rob Poole, Muriel, Gladys

Some Lentz Genealogy

Since I have looked at a DNA tree, let’s look at the Lentz familyTree

Judy descends from William. I descend from Emma. That leaves Stanley and Agnes for Chris. I don’t see a record that Agnes’ son Robert was married or had children. That seems to leave Stanley Lentz.

Stanley Lentz Born 1894

These are the children I have for Stanley:

I couldn’t find much information about Hazel Lentz.

This findagrave.com record suggests that Doris may never have married:

Stanley Lentz

He had these children:

That filled in some more of my Lentz genealogy, but shed no light on how I match Chris.

William Lentz

I have that Judith descends from William. Perhaps Chris does also. I’ll look into some of his children.

Margaret Lentz

Margaret married John Viden. I couldn’t find a record that they had children.

Elva Lentz

I have this husband and children for Elval:

Bernice Lentz

In my last Blog, I had that Judy was the daughter of Florence. Now I see I should hae had her as the daughter of Bernice. I see this photo at Ancestry:

Judy shared the above photo with this caption:

My guess is that Judy is Bernice’s only child.

This family lived in Pitman, NJ:

Emma Lentz

Emma was born a little over a year before my mother:

I’m sure there were other descendants, but no clear connection to Chris, my DNA Relative at 23andMe. If Chris gets back to me with more family information, I’m sure I will be able to make a connection.

 

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A New Nicholson DNA Relative at 23andMe

Back in August, I sent out a message on 23andMe to David who appeared to have Lentz or Nicholson ancestry. I wrote:

Hi I see we have common DNA matches that I know. You must be related to me on my Lentz or Nicholson side or both. Do you have any information on your family history?

David wrote back:

Nicholson side…What do you know about the Nicholson’s??? Most of my family on both sides are from Philly. My grandfather was George Nicholson.

This sent me off to my web page on Nicholsons. I found a George Nicholson but he seemed to be born too early to be David’s grandfather:

Plus, I didn’t have that this George had any children. Then I found another George apparently named for his Uncle George:

He was born in 1902, but I hadn’t taken his line any further. I went to Ancestry and found George in the 1940 Census at 400 Chandler Street, Philadelphia:

If I have it right, this is what shows up on Google maps at 400 Chandler Street:

David’s DNA and My DNA Relatives Chart

I have a chart for my DNA matches on my Nicholson side:

Looks like I have already been tracking David’s grandfather George Dockrell Nicholson as I have David’s cousin Robert who tested at Ancestry:

Here is David:

Turns out we are third cousins. My great-grandmother Annie Nicholson was the sister of David’s great-grandfather Walter Nicholson. Here is our common 2nd great-grandfather William Nicholson:

Here is David’s 23andMe photo:

My DNA Connection with David

The DNA connection that I have with David is either from William Nicholson or his wife Martha Ellis:

That shared DNA is mostly on our Chromosome 20 with a little on Chromosome 8. I have quite a few Nicholson relatives who have had their DNA tested. Those who tested on Ancestry like Robert don’t have the detailed information on DNA that 23andMe shows, so they don’t show below:

This is the DNA that I share with William Nicholson and Martha Ellis so far. Let’s see if David adds any new DNA to the mix. I use an online program to paint my DNA called DNAPainter. This is my whole maternal side:

This shows that I have 36% or a little over a third of my maternal DNA painted or identified. The purpleish color is William Nicholson and Martha Ellis.

On Chromosome 8, I share Nicholson/Ellis DNA with David and Linda:

This is also called triangulation when three people match. It is a proof of sorts that there has to be the same common ancestor between the three of them.

Shared Nicholson/Ellis DNA on Chromosome 20

Here David adds new DNA to my profile:

David’s match with me ends about where Carolyn’s picks up. That could mean that David and I share DNA from William Nicholson and Carolyn and I share our DNA from Martha Ellis. Or it could be the other way around. The way that DNA is inherited, it comes down separately from each ancestor. However, we don’t know which one it is coming from unless it is verified from an earlier ancestor – say the parents of William Nicholson or Martha Ellis.

My match with David on Chromosome 20 brings my maternally mapped DNA up to 37%:

Here is all my paternal and maternal DNA mapped:

I don’t know where I was before, but I am at 45% mapped now. The maternal side of my DNA shows on the bottom row. For example next to Chromosome 20, the bottom row is my maternal side which is all Nicholson. This was randomly inherited. So for each of my siblings, this would look different.

Summary and Conclusions

  • I’m glad that David contacted me. I was able to update my Nicholson tree once he identifed himself.
  • I was also able to map our DNA matches as David has opted to share his DNA results with me. Most of my matches have not opted in to DNA sharing.
  • David represents the first shared DNA coming from his great grandfather Walter Ellis Nicholson born in 1877 that is identified by Chromosome.

 

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Another One of Gary’s Marshall Ancestors

In my previous Blog on Gary, I was looking at one of his ancestors who was a Marshall. The question was whether this Marshall was related to Chief Justice John Marshall. The anwer to that question was no. I assume that the question is the same for this other relative.

Here is what Gary says:

My other great grandmother Venie Marsh, was also a Marshall. 

OK. I have that Gary’s maternal grandfather was Sammie B Marsh. Here is Samuel in 1920:

Samuel was a machinist working for the government in 1920. Samuel’s father Jessie was a sailor. Vennie was born in Virginia according to the Census as Gary told me. Samuel was also born in Virginia.

Vennie Marsh

I think that Vennie is a nickname for Virginia. In 1900, Vennie was listed as being born in Maryland:

She was married about 1894 and born in 1876.

Findagrave.com has this information:

C

Come to find out that Vennie is short for Lavenia. Here she is in 1880 in Accomack County, Virginia with her mother and three sisters:

This appears to be a transcription of Lavenia’s birth record:

Here is another Samuel. Gary already has an ancestor from 1745 named Samuel Marsh:

That could mean that these two families were related as they were both from Accomack County, Virginia. That means that Sylvia’s parents could have been related to each other. We’ll see. These two Samuels were born 100 years apart.

Samuel J Marshall Born 1845

This record explains why Samuel wasn’t listed in the 1880 Census:

Too bad he died so young.

Here is a transcription of his marriage record:

Here is the young family in 1870:

Gillet Marshall

Going back to 1860, we see both Samuel and Gillet:

Here is the tree I have so far for Sammie B’s maternal side:

In 1850, Gilliett and family were farming in Accomack:

1850 is the earliest Census showing family units together. This death record gives information on Gillet’s parents:

I’m guessing that Hessie is short for Hester, but I’m not sure. I think that Hetty may be more normal. Also Gillet shows at Gilbert. If I take the Ancestry hints for the parents of Gillet, I get John A Marshall and Hester Parks:

Those are the same parents for John Taffy Marshall. I think that means that Sylvia’s parents Sammie B Marsh and Amanda Jane Evans were third cousins. They both had the same 2nd grandparents of John A Marshll and Hester Parks.