Category: DNA General

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Philip: An Unknown Butler Side Match

I recently had a request from Philip to look into a match he had with my late father-in-law Richard Butler. Here is the DNA match that Richard and Philip have with each other:

Richard’s two late sisters also match Philip:

Their matches with Philip are a little less than Richard’s but still pretty good matches.

More Shared Matches Between Richard and Philip

As I go down the shared list, I see this:

This puts the match on the Pouliot side of the Butler tree:

Here we see Patricia and Fred and how they are related to Richard and his two sisters. They all descend from Joseph Pouliot. One possibility is that Philip descends from Joseph Pouliot and Josephine Fortin:

Estelle was the mother of Richard Butler.

One mystery. Why would Philip be more related to Patricia’s daughter than to Patricia?

Does this suggest that Philip is related to the younger Patricia’s mother and father?

Here is a photo of the Pouliot family that I found at Ancestry (submitted by Fred):

Here is some more information I have on Joseph Pouliot:

He had 10 children and he died in Newton, Massachusetts.

Summary and Conclusions

  • Given the age difference between Richard and Philip, the most likely relationship between Philip and Richard would appear to be second cousin’s grandson.
  • That would mean that Philip’s third great-grandfather should be Joseph Pouliot born in St. Laurent Quebec.
  • Philip is related to a Patricia and Patricia’s daughter. However, he has a much larger match to the younger Patricia. This suggests that he is related to the elder Patricia’s husband also.
  • As Joseph Pouliot had 10 children, it may be difficult to narrow down which child Philip descended from. If Philip were to test his DNA at Ancestry, he may find closer matches and find out more informaiton as Ancestry has a larger database.
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Joyce and Bearse ThruLines Part 2

In part one of my Blog, I did some genealogy on the early Bearse family of Barnstable, Massachusetts and went through Joyce’s first Bearse ThruLine.

My father’s first cousin Joyce and I descend from Olive Bearse. I did the ThruLine of Thomas in my previous Blog, now I’ll look at Beverly.

Is There a Bearse Connection Between Joyce and Beverly?

Beverly’s Ancestry Tree is confusing compared to her ThruLine:

Beverly’s Tree has her father as George Toner which does not make sense. However, the two trees agree on Beverly’s paternal grandmother who is Martha L Brown. Here is the 1880 Census for the Village of Hyannis:

I just need to get more information on Adaline. Her death record has more information:

Most people render Amasa as Amaziah. However, there are numerous renderings of his name:

I see a marriage record for the couple:

The vital records for the are seem to be thorough.

Amasa is listed at the bottom of the death records page for Barnstable for 1867:

However, no date is given.

His parents are Isaiah and Rachel:

So far, I have two more generations of Bearses than Beverly had for her tree:

This, apparently, is Isaiah, who died a widower. His age is given, but some other information is missing:

This puts his birth at about 1774 as he died at age 70 in 1844. However, Ancestry interprets his death to be in 1843.

Findagrave.com has his burial in the Universalist Cemetery:

Isaiah to Enoch

I need to evaluate the suggestion that agrees with the ThruLines suggestion. I have the advantage of checking from either side. I found a wife for Enoch:

They married in Barnstable.

I did find an interesting Will from Hannah Bearse spinster dated 1772. She mentions her two sisters Dinah and Mary Bearse. Also:

This suggests to me that Hannah is a sister of John Bearse. That would mean that those listed are most likely children of John Bearse. I also see that the names match up with Jocye’s ThruLines:

Joyce (and I) descend from Olive. My previous Blog looked at the Gershom Bearse connection. This Blog is looking at the Enoch connection. Martha and Rebecca mentioned in the will represent 8 additional ThruLines for Joyce. All this is interesting but it does not prove the relationship between Enoch and Isaiah.

I did find this reference:

This was from a 2020 edition of Mayflower Descendants. This Timothy has a son Enoch who dies in New Bedford at age 70 in 1873. I see a Lucy baptized? in 1794:

This appears to be Enoch’s death record:

This appears to be the Will for Enoch:

I read a lot concerning the papers of Enoch Bearse and it appears that he owed more than he had at the time of his death. Here is the dow. section:

Widow Elizabeth is mentioned. At this point, I’m ready to take the Geneanet reference:

Here I have added in the Enoch Line to my tree:

This probably makes the best sense, but I don’t know enough about the Bearse family to know that. I wish that I had more records between Enoch and Isaiah.

Bearse DNA Tree

This new tree adds Beverly’s Line:

Summary and Conclusions

  • I looked at the Thruline between Beverly and Joyce going back to John Bearse and Lumbert
  • The connection between Enoch and Isaiah lacked clear documentation, but seems likely
  • Unfortunately, Enoch died without leaving an estate larger than his debts, so children were not mentioned in his legal papers
  • Circumstantial evidence links Enoch and Isaiah and I saw no evidence that would contradict their relationship.
  • There are still some Bearse ThruLines to explore

 

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Joyce and Bearse ThruLines

I have been looking at the ThruLines of Joyce who is my late father’s first cousin. While doing this, I have become more acquainted with some of my ancestors lines through the DNA of matching descendants.

Here are Joyce’s Bearse ThruLines:

I have that Joyce descends from Olive Bearse. Olive’s siblings in white are already in my Ancestry Tree. Then Joyce has 8 potential matches for siblings of Olive that are not in my tree.

Bearse Genealogy

The genealogy for this family goes back to 1888 with the Amos Otis Papers:

I descend from Joseph.

I descend from VI John., born in 1687.

I descend from John and Lydia Lumbert. If John married in 1746, he could have been born around 1720 or so.

John Bearse, born around 1720 and Lydia Lumbert are the ancestors that Joyces’ ThruLines descend from.

Joyce and Thomas

Interestingly, Joyce and Thomas have a shared match with Judith who is on the Martha Bearse ThruLines. So that is hopeful. Martha Bearse was not on my Ancestry Tree. That tells me that if Thomas connects, then it would make sense that Judith could also connect, but we’ll see.

Horace was born in Lincoln, Massachusetts and his mother checks out:

Georgiana was born in Boston. Her father Austin was a real estate agent:

Here is the record from findagrave.com for Austin Bearse:

Here is what I have so far:

I need to confirm the Eleazer H Bearse to Gershom Bearse connection. Gershom marries Prudence Hatch in 1771 according to the Falmouth records:

I see this hint an a history of Barnstable County;

From this account, I take it that Eleazer had a daughter named Martha A and that Eleazoer was the son of Gershom Bearse.

I see this in the Barnstable Town records:

I did find a marriage record between Gideon Hallet and Martha A Bearse.

A First Bearse DNA Tree

Here is a vertical view of my Ancestry Tree showing where I spliced in the new descendants of the Gershom Bearse Line:

I am happy to end the Blog here, but will likely continue with other Bearse ThruLines in a subsequent Blog.

Summary and Conclusions

  • I learned much about the Bearse family
  • I am amazed at how early Austin or Augustine Bearse came to Barnstable. This was 1639 according to his biography. That is not many years shy of 400 years ago.
  • The Hatch family name comes up in many of these families. In fact the name Prudence Hatch comes up in my ancestry and that of Thomas.
  • Austin Bearse born 1808 in Thomas’ line was an abolitionist

 

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Joyce’s Davis ThruLines

My father’s cousin Joyce has a lot of Davis ThruLines:

Joyce and I descend from Mercy Davis. The other lines show six matches. I have not looked at other children of Noah Davis as ThruLines is showing that I need to evaluate those children. I have that Noah was born in Falmouth. I believe that is where Davisville is.

Davis Genealogy

My tree starts on the left with Mercy Davis who married William Parker.

Findagrave.com has that Mercy was burried in the Woods Lhoe Village Cemetery:

This suggests that she may have lived in or near Woods Hole:

Here is a record from 1756:

Mercy was propounded which I take to mean suggested for commuion in August and baptized and admitted to full communion on August 8 at the age of about 22.

According to the Church’s website:

Falmouth’s first meeting house was built in 1700 or earlier near the Old Burying ground off today’s Mill Road in Falmouth. A second larger meeting house, near that site, was completed in 1717.  Continued growth of the town led to that meeting house being moved and rebuilt by 1756 on that portion of the original Meeting House Lot which was then laid out and called the Village Green. That meeting house was replaced in 1796 with a fourth building in the style of a church, erected on the same site. In its steeple a bell made by Paul Revere was placed. That bell continues to ring out over Falmouth. Its inscription reads: “The living to the church I call, and to the grave I summon all.”

Here is where the original Church was:

Here is the current church location:

Mercy’s husband William Parker served in the Revolutionary War. On my Parker web page I note:

William also served in the Revolutionary War as did his son Isaac and other Parkers. He was at Fort Ticonderoga. He became ill during the war and died soon after.

As William died in 1778, his wife Mercy was a widow about 42 years. I assume that she lived with one of her children:

My assumption is that Mercy was born perhaps in the Davisville area of Falmouth. She has 6 children. The first dies young. Her husband dies due to complications of an illness during the Revolutionary war. She remains a widow for 42 years. She likely lives near the end of her life in or near Woods Hole. Perhaps her child was involved in the area of navigation as Woods Hole was an important pass through place between New Bedford and the Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. This is a guess as Mercy’s son Isaac was in the ship repair business on Nantucket. William’s brother Silas Parker was a Captain who sailed between Nantucket and New Bedford.

Dolor Davis and The Great Migration

One of my favorite sources for early Massachusetts genealogy is in the Great Migration Publications. I see this on page 292:

It looks like Dolor moved around a bit. According to Wikipedia:

Falmouth was first settled by English colonists in 1660 and was officially incorporated in 1686. 

 I am guessing that Dolor’s trade of house carpenter was much in demand.

Dolor’s son John who is also in my tree is mentioned above.

It seems odd that Dolor would live in both Concord and Barnstable. Summering on the Cape?

My tree shows that John Davis married Hannah Linnell. I will change that to Linnett based on this.

Of interest to me is that John came to the New World in 1635 with his mother and two younger sisters when he was nine years old. According to an 1881 ‘sketch’ of Dolor Davis:

John Davis

Further from, “Dolor Davis, a sketch of his life, with a record of his earlier descendents”:

This brings us to my ancestor Noah Davis #12 above. We also learn that John, father of my ancestor Noah moved to Falmouth about 1710.

Back to ThruLines

I would like to start with JB:

JB’s Ancestry tree follows the ThruLines as far as her tree goes:

I note that I also have Hatch ancestors.

I added JB to my tree as a floating tree. I quickly move on to JB’s paternal grandmother. Eleanor’s father was a master mariner:

However, I want to follow her mother Abbie. The couple were married in Boston:

Here is Abby’s family in 1850:

Abbie’s death record has a lot of information including her whole name, her parents’ names where she was born and where her parents were born. Abby and her mother Eleanor who I am tracking were said to be born in Woods Hole.

Here is the 1827 marriage record in Falmouth for Eleanor and Ervin:

Here is Eleanor’s grave marker:

Eleanor’s parents are listed on the Falmouth Death Records:

The last name is transcribed Jenny, but I can also see Young. I am following Andrew next:

Here is the 1797 marriage:

I have two more steps to go. I need to get back to Mehitable Davis. I see her marriage:

However, I need to link her to Andrew Young.

Mehitable Davis

I was able to find a Mehitable in Noah Davis’ will. This will is referenced in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register (NEHGR):

Fortunately, FamilySearch has the Barnstable County Probates online.

Noah names several children:

  1. Son Francis Davis
  2. Daughter Mercy Davis – my ancestor
  3. Daughter [Lavinia?] – the name appears to be behind tape.
  4. Daughter Mehitable
  5. Daughter Anna
  6. Granddaughter Susannah Parker

According to WikiTree:

The will of Noah Davis of Falmouth was dated 12 February 1780 and proved on 16 August 1787[8] in Barnstable. He mentioned his wife Mercy, and his children, Mercy Parker, Francis Davis (executor), Susanna Swift, Mehitable Davis, Anne Davis, and his granddaughter Susanna Parker.

It is interesting that a Susannah Parker is mentioned. I do not have a record of my ancestors William Parker and Mercy Davis having a daughter Susannah, so perhaps she was the daughter of the Hannah Davis who married Benjamin Parker mentioned above in the NEHGR.

However, Mehitable should have been married by 1780. The fact that she was not called Mehitable Young does not necessarily mean that these are two different Mehitables.

So what I am trying to connect:

  1. Noah Davis has a daughter named Mehitable who was alive about 1780.
  2. Noah was born in 1707 and probably having children in the 1730’s and 1740’s.
  3. There is a Mehitable Davis of Falmouth who marries a Simeon Young of Chatham, Connecticut in 1768.
  4. Andrew Young marries Marcy Hatch both of Falmouth in 1797

In this Ancestry Tree, it would appear that Mehitable gave birth to all her children in Connecticut:

Andrew father dies the same year Andrew is born and Mehitable remarries. Andrew makes his way back to Falmouth. Under this scenario, Mehitable’s second son is named for her brother Francis. The Connecticut Abstracts reinforce that:

For me, this record tips the balance of evidence for me to add JB’s Line to my tree.

I think the date of Mehitable’s birth is a bit late. However, it could be. She would have been about 20 at the time of her marriage.

My First Davis DNA Tree

I used to call these DNA/Genealogy Trees, but have just shortened the name:

It took a lot of work to convince myself that this was real. The only question is the two Hatch connections. However, these would go back quite a bit further than 1707.

Joyce and Robin

It should be much easier checking this connection:

Robin is a shared match between Joyce and JB above. Robin has her maternal grandfather born in Falmouth which is hopeful. Robert Hamblin’s family is mentioned in an American Histories book which even has a photo of Emily above:

In Emily’s death record in Falmouth, her mother is transcribed as Eleanor Foung, but I am quite sure it should be Young. Here I’ve already gotten ahead of myself:

I’ll delete Erving and Eleanor Young and then Connect Emily to my tree.

Now I just need to add Robin to my DNA tree:

 

This also gave me a chance to correct my tree. Previously I had Eleanor Young and Erving Robinson reversed. This shows that JB and Robin should be 3rd cousins to each other. The only odd thing is that Joyce and Robin show as a paternal match and I match Joyce on her maternal Hartley side. However, I assume this could be wrong or pointing to another relationship.

Joyce and Debra

This will be the last ThruLine for this Blog:

Debra is also shown as a paternal match to Joyce. Mehitable Young already shows in white above which means that she has been added to my tree. The maternal side of Debra’s tree does not include the Young family which is suspicious:

Who Was the Mother of William James Tyron?

I see another problem. Or perhaps two. Augusta Anthony would have been 16 when she gave birth to William James. More improbably, Martha Amanda Young would have been about 59 when her William James was born.

Summary and Conclusions

  • I was able to trace the ancestry of one of Joyce’s DNA matches back to Noah Davis and Mercy Prence or Meigs
  • After that another third cousin of that match was easy to trace back to the same common ancestors.
  • The excercise gave me a better feeling for the Davis family of the 1700’s.
  • I tried to trace another of Jocye’s matches who had a potential descent from Mehitable Davis (the Daughter of Noah and Mercy Davis). However, that descent was not clear and seemed unlikely based on the age one woman would have to have been for this to be right.
  • There are three more Davis ThruLines for Joyce. However, one of the lines is from a child of Noah that I am not aware of which makes me suspicious.
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Burbank ThruLines

My Burbank ancestors go back too far to be covered by my own ThruLines. However, my father’s cousin Joyce shows some ThruLines for Burbank:

This appears to be new territory to look at.

Here is part of my great-granmother’s maternal line:

It shows that Timothy Burbank was married to Mercy Kempton.

Some Burbank Genealogy

Apparently Timothy Burbank was born in Boston in 1703. However, he married in Plymouth.

I have that Timothy’s father was born in Haverhill and that his grandfather was from Rowley.

Joyce and Donna

Donna’s tree goes back to Mary Burbank which is hopeful:

Donna’s tree shows Mary dying in Canada:

Mayflower Births and Deaths has this entry:

This leads to Register 59 from 1905:

This shows a strong link at the top of the tree. I note that families left not because they were unsympathetic to the Revolution, but because they could get free land. I also read that residents of this area became unsympathetic to the Revolution after being raided by Americans.

Now I will start at the more recent part of the tree. Here is the birth record for Donna’s father:

Cape Negro Island is not too far from Yarmouth which I cut off on the map. Shirley’s father Wilford was a fisherman which makes sense given the location that they lived.

The 1901 Census says the family was Baptist, Scottish and the father was a blacksmith. His wife is 37 and he has a daughter who is 27, so that suggests that this was a second marriage.

I think the red on the map is Jordan River. Here is the widowed Albert Morton in 1881:

I found this at Ancestry which apparently refers to FamilySearch:

Albert Edward was born in Liverpool:

His parents were James Roland and Katy S.? (transcribed as F.). James was a mason. This James would be the son of the Lucy mentioned in the New England Historic and Genealogical Register (NEHGR) above.

At this point, I connect my floating tree of Donna into my main tree:

A First Burbank DNA/Genealogy Tree

In my mind, the fact that Donna’s Burbank moved to Nova Scotia before the Revolution makes this DNA connection more likely.

Joyce and Douglas

Douglas could help fill out my Burbank DNA/Genealogy Tree. The 1910 Census has Douglas’ grandfather a physician in Gloucester in 1910:

The fact that the grandfather was from Canada is hopeful. Douglas’ grandfather’s marriage record is helpful:

It gives his birth place and parents’ names. Here is Milton, near Liverpool, NS:

Here is the family in 1891:

Richard was a Congragationalist who was listed as farmer and huntman. So far the tree is going well:

Findagrave.com has this information:

This research on Thomas Knowles was found at Ancestry:

This document was also helpful:

Based on this, I accepted the parent hints at Ancestry:

From there, I added Elizabeth Crowell and linked Elizabeth Burbank to the Timothy Burbank I already had in my tree.

Here, the Burbank DNA/Genealogy Tree gets a little more width:

It turns out that Douglas has small DNA matches to two of my siblings.

Joyce and F.M.

The paternal side of FM’s tree is from Nova Scotia. I have had success so far with Joyce’s Burbank ThruLines. As usual, I start a floating tree for F.M. F.M. has a small tree at Ancestry:

Here is the family in 1921:

John was Scottish and the Town Clerk. However it is Mattie I am interested in.

Here is Mattie’s family in 1901 in Brooklyn, NS:

ThruLines wants me to go with Mattie’s mother Gertrude at this point and then Gertrude’s father. Gertrudes grave stone has her maiden name:

Gertrude’s father was a Baptist blacksmith:

Based on this, I’ll accept the Ancestry hint of Theodosius as Gertrude’s father.

Hannah Burbank

At this point, I look at the family from near the top of the ThruLines:

Hannah marries in Plymouth in 1758. That means that the above Theodosius must have been named for his grandfather. The easiest reference I can find to fill in the blank is this:

Adoriam Judson caught my eye. I assume that Theodosius was a fan of the missionary:

Next, I just need to connect John Ford to his parents in my tree and connect the floating tree.

Here is the big picture:

I am pretty confident with this DNA/Genealogy Tree. However, having said that, I realize that many from Colonial Massachusetts moved to this area. So other connections are possible. At this distant relationship, it would be extremely tedious to check out all possibilities.

Summary and Conclusions

  • It appears that all of Joyce’s Timothy Burbank ThruLines check out.
  • At first it appeared that these were the only possible connections. However, with the emmigration patterns from Massachusetts, there could be other connections. Still this is a good list. This is because my ancestor Lucy Burbank’s three siblings moved to this area in Nova Scotia
  • I had not known about this immigration pattern before, so it is interesting. I’m sure this move was meant to increase personal wealth – or so it seems.
  • It would interesting to check the actual DNA matches and where they occur. However, that is not possible with Ancestry. Ancestry is good with making genealogical connections but does not have Chromosome Browser.
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DNA and the Stuart Line

I originally was writing on my Hartley X-DNA, but the Blog morphed more into DNA and the Stuart Line.

X-DNA is somewhat of a compicated subject in that the X Chromosome is never passed down from father to son. I tried working on my wife’s French Canadian X-DNA and found that complicated also – mostly due to the inter-related gn:ealogy.

My Father’s Cousin Joyce

The only X-DNA match I have for Joyce is on her paternal side:

That is the side not related to me.

However, I notice that Joyce has a match with another of my father’s cousin who is Maury:

Actually, there are three matches. Let’s see who these represent.

The common ancestor between Maury and Joyce has to be their maternal grandparents. The DNA could have come from either James Hartley or Annie Louisa Snell (or a mixture of the two between the three segments).

Pink on pink is not the best color, but it will do for now. The match is from Gedmatch which is my only choice as I tested Joyce at Ancestry and Ancestry does not report X-DNA.

Here is another from one of my second cousins. Her X-DNA would go back to the same couple. Her grandmother was a Hartley so she would have received her X-DNA from either James Hartley or Annie Snell:

Beth’s match with Joyce adds some more Hartley and/or Snell X-DNA to right side of Joyce’s profile:

There is another 2nd cousin at Gedmatch, but that would only add more of the same.

My Sister Heidi and Likely Stuart DNA

Heidi matches Charlene at Gedmatch:

That is interesting as it should give a hint as to how they are related due to X-DNA inheritance patterns. In a 2019, I suggested this connection with Charlene, based on triangulation of X Chromosome matches:

Based on the above image, I suggested that the common ancestor was Margaret Stewart as there was no X-DNA passed down from Michael Frazer to his son Archibald. However, in a Blog I wrote earlier this year, I put Charlene on a different part of the Frazer Branch:

This change was based on ThruLines between Charlene and Joanna and the extensive genealogy work that Joanna has done on the Frazer family. At first, it is not clear how an X-DNA match could fit in here, but here is Joanna’s tree:

Joanna and Charlene descend from Archibald Frazer II, but they also descend from Anne Palmer. And Anne Palmer’s mother was a Stewart. Joanna further has this in her tree:

Joanna has that my ancestor Margaret Stewart was a daughter of Thomas Stewart. That means that assuming this scenario is right, the common ancestor between my sister Heidi and Charlene by X-DNA would be Thomas Stewart born in 1725.

Based on that, I will add Heidi’s match with Charlene to her DNA profile. This is what I have currently for Heidi on her X Chromosome:

Heidi has a paternal X match with Emily and several matches on her maternal X Chromosme. The match with Emily goes back to 1846 on the McMaster side. Frazer and hence Stewart are on the Frazer side. Here is the updated match:

Above, I have filtered for just the paternal matches. Here is the likely connection for the X-DNA matches:

My Cousin Paul and Stuart Genealogy

Here is how Paul matches Charlene:

Here is Paul mapped with Charlene on Chromosome 9:

Interestingly, Paul makes a connection to Charlene and BV similar to the one my sister Heidi makes on her X-DNA. I take that connection to go back to Thomas Stuart of 1725 and his wife. This identifies the BV, Sharon and Michele DNA as from along the Stuart Line also.

I had to look up Michele and found her on one of my DNA/Genealogy Charts:

Paul does not have X-DNA of interest to me because his father was a Frazer, so no Frazer X-DNA was passed down to him.

Paul’s Autosomal DNA

Here is what I have now for Paul:

I need to modify the top as this could also be Thomas Stuart and his wife. When I check Gedmatch, this is Paul’s match with Jonathan:

This was missed previously somehow. Perhaps different tests gave slightly different results. Here, I add Jonathan to Paul’s Chromosome 5:

Stuart and McPartland

I have long pondered the McPartland family and how they fit in with the Frazers. It appears that they have a connection with the Stuart family. I already showed how Charlene descends from the McPartland Line.

I don’t see Karen anymore at Gedmatch, but from a 2017 Blog I wrote, I see that my sister Heidi and Karen had this X-DNA match:

I have never added this information manually, but it’s not too late to learn:

Here I have added Karen and Chris (though they came out quite large):

Sharon and Charlene

From my 2017 Blog, I see I mentioned that my sister Sharon matches Charlene:

Here I have added Charlene to Sharon’s DNA profile using DNA Painter:

Here the DNA is ‘walked back’ from Paul and his McMaster ancestor, to Michele with Margaret Stewart ancestor (married to Michale Frazer) to Charlene who has an ancestor who was the sister of Margaret Stuart.

People Who Match Sharon and Karen

I used a comparison tool at Gedmatch:

Sharon and Karen

Sharon and Karen also match on Chromosome 9:

Adding this result to Chromosome 9 on Sharon’s profile is interesting:

 

Note that there is a break where Charlene’s match stops and Karen stops. That likely represents what I call a crossover. That crossover could be the difference between Thomas Stuart born 1725 and his wife. I don’t know which is which but I think one segment belongs to the husband Stuart and one to the wife.

Sharon and Brian

I was able to find the match between Brian and Sharon at Ancestry:

He shows having our common ancestors as Michael Frazer, but I no longer believe that to be correct. Brian should be in this box with Chris and Karen:

Sharon and Brian’s Shared Matches

The other interesting thing about Brian is that because he tested at Ancestry, he has shared matches with Sharon. One of those shared matches is also on the McPartland Line:

I hope this theory is right, because I have had many other theories about where the McPartlands fit in with my genealogy that have seemed to be wrong.

Patrice: Shared Match with Brian and Sharon

Ancestry has what I would call a wild guess as to how these two may connect:

This is where I had previously placed Patrice on my Frazer DNA/Genealogy Chart:

I think that my tree is the more correct one.

Jonathan and Jonathan

By my recollection, my brother Jonathan matches Frazer researcher Joanna’s brother:

By the Frazer Line these two would be fifth cousins twice removed. However, by the Stuart Line:

Also 5th cousins twice removed. However, I suppose that based on the genealogy, there was twice as much chance that the two Jonathans would match each other at this distant relationship.

Here, I have mapped Joanna’s brother onto my brother’s DNA profile:

In the key I have noted that the match could be Frazer, Fitzgerald or Stuart. It could also be from the unknown wife of Thomas Stuart. Or, the match could even be from another unknown line. However, I am sticking to what I think I know. It may be possible to know where that match comeps from if there were more overlapping matches. Paul’s match overlaps, but he also descends from McMaster and Frazer. If there was an overlap that was just McMaster, I would say the Jonathan DNA would be Stuart. If the and overlap was with someone with just Frazer ancetry, I would say the common ancestor DNA would be Frazer/Fitzgerald.

The Two Jonathans’ Shared Matches

Here is the shared list at Gedmatch:

I am interested in Bonnie as I know of her. Although she shows as a match at Gedmatch, she does not show as a match at Ancestry.

Bonnie also has Stewart and Frazer ancestry:

That means that any match that my family has with her could equally be on the Frazer side or Stuart side.

Bonnie shows as a 4th cousin once removed to my family. DNA matching with Bonnie could be from either the Frazer side or Stuart side. Here is my brother’s match with Bonnie:

Here is Bonnie’s Frazer or Stuart DNA added to my brother Jon’s DNA profile:

Paul and Jonathan’s Shared Matches

Here is what they look like at Gedmatch:

One name that caught my eye is Gail.

Gail is in one of the boxes with a different color. Gail’s line goes through Archibald born about 1792 who married Anne Palmer. That puts her in the category of one who could be related on the Frazer side or the Stuart side. Here is how she matches Paul:

This match fills in a gap in Paul’s DNA profile on Chromosome 12:

There are no overlapping matches in that area, so this may represent Frazer, Fitzgerald, Stuart or wife of Stuart DNA.

Paul and Joanna

Joanna is a good choice as she has shared her Ancestry results with me.

Here I see Gail again, and I recognize Bob:

Bob is one of those matches that has a chance of matching Paul doubly.

Here I add Bob in one of the places where he and Paul could match on the Stuart Line:

 

Also I recognize kimac who my notes say is Rodney on my tree: and a brother to Gail. He will map with Gail, but I will add him.

Summary and Conclusions

  • I started out looking at my family’s Hartley X-DNA connections
  • This quickly lead to my Frazer side as X-DNA stops at my father’s father.
  • However, it occurs to me that if I looked at my father’s two cousins’ X-DNA results, it may result in something as their mothers were Hartleys and the X-DNA would continue on.
  • This Blog continues to enforce the fact that I have Stuart ancestors. Those ancestors are on my Frazer side who were ancestors of my McMaster ancestors.
  • There is still room for more research on Hartley X-DNA and Stuart DNA and genealogy.

 

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Gangnus in the Revision Lists of Latvia

I have done several Blogs on the Revision Lists of Latvia. Most of the ones I have looked at have been in the German Colony of Hirschenhof where many of my mother’s ancestors lived. My mother’s mother was a Gangnus and that was a prominent family in Hirschenhof – at least for the number of people with that name if for no other reason.

From a review of my previous Blogs, I should be looking at:

  • The 1782 Audit of Souls – also known as a revision list. From my recollection, this Revision List had different farm or lot numbers than the subsequent revision lists.
  • The 1811 Revision List – only males are listed. So this is helpful, but not as helpful as the others.
  • The 1816 Revision List
  • The 1834 Revision List

This represents about 52 years and could contain about 3 generations worth of genealogical information.

Strategy for Research

I have found tht the easiest way to research these lists is by Ancestry. These lists are available elsewhere, but are not indexed. In the past, I have gone from the earliest Revision Lists to the later ones, to see how the families progressed. I then tried to summarize the information in a spreadsheet. Here is the format I used for my Fuhrmann ancestors:

This should be easily adaptable to the Gangnus surname.

My Gangnus Genealogy

It gets complicated as there were two Philipp Gangnuses who married two different Anna Evas! There are other complications, but I am hoping that the revision lists will straighter things out. 1782 is a good years as both Anna Gangnus and Johann Jacob Gangnus were young children then.

Johann Jacob Gangnus Born 1777

I ended up looking at the Raduraksti Site for information. After searching a while, I found this:

Here is the family I was looking for:

I have included the farms on either side. Here we see a second son, Johann George and a few other people living in the house. I can’t really figure out their last names at this time.

Actually, it appears that the other Philipp is living next door at Far #28, so that is a bonus. I was expecting Anna to be 2 years old, but she shows as 1/2 here.

When I compare the Philipp Jacob Gangnus family with my Ancestry Tree, I get this:

Here I have put the two families into a spreadsheet:

 

I was thinking that I descended from Anna Eva Gangnus, but it was actually her older sister, Charlotta Maria that I descend from. So, in these two close farms are 6 of my ancestors. I have them outlined in green. In my previous Blog, I looked at a match my mother had with a descendant of 4 year old Johann Gangnus above.

However, I now suspect that the first column ending in Maiga could be wrong. Not seeing Jacobina Magaretha in the Revision List does not prove that she was not a child of the couple above, but it does bring this line into question. Further, the couple would have been quite young when she was born. Having said that, the Gangnus Genealogy book published in 2003 has this genealogy.

1811

This is the revision year without women. First, I see that Philip Jacob is still around:

His first wife, Anna Eva Niclas dies, and he remarries in 1789. He has 4 sons living with him. Two of those sons have their own sons apparently. I think that one son moved to Farm 92.

Next, I need to find Philipp Gustav Gangnus who was born in 1747. He must be on the next farm:

By this time, Anna Charlotta was married to a Schwechheimer and had 9 or 10 children.

Here we see that the Gangnus patriarchs are still around. My ancestor Johann Jacob who was 4 is now 32 and has a son Gottlieb.

1816

A mere 5 years later. I started by looking at Farm #30 where I see that the widower Philip Jacob Gangnus is still living at age 60:

Here the men are on the left and the women are on the right.

Philipp Jacob’s second wife died in 1811, so does not appear here.

I have from my tree that that Jacon Gangnus married a Boehler as his first wife. He has Gottlieb and George by 1816, but Gottlieb died young. This does not fit in well with my Ancestry Tree:

There are three Georges in this tree. I assume that the George in the Census most closely matches Georg Michael by birth date. Gottlieb must be Philipp Gottlieb. I may have some of the relationships messed up here:

The relationships are a bit complicated due to a three generation household. It’s nice to get a peek into where my Gangnus ancestors were living in 1816. Here is a photo taken by a distant Rathfelder relative of a Rathfelder house in Hirschenhof:

I’m sure that you would have to imagine things looking a bit newer in 1816. Here is another view of the house from 1930:

My assumption is that this was a working farm at the time. It looks like the orientation of the barn has changed.

Gustav Gangnus in 1818

The above was from my Gangnus side. My Rathfelder side also has the ancestor of Gustav Gangnus. I have that he died in 1818, but another tree has his death in 1820. This latter date is more likely due to the 1818 Revision List:

I can’t make sense of the 15 year old boy. Here are the women:

I am not sure what the note is after Anna Christina’s age of 14 or why the ages are out of order. Is the 14 meant to be 1/4? I will take that to be the case. The Gangnus genealogy book I has Anna Christine born 1 Jan 1816.

The picture I get is of an elderly farm couple living with three generations of family, ready to pass the farm on to a son. Here are Farms 30 and 31:

Farm 31 appears to have been further divided.

Is there a stream going through the two farms?

1834

1834 finishes our 52 year tour of the Gangnus Family in Hirschenhof, Latvia. This is now 18 years since the last Revision List. The Farm numbers are now in Roman Numerals:

Philip Jacob has passed in 1818. This revision also has family numbers. 10 seems to be the number for Gangnus. There are fewer women on Farm #30:

For some reason, they missed the maiden name of my ancestor Jacob which should be Biedermann:

Note: only one name I have for her in my Tree matches which is Julianna and if she was born in 1802, she should have been 32 years old in 1834.

This shows that 6 children of Jacob were living in the household. The oldest 4 were from Jacob’s first wife Jacobina Boehler.

The 1834 Revision List Vs. My Ancestry Tree

Here are children from Jacob’s first wife:

From Jacob’s second wife:

Here the younger children had not been born yet. I descend from the eldest of the second wife.

Gustav’s Farm in 1834

Gustav passes in 1819, but here is the picture of Farm #31:

 

Here, the family numbers play a part as we have Family 10 (Gangnus) as well as Family 15 (Fischer) and 14 (Schwechheimer). I see what happened. Johann the son dies in 1821, leaving no male Gangnus of that generation. Johann was perhaps a widower at the time as no wife is shown. So there is a lot going on here.

Anna Charlotte Maria Gangnus Schwechheimer

I think I may have covered her in my Blog about the Schwechheimers, but here she is in 1834 on Farm 11:

Charlotte is 52 years old. There is also a Fischer on this property (Family 15). On the next page, there is someone from Family 16, but he had since passed away:

Here is Farm 11:

Charlotte moved from Meschlaider to Stinken!

 

The 1850 Revision Lists

I neglegted to mention above that there are also 1850 Revision lists, this brings us up 16 more years or 68 years from the original Audit of Souls. This is easily three generations of the Gangnus Family. This is making the Blog quite long, but hey, it does cover 68 years of genealogy – and from two different lines of Gangnus.

The 1850 List notes Charlotte’s death in 1847 at Stinken Farm 11:

Farm 30 in 1850

Jacob is still holing on to Farm 30 in 1850 at age 71:

Here are the women of Farm 30:

I’ll try to get this on to my Excel Spreadsheet to see if I can make sense of it.

This is a little confusing as I have that Juliane Biedermann dies in 1845. In fact, I have that Charlotte who was born in 1845 was Juliane’s youngest child. Further note is that my ancestor Johann Philipp had not married yet. He marries in 1855 and has my great-grandmother in 1856. My great-grandmother Maria Elisabeth Laura Gangnus marries in 1873:

This appears to be Maria or Marie as the older woman perhaps in Riga around Christmas:

 

Summary and Conclusions

  • The Revisions Lists are like the Census and give a good snapshot into the Gangnus Family in Hirschenhof between 1782 and 1850.
  • Between my lack of knowledge of German and my ability to read the writing, I am sure that I am missing some information from these Revision Lists.
  • The connections of the farm listings and age at previous Revision Lists helps to link the information together.
  • It would be interesting to compare these revision lists with DNA matches
  • This is my 700th published Blog!

 

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A New Gangnus Descendant DNA Match at MyHeritage

I was checking MyHeritage DNA matches recently and found a match for my mother who had Gangnus ancestry. As this is an uncommon surname, I was quite sure that there must be a connection.

Gladys and Maiga

Here is the match between my late mom and Maiga from Germany:

Maiga also has matches between other surnames that are in my ancestry. Here is part of Maiga’s Tree at MyHeritage:

According to her tree, our common ancestors should be Philipp Julius Gustavus Gangnus and Anna Eva Muller. Here is part of my current Gangnus DNA/Genealogy Tree:

However, I am missing Maiga’s ancestor Johann Gangnus:

Next, I’ll check my Ancestry Tree to see if I already have Johann:

Here is where things get complicated. My Johann Jacob Gangnus was born 1777 from Philip Jacob Gangnus and Anna Eva NICLAS. Did Philipp JG Gangnus and Anna Eva MULLER also have a Johann born in 1777?  My tree says they did:

I’m glad I didn’t jump to conclusions here. This Johann was born about 10 months earlier:

Now for some more complexity:

Maiga descends from Philipp Gangnus and Anna Eva Muller twice. Once by Johann and once by Jacobina M Gangnus. This was pretty normal for the German Colony of Hirschenhof in Latvia.

I also have Jacobina in my Ancestry Tree:

My next decision is whether I should accept Maiga’s tree as is or try to evaluate it.

A Quick Check on Maiga’s Genealogy

This will get Maiga into my tree at least. Here is some information on Maiga’s Line:

I am not sure how the Kaufmann name fits in. This is what the internet shows:

The German word Kaufmann is a masculine noun that translates to “merchant” or “businessman” in English. It can also refer to a trader, small shopkeeper, grocer, or someone with business or commerce qualifications. 

This shows information from St. Peter on Maiga’s father and grandfather. Here is some more information on Gustav:

This links him to his father and mother. Here is where it gets complicated as both of Gustav’s parents had Gangnus ancestors:

Georg Philipp marries for a second time:

At this point, I would be happy to follow Maiga’s tree.

The DNA and DNA Painter

Here is the DNA match between Maiga and Gladys:

So far, I do not see any Gangnus DNA matcing on that part of Chromosome 3 for my mom:

Here is the new match:

This match gets my mom’s painted side up to 47% from 46%. Also, it shows a crossover apparently from the Rathfelder to the Gangnus side. Actually the crossover is between Rathfelder and Scwechheimer (I think):

I say that because this match is on my Rathfelder side, but on the Schwechheimer side of my Rathfelder side. Johann H Rathfelder born in 1846 also married a Gangnus. At any rate, that is quite a large hunk of DNA to be shared between Maiga and Gladys coming down all the way from the mid 1700’s.

By crossover, I mean that the red DNA match with Katja goes down the Rathfelder Line while the blue match with Maiga goes down the Schwechheimer side to Gangnus. Usually where there are two DNA matches on one’s profile and one stops and the other starts, that is an indication of a crossover in the DNA – that is, a crossover from paternal to maternal DNA or maternal to paternal DNA.

Updating the Gangnus DNA/Genealogy Tree

Here is my first shot:

Notice that I need two lines for Maiga. The problem is that some information is missing from Maiga’s tree.

I just realized that I have a book on the Gangnus family, so I can use that. Jacobina apparently led an interesting life. She married at age 17 and had 17 children. Unfortunately, not all the spouses of the children of Jacobina are listed in the Gustav book by Gustav Gangnus dated 2003. I do have the name of her husband who was Johann Gurg Gottlieb Spengel. Interestingly, a Google search for the word Hofspowsky returned nothing.

Here I finished the Gagnus DNA/Genealogy Tree but I put some color in the box that I had a question on:

This shows that there is one good connection to the Gangnus/Muller common ancestors. Then there is another likely connection to the same common ancestors.

From Ancestry

Here are my mother’s ThruLines (through Philipp Julius Gustavus Gangnus):

Donna is actually a much closer relative. Reinhold is on my three. It is likely that Tristan and Michael could also belong there. This may be something to look into in a future Blog.

Summary and Conclusions

  • Maiga is an important match adding a significant piece of DNA to my mother’s DNA profile
  • The DNA match between Maiga and my mother appears to describe the crossover in DNA between my mother’s great-grandparents of Johann Rathfelder and Rosine Schwechheimer.
  • Maiga also has a very good tree. I could write to her to see if she has more information on the couple listed as private.
  • The Gangnus family was a large and important German family living in the German Colony of Hirschenhof. Many of these Hirschenhof families moved later to Riga.

 

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My Wife’s Rheinhold ThruLines

I believe that I have not done a comprehensive look at my wife’s Rynault ThruLines. Here is what my wife’s late mother shows:

This turns out to be a huge amount of matches. One problem is the spelling of the name. I see:

  • Rynault
  • Rheinhold
  • Rhynold
  • Rinold

Reynold was also a popular variation. They all seem fairly similar in sound. Joan has 46 matches to Rynault not on her own line. My wife wants to know how many matches she has:

Much less than 46 matches.

A Rheinhold DNA/Genealogy Tree

I do not believe that I have created one yet. I’ll start with my later mother-in-law:

This brings Joan back to her mother’s mother’s mother’s side.

The Casper John Rhynhold 1814 Line

Joan shows 7 matches here. If the father was Frederick Capar (or Casper) Rhynold, it would make sense that he would have a son named Casper.

I’ll start with a match named Leenie:

Her paternal side goes back to a Rhynold from Guysborough which is encouraging. I can add her as a floating tree to my tree and then connect her once it makes sense. Here are Leenie’s grandparents in Hazel Hill, Nova Scotia in 1921:

Here is the path that Ancestry wants me to investigate:

Here is Cora and family in 1901 living in Canso West. Her dad is a Methodist fisherman.

By 1911, it appears that the father had remarried:

However, this marriage for Alonzo is in 1914:

The marriage appears to have taken place in St. John, New Brunwick. This appears to imply that Maude Verge was Alonzo’s third wife?

Due to the confusion, I need to check the hints for Maude Smith. I have this:

This has to be the right Blanche. Here is Blanche in 1891. Her father is a Methodist fisherman:

Her mother is Ester. Here is the 1881 Census:

They seem to be having trouble with the name Esther – here transcribed as Easter. Esther is a Baptist and her husband appears to be a type of Methodist.

The best reference I could find for Esther was in this tree:

This person apparently has a book from 1950 with some important information:

I guess this will have to do for now.

Casper Rhinold

Here is Casper recorded as Reynold:

Fortunately, there is a transcription as the writing is a bit scrawley. Here is Half Island Cove:

Here is a deed which is supposed to explain things:

This is from 1817, so the must be the grandfather of Caspar selling his 300 acres to his son Frederick. This is quite interesting. Apparently Caspar was a military man who was granted 300 acres of land in Nova Scotia. It is unclear to me whether the elder Caspar ever lived on this land. This means that the elder Caspar died likely before 1817 or about 1816 as the above document refers to the Estate of ‘Gasper’ deceased. Casper’s children appear to be:

  • Elizabeth Rheinhold Uloth
  • John Reinhold
  • Ann Rheinhold Harrigan
  • Mary Rheinhold Tanner
  • Frederick Rheinhold

Here is Peas Brook which is probably the same place mentioned in the land deed:

Here is an entry someone shared at Ancestry:

These troops were mainly Germans hired by the British.

Rheinhold DNA/Genealogy Tree

I am fairly sure the ThruLine is correct, so I will add Leenie to the tree:

Having said that, I see that Caspar is quite a bit older than my wife’s ancestor George and there is 14 years between them. Is it possible that Caspar could be from a brother of Frederick? For now, I am going with the way it is above, as that is the information I have, presumably from the book on Guysborough families.

I see I got this one wrong:

Leenie is shown as the ThruLines as a 4th cousin once removed so that is a way of checking my DNA/Genealogy Tree.

Joan and Lorraine

Assuming that I got Esther right, it should be easy to add Lorraine to my tree. However, there is something I would like to look at before I consider this Line.

Joan’s ThruLines for George Tanner Rhynold

It makes sense to start with the more recent generation:

Here are the DNA matches with the descendents of the eldest proposed son of George Tanner Rhynold:

This appears to be George and family in 1871:

Lydia must be George’s mother. He marries and Irish woman which could explain the change to Catholic. It turns out that this Census is quite a find as it shows the implied relationships in this family.

However, the ThruLines show two different James in this family:

A 15 year old James in the 1871 would have been born in 1856 which is inbetween the two James. I am having trouble lining up the ThruLines with the Census.

Joan and Booklady

One person who seems to line up with the 1871 Census is Booklady:

Mary and John are both in 1871 Census for Crow Harbour:

This is likely Queensport today:

Booklady’s tree shows her paternal side only:

Another tree at Ancestry links Booklady’s father to the maternal side:

In 1921, Eunice is living in North Canso with her fisherman father and family:

The family is listed as Roman Catholic.

This Ancestry tree has John’s wife as a Snider:

However, the reference has a different surname:

The same tree shows that Mary’s son Clarence was from a first husband:

However, I believe that there is a mistake in the above tree. It has John Henry Rhyold born in 1886. I believe that he was born earlier. The 1921 Census has him being 53 years old which would have him born about 1868.

This tree has John Henry Rhinold as the son of different parents:

They also reference the 1871 Census:

This tells me that there were two John Rhynolds born about the same time, making researh difficult. Here is Molasses Harbour:

Based on DNA matching and the geography, my guess is that the above tree is incorrect for Booklady’s genealogy.

Doing the Geography Check

One reference has Eunice Rhynold born in Little Dover, but I could find no reference to back that up:

In 1921, the family was living in North Canso. In 1931, the family was living in the Town of Canso where John H was a janitor at the public school.

The question is, is the John who was the father of Eunice from Queensport or from Port Felix?

Perhaps the answer is not clear. If Eunice was born in Little Dover, then perhaps this is about the same distance by water to Fort Felix as Queensport is. If she was born in Canso, then Queensport would be closer and a straighter shot by water.

Clues from the DNA?

If Booklady descends from George Rhynold, that would make her and Joan 2nd cousins once removed. According to Ancestry, there is a greater likelihood that she would be a 3rd cousin once removed compared to a 2nd cousin once removed:

Shared DNA Matches Between Joan and Booklady

Jennis is a shared match:

However, Jennis has a much larger match with Booklady compared to her match with Joan. Here is the proposed connection:

However, the Grant Tree from Ancestry, which I looked at above has this connection:

I also do not see Johanna in the 1881 Census for George Tanner at Crow Harbour:

It appears that ThruLines for George Tanner Rhynold are a bit misleading in this situation:

John may be right and one of the James may be right.

Joan and Erin

Joan and Erin have a similar shared DNA match:

Ancestry is saying that chances are Erin is more closely related to Booklady than Joan. Erin’s tree goes out to a William Aubrey from Gloucester, Massachusetts:

My guess is that he was another son of Joanna Rhynold.

I was trying to set out to prove that Eunice descends from George Tanner, but that does not seem to be the case from the DNA.

Chelsea and Joan

Chelsea’s match with Joan follows the same line of reasoning:

Chelsea must be Erin’s sister:

Back to Eunice

Here is William Rhynold in 1891:

John must be born about 1886, not 1868 as the ThruLines have. Here is William Rhynold in 1881:

It seems like the couple had two families. The 1881 family moves out of the house by 1891, and there is a new family. However, in 1891 there were Claude, Alfred and George. Where were they in 1881? Who thought that this would be so difficult?

Joan and Gordon

Joan and Gordon have a healthy DNA match of 100 cM. Here is Gordon’s tree:

Gordon shows his line going back to George Tanner Rhynold. I will look at the evidence. According to Mabel Rhynold’s obituary, she was born in Fox Island:

The obituary is also helpful in that it gives her parents’ names:

Here is Mabel in 1921 at Fox Island with her parents:

If the 1871 Census was correct, father James Rhynold was a mason and a Baptist. He perhaps converted when he married and became a fisherman. This appears to be a marriage reference:

Next, it the connection between James and George Tanner Rhynold. The best reference for that has to be the 1871 Census for Crow Harbour

Next, I add in George Tanner Rhynold and Mary Sandwich to connect this line to my Ancestry Tree:

When I add Gordon to the Rhynold DNA/Genealogy Tree, it looks like this:

Summary and Conclusions

  • My late mother-in-law Joan has many DNA connections to the Rhynold Family of Canso, Nova Scotia
  • This was a large family and it is difficult to find records for some of the early families.
  • There is confusion as to the different James Rhynolds
  • It would be helpful perhaps, to look at the book about Guysborough families at a genealogical library to try to straighten out the relationships.
  • It is interesting to learn a little about the history of one of my wife’s German ancestors who fought for the British as a mercenary and received land in Nova Scotia for his service.
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Zerns of Bridgeport, New Jersey

It took me a long time to find Mary Zerns. She was the wife of my third great-grandfather Jacob Lentz:

Now I am stuck on her and there is a blank on her portion of the tree.

Here is a death record for Mary Ann Lentz:

This does not give her maiden name but does give a place of birth. The record says she was in her 80th year.

Lentz – Zerns Marriage Record

Hopefully, this is the correct marriage record from 1840:

It is at the Methodist Episcopal Church. Kensington is the right area for the Lentz family. This church is also known as the old brick church:

A search for Zerns in Bridgeport shows a Gideon:

This could possibly be a brother to Mary Ann.

Here is an obituary:

His service is at the M.E. Church which I take to be Methodist Episcopal. Notice the three different spellings:

  • Zerns
  • Zern
  • Zernes

Here is Bridgeport, New Jersey:

So far, I am reinforced in my belief that I have Zerns ancestors:

  • Mary Ann Lentz’ death certificate has her born in Bridgeport, New Jersey
  • There was a Jacob Lentz who married a Mary Ann Zerns in Kensington in 1840
  • There were others who were from Bridgeport with the surname Zerns, Zernes or Zern.

DNA Matches at Ancestry

When I searched for Zerns at Ancestry under my mother’s DNA matches I only found close relatives. However, when I searched for similar names, I found RA. RA’s line goes out to Elizabeth Zern:

Here is some more information on Elizabeth:

Her parents are shown as Gideon and Rebecca Zerns. Elizabeth could be a sister or cousin of Mary Ann Zerns.

In 1830, I see a Gideon Zerns in New Jersey:

This is a small household with only two people.  Here is Woolwich Township:

I do not see any Zerns in New Jersey in 1820, so perhaps they lived in Penssylvania or elsewhere at that time.

Mom and Hum

Here is Hum’s tree:

My Cousin Cindy and Zern Matches

Cindy has this Zern match:

Parent 2 is the side I match Cindy on. Here is Drew’s ancestor:

I believe that Montgomery refers to Montgomery County:

I see that my mother matches this Drew also:

Cindy’s also matches another Drew:

Drew has the same ancestor as the other Drew. The two Drews do not show as shared matches, but they may be below the threshold of 20 cM. My guess is that this is the area where my Zerns were from.

Cindy and Zerns

Here we have Elizabeth again:

This time her name is spelled ending with an ‘s’.

A DNA match between Cindy and Lois also goes back to Elizabeth Zerns in Lois’ tree:

Lois has Elizabeth Zerns from New Jersey in her tree:

Elizabeth is a common theme.

Rusty and Zern

I was so enMiccouraged by cousin Cindy’s results, that I asked my cousin Rusty if he would share his DNA matches. And he kindly did. Here are his Zern matches:

Michael

Michael has an extensive tree. Here is part of his maternal side:

He has Zurn from Germany changing to Zern in Pennsylvania. This surname morphed into Zarns and then Sarnes. This offers two new spellings of the name. Michael also has Anna Magdalena in his tree, but not as a direct ancestor:

As Cindy has a match with a descendant of Anna Magdalena Zern and Rusty has a match with a descendant of Johannes Adam Georg Zern who is potentially her father, that suggests, that the common ancestor could be Johannes Adam Georg Zern born 1732. Michael has this further information:

Here is Graben:

The name since 1972 has been Graben-Neudorf.

When I search for Zern in Michael’s tree, I get these names:

That means that it is possible that my ancestor Mary Ann Zerns descended from Frederick, Abraham or Michael Zern.

Linda

Her Zern ancestor also went by Zorn:

Bellheim is not far from Graben:

RA

My mother matches RA. His ancestry goes back to Elizabeth Zern from New Jersey as mentioned above. Speaking of Elizabeth, Rusty also matches Lois, like his cousin Cindy. Lois, as mentioned above, descends from Elizabeth Zerns.

 

Zerns in Philadelphia

As Mary Ann Zerns married in Philadelphia in 1840, I will look now for Zerns in that area. Here is a family living in Northern LIberties in 1850:

However, the relationships in this family are very unclear. Is Lee the last name of Sarah?

Here are Jacob Lentz, Mary and family in 1850 in Ward 6, Kensington:

However, here is a poster for the family business of a sale of meat in Northern Liberties:

Here is another Northern LIberties Zern family in 1850:

All these people are said to be born in Pennsylvania. Also note that the Lentz’ first child is named George (but possibly after George Washington). This family is clearer. All children could be from Maria Zern.

It is possible that George is a brother of Mary Ann. Further, if George named his first son for his father, then the father would be William Zern. The George Zern family is in Ward 11 in 1860:

There is a 9 year old Elizabeth Zern on the next page. They likely lived in the same area as here is Ward 11 in 1860:

This is likely George Zern in 1840:

Summary and Conclusions

  • I was able to find my first DNA match to a Zern descendant by looking at my mother’s matches
  • I looked at other Zern families living in the vicinity of my Lentz ancestors in 1850
  • I looked at other Zerns from Bridgeport, New Jersey where Mary Ann Zerns was supposed to have been born.
  • Although I found hints, I did not find any actual genealogical connection between Mary Ann Zerns and other Zern families.
  • It is possible that my Zern ancestors lived in Mongtgomery County, Pennsylvania, moved to New Jersey and then some of them moved to Philadelphia.
  • New DNA match information from cousin Rusty implies that our common ancestor could be Johannes Adam Georg Zern born 1732 in Graben, Germany