Category: DNA General

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Updating My Parker DNA/Genealogy Chart

Here is the chart I have for Parker DNA/Genealogy:

The easiest way I update these charts is by using Ancestry ThruLines. For example, here are my Isaac Parker ThruLines:

This shows where I got Barbara and TD. However, I do not show James. I see in my previous Blog on Parker ThruLines that I decided not to add him to my tree.

My Father’s Cousin Joyce and Parker ThruLines

Joyce has Parker ThruLines going back to 1698:

The ThruLines through Jeusha Parker split evenly:

The two matches under Thomas Landers also match much more closely on my Hartley side:

So I won’t bother to add them there. Their DNA probably comes from much more recent sources.

However, Joyce has much smaller DNA matches with these two:

It may not be too difficult to evaluate these two lines.

Jersuha Parker

Findagrave.com has this:

Jerusha ends up in Maine:

I see Content (Landers) Blackwell, so that is a good sign. Here is North Fairfield, Maine:

Joyce and R.C.

R.C.’s tree goes back to Thomas Parker on his maternal side:

That is a good sign. Abbie’s marriage record shows that these were her parents:

In 1880, Abbie’s father was a blacksmith:

In 1850, Jotham is living with this family:

This Obituary is helpful:

Here Thomas L Blackwell appears to be with second wife and her children:

Here the name of Heman is significant.

Here is the record of death for Thomas Blackwell:

Unfortunately his mother’s name reads as Thankful Lander. These records are notoriously inaccurate, so I will take this to be a match. Let’s see, what was his mother’s name? Content? Thankful?

This completes the circle for me. I just need to merge names to get this family into my tree.

I also found another full sister for Jotham named Julia.

Updating the Parker DNA/Genealogy Tree

We cannot prove that the DNA that R.C. and Joyce share come from the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. In fact the small amount of DNA that R.C and Joyce share is said to be on her paternal side which is the side I do not match Joyce (at least closely). However, I do not believe that the paternal/maternal assignments are foolproof.

Joyce and Edy

Joyce and Edy do match on Joyce’s maternal side, so the chances of this DNA being from Parker and/or Nickerson are greater than between Joyce and R.C. Here is the maternal portion of Edy’s tree:

Here is the family in 1920:

Edy’s father Leslie was born in Maine as well as her mother Bertha. Bertha is the one we are following.

Here is the marriage record:

Bertha is from Madison, Maine. This place came up in R.C.’s line also:

 

Here are Bertha’s parents:

I would think I would be following the Blackwell Line here, but the ThruLines suggest going with the Hayden Line. Here is Sarah or Sally in 1850:

The last step is to connect Ann Hayden with her mother Content Landers. Ancestry is suggesting:

Here is Ann or Anna’s death record from 1903:

.

Adding these two connects Ann Hayden to my main Ancestry Tree:

An Expanded Parker DNA/Genealogy Tree

A Peek at Maury’s ThruLines

Maury is another of my father’s cousins. My 2nd cousin is the administrator to his DNA:

Maury potentially adds another line (Thomas Parker) to the tree. He also has two potential new matches under Jerusha Parker:

I may look at these matches at some later date.

Summary and Conclusions

  • I was able to add two new matches to my Parker DNA/Genealogy Tree thanks to the DNA of my father’s cousin Jocye.
  • Due to the distance of the relation, it is possible that the DNA could be from somewhere else. However, the Ancestry computers did pick out this connection from all the possible connections.
  • Looking at the ThruLines help to solidify my own genealogy and correct and errors that may be there.

 

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My Father’s Cousin Joyce and Ancient Snell ThruLines: Part 2

In my previous Blog, I started to look at Joyce’s ThruLines through Samuel Snell born 1708 and his wife Mary Head. In that Blog, the last one I added to my Snell DNA/Genealogy Chart was Jane Budd:

Next, I would like to look at the 5 descendants of Joseph Snell.

Joyce and Linda

Here is the complete proposed connection:

Unlike Jane, Linda’s DNA match is said to be on Joyce’s maternal side which is the side I match Joyce on. Here is Linda’s tree:

There appears to be some discrepancy between the Fagen and Phillips surname. I think that Fagen is a married name, so I will pursue this line. I also see that I should have been looking at the maternal side of Linda’s tree:

This seems to put me back on track. Here is the family in 1930:

Cornelius owns a plumbing business in Salinas:

I just need to get from California back to Massachusetts somehow. I am also looking for Cornelius’ mother. This is perhaps Cornelius in 1900:

He from Salinas, but his father was from Maine and mother from Massachusetts. Ancestry’s proposed parents for Cornelius are from Maine and Massachusetts, so I will take a shortcut and use those suggestions:

This article ties the family together:

According to Massachusetts Birth records, Fanny was born in East Bridgewater in 1855:

Ancestry suggests this father for Betsy Pease:

At this point, I will merge Joseph Crandall Snell with the Joseph Snell I already had in my tree:

Here is where Linda fits in on my expanding Snell DNA/Genealogy Tree:

Four More Matches from Pardon Snell

These matches are from William Henry Snell who was the likely brother of Betsey Snell Pease. However, as Ella, Grace and Elmer Snell are in white, it looks like they may already be in my Ancestry Tree. When I choose John, I see this common ancestor for John and Joyce:

This is through Joyce’s paternal side. However, Ancestry has the DNA match on the maternal side which would be the side where Joyce and I match. I also see that this ThruLine is on John’s paternal side where the Snell ThruLine is on his maternal side.

Joyce and Janice

As I mentioned above, I have these lines already in my tree. I just need to evaluate Janice’s mother. I do note some discrepancies between what Ancestry shows and Janice’s tree:

Janice has her maternal grandmother as Lillian Grace Harlow and Ancestry has her as Grace F Snell.

B.S. and Renee

Perhaps these two Joyce DNA matches will make more sense:

B.S.’s tree is showing Snell all the way be to Samuel Snell and beyond:

Further B.S. and Joyce have a shared match with John:

Renee also shows as a close match to B.S. which makes sense. I think that the Janice connection is incorrect as shown by Ancestry.

In 1930, Elmer is a chair worker in Ashburnham, Massachusetts:

Edith and Ronald are there also.

Updating the Snell DNA/Genealogy Tree

I need to add John, B.S. and Renee:

I had to shrink the tree down to get Joyce in on the bottom left.

Joyce and the Job Snell Line

For some reason I do not have a birth date for Job Snell. According to a biography of Job Snell he was born September, 1742 or 1743. Most trees have him as born September 1742, so I will use that. This line is not as well built out on my Ancestry tree:

I’ll start with K.P. She has a tree built out to Edmond Snell. From what I have read, this line moved to New York state early on. Here is Monford and family in 1920 in Mexico, NY:

Monford’s father is a painter in the automobile gas industry. I am not sure what that means. It is Wanda who I am interested in next.

Wanda is said on her marriage record to be born in Scriba to a Jennie Snell. So far, so good.

Jennie Snell is born in New Haven, NY:

Here is the family in New Haven in 1865:

Coley (should be Cooley?) is born in Oneida. From here, the records get a bit thinner. I suppose this is Edmund the father of Edmund in 1820:

This tree has the father Edmund married to a Cooley which makes sense:

And if one has a father with the same name as yours, it also makes sense to go by your middle name (Cooley). This appears to be a list of the children of Job and Ruth from Rhode Island Vital Extracts:

It does not seem that Josiah fits in well as he was born 41 years after ‘Judeth’. Next, I connect Edmund to Job in my tree:

This gets Job Snell onto my Snell DNA/Genealogy Chart:

As Job moved out of the Massachusetts area early on, it is more likely that the DNA is from his line. I thought that I had posted a portion of this great bio on Job Snell by Fred Snell at Ancestry before:

Joyce, King and Ker

Above, we see Ruby in the Rhode Island Vital Records Extracts, so we are likely on the right track. Ellsworth grew up on a farm in Minnesota:

Next, I am looking for the mother of Jason M. Harrington. Someone kindly posted the death record for Elizabeth Harrington:

Her parents on the next page are just listed as Hulbert and Hulbert. I had to accept an Ancestry tree by faith, but there was a Hulbert willl which included daughter Bestsy Hulbert and the executrix (mother/widow) as I recall.

Joyce and Ker

My hope was that Ker would fit in easily. On Ker’s tree, I recognize the surname of her paternal grandmother:

Here is Mabel:

Her husband is a commercial traveler for a candy company. Mabel’s parents were born in New York. Findagrave.com gives some more information:

After this, I am hoping that Curtis’ mother is Elizabeth Hurlbert. It turns out I already have Curtis in my tree:

If I merge the two Curtises, I should be all set.

Finally, Joyce and Skylar

Skylar’s tree goes back to Samuel Snell and beyond. However, the linked tree is ambiguous:

 

The main person in the tree appears as a male. That means that Skylar may be the daughter. Due to the confusion, I’ll skip this match.

Back to the Snell DNA/Genealogy Tree

I’ll just add King and Ker:

My Father’s Other Cousin: MM

Maurey’s ThruLines are similar to Joyce’s. Here are the ones under Job:

Interestingly, there are three different matches. I do notice the Hulbert or Hurlburt name under Ruby Snell. The other interesting thing is that Maurey matches C.W. by DNA on the side that doesn’t match me:

So, as usual, it can get tricky. Maury matches me on his maternal side.

Summary and Conclusions

  • Because Joyce is a generation earlier than I am, I am able to find Snell relatives that match by DNA going back to Samuel Snell born 1708 in Tiverton, Rhode Island and Mary Head.
  • It takes some time to verify these DNA relatives. Some have closer matches on other lines, which means that the DNA match could represent that closer line
  • Sometimes the ThruLines appear to be incorrect.
  • In many cases, the genealogical evidence is scarce and the DNA matches tend to support that there is a connection
  • It is possible to use Shared Matches to help prove or prove some of the connections.

 

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My Father’s Cousin Joyce and Ancient Snell ThruLines

I have a pretty extensive DNA/Genealogy Chart for the Snell family already:

In this Blog, I’ll look at Joyce’s ThruLines through Samuel Snell born 1708 and Mary Head. Samuel Snell was a vintner and had a tavern for a while in Newport:

Joyce shows these Snell ThruLines:

My tree only includes brothers Anthony and Benjamin:

I’ll start in order:

These two should be easy. I alreaady have Charlotte’s sibling, so I can add her. O.T. lived not too far from me, so he should be easy also. I’ll start a floating tree for him. I used to teach Sunday School with O.T.’s daughter.

In 1910, the Tripp family lived on Rochester Road, Acushnet:

I knew the family on Perry Hill Road, so I wonder if the name of the Road changed.

Here is a marriage record for Frederick Tripp and Marcia Church Snell:

Her parents were Otis Snell and Mary Ann. That means that Otis Tripp’s name likely came from the Snell side. I realize that I already have O.T. in my Snell DNA/Genealogy Tree:

Our common ancestors are Otis Snell and Mary Ann Parker. This ThruLine is looking at a potential common ancestor three generations earlier. I am curious as to whether I am doubly related to O.T.

Frederick Tripp

What I need to find out is whether Mary Snell is the mother of Frederick Tripp:

Here is the marriage:

Apparently, Frederick who married Nancy was the son of William. It appeaers that he was also a Reverend:

findagrave.com has Frederick’s mother as Mary Snell:

It is beginning to look likely that the ThruLine back to Samuel Snell is correct. This shows the two ways that Joyce is related to Otis (O.T.):

I am one step down on this tree. So where Joyce is a third cousin to Otis, I am a third cousin once removed.

Joyce and Descendants of Pardon Snell

Joyce shows six matches to Pardon Snell descendants.

Joyce and Jane

Something seems off in my genealogy:

This shows Michael having children in his 60’s and 70’s.

I will start a floating tree for Jane. Jane has a tree with her two parents. I am looking at the paternal side based on her ThruLine. Here is the family in New Bedford in 1930:

The father, also Allen C. Ashley is a bus driver. However, ThruLines is directing me to Ida M. Here is Ida:

They get married in Portsmouth, NH. In Ida’s birth record, her father is said to be from Tiverton, R.I. That is a good sign.

The marriage record for Moses reveals that this was his second marriage:

Angles seems like a strange name. Having said that, genealogically speaking, it is a great name in that it is quite unique:

From Captain Angles’ death record, we get his parents names:

This appears to be Crawford’s burial record:

From this, it is not clear that Angle is a sone of Crawford and Sarah. However, he may just not be included in the list.

This list shows a Michael Crawford as the son of Pardon Snell.

Here I have merged the two Crawford Snells from my regular tree and my floating tree:

I started to delete the younger children. My guess is that I had the wrong Crawford married to Anna S. King. I’ll delete that family for now and add them back in later if I need to.

Next, I’ll add in the line to my Snell DNA/Genealogy Chart:

However, note that Jane’s father has Crapo as a middle name and Joyce and I also have Crapo ancestors. Further, Jane is said to have a DNA match on Joyce’s paternal side and I am related on Joyce’s maternal side. That makes this match off at least as proposed by the DNA. Nevertheless, the DNA assingment may also be off.

Regardless,, I think that the exercise has helped my straighten out the Snell genealogy some.

Summary and Conclusions

  • I started to udate the ThruLines through my father’s cousin Joyce going back to Samuel Snell born 1708 and his wife Mary Head
  • One relative was Otis who is also related on a closer line.
  • I spent some time connecting with Jane genealogically only to later realize that she shows as a DNA match on Joyce’s paternal side. I am related to Joyce on the maternal. Side. That means that the DNA match is either to a different connection, or the assignment of the DNA is incorrect.
  • I may further look at connections under Pardon Snell born 1747 and Job Snell in a subsequent Blog
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Updating my Cowen/Cowing ThruLines

I last looked at these in November of 2023. Here is what I have as of then:

Seth Cowing and Penelope Crapo are my 5th great-grandparents. They were born in the first half of the 1700’s, so well into the colonial period of Massachusetts. Penealope descends from the White family which goes back to the Mayflower. I grew up in Rochester where Seth Cowing and Penelope Crapo were born, so this is local history for me.

My Cowen ThruLines

I do not see these three people on my chart. Israel marries in 1795:

I can go down from Israel or up from the three matches which is the more proper way. I am hoping that Charles fits into the Cowen line, so I will put him in my tree as a ‘floating tree’. That means that he will be unconnected until I find his connection. On Thelma’s wedding record, her parents are given as:

Unfortunately, Ancestry transcribes her father as a Gifford also, where the last name is omitted and assumed to be the same as Thelma’s (Butts). Here is my floating tree:

Ancestry is loading up my tree with hints. My ThruLines say to follow the Butts Line. Here is Earle’s marriage Record:

The person who married him had the first name of Hartley. Next, I shift ot Calvin Butts. He was a carpenter in New Bedford in 1900. Calvin is recorded in a book of births for New Bedford:

That gets the name back to Polly Cowing. At this point, it would be helpful to have a marriage record for Polly Cowing:

I did find a death record, but Polly’s parents are listed as Zenas and Mary. So I guess I won’t be adding Charles to by Cowen tree.

Sharon and Robert

My sister Sharon matches Robert;

I already have Shaun in my tree. I ruled out Dawn on the Seth Crapo Line. I assume I already evaluated Shaun, so it is safe to add in Robert:

I had noted on a previous Blog on Cowen ThruLines that Shaun is also related on my Hathaway side. This makes sense as Excperience Cowing married Joseph Hathaway on my line. That means that we don’t know whether the match is on the Cowing side or Hathaway side or both. I say it could be both as Sharon matches Robert in two different segments of DNA. Technically, the DNA could be from Cowing, Crapo, Hathaway or Hiller. It gets complicated as I am related to Hiller on the yellow chart above also.

Cousin Joyce’s Cowen ThruLines

I have been noticing a few of these lately.

Right now I only have one match under Jonathan Cowing, so let’s take a look at Joyce’s matches under Jonathan.

I already have Kristine on my tree, so Julie is an easy add.

It appears that Jonathan Cowen could have been a Quaker based on his burial place:

Here is some further information from findagrave.com:

This seems to fit in well with Joyce’s Cowen ThruLines.

Joyce and Coynert

It is time for a floating tree for coynert. Here is Annie or Anna living with her family on a farm in Mattapoiisett in 1870:

Here is the floating tree I came up with:

The assumption is that Eliza Hiller is the same as Eliza Cowing. Next I need to merge the two Elizas:

Next, I add the line to my Cowen DNA/Genealogy Tree:

Joyce and angiesmom

I already have Abner on my Ancestry Tree:

This looks like a sure bet. Still, I’ll create a floating tree for angiesmom. Angiesmom’s maternal side tree does have a Cowen:

Here is the family in 1950:

Here is the 1920 Census:

Here we see Everett R’s father who is also Everett R was born in Massachusetts. That is a good sign. Here is Everett on Cook Street in Fairhaven, Massachusetts in 1900:

His father, James was a tool maker:

Confusingly, James Cowen marries a Bowen:

This brings us back to Abner. I merge the two trees and I now have angiesmom line.

There is no guarantee that the DNA that Joyce and angiesmom share is from Seth Cowing or Penelope Crapo as I have not considered every line of both people where there may be other connections. However, it is possible and it is also interesting to see where the different lines of Cowen ended up.

Abner Pease Cowen Born 1825 Rochester

I came across this photo of Abner at Ancestry. Keep in mind that in 1825 Rochester included present day Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester:

Joyce and Seth

I already have Frances and Helen on my yellow tree, so I will add Seth also.

The Cowen DNA/Genealogy Tree

This includes only one match from my father’s cousin Maury in the bottom left. It also does not show Maury on the right side of the chart. There are also many more Hartley relatives as my great-grandparents had 13 children. He has many more matches, but I will not look at them now:

However, I note that he does not have descendants of Polly Cowen which I determined were not right above.

Summary and Conclusions

  • Recent common ancestors shown under Joyce’s DNA matches resulted in me looking at some Seth Cowen Thrulines
  • I found one line that was not right. These were descendants of Polly Cowen. The confusion is probably that there were more than one Polly Cowen born around the same time.
  • I was able to expand my Cowne DNA/Genealogy Chart and see where some of the Seth Cowen descendants ended up living.

 

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My Cousin Paul’s Frazer Theory at MyHeritage

I recently looked at my cousin Paul’s Theories of Relativity at MyHeritage and saw this interesting one:

I already have a large Frazer DNA/Genealogy tree for this branch of the Frazers:

There may be some mistakes. I notice that I have McPartland here and also in another branch, so they should not be in both places. I do not have Fitzgerald Frazer here, but do have him on my web page:

Here is Franklyn’s tree at MyHeritage:

Ancestry shows a marriage certificate for William M Frazer:

This line seems pretty well documented:

Here is Haverstraw where Fitzgerald lived:

Frazer DNA

Here is how Franklyn and Paul match by DNA:

The match on Chromosome 17 is 6.8 cM and the cutoff for DNA Painter by default is 7 cM, so I won’t count that little segment. Here is Paul’s already busy Chromosome 12:

Notice that I do not have Michael Frazer in the Key above. Michael would add an important DNA link in this whole puzzle:

Franklyn is the missing piece of the puzzle between Joanna and BV.

Every Picture Tells a Story

I can try to interpret the meaning of all these segments on Paul’s Chromosome 12:

 

There appear to be breaks in the DNA matches which to me indicate breaks between Paul’s inherited Frazer side DNA and the McMaster side DNA.

The first section appears to be McMaster shown in blue. Suzzanne does not have any known McMaster, so this may indicate a small false reading or that Suzanne does have McMaster ancestry somewhere.

Barry has no known McMaster ancestor, so I have his section as Frazer.

The third section has John whose common Ancestor with Paul was Abe McMaster and Margery (no known last name). Keith also has two McMaster ancestors.

The fourth section appears to be just Frazer as Joanna has no known McMaster ancestors. Her ancestor was James Frazer who was born around 1720. Franklyn also has no known McMaster ancestors.

BV and Susan

Notice that BV and Susan are in both the McMaster and Frazer sections. BV descends from William McMaster and Margaret Frazer. So actually the common DNA represented by the orange would be from William McMaster and not his wife.

 

Susan’s McMaster ancestor is Margaret McMaster born 1846 at Kilmactranny, County Sligo. Keith has the ancestors of James and Fanny McMaster, but the common ancestor between him and my ancestors would be James McMaster.

Technically, the DNA that Paul and BV share in the fourth section representing Frazer is from Margaret Frazer born 1780 and not her husband William McMaster.

Adding Franklyn to My Frazer DNA/Genealogy Tree

This tree just represents my older half of my Frazer genealogy going back to James Frazer born about 1720.

Unfortunately, the tree got so large that the program could not handle it. The blank circle should be Franklyn. Also, Susan did not make it onto the chart. She would be on the lower row with Paul:

Here, I split out the Michael Line and added all my cousins in purple:

I guess Michael and his wife would be surprised to know about all their descendants. This chart includes Susan and Franklyn. The only one who is missing from the above chart is Joanna who descends from Michael Frazer’s father James Frazer.

On Second Thought

After looking at Paul’s DNA Painter profile, I thought that this may be a further refinement:

Barry has no known connection to the James Frazer Line. Joanna, BV (Barbara) and Franklyn have no known connections to the Archibald Line. Here is the Elphin Census of 1749 showing Archibald, James and their apparent mother Mary Frazer:

Mary Frazer had one male servant. Susan and the group in the darker green descend from both the Archibald and James Frazer Lines.

Summary and Conclusions

  • Finding Paul’s match to Franklyn at MyHeritage, including an accurate Theory was very helpful
  • That match fills in a gap which appears to solidify the fact that Margaret Frazer born 1780 and married William McMaster was indeed the daughter of Michael Frazer and Margaret Stewart.
  • By looking at Paul’s DNA Painter profile, it is possible to separate out different Frazer and McMaster ancestry.

 

 

 

 

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Downloading Hartley DNA Segment Match Data from FTDNA

I had heard that it is possible to download segment match data from FTDNA now, so I thought that I might try it. I had downloaded this data previously into a spreadsheet that looked like this:

Actually, this is my brother’s match sheet. First I chose Chromosome Browser under my autosomal matches section. Then I choose download all segments:

There should be a lot of segment data there. However, when I check my downlike file, the file is not as large as expected:

There are about 10,000 lines and my old file has 86,000 lines. However, a lot of these may be from Gedmatch and a few other sources. I also have this file:

I need to merge the two files somehow. This file is helpful because it has the match date. This is the format I want:

If I can remember how to use MS Access, that would be helpful. FTNDA no longer downloads the kit number. Also, Access likes Excel Files, so I needed to convert the csv file to an excel file:

I stuck the first two tables into a database I already have. Next I need to perform a query on the two tables. Here is my query:

Next, I need to add fields. I tried to get them in the order of my master spreadsheet. I ran the query and got this:

I have two columns for Match Date. I will have to fix that. Also, the Match Dates are off. I was trying to get the match dates only past a certain date in January 2022. That means that I imported the wrong match list file from FTDNA. I re-checked and made a new file and then imported the right one:

The dates look better now. I notice that there is no email which is OK as I can always look that up at FTDNA. The Matching Bucket field could be useful. One more correction is that I do not see the end location:

This is a bit of trial and error. Next, I need to incorporate this information into my master segment list. Here I line up everything with my master spreadsheet:

Turned out I had the wrong master spreadsheet, so I had to do this again with the real master spreadsheet. The end result looks like this:

This is a random shot from my list. The arrows point to two matches that FTDNA think are maternal. Where I have another maternal match in this section as Rathfelder, the match could be on the Rathfelder side.

What is the Use of Segments?

Segments can be helpful in finding the side that your match is on, or in the ancestral line where your match should appear. For example, I have an unknown match from Ancestry named Lee. Lee has a Hartley Line that is from the same area that my Hartleys are from:

Lee’s match is shon in a shade of blue on my DNA Painter Profile:

This is on Chromosome 13:

Our match is between position 88 and 110 million. Here is my match list for Chromosome 13:

 

Any of the paternal matches in blue could be along the same line as Lee. I don’t have lee on the list, so I need to add him from Gedmatch.

Lee and Gedmatch

Gedmatch has a utility that will show me common matches between Lee and myself:

This is near the bottom of my list and the projected match is out to 5 generations. That means that they are potentially fourth cousins or further out. The first three columns of numbers are how these people match me. The fourth through sixth colums are how the matches match Lee. The last column is interesting to me as it includes genealogical information. In one tree, I saw the Clarke name. I also have Clarke ancestors, but they were from Ireland and this family was from England. Another tree had a Clarke from 1835 in England. So, the connection from genealogy is not clear. Lee also has Clark in his tree, so coincidence? I think that Clark is a common name. I would rule out Clark based on the fact that two of my father’s cousins are on the shared match list. Those cousins are on my paternal grandfather’s side and my Clarke ancestors are on my paternal grandmother’s side. However, I cannot rule out a second Clark line on my paternal grandfather’s side.

Unfortunately, I did not see any easy connections to Colne through this exercise.

Richard: A Match on My Frazer Side

I match Richard here:

The smaller match on Chromosome 17 is Richard’s brother. Here is the likely connection at MyHeritage:

Here, I just added Richard to my spreadsheet:

These are some matches that could overlap with Richard.

Summary and Conclusions

  • I was able to download about two and a half years worth of FTDNA autosomal matches
  • These matches I added to my spreadsheet with the help of MS Access
  • I was able to add some key matches from other sources to my master match spreadsheet
  • I could do this for my siblings, but it would make more sense to download the matches from my father’s first cousins and my mother’s matches. In other words, the matches from those who are a generation older than me.
  • The exercise did not result in any new revelations, but may be helpful in the future.

 

 

 

 

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My Father’s Cousin Joyce’s Shared Matches

I have been recently looking at my enhanced shared matches at Ancestry. It occurs to me that it would make sense to look at Joyce’s enhanced matches. Joyce matches me on her maternal side, so I chose that:

 

Gary has a private tree.

According to Ancestry, Warren is Gary’s father:

Here is Warren on my tree:

For some reason, I have him in yellow. The problem now is whether Gary is Ahsa’s father or not. I think that Asha tested at 23andMe. I’ll just add Gary in the box with Asha’s dad.

Suzanne

Joyce’s top maternal match is Suzanne:

Suzanne has an unlinked tree:

The connection must be through Suzanne’s maternal grandfather, Alan Hartley. I have Alan in my tree:

Adding Suzanne, adds another Hartley Line to my tree:

Diana

Diana is next on the list:

Diana has a tree that looks like Suzanne. From other information, I see that Suzanne and Diane are sisters. I’m sure that the shared matches would show that also.

Will

Will is difficult to figure out by shared matches. However, by process of elimiation, I can place him:

On second thought, Will should be the Bill I used to play ball with as a kid. The DNA match should be Bill’s son Will.

This shows Joyce and Will as 1st cousins once removed.

Liffers

Liffers should be easy to place as there are many Liffers matches. The trick is that the tree is set to the spouse:

If I choose ‘Spouse’, I get this tree:

The maternal side of this male Liffers is clear a match. Unfortunately, I don’t have the work I did on my other computer as I am on my laptop, so I will add Suzanne back in:

Shared matches show Suzanne and Liffers as siblings.

M.F.

I am going down Joyce’s match list and looking at the matches without a listed common ancestor:

I know where M.F. fits in, but I want to put her on my chart. It looks like I can do that from M.F.’s tree:

Ma

Her maternal grandmother was my grandfather’s sister.

Marsha, Nicole, and Samantha

These are more fairly close relatives. They will be easily added to my James Hartley DNA/Genealogy Tree:

This is turning into an impressively large tree.

N.M, Aimee, and Riley

More easy adds:

Unfortunately, I did not add nm as she is my sister Heidi’s daughter. I would have had to split my box out to 6 people, making a large chart much larger.

m.a.

I’m finding m.a. difficult to place precisely.

Here is my guess:

Ancestry thinks that Gary is m.a.’s half uncle which is still an uncle. Also Ancestry thinks that ME (who I just added) is m.a.’s grandaunt.

Camie on the Snell Side

Camie matches Joyce by 129 cM. From shared matches, Charles is Camie’s father:

 

Further, C.W. is Camie’s son:

Here I have added Camie and C.W.:

It appears that there are two C.W.’s, but I have added only one. Here we have four generations of a tested family. Those that match this family should not have Hartley ancestry if they are far enough back as they descend from the Snell side only.

Kristen: A Link to Lancashire?

Kristen’s Hartley link to Joyce goes back another generation compared to her many Hartley matches:

Greenwood was born in Trawden, Lancashire. Due to the industrial revolution putting hand loom weavers out of business, he moved to Bacup, Lancashire where he married Ann Emmet.

Joyce and Kristen’s Shared Matches

I have wondered to Jennifer is:

There are some close shared matches matches to Jennifer on the list, but those matches do not have much other information about themselves.

Joyce and Sheryl

Sheryl is one of Joyce and Kristen’s shared matches:

Sheryl shows a potential set of common ancestors:

Bracewell is a name that comes up often in Lancashire matches. I also have that John Hartley, common ancestor married Ann Bracewell who would be another common ancestor if this representation is correct.

I also like Sheryl’s family tree:

The reason that I like it is that all the people in the last full column are from the United States except for John Bracewell. That means that there is less of a chance that other confusing Lanchashire people married into this family.

Unfortunately, I have tried to extend Sheryl’s tree and come up with this likely scenario:

That means that either I did the genealogy wrong, or I am related to Sheryl on her Bracewell side and not the Hartley side.

Joyce and Kristen’s Shared Match Paul

I have looked at Paul’s genealogy before and gotten him back to John Hartley and Ann Bracewell:

I had to go back quite a way from Paul’s posted tree which just went back to his two parents. This tree is from Paul’s maternal side. Here is a tree that I have:

By this, Joyce is Paul’s 5th cousin once removed. I do notice some discrepancy between the Sheryl’s line in the tree above and the tree I had created earlier. However, I do note this connection:

Sheryl and Paul have a 20 cM DNA match with each other. That seems to add more evidence that my tree above may be correct.

Summary and Conclusions

  • It was helpful looking at my father’s cousin’s shared matchese at Ancestry
  • Using that, I could place some of the closer cousins into my Hartley DNA/Genealogy chart even though the matches had no usable family trees
  • I looked at some shared matches with Kristen. Kristen is a helpful match as her connection goes back a generation on the Hartley line compared to most of my Hartley relatives.
  • There is some confusion as to whether my ancestors are John Hartley born 1730 and Ann Bracewell. However, shared matches Paul and Sheryl have genealogies that suggest that these could be the right ancestors. In addition, Paul and Sheryl show a match with each other.
  • It would be helpful to do more analysis in this area to try to confirm or disprove the genealogy and whether the DNA evidence supports what the genealogy shows or suggests.

 

 

 

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My Mother’s Paternal Shared Matches

I have been having fun using the shared matches pro at Ancestry. I wrote three Blogs on my mother’s maternal shared matches and was able to place many more people on her (mostly) Nicholson DNA/Genealogy Tree. That is, I have a chart where I place people that are both DNA matches and genealogical matches.

My mother has more maternal matches than paternal, but still quite a few on the paternal side:

That is interesting, considering that her father was a German with roots in Latvia. As I go through my mother’s paternal matches, there are two fairly close matches and I know how they fit in. Here are some names starting in the Extended Family portion of her match list:

It seems like a logical method to go down this list. There is one person on the list with a common ancestor.

Holger

Holger has no family tree. Holger’s closest match is to my mother. So that doesn’t help me figure out how he fits in.

Susanne

A.E. has a common ancestor with my mom. She shows up as a fourth cousin to my mom on my Rathfelder Chart. I don’t know if she would be related on other lines:

Susanne’s parents are from Germany:

Susanne has few shared matches with my mother. The better way would be to trace her line back, but that would take a while.

Alex

So far, I have not done too well. Alex does not have a helpful tree. I see Alex’s father Ralf as a shared match:

However, Ralf also does not have a tree.

Amy and Thomas

Amy has few shared matches and no tree. Thomas has a tree:

However, I now see that Anna Marie Daal was from Latvia also. It may be good to try to figure out the genealogy at some time. I’ll start now:

This is my version of Thomas’ tree with just the people I am interested in.

Here are some Anne Burkowitzs from Latvia:

The one closest to 1874 was born in 1876 in the Ozolnieku Parish and had a father named Peter. This is a list of passports.

This is apparently Anna Marie Daal:

Anna Maria was confirmed near a Gangnus and born in Riga:

This begs the question why the father’s name was not listed. Was Barbara a single mother? I guess I’ll stop for now. It was interesting to find the Gangnus name near Daal.

Next Group of My Mother’s Matches

I hope that I have more luck with this group:

Two of these six matches have common ancestors, so are already placed.

J.S.

Here are some good shared matches:

There is another uncle of J.S. that I did not add. Let’s look at my Schwechheimer DNA/Genealogy Chart:

I don’t see Karin or Stephanie on this chart. Before I can figure out where J.S. fits in, I need to find out how Karin and Stephanie fit in. There is also Valdis who is Karin’s brother. I started to build a tree for him, but I’m not sure why I stopped:

Valdis’ mother was a Schwechheimer. Here is what Ancestry proposes:

Let’s start at the top. One problem is that I have that Rosine was one of 16 children. That is a lot. Rosine had 6 brothers named Johann, so Ancestry picked an unfortunate name to identify him. Johan is likely:

Johann Georg Michael Schwechheimer. He is in the 1834 Revision Books as George Michael (makes sense as there was already a Johann Georg Philipp.

My ancestor Rosine shows on the right side of the List.

Vialdis’ sister has a much larger tree:

However, this tree has many Gangnus lines also:

Assuming Karin’s tree is right, we share at least four common ancestors. That must mean that there were two Schwechheimer siblings that married two Gangnus siblings. I am inclined to add this line to my Schwechheimer DNA/Genealogy Chart. This part appears to be right:

The resident list of Hirschenhof from 1858 shows Friedrich Schwechheimer married to Maria Hausel and with a son Georg Adam born in 1852. I don’t often do genealogy from the top down (meaning older to younger), but I will in this situation.

Then I have this issue:

My tree shows that Johann Georg Michael born in 1802 had two wives. I assume that Anna Marie Neumeister is the widow mentioned in Karin’s tree. However, the Resident Record has Marie as geb Hausel which I assume means born. Perhaps Neumeister was a married name. Here is my tree view:

This can only show so much. My ancestor Rosine is off the chart to the right. This correctly shows Georg A descending from Johann G M and not Anna C Gangnus.

Adding Kristin and Family to My DNA/Genealogy Charts

However, if I add these four to the Schwechheimer Chart, I also need to add them to the Gangnus Chart.

Gangnus DNA/Genealogy Chart

Here is my chart as is:

Here it is with Valdis and family added:

Hopefully, I got it right.

Karil

Here is Karil’s maternal grandmother where the Latvia connection is.

I don’t see any large shared matches for Karil, so my option is to skp her or look at her genealogy. I’ll try the genealogy route. Here is an interesting record from 1950:

Here is a record that gives Zenta’s maiden name:

It is Kröger. I did not find who our common ancestors are, but it seems clear that we have one. I am a bit overwhelmed that the family is on Lists of Persecutees. There must be some interesting stories there.

Pwa, Valdis, and Gunars

I did not find an easy connection with Pwa. Valdis shows common ancestors at Ancestry. Let’s look at Gunars:

Peteris is Gunars son, which does not help in itself.

K.B. is Gunar’s grandniece. So I suppose she must be the granddaughter of a sibling of Gunars? From S.B.’s tree, I think my mother’s connection with her is here:

These names appear to be Latvian. Ozolnieks is Latvian but the birth is said to be Germany. Grizis is said to be from Latvia according to the tree. There is no birth place for the other two names in the red box.

Karin shows at Ancestry as a second cousin to Gunars, so if that is right their common ancestor could be here:

Summary and Conclusions

  • I started looking at my mother’s paternal shared matches
  • The genealogy is more difficult on this line as it goes back to Latvia
  • Due to upheavals in Latvia including communism and World Wars, many people have not traced their Latvian genealogy back that far.
  • Rather than going down my mom’s match list, it may make more sense to look at the people I have already placed in a tree and look at their matches to see if there are any close relatives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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More of My Mother’s Maternal Matches’ Share Matches

This is my third Blog on this topic. I left off with my mother’s maternal match Elise.

 

Elise descends from my mother’s Uncle William.

David

David has no close shared matches. That means that the connection would be difficult to find. His closest shared matches with my mother is in the 20-29 cM range. I think that I will skip David based on my last Blog and all the work I did to try to connect Michelle without success. At least Michelle had a Nicholson in her ancestry, which is more than what David has.

Caroline

Caroline also has no close matches. Plus she has no family tree posted at Ancestry.

Robert

Again, no close matches. These connections probably go back to Sheffield in the 1700’s.

James

James is related to Carolyn:

James shows as first cousin to Aaron. I have not added Aaron to my Chart:

Barbara is probably James’ Aunt:

It seems like James should be added next to Anne and Aaron:

This is what makes sense to me.

Yvonne

Yvonne appears to be a 2nd cousin with a Christopher, but I do not know how Christopher is related. Yvonne appears to be from England.

Seven More Maternal Matches for My Mother

The easy answers appear to be drying up:

Jenna

Jenna’s mother:

Ronald

I did not find any close matches for Ronald with the exception of his daughter. Ronald has a small tree showing some ancestors in the Camden, New Jersey area.

Lauren

Joshua is on my tree already. I mentioned Christopher above. He seems to be from England. I saw a few close matches to Lauren, but they did not appear to shed any light on how we are related.

Raymond and Edward

Raymond has only one page of shared matches with my mother. Also, there was no easy way to find out how he was related to my mom.

I was Edward’s daughter in the shared match list, but that did not help.

Nicole

Ancestry thinks that Nicole could be in the third cousin range from my mother.

Barbara is a key person here:

If Barbara is an Aunt, that would put Nicole on a level with the bottom row above.

James is a cousin:

This is my best guess on where Nicole should be on my Chart. She shows as 2nd cousin once removed to my mother.

Henry Nicholson

In my previous Blog, I looked at Michelle. She showed a Nicholson ancestor:

I traced Francis back:

However, this Henry seems different than the one in my Nicholson DNA/Genealogy Tree:

Where Henry is the son of Matthew Nicholson born 1798. From my mother’s ThruLines, there are three other matches on this line:

I checked Michelle’s shared matches and did not see Nancy, Angela, or Louie, so I suppose she shall remain a mystery.

Problem #2

A second problem is that I do not see Joseph Nicholson on my tree. I see that Walter married Sarah Clarke in 1871:

I have Louie descending from Clara Nicholson:

This Census does not show a Joseph Nicholson. I wonder if my genealogy for Louie is right?

Nancy’s Genealogy

I’ll look at Nancy’s genealogy to see if that looks right. Nancy has a Nicholson as her maternal grandmother:

I found this tree at Ancestry:

This means that Mary E was originally a Boothroyd. However, it is unclear who was the father when Joan was born. According to the 1940 Census:

Mary is English. Here is a suggestion from Ancestry for the parents of Mary Ellen Lliohan:

This record tells me I am on the right track:

I do not think that there were many Arie Lliohans in Wortley, Yorkshire. This tree at Ancestry appears to explain the Boothroyd Connection:

This appears to be a summary of the 1911 Census for Mary or Mary Ellen:

Joseph’s #1 son is Henry, so I am thinking that his father was also a Henry.

This could be the Henry:

Here is a Joseph Nicholson in the 1871 Census:

Here is a marriage for Joseph and Matilda:

Unfortunately, we do not know the father of this Joseph from this record. The closest baptism for Joseph that I can find is this one:

However, this would put him about 15 years older than shown in the Census. The 1861 Census is interesting:

Henry should be about 15 this year, but I don’t see him in the Census.

Joseph is an awl blade maker. According to the next page, his 31 year old daughter was born in Halifax, America.

If that is correct, that would put Joseph in Halifax, America around 1830. This is from Ancestry:

At this point, I am getting stuck unfortunately.

Summary and Conclusions

  • I was able to add a few more people to my Nicholson DNA/Genealogy Chart using shared matches
  • There were a few Nicholson ThruLines that did not seem to match up well. I tried doing some genealogy but did not find a connection to my previous Nicholson genelaogy
  • That means that the Nicholson DNA matches are earlier than I had tracked or possibly there is a connection on a collateral line (surname married to the Nicholsons)
  • I’m ready to move on to my mother’s paternal shared matches. However, there is much more room for research on my mom’s maternal side.

 

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My Mother’s Maternal Shared Matches

In my previous Blog, I set out to look at my mother’s Nicholson Shared Matches, but ended up looking at both Lentz and Nicholson from her maternal match list. That Blog was successful, so I want to continue down her maternal match list.

Here are the next three on my mother’s maternal match list:

Hannah

Hannah has no tree and is more difficult to place.

Justin is Hannah’s first cousin or half uncle:

As Justin is on the bottom of the Chart, my first guess would be 1st cousin. Judy is her grandmother or Aunt:

I’m guessing grandmother.

Paige is her half sister or Aunt:

I’ll say Aunt. That narrows it down:

This should be the likely connection.

Michele

Michele shows a Nicholson in her tree, but I have never heard of this person:

I do show this tree in my records:

Perhaps I had started investigating this line before. This seems worth pursuing.

In 1871, Frances was a servant in Sheffield:

She was born in Darnall. according to the 1871 Census:

Here is the family in 1861:

I think I see the family now:

However, the dates don’t quite match up between the Henrys in my tree and Michelle’s Henry.

Ancestry thinks her parents are Benjamin and Rebecca.

The family was in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1900:

They probably married about the year 1880.

Henry Nicholson

Father Henry is also in Worcester in 1900. Good news:

Unfortunately, his death record does not shine a lot of light on the situation:

My assumption is that he lived alone as there was no informant listed. Henry was in Sheffield with his young wife in 1851:

The transcriber says that Ann was born in Walkley, Yorkshire:

I am guessing that Henry and Ann married in 1850 or 1851.

The death record for Ann is more helpful:

Here I would like to thank Henry for putting down his wife’s parents’ information. There were two Henry Nicholsons in the 1841 Sheffield Census, so the information on the above death certificate could be important.

Here is Ann in Nether Hallam, Sheffield in 1841:

The family was living at Walkley Bank. I wonder if the town of Walkley was wrong. Nether Hallam sounds familiar from my Nicholson research, so I may be on to something here. Here is the wedding:

This is from the Sheffield Indexers site, but I had to use Firefox to get it to work. Here is some more information:

Now I have another problem as I have not been tracking a Joseph Nicholson. However, I do have this Joseph on my Nicholson Web Page:

He would have been quite old in 1830 – about 63. Here is a baptism of a Henry:

Assuming the baptism was not at an independent church, this could be the Henry I am looking for. That means that this could be the right Census record:

But who is John Nicholson, head of household? This is likely Sarah and Joseph:

Next, who was this Joseph? The marriage record gives no father. My web page manetions a Joseph born in 1767. If this is the Joseph, he would have been 46 at marriage. This would be unusual for a bachelor. Here is a record from Sheffield:

This Joseph would 34 when he married. Also the baptism took place at Wortley. This is North of Sheffield and this Joseph is a labourer rather than a cutler. I’m ready to stop researching this line. I feel like the connection is quite old.

Robert

Robert’s connection to my mother is much closer than Michele’s.

We already have one child of Joan on the chart:

Karen is Robert’s likely Aunt:

To confirm, Joshua is Robert’s 1st cousin:

Next 5 of My Mom’s Maternal Matches

I added Justin earlier in the Blog.

Jason is the son of Carolyn:

I’ll add him to my chart next to Heidi:

For some reason I had not entered Barbara. Here she is on lower left below:

The Nicholson family tree is rapidly expanding.

Sue

Doris is Sue’s mother:

In my previous Blog, I had Doris in the 1st cousin range to Barry from the English Branch of Nicholsons:

Elise

Elise shows as 1st cousin to Joshua and Robert and niece to Karen, so I put her as shown above.

Summary and Conclusions

  • Most matches that I looked at on my mother’s maternal side at this level were easy to place or figure out on my Nicholson DNA/Genealogy Chart
  • One match was difficult to place. I did a lot of genealogy, but was still unable to find Michelle’s Nicholson connection.
  • The Nicholson DNA/Genealogy Chart is expanding
  • It would be worth my while to further look at my mother’s maternal matches.