Category: ThruLines

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Following My Father’s Cousin’s Recent Shared Matches

In my previous Blog, I looked at two of Joyce’s recent shared matches. I will continue on.

Angela and Joyce

Angela comes with a bonus:

It appears that Angela and Jaqueline should be fourth cousins to each other if this tree is correct. As this is the main line that I am interested in, I feel obgligated to look into the connection. This Hartley Line has been difficult to deal with.

Angela also has a Hartley on her maternal side which makes me skeptical. Here is Jaqueline’s Tree:

Here tree has a lot of John Hartleys, but I do not see James Hartley in her tree. I will take these two back to see if I can get them both to James Hartley born 1813. In the unlikely chance that happens, I will then look further back.

A Floating Tree for Angela

Angela’s grandparents lived in Barrowford in 1939 according to Angela’s tree:

Here is the family in 1921:

We are interested in Ann who was born in HIgham:

Here is the non-conformist wedding record at the Weslyan Chapel. Ann’s father was a farmer in 1871:

The marriage record shows Henry to be a widower:

As the marriage is in 1867, all three daughters listed in the 1871 Census must be from Christiana. So far, my research agrees with Angela and Jocye’s Thrulline.

Here is the family in 1861 in Higham:

Henry’s first wife is Jane. Henry is a shoemaker and father James is a shoemaker and farmer.

The 1851 Census has James born at Sagar Hill:

My guess is that Sagar HIll is part of HIgham.

Here is the Census for 1841 for Sagar HIll, Padiham:

I am not making a lot of sense of it.  I will Robert the same as Henry Robert in the 1851 Census? Is Dinah the wife of James or a daughter of John?  Is Robert the son of an unmarried daughter of John? Due to the vagueness of the Census, I would be willing to stop this line of pursuit for now.

I think that one problem is my tree:

 

Ancestry is trying to find mathes that fit my tree. However, I do not know if Robert Hartley’s parents were James Hartley and Betty Baldwin or not. I picked them because they seemed to fit. If I were to de-link James Hartley and Betty Baldwin from Robert Hartley, I may get other suggestions. I tried that and I will wait to see if I get other suggested ancestors.

I see that Angela went away when I took away the link between known Hartley ancestor Robert Hartley and what I thought may have been his parents:

Joyce and TJ

The Cowen or Cowing Line should be easier to trace. I see that TJ’s tree goes back to a Zenas Cowen:

I will assume that TJ had his maternal grandmother right. TJ also has this record:

Social Security is helpful here:

This gives a specific birth date and place. However, the father’s name is given as Joseph Tyson rather than Walter Butts.

In 1940, Patricia is living with her family on Collette Street, New Bedford. Patricia’s mother is shown as married but also the head of household. I think that the suggestion is that the Walter who was the lodger was the father of Patricia. Walter is still there in 1950, so I will go with that.

This is probably Walter in 1900:

Here is the birth record for James D Butts:

His mother, Polly Cowin was born in Dartmouth.

I see I already have Polly in my tree, so I will have to merge the two people:

However, I have this Polly as being the daughter of Zenas Cowen rather than Israel Cowen or Cowing. That means that this is another dead end.

Shared Matches with TJ and Joyce

One interesting thing is that Joyce and TJ have these two shared matches:

Perhaps the connection is on another line.

Summary and Conclusions

  • Usually I blog on success stories, but finding a proposed match is not as proposed is a success in a way.
  • In the first exercise, I decided to try a different tact by taking away the supposed parents of known Robert Hartley to see if Ancestry proposed someone else.
  • In the second exercise it appears that there is a connection, but the connection does not look to go back to Israel Cownen or Cowing.

 

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Kerivan Matches at Ancestry

I’ll take a look at my wife’s late Aunt Lorraine’s tree first:

Based on the high DNA match, this connection seems likely. Here is my Kerivan DNA tree which needs some work:

This should start with John Kerivan, not Alice Rooney. Also, I need to add Suzy’s siblings Lorraine and Richard. I already have William Kerivan in my Ancestry tree, so this  line should be an easy add. Here are more of Aunt Lorraine’s Kerivan relatives:

Here there are 9 matches and I have four in my Kerivan DNA tree.

William A Kerivan

I ususally do not start from the past and work to the present, but I’ll make an exception here.

Here is the famlly in Needham, Massachusetts in 1880:

The parents are said to be born in Ireland.

Willie was born in 1876 in Needham.

On this record, his father John was said to be born in Newton, MA and his mother in Ireland. Some records have John born in Marblehead. Here is a Census for Salem in 1850 which would support that John was born in that part of Massachusetts:

Note here that son William was a shoe maker. Patrick was born in Ireland, but the apparent chidren were born in Massachusetts. By 1855, the family moves to Needham:

This is surely the same family. I have that Catherine died in 1845, so Mary must be a second wife. Now Ellen is added to the family in 1855. Patrick is shown as born in Ireland.

 

Social Security has William’s wife as Beatrice Curtis:

George F Kerivan

George is mentioned in his father’s obituary:

The obituary for George appears to link him to the John who tested at Ancestry.

This Kerivan Tree is much better, but a proper tree should go back at least to Patrick Kerivan.

ThruLInes for Patrick Kerivan

Here is what Lorraine has. William and Richard P must be in my Ancestry Tree already. We were already introduced to Richard and William the shoemaker in the 1850’s censuses for Salem and Needham.

Joseph and Lorraine

Here a few of the names appear to be misspelled.

I’ll add Joseph to my Ancestry tree as a floating tree and then attach him if the genealogy checks out.  However, already I see that Joseph and Lorraine have a shared match named Robert:

Ancestry thinks that Robert descends from John Kerivan.

Joseph has his father being born in 1949 in Clinton, Iowa. That would mean thta he should be in the 1950 Census.

Next, I have to figure out if Bernadine was in fact a Kerivan.

Here is where some of the strange spelling gets introduced.

William Joseph Kerivan is said to be born in Maine according to the 1920 Census but his father was from Massachusetts:

This William Joseph also married later in life:

I now have this floating tree for Joseph:

However, my non-floating tree has a William and Bridget already:

That means that I need to merge Wm with William and Bridget Kerivan with Bridget Norton.

This is the first step in bringing the Kerivan DNA Tree back a generation.

Manassas and Lorraine

I think that masassas is Francis but I am not sure:

Francis’ mother lived on Maxwell Street in Boston, MA in 1930:

In not too long, my floating tree is at the point that it can be connected:

Now the Kerivan DNA tree is taking shape. DNA and genealogy are bringing back this Irish family.

Summary and Conclusions

  • In this Blog, I updated my Kerivan DNA Tree using my wife’s Aunt Lorraine’s ThruLines
  • The DNA matches give credence to the genealogy and vica versa
  • The many children of Patrik Kerivan makes it easier to trace the DNA matches

 

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Reviewing Recent Common Ancestor Matches at Ancestry

I look at my Common Ancestor Matches very often at Ancestry. However, I do not often look at them sorted by which ones are the most recent. When I choose my most recent Common Ancestor matches, I get this list:

I see that none are very recent as the most recent is two months ago. However, I am interested in Melissa. I wrote a Blog on her here, but did not add her to my Clarke DNA Tree.

Adding Melissa to the Clarke DNA Tree

Here is the tree I have now:

There is a Melissa on my tree, but it is a different Melissa.  Here is what Ancestry shows:

Ancestry correctly shows Melissa and me as half third cousins. That is because the first Spratt wife of Thomas Clarke died (in childbirth, I believe) and he remarried a Henderson. Melissa descends from Jane Henderson and I descend from Jane Spratt. Here is this Melissa added:

I tried to put this Melissa’s line in a different color to differentiate the relationship. What I find interesting is that matches with Melissa should be related only on the Clarke side Matches with other than this Melissa could be Clarke or Spratt. Another confusing aspect is that Celia Clarke married a McMaster and I am also related to the McMasters. That adds an extra level of confusion. Actually, Catherine Clarke married a McMaster also.

My Mother’s Recent Common Ancestor Matches

Donna and Derek did not look familiar, but I did write a Blog on Derek in 2023. So let’s look at Donna:

Here is the Baker DNA Tree that I created:

I already have George Slater, so I just need to link Donna back to him.

Donna and Gladys

Here is Donna’s father in 1950:

They are in Bridgeton, New Jersey in a three generational household.

This is interesting because it is Lawrence’s grandmother that I am looking for. She was born in Pennysylvania. One tree I saw had this record:

This adds a twist with the Lent name.

Apparently, Mary also went by Sarah?

Here is the family in 1940.

Sara’s father was a stationary engineer. Mary was born in Pennsylvania.

Mary lived at East Venango Street, Philadelphia in 1900:

Findagrave ties in the loose ends:

Here is how my Ancestry Tree looks now:

At the right side is George Lentz, perhaps where the Lentz name of this Blog came in?

Summary and Conclusions

  • The method of looking for recent common ancestor matches seems to be successful
  • I updated my Clarke and Baker DNA trees
  • It appears that Donna’s ancestor with a middle name of Lentz suggests a reference to the Baker/Lentz Connection that I descend from
  • Donna should have a shared match with Annette, but Annette tested at MyHeritage so Annette does not show on Donna’s Ancestry Shared Matches.
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Joyce and Bearse ThruLines Part 3

In Part 1 of my series, I looked at early Cape Cod Bearse Genealogy and Joyce’s ThruLine with the Gershom Bearse Line. In Part 2, I looked at the genealogy of the Enoch Bearse Line and another ThruLine Joyce had there. In this Blog, I will look at the Martha Bearse Line:

Based on the DNA, the connection looks likely.

Looking at the trees of H.R., Judith and Donald, I do not see any Bearse ancestry.

Martha Bearse

Martha is mentioned in a 1772 will of spinster Hannah Bearse.

Martha is Hannah’s niece. I have that John Bearse Sr. only had one son who was John Bearse Jr.:

If that is true, then all of Martha’s neices and nephews should have been children of John Bearse Junior born in 1720. Specifically, that would mean that Martha Bearse must be the daughter of John Burse born in 1720.

First, I’ll add Martha to my Ancestry Tree. I see that Hannah’s probate was recorded in 1787 – so 15 years after the will was written:

I assume, then, that Hannah died some time before February 28, 1787.

Here is one problem in my tree:

I have that Hannah married Jabez Bearse in 1761. I guess I will delete that entry as this Hannah was a spinster.

Joyce and Judith

Judith’s father and paternal grandparents were living in the Back Bay, Boston in 1920:

Here is some more information:

Here is the tree so far:

From here, I wanted to go via Lydia’s line, but she is listed as living, so I have to change that. Here is Lydia’s family in 1850:

Here is Lydia’s death record:

One thing I see a lot is Cotuit:

Based on the Death record, I added the suggested parents that Ancestry had for Lydia:

Now, what I do not know is whether Moses Sturges is the father of Daniel and whether Moses married Martha Bearse. That would close the loop.

As I do not see any clear evidence either way, I think that I will abandon this line for now and move to the next set of ThruLines.

Joyce and the Rebecca Bearse Line

Here Rebecca has a proposed birth and death date which looks hopeful. Joyce has 5 ThruLines on this Branch. Also, as mentioned above, Rebecca is mentioned in the Will of spinster Hannah Bearse. The order given (probably by age) is Olive, Martha, Rebecca, and Lydia.

Of the 5 mathces, one has a Bearse in the ancestral tree:

However, this tree goes back to Abigail Bearse born 1715, a generation earlier than Rebecca Bearse. The tree is for L.A.:

I will look at L.A.’s ancestry to see what I think.

Joyce and L.A.

L.A.’s mother’s birth certificate gives the name of L.A.’s maternal grandmother:

Here is some wedding information for Laura Lewis:

Here is where that gets me:

I need to change the “Living” tag as Ancestry adds that in when it is not sure.

The 1910 Census says that Loren was born in the French portion of Canada and was a button cutter.

Here is some more about Loren:

Alonzo’s death record has him born in Blenhem, Ontario:

Here is Blenheim, ONT:

Ontario is a long way from Barnstable. Findagrave.com has this information:

So this states that George was born and died in the U.S., but that he was buried in Ontario.

Rebecca Bearse

At this point, I will go up a generation to the supposed mother of George Washington Bearse. When I choose Rebecca Bearse in Joyce’s ThruLines, I get this tree as a hint:

Apparently, there was a Rebecca Bearse who married a Melahtiah Lewis:

Here is a stone for Rebecca in the Hillside Cemetery in Osterville.

It looks like Rebecca was 57 when she died which would put her birth at 1753. Here is a published account of a wedding between Melatiah Lewis and Rebecca Bearse:

Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016).

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/rd/13885/221/248787656

The reference tree from the ThruLine also has that Rebecca had another son named John Bearse Lewis:
I notice that he dies of old age in Osterville:
Recall from above that is where Rebecca Lewis is buried. So that is more circumstantial evidence. That means that it seems likely that Rebecca Bearse married Melatiah Lewis and had a John Bearse Lewis. However, I am still not as convinced that George Washington Lewis was his brother.

Summary and Conclusions

I was able to find out more about the Bearse family. However, I had trouble linking the DNA matched descendants to my Bearse tree.

 

 

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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 Hoar ThruLines

Joyce is my late father’s 1st cousin, so her ThruLines go back one generation further than mine. Here are her Hoar or Hoard ThruLines:

I researched this family many years ago, so it would be good to take a fresh look.

The Hoars lived in the Taunton or Dighton area. I believe that Dighton used to be part of Taunton.

Joyce and Sprry

Sprry’s tree goes back to his paternal grandmother which agrees with the ThruLines up to that point:

I think that sprry will match up with my tree. Here is Luella in 1900 in Bingham, Michigan:

Here is Bingham:

Luella’s father was Adelbert who was a farmer.

This is likely Adelbert sitting down. Here is Adelbert in 1855 as a young child with his father George and family living in Madison, New York:

Here is George in 1850:

My guess is that George’s elderly parents George and Prudence were living next door to him.

At this point, I would like to look more at the top of the ThruLine:

Here is an excerpt I found at Ancestry:

This is from a book called, A record of descendants of Hezekiah Hoar of Taunton, Massachusetts : with an historical introduction.

This fills in the blanks.

A First Hoar DNA Tree

This is at the limits that the ThruLines go to which is a 6th cousin relationship. I should note that the match between Joyce and sprry is listed as a peternal one and I match Joyce on her maternal (Annie Louisa Hartley) side. So the DNA appears to be saying one thing and the genealogy another. This is probably because Joyce has colonial Massachusetts ancestors on her paternal side also.

Joyce and Singinheart

For singin and donald, I only have to show a connection up to James Hoar. Singin shows two Hoards in her tree:

I notice that with singin, the match is on Joyce’s maternal side:

 

Here is Agnes living in Minnesota in 1920 with her family. Her father was post master and was born in New York:

Here is a younger Hiram in 1850:

As suggested, by the ThruLines, Hiram’s father is William. Here is Stockbridge, where the farm was:

Here is some interesting information on William at Findagrave.com:

As William was quite well documented, I will accept the hints for his parents at Ancestry.

At this point, I hope that there is a reference to James and Enos Hoard in a published book. Here is where he is:

Enos is apparently the youngest son of James.

Next, I add singinheart to my Hoar DNA Tree:

Joyce and Donald

Joyce and Donald are said to match on Joyce’s paternal side also. Donald takes his tree back on the Hoard/Hoar Line;

I am tempted to accept Donald’s tree as is. For one reason, his grandmother is mentioned in the Hoar Book:

That grandmother being Laura Adelia Foot.

Summary and Conclusions

  • The genealogy for all of Joyces 3 Hoar ThruLines matches played out well
  • The Hoar family appears to be well documented. I think that one Hoar I read about became the Governor of Minnesota. Another was a traveling Methodist Preacher.
  • There is some confusion as to whether Joyce’s Hoar descendant matches are paternal or maternal. Maternal would be better. Out at this level of relationship I am not sure whether I trust the designation. Regardless, there is still a genealogical connection.
  • I am not sure at my level whether I match any of these Hoar descendants by DNA.
  • Another of my father’s cousins tested at Ancestry and he has an additional Hoar ThruLine that I did not add to my Hoar DNA Tree.

 

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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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Joyce’s Trafton ThruLine

Joyce is my late father’s cousin. I was looking for possible connections on relatively obscure lines and found one ThruLine that Joyce has:

Joyce and nallen are potentially 6th cousins. Joseph Trafton was from Dighton, Massachusetts.

Joseph Trafton was married to Zipporah Talbot.

Joyce and nallen

I will create a floating tree for nallen and hopefully connect it later to my existing tree. nallen’s grandfather’s mother is listed on his death record:

This gets us back to Trafton.

Leila’s father appears to be a brick layer in 1860:

He was born about 1821 in Virginia. I just need to get from Walter back to Charles G Trafton who is in my tree.

I don’t mind borrowing from this source:

Findagrave.com has additional information:

Here is Camdem, NC:

Here is the final link:

I connected nallen to my tree:

Here we see a tale of two Traftons. Rebecca marries Benjamin Luther and remains in the Dighton area. Charles Gardner Trafton moves South to North Carolina.

A Small Trafton DNA/Genealogy Tree

Summary and Conclusions

  • I assume that Joseph Trafton and Zipporah Talbot had a small family.
  • This Blog was one of my easier ones. My job was to see if nallen and Joyce matched by genealogy as well as by DNA.
  • It is not clear why Charles Gardner moved South. Perhaps he was offered land for his service in the military during the Revolution.
  • The fact that Charles moved out of Massachusetts early on makes it more likely that this an accurate match between DNA and genealogy.

 

 

 

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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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Gangnus ThruLines

My last two Blogs have been on the Gangnus Family, so I will continue the trend. I descend on my mother’s side from two Gangnus Lines:

The left side of the chart goes to my mother’s Rathfelder Grandfather and the right side goes to my mother’s Gangnus Grandmother. This chart is meant to include DNA matches that also match by genealogy. As the two brothers near the top of the chart had the same first name, I expect that there is a lot of confusion in the genealogy.

My Late Mom Glady’s Gangnus ThruLines

My mom has this ThruLine:

I already have Robert on my Gangnus DNA/Genealogy tree. However, I have him descending from Maria Magdalena Gangnus instead of Johann Georg Gangnus:

And when I look at my mom’s ThruLines for Philipp JG Gangnus, I get more matches:

Here, Tristan is the son of Robert. Tristan’s tree also goes back to Johann Georg Gangnus the first instead of who I have. I see that I created a tree for Robert in 2019:

This explains the issue:

I didn’t realize that I already had Robert in my tree twice. This shows that Robert and my mom (and hence I) both descend from two sons of Johann Georg Gangnus. I don’t think that this is a double cousin situation as double cousin is shown this way:

I suppose that makes Robert and my mom 4th cousins removed twice.

Another problem is that my mom’s ThruLines is missing Philip Jacob Gangnus who married Anna Eva Niclas:

Here are my mom’s ThruLines for Anna Eva Niclas:

So something is amiss here. I know that Anna Eva Niclas and Anna Eva Muller could not have had the same children:

Perhaps if I add some correct genealogy to my tree, these issues will straighten out. The genealogy has definitely given the Ancestry computers a headache.

Checking the Gangnus Descendants’ Matches’ Genealogy

I see that I first mentioned Robert’s genealogy in a 2019 Blog here. That Blog had to do with AutoCluster. However, I assume that the genealogy is still valid, so I will add Robert to my Tree. Currently I have a separate Ancestry Tree for him. Here, I have connected the Retch Line to my Tree:

However, I still have to connect Johann G’s wife Maria M Gangnus to the tree. I did this by adding parents for Maria M. Gangnus and typing in the name of her parents who were already in my Ancestry Tree:

I hope that this will go a long way in fixing the weird AncestryThruLines that currently exist for the Gangnus Family.

Gladys and Kirk

Gladys and Robert have a shared match with Kirk, so I’ll look at him next:

The first icon after Kirk’s name means that Ancestry thinks Kirk and Gladys have a shared ancestor:

I will add Kirk to my Ancestry tree as a floating tree and if the floating tree matches my ancestors, his floating tree will get attached to mine. Kirk has a modest tree:

Unfortunately, he has his paternal grandparents listed as private. This likely was something that Ancestry added by default. Siegfried was born in Hirschenhof according to Kirk’s records. This is where many of my ancestors were born. I see one reference to Siegried’s mother in a tree by Karin:

It turns out that Karin is connected to my mother also via HIrschenhof on the Schwechheimer Line. I will accept the Ancestry Hint based on Karin’s tree:

As I do not have a husband for Melita, that makes the tree difficult to evaluate. I will put Kirk on hold for now.

Gladys and Michael

This is the connection that Ancestry would like me to pursue. However, there are two private generations. Here is Michael’s tree:

Fortunately, Michael and his ancestry are published in a book by Gustav Gangnus published in Darstadt 2003. That means that, assuming the book is correct, I can trace his Gangnus Lineage. Bruno was born in Riga and dies in Wollongong, Australia:

Here are the missing generations:

This is also where it gets tricky as I also have Schwechheimer ancestry. Unfortunately, the Gangnus Genealogy book does not give parents for Emma Eva Schwechheimer. I do see a birth record for Emma Eva here:

However, this is for 1853 instead of 1859. Here is the same information:

This is probably the right person – unless there were two people of the same name within 6 years.

At any rate, I will continue on the Gangnus side. According to Geneanet:

From Johann Georg Michael Gangnus we go to Johann Georg Gangnus 1807 and then Philip Gustav Gangnus. Further,

Now I do have this Philip Gustav in my tree:

That brings us to the common ancestors of Philipp Jacob Gangnus and Anne Ave Niclas.

I think that this is the right connection:

However, the ThruLines have the connection through Philipp Julius Gustavus Gangnus. To check, again, I have the Gangnus Genealogy book which I consider to be the gold standard. I checked and it does have Philipp Gustav as the son of Philipp Jacob. For further proof, here is the HIrschenhof Revision List of 1811:

This shows that at the previous revision, 16 years prior to 1811, Philip Gustav who was the third son of Philip Jacob Gangnus was 11 but that he had since moved to Farm number 92 in 1811. So, I have all sorts of checks on the genealogy.

Updating My Gangnus DNA/Genealogy Chart

This is myy Chart currently:

Recall that Robert was on both sides of the Chart. I will add Michael to the right side:

This shows that my mom and Michael are 4th cousins twice removed – though in a different way that the ThruLines show. They are also 5th cousins twice removed. And that isn’t counting any other connections such as through Schwechheimer or other routes.

Summary and Conclusions

  • I started to look at Ancestry Thrulines on my Gangnus side
  • Due to complexities and two sons named Philipp, it is often difficult to get the genealogy right.
  • I gave up on one line due to scarcity of sources given
  • One other match was much easier to verify due to an excellent book I have in German on the Gangnus genealogy.
  • It takes a lot of work to correctly verify Latvian ThruLines. Due to upheaval in the area, there has been a lot of movement of Germans who lived in that Country.
  • I am glad also to have Revision Lists to verify the genealogy.
  • I hope that the quality of these Gangnus ThruLines will improve based on the work I have done and improvements I have made to my Ancestry Genealogy Tree.