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A New FTDNA Mitotree

I was notified recently via the Facebook Page, Mitochondrial DNA for Genealogy that something big was happening. The big thing is that FTDNA has a new Beta Mitotree for Mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA. MtDNA is the DNA that women receive from their mother’s mother’s mother’s line and so on. This is passed down to daughters but also to one generation of sons.

My mtDNA: H5’36

I took the mtDNA Full Sequence test in 2014 so over 10 years ago. I am currently H5’36, but apparently all tht could change with the new Mitotree. Roberta Estes was involved with the new tree and wrote a good Blog on the Mitotree here. When I put my current Haplogroup into the FTDNA search, I get this message:

My guess is that either H5’36 is being shuffled around and/or being renamed in update or that the search is having trouble with the ‘ charachter. Instead, I will type in plain old H5:

Now I should point out that I am not H5, but H5’36. H5’36 predates H5 but was added in later as it was discovered after H5. The H5 story continues:

This screen shot is interesting as it shows H5’248 as the precursor to H5. I assume that H5’248 may be my new Haplogroup – or an equivalent to what I have now. It is interesting that these two Haplogroups have the same date of 4750 BCE – really old. The following timeline does not add much information, but just displays it in a different way:

Am I Now H5’248?

This is my assumption, but it is unclear why the change from H5’36 to H5’248 was necessary unless there is now a new naming protocol. All this seems to be laying the groundwork for new branches under H5’248. The next logical step is to do a search fo H5’248.

Again H5 is the popular descendant of H5’248 which I am not part of.

Here is another new Haplogroup called H5’248^. I guess there was a lot going on around 4800 BCE with my mom’s side mitochondrial DNA. Of interest above, is that H5’248 is the parent to H5, H248 and one yet unnamed lineage. As I am not H5, that means that I am likely H5’248, H248 or an unnamed lineage.

Here is another view:

I like this view because it shows over 1,000 H5 testers which I am not part of below me.

However, I would think that there would be more branching under H5’248. From a Blog I wrote 2 years ago, I had this possible tree:

This tree was based on information at YFull.

YFull’s MTree

Apparently, the chart I drew 2 years ago is now outdated. I am now H5’36e according to YFull’s MTree:

I am at the very bottom of the MTree for H:

Note that this is a new subclade:

I am wondering how much YFull’s MTree was responsible for FTDNA’s Mitotree. Here is my interpretation of what YFull’s MTree is showing now:

The over 1,000 testers under H5 obviously have many branches that I did not show. H5’36-b and H5’36b have some branching, but the other H5’36 branches have no further branching under them. I am a bit surprised how far behind FTDNA got in it’s Mitotree. I suppose that is why it may take a while for them to get up to speed.

FInally, I note from FTDNA:

Updates are rolling out over the next few weeks, with Haplogroup H coming after the other haplogroups since it is so large.

My Wife’s mtDNA

I tried to test my wife’s later mother’s mtDNA, but the test failed, so I am now trying to test my wife’s which is also an old sample. It turns out that this is an old sample also. I see from FTDNA:

Standard Average Processing Times
  • Family Finder™: 2 to 4 weeks.
  • mtFull Sequence: 6 to 8 weeks.
  • Y-DNA (excluding Big Y): 3 to 6 weeks.
  • Big Y-700: 6 to 10 weeks.

That means that I should be expecting her results in 2-4 weeks. It is also a good time for her to be testing with all these new changes.

Naming mtDNA

I found an article at the FTDNA Help Center called Understanding mtDNA Haplogroups.

This applies to my branch. So what H5’248 means is that it is the common parent of H5 and H248. That also suggests that there are a lot of new branches since H36 (or that a lot of room is being left for new branches?).

I was curious about the caret as I do not remember seeing that before.

This is perhaps more than many want or need to know. However, one of the things I like about FTDNA is that they do not tend to hold back on giving information to people who are curious. There is more on the FTDNA Help page that is interesting and instructive.

I assume that the Interim Haplogroup section is important at this time when FTDNA is looking to totally revamp their mtDNA Tree.

Summary and Conclusions

  • A lot has happened in the world of mtDNA in the last two years – including in my little branch of the Tree
  • I am now playing catch up in mtDNA
  • The bottom line is that it seems like the H part of the tree which is quite large will be updated last
  • I picked a good time to have my mother-in-law’s DNA tested. Although that has failed, my wife’s sample is now being tested. I hope to see the results in a month or less.
  • I had to trick the new Beta MitoTree to figure out where FTDNA seems to be heading with my branch of H5’36. The branch apparently will be renamed and hopefully I will be on a new branch under that.
  • Knowing the naming conventions helps to figure out what is going on with the new FTDNA Beta Mitotree.
  • It is helpful to have YFull as a check to what is going on in the mtDNA world.

 

 

 

 

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Hartley YDNA and the Time Tree

My last Blog on Hartley YDNA had to do with a Channon test. Channon has known Nutter ancestry and based on YDNA, he must have also had some Hartley ancestry in the past 400 years or so. At that time, the new YDNA Time Tree had not been updated. However, before I get to that, I will give some background.

Hartley YDNA Background

According to Mynamestats.com:

HARTLEY is ranked as the 1027th most popular family name in the United States with an estimated population of 37,550.

Accoring to Forebears.io:

Approximately 87,232 people bear this surname

That seems like a pretty exact number for an approximation.

However, not all branches of Hartleys are related in the genealogical time period. Here is my tribe of Hartleys on the YDNA tree:

Here 17 have tested for STRs or have done the BigY test. All are probably A11134 except for Mawdsley. Mawdsley is one branch upstream of Hartley which was before the genealogical time period. It is difficult to estimate the percentage of Hartleys that this branch represents. I will guess that we represent about 1/3 of the Hartleys worldwide, so roughly 30,000 Hartleys.  say this to suggest that these 16 YDNA tests represents 30,000 Hartleys or so or certainly tens of thousands.

The FTDNA YDNA Time Tree

Here is the current Hartley YDNA Time Tree:

At the top is a scale of years going from 500 to 2000 CE. The first tester is a Smith and the connection to Hartleys goes back to before the year 500 CE. The next is Mawdsley:

I assume that this time of 1170 CE is correct. However, only nobility would have had surnames at this time, so this would be considered to be before the genealogic:

al time period. The previous date given was 1174, so there has not been much of a change.

A11134

So far, it appears that A11134 and the Hartley surname are synonymous.

Prior to the Channon test, this date was 1471, so the fact that the date was pushed back 5 years is interesting but probably not significant. Hartley BigY testers Ethan, John and Steve are R-A11134. This is the general designation of the Tree that represents an estimated 25-30,000 Hartleys worldwide.

FT225247

This is the branch that my brother and I are in. It represents our father:

This has not changed which I suppose makes sense as our branch is independent of the Channon Branch. Interestingly, my father was born in 1918.

A16717

This is a branch of Hartleys who had the Quaker belief and moved from England to Pennsylvania ostensibly to get away from persecution in England.

This changed only one year from a previous 1684. I would tend to think that this SNP is actually older:

Assuming that Edward Hartley had this SNP, this SNP should be no new more recent than 1664. If his father or grandfather also had the SNP, that would move the date further back.

Channon and FTE2655

This test brought the Channon branch up from 1466 to 1905.

Here is the Block Tree:

This represents the 10 A11134 Hartley Branch BigY testers. I do not show up as the tree is from my viewpoint. For some reason my branch has 7 SNPs in it. Perhaps that will be important some day in figuring out my branch’s genealogy. The Channon Branch has two SNPs and the Quaker branch has one. A11134 has three SNPs but they will not likely be separated as they have not been separated so far.

Also the fact that my FT225247 Branch is later than the Channon Branch of FTE2655 may be because there are many more SNPs in my Branch (7) and fewer in the Channon Branch (2).

Here is the Match Time Tree:

Summary and Conclusions

  • The time tree update is the last piece of the new Channon BigY Test
  • The test gave Channon its own branch of the YDNA tree
  • FTDNA shows that there are 6 major Branches of the R-A11134 Hartley YDNA tree. Their common ancestor is still very early at an estimated date of 1466 CE.
  • It would be nice to find out what Hartley YDNA branching occurred in the 1700’s and 1800’s.

Here are some things going on in England in the 1400’s according to metmuseum.org:

At the start of the period, concurrent with the accession of Henry IV (r. 1399–1413), England’s first Lancastrian king, Great Britain and Ireland are rife with internal tensions, including Welsh revolt, a series of baronial rebellions led by the Percy family of Northumberland, and ongoing warfare among the Anglo-Irish nobility. In 1415, Henry V (r. 1413–22) renews the war with France that has continued, with interruptions, for nearly a century. His endeavors are temporarily successful, gaining large territories in France and securing his claim to the French throne. During the reign of his son Henry VI (1422–61; 1470–71), however, the English are expelled from France with the help of Joan of Arc, a French peasant girl, and political turmoil erupts at home when the king’s frequent illnesses place England in the hands of a Protector, Richard, duke of York. By the end of the fifteenth century, civil war between the Yorkists and Lancastrians seriously undermines the power of the monarchy and leaves the nobility fractured and vulnerable to the prevailing Tudor family.

 

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Ramping Up the LeFevre DNA Tree

My wife’s paternal grandmother was a LeFevre. Here is the LeFevre DNA Tree I have so far:

My wife’s two late Aunts Lorraine and Virginia tested at Ancestry, so it should be easy to update this chart and go back at least one generation.

Lorraine’s LeFevre ThruLines

Here are Lorraine’s ThruLines for the LeFevre Line going back one generation into the 1700’s:

Jean-Thomas LeFebvre 1770

I have that Jean-Thomas was born in Charlesbourgh. This is an historic part of Quebec City:

Other records show that he died in Neuville:

Here is a marriage record from 1801:

He is listed as a forgeron or blacksmith. This is interesting as LeFebvre means blacksmith.

Checking the Reine LeFevre Line

I can start with Carter, though he seems to have too large a match for a fourth cousin once removed. Change of plans: I’ll go with the person who has the best tree.

Lorraine and Lise

 

Lise’s paternal side of her tree gets her to LeFebvre:

It turns out that LIse’s father had quite a long name:

Here is mother Maguerite Larue in 1901 in Quebec City:

The family must have been doing well to have three serants. This marriage record gets us back another generation to the older Simeon:

Now, hopefully, Simeon’s mother will be a LeFebvre. I am having trouble finding more information but see some information on Marie-Desanges LeFebvre:

This 1820 marriage record is important as it links Marie Desanges LeFebvre with her parents and establishes who her husband was.

For now, I will go with the Geneanet hint:

Updating the LeFebvre DNA Tree

Above, the part that was weak on records was between Desanges LeFebvre and Simeon Larue.

Lorraine and SD

SD is a shared match between Lorraine and Lise:

Here is SD’s paternal side:

I’ll start a tree for SD in hopes of connecting to LeFevre. I will take the Ancestry hints for Andre’s parents as I assume that they were well known. Here is Cecile’s family in 1901:

They are living in St-Antoine-De-Tilly:

Next, I need to follow Cecile’s mother Angelina:

This is in 1891. I knew from Cecile’s death record that her mother was a Lafleur.

Here is the marriage record of Remi and Odile:

I did not mention before that Remi had a dit name of Lafleur. This former name was Sivigny:

This connects Odile to the Marie Odile that I already have in my tree.

I could keep going on with the LeFevre DNA tree, but it could be time consuming.

Summary and Conclusions

  • I met my goal of expanding my LeFevre DNA tree
  • I started with one of the matches with the best tree
  • I hit a snag in not finding some key original documents for Simeon Larue
  • A second line of SD was a shared match with Lorraine and the first match. This line checked out better with all the original marriage documents found
  • Along the way of checking thre trees, I get an idea of what some of these families were like.
  • The DNA connections strengthen the genealogical connections

 

 

 

 

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Following My Father’s Cousin’s Recent Shared Matches: Part 3

Going down Joyces’s list from newest to oldest:

I looked at TJ in my previous Blog. I know who cotton must be.

Joyce and Sarah

At first, I thought that this connection could not be right:

This is what I have on Sarah Pilling now in my Ancestry Tree:

I have that she had two children as a single mother. Then I thought: what if she happened to marry someone with the last name of Greenwood. This would seem ironic perhaps as she already had a son with the first name of Greenwood. When I searched for a Sarah PIlling marrying a Greenwood in the Colne Parish, I got one result:

What if Sarah has two children out of wedlock and then marries? Next, I searched for children of John Greenwood in Colne:

The records show a couple of John and Sarah Greenwood from Aldersend having two children baptized. My thought was that if Sarah was born in 1745, then she would not likely have children after 1785 and that is when Paul is born. I further assume that a 20 year break in children indicates a separate family of John and Sarah Greenwood and that Paul was Sarah’s last child.

If the ThruLines are accurate, that would mean that Greenwood Hartley would have a second cousin named Hartley Greenwood!

Another reason I think that the ThruLine could be correct is that I have my ancestor Greenwood Pilling dying at Aldersend in 1804. Note that this Sarah’s two Greenwood sons were born at Aldersend.

This is part of a map from 1818. I believe that OlddrestEnd is the same as Aldersend. A newer map shows Alder Hurst in this area:

To me, the name of Sarah Pilling, the location of Aldersend and the DNA match is more than coincidental.

The Pilling Genealogy

To do this correctly, I need to add the recent Sarah match to my tree as a floating tree to see if it correctly heads back to Aldersend. I will assume that Sarah knew who her grandparents were.

It appears that Sarah’s grandfather was from Wath upon Deane:

Here is the Greenwood family in 1921. Interestingly, many worked for F Hartley & Co.

Here is Shipley in Bradford:

The 1881 Census shows a problem:

John Greenwood’s father, also a John is working for an out of business beer house if I am reading it correctly.

Unfortunately, this line of genealogy is not matching up with the Ancestry ThruLines. So, the genealogy is dissapointing, but the theory that Sarah Pilling married a Greenwood still interests me.

Joyce and Izzy

This relationship seems questionable. However, what if Jane Shaw married a Hartley before a Wilkinson?

Jane marries Moses Wilkinson in 1785, so that cannot be right.

Unfortunately, I cannot make sense from the ThruLine. I took off the parents of Robert Hartley in my Ancestry Tree hoping that Ancestry would find likely parents for Robert, but having Jane Shaw as a mother does not make sense to me.

Joyce and Tara

I have my tree built out to tara’s likely grandmother: Charlotte Robbins, so this should be easy. Due to a large Snell DNA chart, it would make sense to have one for just the descendants of Otis Snell:

These Snell relatives seem closer, perhaps because many of them stayed in the same area as where I grew up.

Joyce and Cheryl

I’ll look at these two and then wrap up this Blog.

I have a huge Hathaway DNA Tree, but so far I do not have any Philip son of Isaac Hathaway:

I’ll start a floating tree for Cheryl and then try to connect it to my tree if it works out. Cheryl’s tree goes this far:

ThruLines is leading to Daisy Crampton. In 1940, the family lived in Boston:

Beatrice was from Massachusetts. Martin was a car salesman.

Beatrice was buried in Marion, MA, where I live:

 

Here is Beatrice in 1910:

Father Albert was an ice man, but I am interested in mother Desire.

The marriage record for Desire Crampton raises some question as to Desire’s parents:

The father’s name is not given and the mother’s name is given as Betsey Nye.

Further, here is the 1880 Census:

Here, George and Julia Crampton are living with Philip Hathaway, but I do not see Desire living with them. However, Julia’s mother was Desire:

Further I do not see a Desire born in Mattapoisett in 1878:

Summary and Conclusions

  • It has been interesting going through some of Joyce’s ThruLines
  • I added one person to my Snell Tree
  • Two other avenues were interesting but somewhat of a dead end.

 

 

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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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Recent Common Ancestor Matches at Ancestry Part 2

I had good luck with my Part 1 Blog, so I will continue.

Joyce

Joyce is my father’s 1st cousin, so a good candidate for common ancestor matches. I will use two filters for maternal (Hartley side) and common ancestors. Then I will sort by most recent:

None of Joyce’s matches in this category are very new. However, I will take a look.

Thomas

I recently did an update on my Bearse ancestry. As all of Thomas’ ancestors are in white, that means that Thomas has been added to my Ancestry Tree.

Catherine

Catherine is the daughter of Lauri who also tested at Ancestry. I am surprised that I do not see these two on the DNA Tree for my great-grandparents:

Robert is the youngest, so he should be on the right. In addition, my great-grandparents had no son named John. I see that John is the son of Robert, so I will fix this.

I believe that the pinkish color means that Simone tested at 23andMe. Robert was born 20 years after my grandfather. Here is a photo of Robert:

Lori and Martin

Lori’s common ancestor shows as a paternal match to Joyce though the DNA says maternal, so I will ignore that one. Here is the suggested connection for Martin:

This is an old connection and will be difficult to substantiate. However, it is interesting as my immigrant ancestor, Greenwood PIlling apparently got his name from Mary Pilling’s father who was Greenwood PIlling.

Here is what I have on my Pilling Web Page:

If I have it right, Greenwood died tragically at the age of 23. I do show a son John.

I’ll add Martin to my Ancestry Tree as a floating tree.  Martin’s tree goes back to his Crabtree grandmother:

Martin’s father and grandparents were in Great Harwood in 1939:

However, I have ancestors from both Bacup nd Colne.

In 1901, the family is in Blackburn, but father James Crabtree was born in Bury (or possibly Burnely?). Other Census reports appear to confirm that it was Bury.

Here is a marriage record:

The marriage takes place in Haslingden:

They are perhaps older than average when marrying.

James’ father is listed as James, but this is crossed out and John is written in.

Here is James in 1891 at 330 Manchester Road which correlates exactly with his marriage record. This is where my research deviates with Anestry. James’ mother appears to be Esther, not Margaret. However, John is born in Colne which is interesting. I have also considered the Crabtree name as a possible ancestor in the past.

The family is in Salford in 1871:

The family is in North Bury in 1861:

Here are two records from one of my favorite web sites:

The best choice is the 1859 marriage. Note that it takes place in Bury and that John’s father is Joseph, the name of John’s first child.  This puts the couples’ birth at about 1834. This appears to be John’s baptismal record at a Wesleyan Church:

Here is the family in 1841 on Parilament Street in Colne:

The 1851 Census shows that all three were born in Colne:

Here is a marriage record:

This is likely the birth record for Joseph:

Here is Shawhead:

This is also interesting as some of my other DNA inspired genealogical research has lead me to this area.

Here are some likely parents:

Here is the likely family:

Unfortunately, I do not know where Heaton is. This may be Richard Crabtree:

Summary and Conclusions

  • One of the relatively recent Common Matches for Joyce lead me to cleaning up my Hartley/Snell DNA Tree
  • Another match purported to lead to my Pilling Line, but seemed to follow a Crabtree line to the area where my ancestors lived in Colne Parish, Lancashire
  • The Crabtree name has come up before and the area to the North of Colne (Foulridge) has come up. This could be coincidence, or I could be on to something. It is difficult to tell right now.

 

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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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Philip: An Unknown Butler Side Match

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

Richard’s two late sisters also match Philip:

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

More Shared Matches Between Richard and Philip

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

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

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

Estelle was the mother of Richard Butler.

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

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

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

Here is some more information I have on Joseph Pouliot:

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

Summary and Conclusions

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