I have very few DNA matches at Ancestry on the Clarke side. For that reason, I was glad to see that I have a match with Melissa. Ancestry also shows that Melissa and I have the likely common ancestor of Thomas Clarke:
One interesting thing that I see is that Melissa’s great-grandmother died 57 years after my great-grandmother. Melissa has a very nice tree at Ancestry:
This shows her paternal line going back to Thomas Clarke and Jane Henderson. Whereas, I am descended from Thomas’ first wife who was Jane Spratt.
Clarke DNA
According to Ancestry, Melissa and I are likely half 3rd cousins. That can be a good thing as that means that I am related to Melissa on her Clarke side only and not the Henderson side or Spratt side (assuming Thomas’s two wives were not related). My match of 22 cM fits in well with the expected relationship:
Shared DNA Matches with Melissa
I notice that two of the matches I have with Melissa have Lougheed in their ancestry. That name has come up a lot in my matches in the past. Here I started to look at shared DNA matches and put them into a spreadsheet:
At first I tried to look at whether the shared matches were shared with my siblings that tested at Ancestry (Heidi, Jon, Lori and Sharon). Then I looked at shared matches with DE who was the largest shared DNA match between myself and Melissa. I only looked at my own shared matches . with DE. This would take a long time to go through all the permutations, but I did come up with a lot of Lougheed or Loughead ancestors. This suggests to me that Thomas Clarke has a Loughead ancestor. This is actually helpful as that makes me think that my Spratt ancestor Jane who married Thomas Clarke may not have Loughead ancestors.
Mapping Clarke DNA
It has been difficult to map the Clarke DNA. That is because until now, my Clarke DNA matches have aslo been McMaster matches in earlier generations. This is what I have for myself at DNAPainter:
It would be helpful to map my match with Melissa also, but her match is at AncestryDNA and AncestryDNA does not show where the matches are o the Chromosome. If Melissa were to upload her results to Gedmatch, FTDNA or MyHeritage, I would be able to see where we match on the specific chromosomes.
More on the Genealogy
I feel no need to check on Melissa’s genealogy as we have a DNA match and the connection from her grandfather to our shared 2nd great grandfather seems clear. I have Melissa’s great-grandmother Susan as the eldest of the second wife of Thomas Clarke:
That means that my great-grandmother, Margaret Clarke would have been about 3 yeaers older than Susan Clarke. The 1911 Census turns out to be important for Susan Clarke:
This shows Melissa’s grandfather, Hubert bell with Hubert’s parents. Here are Susan and Henry’s memorial stone:
Here is where the Carrownanty Cemetery is outside of Ballymote:
Susan and the Clarke family was from near Collaney and my great-grandfather was from near Derry on the map be Lough Arrow. It is interesting that my great-grandparents apparently met in Boston. Here is Tonaponra where the Bell family was in 1911:
I find it interesting that Henry Bell has Tiraree on his memorial stone as that was not too far from Ballindoon where my Frazers were from:
I am guessing that these two places are about 4 miles apart.
Summary and Conclusions
I found what I believe to be my first DNA match from the Clarke/Henderson Line
As Thomas Clarke married first Jane Spratt who died young and then Jane Henderson, any shared matches between Melissa and myself must be from the Clarke side only
Looking at the shared matches at Ancestry, makes it look like Thomas Clarke could have Lougheed or Loughead ancestry from County Sligo.
If Melissa uploads her AncestryDNA results to Gedmatch, MyHeritage or FTDNA, I will be able to see on which Chromosomes she matches with my siblings and myself and perhaps other DNA matches.
I have learned some more about another line of Clarkes which is always interesting.
I have a new MacMaster DNA match at Gedmatch. However, this match is also at Ancestry DNA and MyHeritage. Here is what Ancestry shows:
We are third cousins, but we are also related on the McMaster side:
As shown above, Ron and I are fourth cousins once removed on the McMaster side. This makes sorting out the DNA difficult. However, I am more interested in the Clarke connection as I have a lot of missing information on my Clarek and Spratt ancestry.
MacMaster DNA
I am really interested in the Clarke DNA. However, it would seem that anyone that I have a known Clarke DNA match with could also have McMaster DNA. Here is where I match this MacMaster according to Gedmatch:
I had previously used DNA Painter to show where this match was Here is the paternal side of my Chromosome 4:
The green and yellow matches are on my Hartley side. However, the blue DNA should represent either Thomas Clarke or Jane Spratt:
However, there is a more distant amount of McMaster in there because Ron’s great-grandmother Celia Clarke married Edward McMaster:
This shows that Ron is my 4th cousinn once removed and Stephen is my 5th cousin on the McMaster side. Still, the chances are that matches with MacMaster represent Clarke or Spratt more than McMaster.
More Clues from Ancestry
I feel like Ancestry has the most matches, so it is a good place to look for clues. As the McMaster who is the subject of this Blog is my largest match, I’ll start with him at Ancestry. It would make sense to try to sort out those matches between Spratt and Clarke as those are the two most recent ancestors that this McMaster and I have in common.
Clarke or Spratt?
I should have shared matches with my good MacMaster match that are either Clark or Spratt. By using a spreadsheet, I can separate those matches by color. This is a variation of the Leeds Method:
I’m trying to come up with a spreadsheet that will work well. I’ll use a blue color for Clarke and a different one for Spratt.
I’ll start with Lori and Nina:
Nina appears to be a Spratt and is a shared match with my MacMaster match:
My Leeds Chart is a little compicated as it includes 5 siblings. My assumptions are:
shared matches between my siblings and me and Nina will be on the Spratt side
Spratt is not related to Clarke
Clarke is related to McMaster so those shared matches could have McMaster also
Ideally, there should be a group of Clarke DNA matches that match me and each other and a group of Spratt DNA matches that match me and my siblings and each other.
My Shared Matches with Nina
Here are a summary of my findings:
I decided to go with just my matches for now as it was too messy having all the siblings there. There were similarities in the trees when the trees were givien. Note that I have not yet identified any Clarke matches.
I decided to add the strength of the match in cm:
Looking for the Clarke Side
I don’t see any matches that are obviously Clarke. That means that I need to find matches that are not in common with the ‘in common’ matches to Nina and the above Spratt matches.
I’ll start with Cheryl. She is a shared match with MacMaster and matches me. Here shared matches do not seem to coincide with Nina’s, so I will make an assumption that she matches me on the Clarke side. Unfortunately, she does not have a tree at Ancestry.
Here is what I am guessing is the Clarke side:
The problem is that none of the DNA matches that have trees have Clarkes in them. The common name in the trees that match the blue side appears to be Lougheed or Loughead.
Here is the tree I have for my great-grandmother:
My knowledge of this branch of the family does not go back very far. Here my assumption based on family trees is that the Spratt side is represented by my orange matches and Clarke by the blue. But where would Lougheed fit in? Assuming that Whitesides is right, that would leave the mother of John Clarke or the mother of Catherine Whitesides.
A Blue Side DNA Match at 23andMe
I made a note at Ancestry that my blue side match, L.S., also tested at 23andMe. I hope the match is still there. That match had this person in his tree:
Unfortunately, I cannot get into 23andMe. The Company instituted extra security on their website and it is creating a problem for me to get to that site.
More Lougheads
Here is Ballybrennan::
This location is interesting to me as Ballybrennan is South of Collaney which is the area that my Clarkes were from and West of Kilmactranny where my Frazers were from. However, Frazers should not be related as the connection between Frazer and Clarke was in Boston, Massachusetts.
Cheryl has many what I call blue matches.
Here I have also added some shared matches from D.E. The last match is interesting as there is a connection with Hugh Lougheed from 1750. He appears to be the same Hugh said to be born 1752. Here is what jreaton’s tree shows:
From the trees and the DNA matches, it is likely that this Hugh Lougheed could be an ancestor of mine, but I cannot tell where the connection is. It is possible that this Hugh had another daughter who married and stayed in Ireland.
Summary and Conclusions
Based on my most recent common ancestors with MacMaster, I should have matches on the Clarke side and the Spratt side
I found DNA matches with a group of people who have Spratt ancestry
I found another group of DNA matches who do not match the Spratt matches but have Lougheed in their genealogy.
I found a Lougheed side match that was also at 23andMe
It would be interesting to find out which chromosomes are Lougheed and which are Spratt.
I get notifications from time to time from 23andMe about new DNA matches and I don’t usually know how we match up. Recently I had such a notice of a potential 3rd cousin and I did know how we match.
How Zoë and I Match by Genealogy on the Clarke Side
Zoë and I match by McMaster and I later found out Clarke. I’ll start with the Clarke side. This is the tree that I have so far of DNA relatives on my Clarke side:
Zoë descends from Catherine Clarke and William McMaster on the right side of the tree where I am. It turns out that this is an important DNA match, as I have one DNA match on that side who is Melissa. However, she tested at Ancestry which does not show detailed DNA information like 23andMe does. Zoë tells me that Violet McMaster is a many times great grandmother to her, so I’ll build down her tree from there.
From what I can figure out this is how we connect:
So it turns out that we are third cousins, but it looks like third cousins twice removed. Our common ancestors are Thomas Clarke and Jane Spratt. When I look at my common DNA relatives with Zoë, Stephen shows up from the left side of the tree. He tested at 23andMe also. Ron from the left side of the tree shows up at MyHeritage.
These two are Zoë’s ancestors William McMaster and Catherine Clarke:
Probably taken around 1882. Reverse of picture indicates that they were engaged “about 1881” and married October 5, 1882.
How Zoë and I Match by McMaster Tree
Here is my existing McMaster DNA Tree:
This tree is larger and needs a road map. I don’t need the left side of this tree for Zoë. The left side of the tree is for a branch of the McMaster family that ended up in Canada. The down arrow is where I need to add Zoë’s ancestor William McMaster.
Zoë and I are at opposite ends of this DNA McMaster tree. We appear to be 4th cousins once removed. Our common ancestors are Fanny McMaster and James McMaster. That means that I am related to Zoë by four ancestors and three out of those four ancestors are McMasters.
Adding Zoë to My DNA Painter Profile
This is my DNA map of known matches:
This shows that I have identified 51% of the available spaces on the two copies of my chromosomes (paternal and maternal). Here is my paternal side where I match Zoë:
On this side I am 57% painted or identified. I’ve checked ahead and saw that Zoë adds new information to this map. That is probably because she represents a new relative on my family trees also.
Here is how I match Zoë at 23andMe:
We match on Chromosomes 3 and 17 and twice on Chromosome 7. the question now is which DNA goes with which pair of ancestors? Chances are slightly higher that I match Zoë by Clarke and McMaster than the second McMaster and McMaster relationship. It is also possible that each of the four DNA segments could represent one of our four common ancestors. The easiest way to identify all the DNA would be to create a new category on my DNA map called Clarke 1823 or Mcmaster 1829.
Here is how Zoë shows up on my Chromosome Map on Chromosomes 3 and 7:
On Chromosome 3, Zoë is a new match. On Chromosome 7, she overlaps with Ron. On Chromosome 3, my match with Zoë has no overlap with other matches. Here is my phased map of Chromosome 3:
This is the portion of my Chromosome I got from my Frazer grandmother shown by the red arrow above. She is the one with Clarke and McMaster ancestors. So it would make sense that I would match Zoë on the right side of the paternal copy of Chromosome 3.
On Chromosome 7, I match Zoë in two areas that are close to each other. The first segment overlaps with a match with Ron. Ron also has Clarke and McMaster Ancestry. It is my guess that that segment triangulates between Zoë, Ron and me:
One More Scenario and Another McMaster Tree
Ron is also related to Zoë and me on the McMaster side, but that brings up another McMaster tree:
I must have planned on meeting Zoë or one of her relatives as I left a space (outlined in an orange box). Here I have added in Zoë:
This connection goes back 7 generations for Zoë. So while this connection is less likely than the Clarke connection, it is still a possible connection. I have a quick fix:
I added 1764 to the possible place that this DNA could have come from. Even that designation is not totally correct as the triangulated match with Ron could not be from the McMaster born in 1829. Even these designations are simplifications as the DNA could have come from the wives of these two McMasters and one Clarke.
Finally Chromosome 17
Zoë’s match is interesting here:
The place where the DNA changes from Barry to Zoe appears to indicate an old crossover from Barry. A crossover is where your DNA changes from one family to another. The simple explanation woudl be that this is a crossover from the Frazer DNA I got from Barry to the Clarke DNA that I got represented from the match with Zoë.
Here is where that split appears in my tree (see above). With the addition of Zoë’s matches:
That put me up 1% on the paternal side. Overall, I am still at 51% ‘painted’.
Summary and Conclusions
The ancestors that Zoë and I share belonged to the minority Church of Ireland in Roman Catholic Ireland. They tended to marry within their faith, but that resulted in the intermarriage of lines.
The Clarke line was not related to McMaster as far as I know in Ireland. However, one Clarke sister married a McMaster in Boston (Zoë’s ancestors) and another Clarke sister married that McMaster’s nephew who was a Frazer (my ancestors).
I mapped out the different relationships in one Clarke tree and two McMaster trees
Due to the relationships involved, the assigning of the DNA to a patricular couple was not easy. There were a possible three couples that this DNA could represent except for the case where the DNA overlapped with Ron. In that case, the DNA could only be from a possible two couples.
Someone signed me up for the Scottish DNA Facebook Page. Probably because I administer a Frazer DNA Project. The Scottish DNA Facebook Page has a Matchbox utility which I had never used until now. The administrators checked the people who hadn’t used it and put out a request for Scottish DNA members to run matchbox. Their interest got me to act.
My Scottish Matchbox Matches
My grandmother was a Frazer. That is Scottish, but her ancestors since the 1700’s at least lived in Ireland. That means that I am potentially up to 25% Scottish. However, I would think it possible that I could match other members of the Scottish DNA Facebook Page on non-Scottish Lines. I ended up with 21 matches.
I had run Matchbox at the Newfoundland Gedmatch Facebook Page before, so I was a little familiar with it. Still, it took a little while to figure out how to use it. The Facebook Name on the right is to identify Scottish DNA members so they can be tagged. Then they will know that someone matches them or a DNA kit they administer.
Jane at Scottish DNA Matchbox
I match with Jane at the above Matchbox match list about halfway down the list. I have looked at Jane’s DNA quite a bit as she is part of the Frazer DNA Project that I administer. In fact, due to intermarriage, we match on two different Frazer Lines:
I’m not in the next Frazer Branch shown:
Jane is in this Archibald Frazer/Stinson Branch. The place where we match is one level up. Our common ancestor is another Archibald Frazer.
Here is my DNA match with Jane:
I have mapped out my DNA. Here is my Chromosome 12:
I am the third sibling down (Joel). My match with Jane is to the right side of the Chromosome where I am clearly Frazer on my paternal side.
I also triangulate with Jane and other people from the Richard Frazer Branch on Chromosome 12:
Green in the box indicates a triangulating DNA match. This indicates that our common ancestor is Richard Frazer and his unknown wife. As expected, the DNA match is not with the more distant (to me) Archibald Frazer/Stinson Branch.
Top Matchbox Match Sharon
Sharon is at the top of my list above. When I run the one to one for Sharon, the match is not as close as it looks on the overall list:
Sharon and I have two smaller matches on Chromosomes 9 and 10.
At the start of my Chromosome 9, I have mapped myself as (orange) Hartley:
That means a non-Scottish match as my Hartley ancestors were from Lancashire, England.
However, at the right end of my Chromosome 10, I have Frazer DNA:
Hartley Matches: Babe, Neil, Cindy and Teckie
To make sure, I run my match against my paternal side phased kit at Gedmatch and get this match with Babe:
Unfortunately, on this part of my Chromosome 10, I have Hartley DNA also:
Neil on my match list also shows as under my Hartley DNA, but on Chromosome 1. Cindy maps to my Hartley side on Chromosome 15. Teckie is a Hartley match on Chromosome 16.
Matchbox Amy, Donna, Greene, WTD, Joan and John: Neither Here Nor There
I show a match with Any, but when I look for her on my phased paternal and maternal DNA match lists at Gedmatch, I can’t find her. That must mean that her match got phased out. So far, other than Jane, nothing is panning out.
I get the same thing for Donna further down the list. Here is what her non-phased match looked like:
I got similar results for Greene, WTD, Joan and John.
Gary and Elizabeth: Non-Scottish Match
These two appear to be related. Here is my match with Gary:
Here is a broken match. I have Chromosome 9 mapped as Hartley for myself, so I’ll rule this out also as a Scottish match. Elizabeth is about the same match, but only the second part of the match above.
Elizabeth #2: Genuine Scottish
The second Elizabeth on my list has DNA in the area of the Jane I mentioned above who shares Frazer ancestry with me:
I take that as a good sign. If Jane and Elizabeth match each other, that means that we have triangulation. Here is how Jane and Elizabeth match each other:
My guess is that Elizabeth’s ancestry goes back to the Frazers in Roscommon, Ireland.
Sallee, MPS, Jane and Shannon Match on Chromosome 20
Sallee, MPS, Jane and Shannon match on an area of Chromosome 20 that is mapped to my Frazer side. Unfortunately, I have what I consider to be an overmatch area on Chromosome 20 with hundreds of matches. Here is my match with Sallee:
These matches may be significant, but due to the number of matches I have, it would take a lot of work to analyze these matches. Plus the number of matches that I have make me skeptical as to the quality of the matches.
The Jane I mention above is the 2nd Jane on my list.
Jean: Genuine Scottish DNA
Here is my match with Jean:
I have all Frazer (blue) DNA on my Chromosome 22:
My Match with Bear on Chromosome 6
I have all Frazer DNA on Chromosome 6. Here is the match:
This match is in an area I have mapped to my Clarke and Spratt ancestors who lived in County Sligo:
Let’s see if Bear matches Stephen:
As expected, they match and triangulate.
Here is how Stephen matches me:
Statistics
All the Matchbox matches were either on my paternal side or false DNA matches.
Paternal – 71%
Unphased (false matches) 29%
Of the paternal matches more came out on my Frazer Scottish side than my Hartley non-Scottish side: 9 Frazer and 7 Hartley. My match with Sharon was on both sides.
Two of the matches triangulated with known matches that have known genealogical connections to me. These were with Elizabeth and Bear and would be worth following up on.
Two of the Frazer side DNA matches were in chromosome areas where I had no identified Frazer matches.
Four matches were from Chromosome 20 where I have hundreds of matches that I cannot identify.
Summary and Conclusions
Use your phased results if they are available. When I did this, I found that 29% of my matches fell out as false matches.
If you have mapped your DNA, use that information. That will further eliminate matches that you are not looking for.
9 out of 21 or 43% of my Matchbox matches were along my Frazer (Scottish) grandparent side
If you have existing identified matches with Scottish background, check to see if there is triangulation with those matches to determine common ancestors.
These results are based on my own genealogy where only one of my grandparents has Scottish background.
I recently wrote a Blog on McMaster DNA and Genealogy based on a newly tested McMaster descendant named Keith. In that Blog, I was running into issues due to McMaster descendants testing at different companies. Steve had tested at 23andme which is a good company, but their newer DNA test was not compatible with Gedmatch or MyHeritage. Since I wrote the Blog, MyHeritage figured out a way to integrate 23andme results into their program.
Steve’s Genealogy
It took me a little while to figure out that Steve and his closer relatives were related to me more closely on the Clarke line than the McMaster Line.
Here on the Clarke side, Steve and I are 3rd cousins, once removed.
On the McMaster or MacMaster side as Ron and Steve prefer, we are 5th cousins.
That is a huge difference from a DNA point of view. Here are the reported differences:
On average, I may expect a 25 cM match on the McMaster but twice as much on the Clarke Line.
Steve’s DNA
From the above chart, I might expect a match with Steve of about 73 cM. That would be an average reported amount of 48 cM on the Clarke side and 25 cM on the McMaster side. MyHeritage shows that Steve and I have a shared match with Emily:
Emily is related to me on the McMaster side, but not the Clarke side. She is also related to me on the Frazer side where Steve is not related. The above image shows that I match Steve at 49.4 cM. That amount could be all Clarke DNA or much less likely all McMaster or part Clarke and part McMaster DNA. I match Emily at 69.1 cM. She is my 2nd cousin once removed on my McMaster/Frazer side. Steve matches Emily’s DNA on their McMaster only side at 23.9 cM. Steve and Emily are 4th cousins once removed.
I hope that made sense. The point is, that when you are related to someone by DNA on two different lines, it is good to have someone to compare to who is only related on one of those lines to sort things out.
Steve and Triangulation Groups at MyHeritage
According to MyHeritage:
Triangulated segments are shared DNA segments that you (or a person whose DNA kit you manage) and all of the selected DNA Matches share with each other, and therefore likely all inherited from a common ancestor.
Steve, Emily and I above did not show triangulated segments, but Ron, Steve and I do:
I circled the icon that indicates that Ron, Steve and I are in a Triangulation Group (TG). Here is how it looks on a chromosome browser:
The red is me and Steve. The yellow is my match with Ron. Where they all overlap is the triangulation group. In order for this to work, Steve and Ron must match each other. Where they overlap is 9.3 cM.
This is my interpretation of what the TG indicates. I can’t prove this unless I have someone else who has Clarke only ancestors in the TG. However, this scenario is much more likely compared to the further out McMaster relationship. The TG at Chromosome 18 is a similar scenario.
Another of Steve’s TGs Confirmed – McMaster DNA
In a previous Blog highlighting Steve, I hypothesized that Steve was in a TG with my sister Lori, Ron, and Emily. Emily has no known Clarke ancestry, so that would mean that the TG on Chromosome 13 would represent McMaster DNA. Here is what MyHeritage now shows:
Lori matches Ron, Emily and Steve at the same place. MyHeritage has the match highlighted as triangulated segments.
So even, though DNA matches between Lori and Steve are more likely to be Clarke matches, this DNA match has to be a McMaster match.
Finding Other Clarke Relatives
I’d like to find more Clarke relatives as that is where I am stuck on the genealogy. Here is my grandmother’s tree:
Ron and Steve are related to my grandmother on her paternal McMaster side on the top of the tree above. They are also more closely related on her maternal Clarke/Spratt side on the bottom half of the chart. That is where I have more blanks.
Shared Matches at AncestryDNA
I went to AncestryDNA and found shared matches with Ron. He is my closest relative on my Clarke tree.
I had built a similar chart in my previous Blog on McMaster DNA. The yellow match was also a common match to Keith who had McMaster ancestry but no known Clarke ancestry. My guess is that the non-yellow shared matches should have Clarke or Spratt ancestry. Some of these people have trees, so it would be a good idea to look at them. However, my guess is that these people would have the same difficulties in finding their ancestors as I did. Instead, I’ll try something different.
AncestryDNA Circle with New Ancestor Discovery Long
Ancestry has me in a circle with others such that Ancestry thinks I may have a New Ancestor Discovery (NAD) with someone named Seymore Long.
Perhaps I can back into this Long Family through my Irish side. That is where I have some brick walls. Here is some further information Ancestry has on Seymore:
So perhaps the Long family made their way over from England or Ireland and that somehow I’m related.
Summary and Conclusions
Now that Steve has been incorporated into the MyHeritage results, it is easier to do DNA comparisons on him.
My assumption is that my AncestryDNA Shared Matches with Steve, Ron and others from that branch will be twice as likely to be Clarke relatives compared to McMaster or MacMaster relatives.
I gave an example of one McMaster relative based on DNA triangulation.
It is difficult to prove Clarke only relatives. This is because I have not found a Clarke descendant that does not have McMaster relatives. Also I have not yet found a genealogical tree to further the work I have done on the Clarke Line.
I recently had a message from Kim at AncestryDNA. Kim wrote:
Hello… I am trying to figure out how we are related because you don’t match any of my closest relatives well there’s not that many that have tested anyway. My relatives are from England Scotland Ireland and Sicily.
Kim matched my sister Sharon at AncestryDNA. I wrote back saying that she didn’t match my mom. My guess was that Kim matched my Clarke side. My father’s maternal grandmother was a Clarke. They lived in County Sligo, Ireland but I don’t know much about that family. Before Ireland they may have lived in England or Scotland. I said that I would know more if Kim uploaded to Gedmatch. Kim wrote back to say that her DNA results were already at Gedmatch. Kim’s tree is private as she doesn’t want people copying any mistakes. She also wrote:
I’m pretty new at the DNA stuff and it’s so confusing how some people can match more with other people in the same family.
Kim at Gedmatch
I had told Kim I would know more based on Gedmatch. That is because my family’s DNA is mapped out by chromosome to each of our grandparents. Here is Chromosome 5 for me and two of my sisters:
Below is Kim’s match with my sister Sharon. Kim matches on our paternal side. That is the bottom red bar. The lighter red is from my grandmother. Both her parents were born in Ireland (Frazer and Clarke). Here is the detailed information of how Kim and Sharon match at Gedmatch.com:
This means that Sharon and Kim match on Chromosome 5 between about position 11 and 35 million. At Sharon’s red bar, her lighter red goes to darker red right where she stops matching Kim. That is because Kim and Sharon match on Sharon’s paternal grandmother’s side. Sharon got her DNA from her paternal grandmother up until position 35 million. After that point, the DNA that she got was from her paternal grandfather. If you look at my red bar at the top, I got almost all my Chromosome 5 paternal DNA from my dad’s dad. This is the dark red side where Kim and our family don’t match. That explains why Sharon matches Kim up to 35M and I don’t.
Why Doesn’t Kim Match Heidi at AncestryDNA?
It appears from the map above that Kim should match Heidi more than Sharon as Heidi has more light red on her paternal side. Here is how Heidi and Kim match at Gedmatch:
These matches are pretty close. Note however, that Kim and Heidi match up to 36M. This is just a little way past Kim and Sharon’s match at 35. That is the point where Sharon’s Frazer DNA stopped and her Hartley DNA started on Chromosome 5. My guess is that Gedmatch’s information is more precise than AncestryDNA’s. Even Kim’s ‘One to Many’ list Sharon match shows as being closer than Heidi’s. It is only when the One to One analysis is done, that we see that Heidi is a closer match.
Here is Kim’s ‘One to Many’ List at Gedmatch:
Sharon is at the top of this portion of Kim’s match list. My brother James is next, but I tested him at FTDNA. That means he would not show as a match at AncestryDNA. Heidi is at the bottom of the portion of the list that I copied.
Where Do Kim and Sharon Match Genealogically?
Here is my grandmother’s tree at Ancestry:
Based on Gedmatch, Kim and Sharon could be 3rd cousins, once removed. Let’s round that up to 4th cousins. If they are in the same generation from a common ancestor and they are 4th cousins, then they would have a common ancestor in the column starting with James Frazer above. Note that I have two Spratt ancestors missing. That means that one of my missing ancestors is a Spratt and the wife’s surname is unknown. If the common ancestor is further out, the news gets worse. I have only 6 ancestors at that level out of a potential 16.
As I mentioned, I have not seen Kim’s tree. It is private. However, if we were to look for a common ancestor, a good place to look would be in the area of the last two rows above. The people I have identified lived in Ireland. So that would be a good starting place to look for a common ancestor.
One Last Gedmatch Trick
Gedmatch has a useful utility with a clumsy name: “People who match one or both of 2 kits”. I want to find other people that match both Kim and Heidi. I picked Heidi as she matched Kim slightly higher than Sharon at Gedmatch. Here are some people that match Kim and Heidi on Chromosome 5:
The reference point is Heidi. Heidi’s match with Kim is #2. A yellow match is higher than a green match. #1 above is Catherine. I recognize her at AncestryDNA. In my Ancestry notes for Catherine at Ancestry, I have that Catherine is Heidi and Sharon’s largest match with an unknown connection. Here is one of Catherine’s Sligo ancestors. Sligo is where the Clarke’s lived:
Summary and Conclusions
I explained by Chromosome mapping how one sibling could match someone and another one would not.
I confirmed a guess that Kim matched my sisters on their paternal grandmother’s side. This grandmother’s parents were both from Ireland. Searching in Ireland for a common ancestor between Kim and my family would be a good start.
I made a guess as to why Ancestry showed Kim matching Sharon and not Heidi.
I found another person who was on Ancestry and Gedmatch. Catherine has a Tighe ancestor in Sligo. This person lived not too far from where my grandmother’s Clarke mother came from. Perhaps my grandmother’s grandmother Jane Spratt was related to the Tighes.
In my previous Blog, I looked at the early married life of my great-grandparents James Archibald Frazer and Margaret Clarke in some detail. I also looked at where they had their photos taken and where James lived and worked in the 1890’s. In this Blog, I would like to show some connections leading up to my great-grandparents’ arrival in Boston by using maps and City Directories.
Frazer, Clarke and McMaster
These three families were inter-related. Also the Frazer and McMaster families were related in County Sligo, Ireland. I would like to pull these three families together as they lived in Boston. Here are some examples of the inter-relatedness of these Boston families:
William McMaster married Catherine Clarke 1882
James Archibald married Margaret Clarke. James was William’s nephew. Margaret was Catherine’s sister.
Celia Clarke married Edward McMaster in 1876. Celia was Catherine and Margaret’s older sister. I believe that Edward and William were first cousins.
It is a bit confusing.
The McMasters
Edward McMaster was the first that I have a record of to make it from County Sligo to Boston. According to Edward’s Naturalization records, he made it to Boston in 1868:
McMaster and Clarke in 1880
Here is the 1880 Census
Edward and Celia are living in the same house as Charles McGarry (here shown as McGeary) and Celia Clarke. Charles was a furniture dealer. Edward was a Hack Driver.
The elder Celia Clarke was the Aunt of the Celia married to Edward McMaster. Here is a partial Clarke tree:
Those in green have had their DNA tested. The two Celia’s are on the top left of the tree. It would stand to reason that the elder Celia came to the US prior to the younger one. A family story says that Charles McGarry was Roman Catholic and that they left for the US due to the scandal of a Protestant and Catholic marrying.
The North Boston Years
Here is a map of Margin Street from 1877. Margin is between the green 12 and the two red smudges below. Later in the Blog I show that 23 Margin Street where the McGarry and McMaster family lived was to the right of the letter “N.” on the Street (below Cooper).
I suppose some of these buildings on North Margin are the same or similar to those in 1880:
There were four families living at 23 North Margin Street in 1880. It looks like there could be about four floors in these buildings.
Going Back in Time – McGarry’s
I said that I was going to use the City Directory and maps. Here is Charles in 1869:
I feel confident that this is the same Charles McGarry based on the spelling of his last name and his profession. I am having a bit of trouble interpreting the entry. I assume that he works a J. Nealon & Co. at 135 Endicott. Endicott is one street to the West of North Margin. It appears that Charles lived still at 23 South Margin, but I’m unclear as to what 26 Charlestown refers to. I assume that 23 South Margin and 23 North Margin Street are the same place(?)
Let’s see if the 1870 Directory clarifies things:
Now there are three Charles’. It appears that our Charles was at 23 South Margin. Then there is another Charles who lives and works at 135 Endicott Street. Current day Grimes Street is in South Boston. So that means that there were two Charles McGarry’s living in the same area. Our Charles did not work at 135 Endicott, but worked at 26 Charlestown Street.
A Clue in the 1871 Directory
Here is page 190 of the Boston Business Directory:
This looks to be the same Charles that lived at 23 South or North Margin Street in the North End of Boston. I needed to pan out on the 1877 Fire Insurance Map:
So Charles, based on the 1880 Census was a furniture dealer. It appears that his place of business was on Charlestown Street. From what I can tell Charleston Street is now North Washington St.
This appears to be the same Charles in the 1864 Boston Business Directory:
If my connections are correct, then Charles would have come to the US a while before 1864. I assume that it took him a while to build up a business.
I am still going backwards in time. Here is the McGarry couple in 1860:
Charles’ holdings at $1200 are substantial compared to his neighbor who had $20 to his name. Most had nothing listed next their name. For some reason, I could not find the McGarry family in the 1870 Census.
Going back 5 years, could this be Charles, Celia and Charles’ mother Bridget in the 1855 State Census?
This Charles was listed as a laborer. To fill in the gaps, here is Charles in 1857:
The Boston Almanac for the year 1861 gives a bit more detail Here are some listings for Charlestown Street:
This gets to our walk through Boston. Imagine walking down Charlestown Street North towards Charlestown. McGarry’s Furniture would be the last business on the right before coming to Cooper Street. For Charles to get home from work, he would just need to walk down Cooper Street to North Margin. From what I can tell 23 Margin was on the Southeast corner of Cooper and North Margin Streets.
Back to the McMaster Family
Charles McGarry with his wife Celia Clarke probably came to Boston in the 1850’s. Charles established a furniture business. Edward McMaster arrived in Boston about 1868. His future wife Celia Clarke arrived in Boston about 1873. I can’t find the Edward McMaster or McGarry family in the 1870 Census. It seems like Celia Clarke was able to find her Aunt Celia McGarry. As I mentioned above, they were living in the same house at 23 North Margin Street in 1880.
Going back two years to 1878, Edward and family was at 23 North Margin Street:
This was the same year that Edward’s first child was born: Frederick William McMaster. On Frederick’s birth record, his mother’s name is listed as Cecilia.
1876
There were not a lot of listings for McMaster in 1876, so I’ll show them all:
This is certainly the Edward that married Celia Clarke later in 1876.
This appears to be 93 West Cedar Street where Edward lived before he married.
West Cedar was across Town from Margin Street. The question now is when and where did Edward meet Celia? I didn’t see a listing for Celia in the 1876 directory. Perhaps she was already living at North Margin Street?
William McMaster
William’s naturalization record says that he arrived in this country on 1 May 1869. I don’t believe that he is the same person as the liquor dealer mentioned in the 1876 Boston City Directory. Here is a photo of William McMaster and his wife Catherine Clarke.
Probably taken around 1882. Reverse of picture indicates that they were engaged “about 1881” and married October 5, 1882.
Here is a document from 1879.
This says that William was a cook and that he arrived at New York. I’ll check the 1879 Boston Directory to see if William McMaster is there. In 1879 there are still few by the McMaster name.
Edward McMaster married Celia Clarke in 1876. Perhaps our William is the McMasters living at 15 Grenville place. However, I don’t know where this is and it does not give a profession for William. William did marry Catherine Clarke in 1882. At that time he was also listed as a cook.
William and Edward 1889
Here is a snapshot of two McMaster families. West Cedar sounds familiar.
Edward McMaster (and Celia Clarke) 1889
At some point Edward has moved out of the McGarry House on North Margin street back to West Cedar where he lived before he was married.
The middle circle is where Edward lived before he married. The bottom circle is hwere the family lived in 1889. Perhaps he wished to be closer to the City Stables. He was after all a driver. There were no cars in that day so he must have driven horses. Did Edward have horse experience from the farm in County Sligo that he was able to use in Boston?
I have to zoom out a little to show North Russell Street where Edward McMaster worked.
North Russell is another street that no longer exists. There is now a Hotel and Whole Foods Market where North Russell Street used to be.
William McMaster (and Catherine Clarke) 1889
This is the first time I have been able to pin down William to a place. He married Catherine, Celia’s younger sister in 1882 and is living at 73 Camden Street in 1889.
Camden Street brings me back where I left off in my last Blog:
Two years later, in 1891, the directory shows that my great-grandfather James Frazer was living at Gainsborough Street. Gainsborough is on the other side of the tracks from Camden Street. Here are a few McMasters:
The lines that I have carried down have had their DNA tested. I’m guessing that James mother said, “When you get to Boston, make sure you look up my brother, your Uncle William”.
1893 McMaster Update
Before I closed out the 1893 City Directory, I took a peek to see where the McMaster families were. I was a bit surprised:
William the cook was now living at 9 Gainsborough. He moved in when his nephew James Frazer moved out to Westminster Street.
Edward moved from one side of the M.E. (Methodist Episcopal?) Church to the other with his wife and five or six children. In 1895, Edward was listed at 44 Garden Street. I checked the 1900 Census and they were still at 44 Garden Street for the Census. This is a hilly street and one of the streets that I used to do hill training on when I worked in Boston.
Back to Celia Clarke McGarry 1902
Celia Clarke died in 1902 at the home of the Edward McMaster family:
Here we have gone full circle. Celia took in her niece Celia and family in the 1870’s and now the McMaster family is taking care of the elderly Celia apparently between the time that Charles McGarry died and Celia’s death.
Here is Celia’s will. Celia was the one who started the ball rolling for my family and others by moving to Boston with her husband.
So Where Are We?
Charles McGarry and Celia Clarke leave Ireland after becoming part of a frowned-upon mixed marriage.
Charles apparently does well in the furniture business in the North End of Boston.
Celia Clarke, niece of Celia Clarke McGarry comes to the US after her mother dies. She apparently lives with the McGarry’s.
Celia Clarke marries Edward McMaster, a Hack Driver, who is also from County Sligo and lives on West Cedar Street. They both live for a while in the same house as the McGarry’s in Boston’s North End. The family then moves back to West Cedar Street and Grove Street then to Garden Street in the Beacon Hill area of Boston.
William McMaster who I believe is a first cousin of Edward McMaster arrives in Boston and works as a cook. He marries Celia’s sister Catherine McMaster and they live on Camden Street not far from the current Northeastern University. William signs as a witness on Edward McMaster’s Naturalization Papers.
William’s nephew arrives in Boston in 1887. He is my great-grandfather James Archibald Frazer. He presumably lives with his Uncle until he gets his bearings and finds a job. James then rents a place on Gainsborough Street not far from William. Around the same time James moves from Gainsborough Street to neaby Westminster Street, William moves into the same adress where James lived.
James Frazer marries Margaret Clarke in 1892. Margaret arrives in Boston in 1884 and is the youngest full sister of Celia and Catherine.
Here is Margaret Clarke with an unidentified man and James Frazer on the right.
Summary and Conclusions
I have tried to write a summary of some of the events that lead up to some of my Irish relatives’ arrival to Boston and how their lives were connected.
This is a bare bones structure and I’m sure some more details could be filled in. For example, what happened to the other Clarke sister, Jane? Why does the marriage record for Catherine Clarke give her father’s name as James and not Thomas?
I am doubly related to Edward McMaster/Celia Clarke and William McMaster/Catherine Clarke descendants.
James Archibald was a Tea Salesman and later got into real estate. He was preceded by a furniture dealer, a hack driver and a cook.
Descendants from Edward McMaster/Celia Clarke have taken a DNA test. I would be even more closely related to descendants of William McMaster/Catherine Clarke. I would like to see some of those descendants take a DNA test.
In my previous post, I published a book of photos that was in my grandmother’s possession. They were photos taken around the time of my great-grandmother’s short time of being in the US. Margaret Clarke arrived in the US about 1884 at about age 18. She died in 1902 at age 35.
Statistics: Known and Unknown
The photos that I posted can be put into two categories: those that I know and those that I don’t. Most of the known photos were of James Archibald Frazer, born 1867 and his wife Margaret Clarke, born 1866.
Known photos – 15
Unknown photos – 31
Both known and unknown – 2
Repeats – 5
Missing slot – 1
That means there should be 54 places in the book. There are more than two times the photos that are unknown compared to the recognizable photos. Sometimes there is more than one person that is unknown on a photo.
Known and Unknown
A photo with a known and an unknown should be helpful.
This man in the tintype above also has his own photo here:
My previous guess was that he could have been the best man at my great-grandparents’ wedding.
A Woman with Margaret
This picture appears twice – both in tintype. A guess could be Margaret Clarke’s bridesmaid?
This photo is in the book right after the previous photo. The woman on the right looks to be the same woman as the one with Margaret in the previous photo. In addition, I wonder if these two are sisters as they have similarly shaped faces.
Face Recognition Software
I don’t know how good the software is, but it should be fun to play around with it. I first tried Pictriev. It seemed like photo 33B were two brothers:
These two got an 86% rating:
These two from the same photo that I thought were sisters get a similar rating:
While I was changing over, I still had the man above on the right and the woman on the left. The two got a 0% rating, for comparison.
Here the woman on the left is the one holding the black back with Margaret Clarke.
I thought that these two would be the same, but they got a lower rating. The woman on the left is at a little angle. I don’t know if that is enough to make a difference.
Here is a different combination:
This at least gives a bit of a subjective meter, rather than “I think they look like the same person”.
This woman is still in the 50’s for similarity:
These two did slightly better:
These two women at least scored over 70%:
Tricking PicTriev
Here are two that I am quite sure are both my great grandmother Margaret Clarke:
When I click the identity button, it says that they are not the same person.
Both these photos are straight on, but the score is even worse.
Above is a different score, but PicTriev still says that they are different people.
Here is the highest match so far:
PicTriev still has them as different people. I hadn’t realized that I have three photos of James Frazer without a mustache. I will assume that those are the earliest photos: 3, 6, and 33C.
My conclusion is that PicTriev is fun to play with, but not very accurate.
Photos by Studio
Here is a summary sorted by studio:
CE Beane wins the prize with 9 photographs. Following that are Elmer Chickering and Gray with four each. However, Gray has two different addresses. Perhaps they moved at a certain point. There were two photos taken at Gendron. The rest of the Studios took one photo each.
James Frazer 1892
Here is James in the 1892 directory:
This was the same entry as the year before, so I suppose where he lived while single:
Here I mention the James above my James A. as he appears in earlier Directories also as living and working in East Boston. I show this to indicate that it was not my James living in East Boston and working as a steward.
Here is James in 1893, showing his married address:
Here his place of work is not mentioned. Was he out of work or in transition?
Here is how that area looked on the 1888 Directory Map:
To the left of Gainsborough is Northeastern University. It is interesting that my father and I both graduated from this University. 1961 Washington Street is just below the corner of Thorndike Street. Thorndike is one Street to the SW of Newcomb.
Add in the CE Deane Studio
The Street to the bottom of the lower part of the lower circle was Warren Street. Cousin Fred did some research on C.E. Beane:
Gray Studio
The Gray Studio was fairly close by also:
I have circled it in purple. Here is some more from Fred:
The Frazer Family 1894
In 1894, now James is not merely boarding as he was in 1892, but has a house:
A peek down below at a later Directory shows that the Wharton Tea House was at 1971 Washington Street.
1895 showed the same entry:
Here is where an old map of Boston comes in handy.
There is no longer a Westminster Street in this area. It appears that when my grandmother was born, the Frazers were living between two photo studios and James’ place of work on Washington Street. I would imagine that 1971 Washington Street where James was either a clerk or a salesman would have been about one building away from 1961 Washington Street.
Oddly the birth record for my grandmother mentions that the family was living at the Hotel Westminster at the time:
With Hotel Westminster in quotes. There was a famous Hotel Westminster at Copley Square:
I can’t imagine that the Frazers were living there.
Elmer Chickering Studio
I would not want to leave out any studio. Elmer Chickering is listed at 21 West Street.
Perhaps while in downtown Boston, the Frazers would have their photos taken. I also circled Temple Place as Ritz Portraits was there. In addition, Margaret Clarke had a photo taken at The Ideal Photo Studio on Washington across from Temple Place. I am familiar with the area as I worked at 1 Winter Street for many years.
21 West Street appears to be vacant but I have eatenat Fajitas and Ritas which is the building on the left.
Gendron – 13 Tremont Row
I had wrongly read this as 13 Tremont, Rox(bury). Interestingly, this was a female photographer, Miss Addie M. Gendron. Tremont Row also no longer exists. Here is where it was:
This area is in the Sculley Square area that was removed for Government Center. A portion of Boston Common and the State House can be seen in the top left of the map for reference.
The Frazers in 1896
This was the year that George William Frazer was born. At this time, James was listed as a grocer. I would think that the 1997 Directory would better reflect what James was doing in 1996. There are two entries:
My guess is that James A had two jobs. The first one just appears to list the work place. The second entry lists his house. I do think that I recall James being called a tea dealer. Perhaps he bought and sold tea at 1971 Washington Street.
Looks like my guess was wrong. Here is the 1896 Directory:
This shows that there were two James A Frazers. Thankfully, the Boston Athenaeum web site has many Boston City Directories. I wonder if these two James A Frazers knew each other?
Summary and Conclusions
I have taken a look at some of the early years of my Frazer and Clarke great-grandparents.
I had trouble using one facial recognition program. It didn’t seem very accurate.
I looked at the studios where my great-grandparents had their photos taken.
I also looked at City Directories locating where James Archibald Frazer lived right before and after he married Margaret Clarke in 1892.
Using street maps, I was able to virtually walk the streets of 1890’s Boston with my ancestors.
This should be a different Blog as it will be more on the genealogical side. This is photo book that I recall from my childhood that my grandmother had. It has thick pages, a sort of velour cover with a fancy spring clasp on the right.
I got the idea for this Blog after hearing from Fred. Fred is third cousin on my Clarke Line. My grandmother’s mother was a Clarke. We have the same 2nd great grandparents by the name of Clarke and Spratt. Fred sent me this photo recently.
This was from a small tin type photo that Fred had enlarged and enhanced. According to Fred, “…that appears to me to be a picture of Catherine Clark McMaster, Violet McMaster, George McMaster and Margaret Clark”. This reminded me of the photo book my grandmother had. It had larger photos in the back, but the smaller tin types in the back. I believe that Violet is Fred’s grandmother. He supposed that the photo was taken about 1888. That is interesting, because that would be about four years before Margaret Clarke married my great-grandfather. Margaret probably arrived in the Boston area around 1884 from Ireland at about the age of 18. It would be interesting to find out where she lived before she got married.
The Photo Book
Although I said that this book was my grandmother’s, it has people in it that lived before she was born. The photos seem to favor the Clarke side of the family. My grandmother lost her mother in 1902 when my grandmother was about 8 years old. I’ll try to reproduce the photo book as well as I can.
Page 1
I almost missed the first photo. This photo slipped out of the page easily. Under the photo on the page were the initials Raa. I don’t know if this is random or significant. I might assume that this person was important, being on page 1 of the book. A wild guess would be William McMaster, but I would have to compare this with a known photo.
Here is a photo of William from Fred’s sister’s tree:
This photo is a 3/4 view, so it is difficult to compare. I can’t tell for sure that the two are not the same person.
[Edit: January 2020. I believe that this man is William McMaster 1859-1899. He married Catherine Clarke, the sister of my great-grandmother. This was sent to me by Fred who is a descendant.]
Probably taken around 1882. Reverse of picture indicates that they were engaged “about 1881” and married October 5, 1882.
I take by the note that this is Catherine Clarke in the photo also. This may help in identifying other photos.
Fred also sent me this photo:
This is a better version of the photo above. Fred also sent me a photo I show later in the Blog:
These are William’s children: George, Bert, Fanny and Violet.
While I am off my grandmother’s book, I should bring up this photo which perhaps was in the book:
This is a photo of James Archibald Frazer. I had previously had thought that this was taken after his wife had died and Catherine Clarke’s husband William McMaster had died. However, I now see that James looks too young for that. Also this doesn’t look like the Catherine in the photo above.
Here is a side by side look:
Maybe? Another cosideration is that Catherine married in 1882. James married in 1892. Perhaps the photo on the left is how Catherine looked 10 years later when James married?
Page 2
The pages are about 8 inches by 10 inches and the photos are smaller. I’ll try to scan a smaller area.
This is my grandmother’s mother. I am not sure if this would be before, during or after she was married.
Page 3
My guess is that the first two photos could be wedding photos.
PAGE 4
I’m not sure if this is the same woman as the one in the photo from Fred. It looks like I caught a thread of the book in the scan. I know that there was an older Aunt Celia in the area, a sister Celia, Catherine and Margaret. I also thought that there may have been a sister Jane.
Page 5
Margaret again.
Page 6
James Archibald Frazer again. Looks like this could use sume touching up. I haven’t enhanced any of these photos.
Page 7
I’m guessing one of the Clarkes.
Page 8
Margaret Clarke Frazer
Page 9
George William Frazer and her sister ( my grandmother) Marion Margaret Frazer. I seem to remember a large colorized version of this or a similar photo. I don’t know where it ended up.
Page 10
I did enhance this a bit. Another shot of Margaret. My grandmother lost her mother at about age 8, so I’m sure these photos were important to her.
Page 11
I was able to slip this photo out and add a little constrast. My mother’s brother George William was born 1896, so that would put this photo at 1897.
Page 12
This photo was taken at the Elmer Chickering Studio at 21 West St., Boston. I think the original is a bit clearer.
Page 13
Great grandma is stylin’ in this photo.
Page 14
My guess is that these are the same two children that Fred sent me in his tintype picture. If Fred’s photo was 1888, perhaps this was 1889.
Page 15
If I had to guess, I would say another one of the Clarke sisters or Aunt Celia? I quite like the composition whoever it is. It reminds me somewhat of a colonial painting.
Page 16
Again, I am going with my standard Clarke female guess. The man to the left is perhaps a husband? He looks as if he could be a brother, but I have no record of a brother visiting or living here.
Page 17
I’m tempted to call this one the serious baby. I can only assume that this was the baby of one of the Clarke sisters.
Page 18
.
Here is an unusual photo. I might guess that she would have been a maid or nanny for my great grandfather James Frazer. I note that the photo was taken at a different studio. This woman has what appears to be a wedding ring. She is holding a book and has her finger inside the pages as if to say that she is educated. I can’t make out the name of the book except for the word, “power”.
Page 19
I am a bit past halfway in the book.
My guess for this person is Richard Frazer born 1875. According to my web page, ” He married Elizabeth Lenore Rice, daughter of Ivory Fogg Rice and Mary McCartee, on 12 May 1902 at Portsmouth, New Hampshire.” Note that the photo was taken in Portsmout, NH. This could have possibly been a wedding photo.
Page 20 and 21
Page 20 is the same as page 3. Page 21 is the same as page 2. These are the two photos that I supposed to be wedding photos.
Page 22
Can’t have too many photos of one’s great grandfather.
Page 23
Here I’m leaning toward business associate. Here are a few guesses from James’ Naturalization papers dated 18 October 1905:
Page 24
This person is a bit of a mystery. The best clue is that he had the photo taken in Franklin, MA. He also appears a bit older than some of the men in the other photos.
Page 25
Page 25 is the same as page 6.
Page 26
No idea. This person bears no resemblance to some of the others. He appears to be wearing a military uniform.
Page 27
Here there is a clue. The photo was not taken in Boston, but Gorham, NH. All we have to do is search in Gorham, NH for a relative. A search for Gorham shows it to be just North of Mount Washington.
Page 28
I’m hoping that someone will come accross this Blog and tell me who some of these people are. This is the studio where the black woman had her photo taken.
Page 29
I am associating the curley hair with the Clarkes.
Page 30
I think this is a boy? The light hair could go with the guy in the military suit, but there was some light hair in the Frazer family also. I can see a cross on this little person. I also have a photo of George McMaster (brother of Violet) that looks a little similar to this person. I believe that Violet’s granddaughter sent this to me.
I suppose that it might even be possible to look at where each of these studios were to see if that made a difference compared to where some of these people may have lived.
[Edit: January 2020] I see in my McMaster File, I have this photo labeled: George, Herbert, Violet McMaster. I also have the following photo in my McMaster file:]
This photo is named George, Bert, Fanny, Violet. These were all children of William McMaster and Catherine Clarke.
That was the last of the larger photos. Following this are six pages with four smaller photos each in them.
Page 31A
Do I have relatives in Taylorville, Il?
Page 31B
This photo appears to be trimmed down. I can’t tell where the photo was taken.
Page 31C
This is the first tintype. These tintypes give an older look to the photos.
Page 31D
At first, I thought these two were my great grandfather James Archibald Frazer, but now I’m not so sure. I’ll say it is him with his hair part inversed by the tintype
Page 32A
This photo appeared to have been trimmed down from something else. Also a tintype.
Page 32B
Apparently these tintypes are a reverse image. Here is the flip side:
So apparently a Toronto relative. Could this be a Frazer relative?
Page 32C
Another trimmed-down tintype of 2 cute girls – assumed sisters.
Page 32D
Here is a non-tinype among the tintypes. A distinguished self-assured looking couple in Belfast. I’m not aware of any Belfast connection in my ancestry which makes me wonder who these two are.
Page 33
Here is what a typical tintype page looks like in the book:
Page 33A
I just need a program with facial recognition.
Page 33B
Page 33C
The guy bottom left looks like the same person that was on P 23. My guess is the best man at the wedding. I would need to find Parish records to find out that type of information.The other two appear to be Margaret Clarke and my great-grandfather, James Frazer.
Page 33D
This appears to be my great-grandmother on the left wearing a Wonder Woman belt. I had thought the woman on the right looked familiar, but now I’m not sure.
Page 34A
These look to me to be two sisters.
Page 34C
34B is missing.
Does she look like the woman on the left above?
Page 34D
Page 35A
Page 35B
Photos like this and the Belfast and Toronto photos raise quite a few questions. In a record I saw recently, my great-grandfather was a tea dealer. Could this photo have something to do with that? This was another non-tintype photo.
Page 35C
Looks to me like Margaret Clarke.
Page 35D
The same as 31C
Page 36A
Is this the same woman as 34A? Perhaps with her husband?
Page 36B
Somebody’s pride and joy.
Page 36C
Same as 33D
Page 36D
Summary and Conclusions
A major reason for me putting these photos out there is that I hope that some people will recognize who these are
These photos can spur research or direct research. For example, what are my Illinois, Belfast and Edinburgh connections?
Taking the photos out and looking at where they were taken was helpful
My guess is that most of the photos were from around the time when my great-grandmother Margaret Clarke was in the US. This would have been between about 1884 and 1902 when she died.
I have definitely increased the number of photos of people that I know and that I do not know.
The photos help to give a picture of the people that my great grandparents knew, even if I don’t know who they are.
A next step may be to sort the unknown people by those that look most like each other.
I also want to look into facial recognition software.
My last Blog on the McMaster/Clarke family was my 200th Blog on genetic genealogy. I was surprised that it was the first on Clarke DNA. The Blog focused on my McMaster and Clarke family and also on Ron and Steve. Ron and Steve both have McMaster and Clarke ancestors as do I. Neither the McMaster nor Clarke connection to me is cut and dry. However, there are big DNA matches between me, Ron and Steve. Usually, when I do these comparisons, I do them in Gedmatch.com as they make it easy to do comparisons and they have good DNA comparison tools. However, in this case, Ron tested at Ancestry and also has his results at MyHeritage. Steve tested at 23andme. He would be willing to post his results at gedmatch.com or MyHeritage, but those sites are not ready to take the new 23andme DNA results.
McMaster/McMasters/MacMaster: Scottish or Irish?
First, here is the tree which shows how I think that Steve, Ron and I are related on the McMaster side.
Ron and Steve both had traditions that their ancestors were Scottish and not Irish. I am quite sure that they were Scottish, but that between their time in Scotland and the US, they lived in Ireland for quite a while. This is based on the fact that I have traced the McMasters back to Kilmactranny Parish in County Sligo to the early 1700’s. Here are some other pieces of evidence that indicate that Steve and Ron’s McMaster ancestry is more directly from Ireland:
Steve and Ron’s ancestor Edward’s Naturalization Papers state that he was from Count Sligo:
2. Edward’s marriage states that he and his wife were from Ireland:
3. Edward’s son Frederick William’s birth record shows that both his parents were from Ireland.
4. Edward’s son Stanley Edward’s 1881 birth record shows that both his parents were from Ireland. By the way he shared a birthday with me. At that time Stanley’s mom was listed as Sadie.
5. Edward’s daughter Alice Jane’s 1885 birth record shows that both his parents were from Ireland.
6. Edward’s son Thomas Leroy’s birth record shows that both his parents were from Ireland.
7. Edward’s daughter Edna Clark’s birth record shows that both his parents were from Ireland.
8. The 1880 Census shows that Edward McMaster and his wife were born in Ireland as well as both of their parents.
The 1900 Census is the first one that mentions that Edward was born in Scotland and Celia in England.
9. The 1889 death record for Edward’s son Frederick W McMaster has both his parents born in Ireland.
This seems to show that most the records indicate that Edward and Celia were born in Ireland as were both their parents.
The Clarke Side
In my previous Blog, I favored this tree to match up my tree with Steve and Ron’s:
This has me as a third cousin with Ron. That is consistent with our DNA matches. However, I don’t have a good paper trail. Celia does list her mother as Jane on her wedding record. However, she gives her father as James rather than Thomas Clarke.
Interestingly, one tree at ancestry does have a Celia as the daughter of Thomas Clarke and Jane Spratt:
I recognize the owner of the tree as someone I have corresponded with in the past and who knows quite a bit about the Clarke family. However, Margaret my great-grandmother is missing as well as Jane. Also the owner has no references for Celia.
However, I did check my records. I have the memoir of the daughter of William and Catherine pictured above. She does mention Celia here:
In another part of the memoir, she mentions the children but in a different order:
Unfortunately, she gives no further detail on Celia other that she knew them all. I take that to mean that Celia lived in the Boston area. I favor the first listing above of the children as it has Celia first who was apparently born around 1856. This gives me more confidence that it was this Celia that married Edward Mcmaster.
Back to the DNA
It is possible to triangulate DNA. This happens when three people match each other on the same segment. When that happens, there is almost always a shared ancestor. The problem is figuring out who that ancestor is.
I match both Stephen and Ron on Chromosome 4:
These are both from my match list. In order for this to be triangulation, Ron would also have to match Steve. I assume that this is the case, but cannot prove it. Assuming that this is triangulation, this may indicate a Clarke ancestor. I say this due to the large match with Ron indicating a closer relationship and the fact that my McMaster relatives that aren’t related to the Clarkes do not match here.
Steven and Ron both match me on Chromosome 6, but the matches don’t overlap. So I can’t show triangulation there.
I match both Stephen and Ron on Chromosome 18:
Again, it is not a large overlap, but there is an overlap showing that we have a common ancestor out there somewhere.
Does the Triangulation Indicate a McMaster Or Clarke Ancestor?
That is what I would like to know. If my cousin Paul triangulated with Steve and Ron, it would indicate a McMaster ancestor as Paul has no Clarke ancestor. Unfortunately, Steve tested at 23andme and Paul did not.
How I Match Ron and Paul at MyHeritage
When I put Ron and Paul into my matching chromosome browser, it shows that I do not match Ron and Paul in the same place. That means that we do not triangulate. That also means that it is possible that I am matching Paul on the McMaster side and Ron on the Clarke side. Unfortunately, something cannot be proved by not matching, but it could give a clue.
I match Ron on red and Paul on yellow. As I mentioned, I have no overlapping segments with Ron and Paul. Of special interest is Chromosome 7. My match switches over from yellow. Here is an enlargement of that segment and what it may mean:
Again, these are my matches. I am matching Paul in yellow. This could be Frazer as Ron doesn’t have Frazer DNA from what I can tell. My Paul [Frazer?] match stops and my Ron [Clarke?] match starts. This is a possible Frazer/Clarke recombination point that my father had and he passed down to me. Another possibility would be a Frazer/McMaster recombination point, but that doesn’t make as much sense as that should have been passed down to both Paul and me(?)
Here is how Paul likelly matches on the McMaster Tree:
Does Paul Match Ron or Stephen by DNA?
It looks like they don’t match by DNA. At MyHeritage, Ron is one of my closest matches:
However, Ron doesn’t match Paul at all at MyHeritage. Note that Ron should be more closely related to Paul than to me on the McMaster tree.
This is how Stephen matches me and my siblings at Genesis. Steve uploaded his 23andme results to that Gedmatch subsidiary:
Steve doesn’t match Paul at Genesis either. What are the chances? Here they are:
As 4th cousins, Paul and Ron should match better than half the time. As 4th cousins once removed, Paul and Steve should match only better than, say, 30%
Notice in the image above that my sister Sharon does not match Steve. However, Sharon does match Ron at MyHeritage here:
Note that these are all chromosomes where she wasn’t matching Steve above. That is why Sharon and Steve didn’t match by DNA.
I note also that Steve and Paul do not match at Genesis.
The other piece of the puzzle I am missing is where Steve and Ron match each other.
What Does All This Mean?
It means that the DNA suggests that the match may be through a closer Clarke line rather than a more distant McMaster connection. From what I can tell, there were two or three sisters that married McMasters or McMaster relatives.
Ron and Steve’s ancestor, Edward McMaster, married Celia Clark in 1876. Celia was born about 1856. In 1880 Celia Clarke McMaster was living in the same building as Celia Clarke McGarry, a known relation of mine – possibly her Aunt.
William McMaster married Catherine McMaster in 1882. This William signed Edward McMaster’s naturalization papers as a witness. Catherine Clarke was born 1863
My great-grandfather James Archibald Frazer married Margaret Clarke in 1892. His mother was a McMaster. Margaret was the sister of Catherine Clarke. William McMaster was the uncle of James Archibald Frazer. Margaret was born 1866.
Here is a photo of my great-grandfather James Frazer with William McMaster’s wife Catherine Clarke. This was apparently after the death of James’ wife Margaret Clarke and Catherine’s husband William McMaster.
It would appear that Celia, Catherine and Margaret were sisters. If this is the case then I would be third cousin to Ron and third cousin once removed to Steve on the Clarke Line. The best way to identify by DNA whether the match is on the Clarke Line or McMaster line is to find someone with only Clarke or McMaster DNA. Ron, Steve, and I have both. Paul has McMaster DNA but not Clarke. If Paul had matched Ron and/or Steve by DNA, then that would indicate the match was on the McMaster Line. However, I know of no one that has only Clarke and not McMaster DNA due to all the double-related marriages mentioned above.
If Celia’s marriage record had her dad as Thomas and not James, I would be more convinced that she was a sister to the other two Clarkes mentioned above. If Celia’s marriage record gave her mother’s maiden name (Spratt), that would have convinced me also. Steve should be taking a trip to the Department of Public Health to check for Celia’s death record. Perhaps this will straighten things out.
Running is Good for DNA Analysis
I came up with this idea on my run today. My idea is to compare Emily to my family and Ron at MyHeritage. I recently found another relative that I matched there. Actually two: Melanie and her mom Emily. Emily, like Paul, has McMaster DNA, but no known Clarke DNA.
Now the McMaster DNA tree is getting wider which is good for DNA comparisons. I did quite a few comparisons until I found this one:
This is how my sister Lori matches Paul. in red, Ron in brown and Emily in yellow. The interesting match is here:
This segment where Lori matches Ron and Emily appears to form a Triangulation Group (TG). TGs are good as they show that those in the Group have a common ancestor. Lori matches Ron from about 41-51M on the Chromosome. Above, Lori matched Steve at the same spot:
My guess is that Steve and Ron match each other at this spot also. That would form a triangulation group with Emily, Lori, Steve and Ron. As Emily is not known to be related on the Clarke side, we have identified McMaster DNA on Chromosome 13:
This shows how the DNA would have come down from Abraham and Margery to their sons Robert and James in the early 1800’s. How do you like that? I just found out about Emily last week and already she is helping out on the McMaster Line. This also points to the importance of DNA testing. Lori was the 5th sibling I had tested for DNA. You might have thought that 4 siblings were enough, but they weren’t.
Where Does This Leave Celia?
I think that there is still room for Celia to fit in with the large DNA matches that we have between my family, Steve, and Ron. We match each other at a minimum on Chromosomes 4, 6, 10. 11. 13, 14, 15, 16 and 18. Today we have figured out Chromosome 13.
Another DNA Trick: Commom Matches
There is a utility at Gedmatch and Genesis that looks at your common matches. It is a sort of where there’s smoke there’s fire type of approach. When I plug myself and John in i get some matches. Here is someone with the Clark name that probably triangulates with Steve and me:
I’ve sent out an email to see if there is any known relation.
Here is someone with the Crawford name on Chromosome 18 that likely triangulates:
However, this is a smaller match. The common ancestor may be quite far back in time. I associate the Crawford name with the part of Ireland my ancestors were from. I sent an email to the Crawford match just in case.
Summary and Conclusions
I’ve done quite a bit with the DNA considering the fact that Steve and Ron tested at different places.
A new match with cousin Emily came in handy in identifying one segment of McMaster DNA on Chromosome 13
The fact that I have 5 siblings in my family DNA tested was helpful
Lack of other matches with known McMaster ancestry point to a likely Clarke match but don’t prove it
I’ve shown that the McMasters were from Sligo Ireland rather than directly from Scotland.
Working on this Blog got me digging more into the Clarke genealogy and I did find I had a little more on Celia daughter of Thomas Clarke and Jane Spratt. This makes me much more confident that this Celia married Edward McMaster
Based on that, I feel as though most of the matches between my family and Rona and Steve are on the Clarke side. That is despite the fact that I have positively identified a McMaster segment that we share.
