Updating My Hartley Bradford DNA Connections at Ancestry

I had previously looked at Josiah Bradford in a Blog in 2019. At that time, my father’s cousin Joyce’s ThruLines for Josiah Bradford looked like this:

Now, in addition to the two matches on the Jesse Bradford Line, Joyce shows two additional matches:

I like to draw trees for the people that I believe are true DNA matches and match by genealogy, but my Bradford tree is quite out of date:

I had previously looked at this connection with Joyce in 2019:

My Bradford DNA/Genealogy Chart is starting to shape up.

My Match with Rollie

If I could confirm Rollie’s genealogy, that would firm up the Stephen Bradford connection. Rollie has a nice tree which I have no reason to doubt:

Rollie has Stephen, son of Stephen moving to Illinois at some point:

This 1870 Census seems to confirm that:

1850:

1860:

That means that Stephen went from Engraver in New Hampshire to a farmer in Illinois around the age of 50. I feel like the rest of the line should fall into place – I’m a bit lazy today.

Here is the connection I come up with:

Note that brothers Stepen and Alexander were born 1815 and 1838. They are first and last born in the family.

Back to Josiah

From the review of my 2019 Blog, I think that I thought that the Jesse Line would be OK. Here is the William to Jesse Bradford Line added:

New Matches on the William to Josiah Line

I had this image earlier in the Blog for my father’s cousin Joyce’s ThruLines:

This is interesting as I also match Joe. Unfortunately, Joe’s tree does not support this ThruLine:

The other match in pink shows a Bradford connection:

I’ll start with this Howard connection and build out a tree. Here is Glenn Deforest’s birth’s record from Waltham, MA:

It looks like Glenn’s father was a machinist. I get his parents names also from Social Security. Here is Everett’s aka Everard’s marriage record:

Looks like I need the second page:

The good news is that Evererett’s father had an unusual name. The bad news is that people messed up the name in the records. Here are two Maltiah’s in the 1860 Plymouth Census:

Unfortunately, the child I saw on the Census as Josiah, got transcribed as Jonah. I take him to be named for Josiah Bradford.

Here is the marriage record:

This is the tree so far:

According to North America, Family HIstories:

I note here that the name Josiah is correct. Josiah Bradford apparently married a Polly Robbins in 1803:

FindaGrave appears to confirm that Josiah’s father was William Bradford:

I take Polley to be the same as Mary Bradford, but I may be wrong. I see the trees at Ancestry have her as the same person. Molly is a derivative of Mary and Polly is a derivative of Molly.

This matches up with my own tree:

William’s wife was Ruth Dunham.

The ancestors with large families such as William Bradford’s above born in 1749 were more likely to pass down DNA to subsequent generations.

My Brother Jon and the Matilda Bradford Line

My brother Jon has these three matches:

None of these trees lead to Bradfords. I can make my own tree for Joe to try to see if his tree is wrong or if Ancestry is wrong.

Here is Joe and mother Doris in 1940:

Interestingly, Doris’ mother was the head of the household and not the husband. Here is Doris’ birth record:

Doris’ dad was an embalmer born in Plymouth. Based on this record, I accepted the Ancestry hints for Doris’ parents.

Arthur was born in Plymouth, though his parents were living in New Bedford at the time:

I think I see the problem. Joe’s tree does go back to our common ancestor who was Josiah Bradford:

However, Ancestry seems to be missing Weston Vaughan and Ella May Stephens in the tree. Based on the above birth record, I will accept Ancestry’s clue for Arthur’s parents and follow on Weston Vaughan:

Weston’s marriage record has his mother as Matilda. She is the one I’d like to follow:

Unfortunately, Arthur’s birth record does not give his mother’s maiden name either. Here is the family in 1870 in Plymouth:

We see Matilda’s maiden name on her marriage record:

I have set out to prove either Ancestry’s tree wrong or Joe’s tree wrong. It looks like Joe’s tree is right and Ancestry’s tree is partially wrong. The key is that Matilda married young and had her son Weston at a young age. Her marriage record says she was 18 when she married. The 1870 Census suggests she could have been 17 when Weston Jr. was born. That is what Ancestry did not have for some reason.

Here is Matilda’s death record:

Matilda’s father was a clergyman based on the 1850 Census in Plymouth:

Matilda is mentioned in FindAGrave:

This should bring me back to my own tree and close the loop:

Here is some more information from Ancestry:

The Ruth here would be Ruth Dunham from my tree.

I’ll add Joe into my Bradford DNA/Genealogy Tree:

Joseph is 5th cousin twice removed to Joyce and 6th cousin once removed to my family.

Bradford ThruLine to Barbara

Oddly, when I check my brother’s ThruLines now, they no longer have Joe. Perhaps the ThruLines were recalculated:

However, it doesn’t matter as I have what I believe to be right on my Bradford DNA/Genealogy Chart.

It shouldbe easy to check Barbara’s tree as I just need to get up to Matilda Bradford. Barbara has a small tree:

The other interesting thing is that this tree apparently goes through the Ransom side and not the Vaughan side. I found Etta’s birth record, so accepted the hint for her parents:

The hint for George Ransom’s mother is Rev Mary S Faunce. Here is the marriage record for George and Ida:

Here is George’s birth record:

I am skeptical that Mary was a Reverend. Here she is in Pembroke in 1880 keeping house:

I guess I was wrong. Here is her obituary:

This gets us back to Matilda Bradford born 1813. So I see the Ancestry ThruLine was correct this time.

Summary and Conclusions

I was able to show genealogical connections and probale DNA connections between my family and many other Bradford families going back to Josiah Bradford born 1724 and his wife Hannah Rider.
There was one generation missing on the ThruLines for Joe Vaughan, but I was able to find that and add it in.
These ThruLines change often. The one for Joe was changing as I was writing this Blog.
My Bradford DNA/Genealogy Tree was quite out of date and I was able to add two generations to it going back from Harvey Bradford on my family’s side.
The DNA matches appear to confirm the previous genealogy work that I have done.

May 18, 2022May 24, 2022

Greenwood Hartley in the Year 1874

It seems like certain years are more filled with events than others. For my 2nd great-grandfather, Greenwood Hartley, it seems like 1874 was one busy year. I can think of four significant events that happened that year.

Greenwood’s Only Daughter Mary Ann Marries

Mary Ann Hartley Married Abel Burrows on 12 February 1874. At the time, Abel was a weaver from Fall River – originally from Burnley, Lancashire. This would be not too far from Bacup where Mary Ann was from:

Bacup was about 6 miles from Burnley. Greenwood was born in Trawden which was also close to Burnley. Abel would later become a jeweler and store owner in Fall River. Actually, upon closer look, Abel was living in Habergham Eaves in 1871:

The other interesting thing is that Abel Burrows was born in Marsden. There is a Marsden in West Yorkshire and a historical Marsden near Colne and Trawden where the Hartleys came from. So I’m not sure which this is referring to. My guess would be that they were from the Marsden in Lancashire. Marsden was taken over by Nelson in later times. Abel’s mother was from Haggate:

Haggate is to the NE of Burnley.

Here is a portion of Greenwood’s Map of Lancashire from 1818:

This shows Great Marsden which was closer to Trawden and Hag Gate which appears to be a very small place. I see another place below Little Marsden which is also called Marsden.

Here is a Newpaper notice from the Fall River Daily Evening News of 16 February 1874:

How Did Abel and Mary Ann Meet?

At the time that Abel and Mary Ann married, Abel was living in Fall River and Mary Ann was living in New Bedford. The English Census was taken on April 2, 1871. Abel’s Naturalization Papers have him coming to the US before this time:

I have come to mistrust these dates after looking at Greenwood Hartley’s Naturalization and his half brother William Wilkinson’s. I would trust the Census more than the Naturalization Papers.

We know that the Hartley family moved from Fall River to New Bedford in 1870. The 1870 Census was taken on June 1. Greenwood’s daughter Esther Hartley died in New Bedford from Typhoid Fever on 30 October 1870. The family was living at the rear of Ray Street near the Wamsutta Mills.

All this to say that May Ann was most likely living in New Bedford by the end of October 1870. Abel was in Fall River some time after April 1871. I suppose that if the Hartleys lived briefly in Fall River before moviing to Fall River that Abel could have lived briefly in New Bedford before moving to Fall River. There are other possibilities:

Perhaps the two families had some connections in Lancashire
Perhaps the two families had connections in Bristol County or a go-between
There could have been church connections. Greenwood’s wife Ann Emmet was from a Baptist Church in Bacup and Abel and Mary Ann apparently attended a Baptist Church in Fall River
When Abel’s father Samuel married, his witness was a John Hartley.

It would be interesting to know what Church Mary Ann and Abel married in. For some reason, I thought it was an Episcopal Church. I am guessing that if Mary Pilling Wilkinson was able she would have attended as well as other family.

According to the New Bedford Mercury, the Wilkinson boys at least attended this church:

Yesterday noon as soon as the Sunday school at Mr. Dennison’s North Mission Chapel, corner of Purchase and Pearl streets was dismissed, eleven boys of the school went to Willis Point to play on the ice, or perhaps as one account states to cross over for play on “the Isle of Marsh”, a high rocky hill connected by marshes with the Fairhaven shore.

I’ll just finish off this section with an image from my Wilkinson Web Page:

The corner of Pearl and Purchase is easy to see near the lower left corner of City Common. The M.E. Church – probably Methodist Episcopal is also a possibility. I just read up on the Mission Church and this was really a Sunday School Mission. This is from an 1869 History of the Churches of New Bedford:

The Death of Greenwood’s Mother: Mary Pilling Hartley Wilkinson

Greenwood’s daughter Mary Ann married in February. Not long after, Greenwood’s mother dies. She was listed as having weak eyes on her voyage to Massachusetts. I mention on my Hartley web page:

An asterisk by Mary’s name indicated her poor health. She was listThised as having very sore eyes and being infirm.

Mary Pilling lived over three years past her voyage to Massachusetts from Bacup, Lancashire.

Mary died March 23, 1874. This is the building that shows on Google maps for 23 Austin Street:

My guess is that this is the same building that was there and that the Hartley family lived in in 1874. However, the building may have been remodeled since and was much newer at the time. Here is a view of the house next door to this:

Here we can see the stone foundation. Perhaps 23 Austin Street looked more like the shingled building next door. Here is a period map:

I believe that 23 Austin would be at the NW corner of Austin and Pleasant Streets.

I have an old photo which is unidentified, but may be Mary Pilling.

Mary Pilling was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in New Bedford. This is an online photo giving the sense of the Cemetery as I remember visiting it:

Here is a map:

I believe that Mary Pilling is buried in Section GG of the Cemetery along with Wilkinson and Hartley relatives. However, I was unable to find an online map with location designations. I was unable to find a grave marker for Mary Pilling, but I have found markers for other of the relatives. I see that Austin Street ends near the Northern part of the Cemetery. My son lives not too far from this Cemetery, so I could walk from his house for a visit some day.

Greenwood’s USA Citizenship

By Spring of 1874, Greenwood’s only daughter Mary Ann had married and moved to Fall River. Greenwood’s one constant throughout his life, Mary Pilling, was gone. He is now with his wife and son when he turns 42 years old in May, 1874. Greenwood works probably at the Wamsutta Mills in New Bedford and lives at 23 Austin Street. I wrote a Blog recently about Greenwood’s Naturalization here.

I need not reproduce all the information that I went over in that Blog. A pattern that I saw was that if someone was keen on getting their Naturalization, it geneally happened about 5 years after they arrived. Here is a document that I was looking for after I wrote my Blog I mentioned above:

This was Greenwood’s Declaration of Intentions from December 1872. At the time I had found this at the Massachusetts Archives, I found it ironic that it took a trip to Lancashire to find out that Greenwood was born in Trawden, when that information was in my home State already.

As I mentioned, Greenwood, William Wilkinson and John Pilling – all half brothers to each other – headed up to Boston, apparently at the end of November. John was a witness and Greenwood and William both got their Citizenship papers that day. This completed the legal paperwork they needed and established them as permanent citizens of the United States. Perhaps Greenwood and family celebrated the American Holiday of Thanksgiving on the Thursday before going up to Boston on Monday November 30, 1874. Thanksgiving had been declared a National Holiday by Lincoln 11 years prior.

Buying the Farm in Rochester in December 1874

The fourth big event for 42 year old Greenwood in 1874 was buying a farm in Rochester. According to local historian Judy Gurney, Greenwood’s health was failing and his doctor recommended a move out of the City. Aside from this, Greenwood could have had some bad feelings about New Bedford. After all, his daughter Esther died there of Typhoid Fever in October 1870 not long after the family moved to New Bedford from Fall River:

In January 1872, two of Greenwood’s nephews drowned in New Bedford. These were 11 and 9 year old John and Robert Wilkinson.

Then, as mentioned above, Greenwood’s mother died on March 23, 1874.

It seems like the doctor gave a good recommendation to Greenwood as sanitary conditions must have been better and the chance of catching something from someone must have been less in Rochester compared to New Bedford.

Weaver to Farmer

I wonder if many people changed carreers later in life like Greenwood becoming a farmer after being a weaver? In 1874, Greenwood’s son James was 12, so perhaps would be more helpful around a farm. Greenwood was frugal and had saved enough money to buy a farm for $1200. If Greenwood bought the farm in December, I assume that he lived there with his wife and son James that first winter. What did they do all winter? Were there animals to take care of? Did he plan for the next year? He must have had enough money to buy food to eat. I am also curious as to whether Greenwood knew much about farming. Perhaps he had observed farmers in Trawden. Little is known about Greenwood’s grandfather. Perhaps he was a farmer in Trawden? Many questions and not many answers.

It’s fun to think about what life was like for Greenwood Hartley and his family.

Summary and Conclusions

1874 marked the fifth year since the Hartley family arrived in Massachusetts
The fact that Greenwood arrived with mother, wife, children and half-brother’s family seemed to indicate that all intended on staying in the US
Greenwood’s early years in Massachusetts were likely difficult adjusting to a different life-style and customs. Also the death of his daughter and two nephews made life difficult.
The death of Greenwood’s mother in 1874 must have been difficult also. Greenwood’s father had died when he was 4, so his recollection of him would have been very vague. Mary Pilling was Greenwood’s one constant in the 38 years since his father died.
This death was off-set by three positive happening to Greenwood in 1874. His daugther Mary Ann married Abel Burrows. He recieved his naturalization along with his younger half brother William Wilkinson. Then he bought a farm in Rochester and apparently moved there in December 1874.
Greenwood’s move to Rochester was apparently good for his health and for his family. Greenwood apparently gave a leg up to his son James who was later able to purchase a Mill which became the Hartley Saw Mill.
In protecting his health, Greenwood outlived his father who died at age 32. This afforded his children the father that Greenwood never had.

May 11, 2022

A Naturalization Record for Greenwood Hartley

While I was reviewing my Ancestry hints for my second great-grandfather Greenwood Hartley, I ran across this record:

This is a document signed by Greenwood Hartley on November 30, 1874. This Greenwood was said to be born very close to my Greenwood ancestor:

I have that my Greenwood was born 25 May 1831. This Greenwood was a year younger. He also came to Boston a lot sooner than my Greenwood – in 1849. I have that my Greenwood came into Boston 24 October 1869. This is starting to look suspicious. I think that this is the actual Naturalization Record for my 2nd great-grandfather Greenwood, but that some of the information got entered incorrectly.

A Rare Signature

The 1870 Census states that Greenwood and his wife could not write. However, the box is not checked that they could not read. Hear is Greenwood’s signature – apparently signed with difficulty:

This would appear to be a rare signature for Greenwood. i assume that it is authentic due to the difference in writing elsewhere on the Naturalization document.

Other Implications?

The approximate age at the time of this document would be correct. It states that Greenwood was 42 in 1874, when he was actually 43. The above document appears to be the actual naturalization based on this index card:

Interestingly, two weeks after Greenwood’s Naturalization, he buys a house in Rochester Massachusetts on what is now Snipatuit Road.

Here is the only photo I have of Greenwood:

Greenwood’s Two Naturalization Witnesses

Greenwood needed two people to vouch for him:

These two are Greenwood’s half brothers. I wonder if they all had to take a train up to Boston for this? I also wonder if the Judge knew that these two were Greenwood’s half brothers. Here we also have John Pilling and William Wilkinson’s signatures. They look at litte more refined than Greenwood’s signature. Technically, Greenwood had been in the US for 5 years as he arrived in Boston in October 1869. It is interesting that the place that he resided for that amount of time is left blank. The family lived in Fall River for a short while before moving to New Bedford.

John Pilling attested to Greenwood’s good character. However a few years later, in August 1877, John took off with Co-op money, and left his famiy for England. William Wilkinson travelled to Boston with Mary Pilling, Greenwood, and Mary’s grandchildren.

Here is William Wilkinson:

I believe that this is John Pilling:

I also recall seeing a record in the Massachusetts Archives saying that Greenwood was born in Trawden. I believe that that was his Petition for Naturalization. Hopefully I have a hard copy of that somewhere.

William Wilkinson

William was born in 1840, so he was about 9 years younger than Greenwood. Here is his Naturalization:

As far as I know, his arrival in New York in 1858 is not correct. In fact, I have this as his marriage in Bacup, England in 1859:

This is interesting as I had that William married Tamar Dawson. This seems to say that she was Tamar Burus, daughter of William Burus [Burrows?]. A Mary Dawson is a witness. I see that my Ancestry tree has her father as William Barnes. I have that William arrived in Boston in 1869:

Witnesses for William’s Naturalization

First, I should point out that Wiliam and Greenwood’s Naturalizations were both on the same day. That leads to the idea that they all went up to Boston together.

Here, Greenwood’s name was in and signed and then crossed out. John Pilling was one witness. My guess is that William got his naturalization first and was able to be a witness for Greenwood. However, because of this Greenwood could not be a witness for William. The typed part says “both citizens of said United States”. If Greenwood’s Naturalzation was after William’s he wouldn’t have been a citizen yet. I don’t know who John Armstrong was.

John Pilling’s Witnesses

To complete the circle, here were John’s witnesses to his 1867 Naturalization:

This is likely John Dickey in New Bedford in 1870:

He was likely known through work or possibly through John’s Scottish wife.

This is likely Thomas Watson in New Bedford in 1870:

In 1884, Thomas apparently remarried for a third time:

This Thomas lists his birth Town as Brindle, Lancashire. This appears to be Thomas’ marriage to Elizabeth in Boston in 1852:

Summary and Conclusions

A discovery of a Naturalization record for Greenwood adds some detail to his life for the year 1874
I followed a bit in the lives of two of Greenwood’s half brothers who vouched for his trustworthiness on his Naturalization.
Another bonus was in seeing Greenwood’s tenuous signature which is a connection between him and us in the present time.
My assumption is that Greenwood and his younger half brother William dependended on their older half brother John Pilling to show them the ropes in the New World

August 22, 2021

Nantucket Newspapers and My Parker Ancestors

I have written some on my Parker ancsestors in the past. I have a web page here on the Parker family. I found an interesting part in the Parker family history was the ship repairing business that Isaac Parker had in Nantucket in the early 1800’s. I found many records relating to Isaac Parker which I have on my Parker Web Page.

Nantucket Newspapers

Recently I noticed in an NEHGS Newsletter that there are now many Nantucket Newspapers available online.

Spotlight: Newspaper Archive, Nantucket Atheneum, Mass.

by Valerie Beaudrault

Nantucket is an island located about 30 miles south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The Nantucket Atheneum has made a Digital Historic Newspaper Archive available on its website with a keyword searchable database containing the following titles: The Inquirer and Mirror (1821–2013, published under several titles); Nantucket Gazette/Nantucket Commerce Gazette (1816–1817); Nantucket Weekly Magazine (1817–1818); Nantucket Journal (1826-1828; and 1878–1899); The Islander (1840–1843); Daily Telegraph (1843–1844); Morning Telegraph (1844–1845); The Warder (1846); Island Review (1874–1878); The Daily Nantucket (1889–1899); Nantucket Light (1964–1965), and a few other smaller Nantucket newspapers (1842–1985). The Search and Browse buttons are in the upper right corner of the newspaper archive homepage.

Isaac Parker moved to Nantucket probably around the year 1800. He died in 1842, before the the Nantucket fire of 1846. That means that I would be interested in the earlier newspapers.

Lydia Parker

The first relavent entry I found while searching for Isaac Parker was a sad one:

This would be Isaac’s youngest daughter:

If Saturday was July 25, 1929, then Monday would be 5 days earlier or the 20th of July.

More Sad News

Here is a death notice for Prudence Parker:

Silas Parker

I mention Silas Parker on my web page on the Parkers. He was the uncle of Isaac Parker:

Some Business for Isaac Parker in 1825

I’m not sure what this was all about. Apparently Charles Calder died while owing a lot of money. I would also assume that he did not owe money to Isaac Parker, but I’m not sure.

Sale of Isaac Parker’s Nantucket Land

Isaac died in 1842. It took over a year after his death to sell the property. The Nantucket Fire of 1846 likely burnt down the house. I have more information on the sale of this property in this Blog.

More On Isaac’s Children

I had that Isaac’s youngest was Benjamin, but he died as a baby in 1802.

Elijah Parker and Family

I have Elijah born next in 1803. He was my third great-grandmother’s brother. The 1850 Nantucket Census has him as a ship master. Perhaps this is him:

From what I can tell, Callao is in Peru. Here is Elijah’s wife and two children in 1855 in the Census in Nantucket:

They were living with Betsy and Elizabeth Joy. I assume that these were relatives. I also assume that Elijah was out at sea at the time.

Alan P Folger, Grandson of Captain Elijah Parker

This article gives us some more family information than I had on my web page:

By checking around on Ancestry, I see this:

Ann ended moving to Australia.

I assume that she followed her daughter Leila to Australia. .

it looks like Leila died before her mother.

Here is Aukland and Sydney:

This part of the Parker family really got around.

Isaac Parker Junior Born 1808

My web page has a very incomplete picture:

It turns out that Isaac Junior’s wife was a very interesting person:

Looks like I missed 8 of their children on my web page. The newpaper article has her dying in Nantucket, but her death record makes it appear that she died in Weymouth:

The death certificate also has her buried in Rochester:

She was apparently buried in the Sherman Cemetery where many of my Hartley ancsestors were buried. She was born in Wareham, married in Nantucket, died in Weymouth. I wonder why she was buried in Rochester.

My DNA Match Through Pardon Parker Born 1845

AncestryDNA shows ThruLines. Here are mine with Isaac Parker Sr:

This shows that I am a 5th cousin to td and share 42 cM. According to the Boston Census of 1870, Pardon was a barber:

William Henry above was born in Malden. So of all the Parker paths, I could have shared DNA with, this is the one that shows up. Of course, a descendant had to have taken the test for me to match. 42 cM is a large amount for 5th cousins to share.

Charles Henry Coffin Parker Born 1839

I had on my web page that Charles was born in 1849, but I think 1839 is more accurate. It looks like Charles was also a barber – at least in 1880:

Summary and Conclusions

These newpapers articles tend to take me back to the time when all this was happening. There was not a lot in the newspapers about this family, but the family was not on Nantucket for too long and mostly left after the great fire in Nantucket. I found out a lot more about this family – what they did and where they went. I looked at one 5th cousin who matched by DNA. I was also able to better fill in my Parker family tree. This could lead to more ThruLine connections at AncestryDNA.

June 30, 2021

Eubanks Genealogy

I saw my friend Pastor Eubanks recently. We both attend the same church. I said I’d look into his genealogy. He wasn’t terribly interested in his family history except that he had heard that the Eubanks were from the Banks of the River Eu in Liverpool. Jim aslo mentioned that his father was a radio announcer.

Ancestry Search

With the little I know, I did an Ancestry search and came up with a birth certificate for Jim:

I was thinking I’d find the 1940 Census, but this is good. Here is 855 Clinton Street, South Bend, Indiana where Jim was born:

Joseph Blair Eubanks (Born 1913) and Family

It appears that the Eubanks family moved to Norfolk, Virginia not too long after their son Jim was born. Here is the 1940 Census for Norfolk, VA taken May 15th:

Here is Joseph’s WWII Draft Card:

Joseph Eubanks Born 1888

This Joseph had a father named Joseph. Here is the family in Chicago, Illinois in 1920:

Joseph was an accountant. He was born in Michigan as was his father. However, other records have these two born in Illinois.

Thomas Eubanks (Born About 1845)

Thomas was Joseph’s father and was a farmer. Here is the family in 1900:

He had a pretty big family. This says his father was born in Kentucky. Here is Thomas in 1850 in Illinois with the rest of his family:

The father of Thomas was James. He was born in Kentucky and his mother Polly was born in Tennessee.

Thomas appears to have served in the Civil War:

Some of Thomas’ children were baptized in the Presbyterian Church in 1880:

James Eubanks Born About 1810 in Kentucky

Now I am running out of useful Census records. James was also a farmer.

Jim has the same name as his 2nd great-grandfather. My guess is that Jim’s 3rd great-grandfather will also be a James Eubanks.

James Eubanks Sr. Born About 1790

In 1850, James was living with Nancy and another James Eubanks in District 13, White County, Illinois:

James Sr and Nancy were both born in North Carolina.

James is buried in Norris City:

Actually, the Cemetery looks closer to Omaha, Illinois:

William Henry Eubanks Born About 1770

Here is the hint that Ancestry has for the father of James Eubanks:

I don’t know much about North Carolina, but here is Albemarle:

I have included Norfolk, VA for reference. I don’t think that Albermarle existed in 1770, but William Henry Eubanks could have been from the area.

John Eubanks 1755

According to Ancestry, there was a John Eubanks born in 1755 who was the father of William Henry Eubanks:

That same reference has John from Germany:

If that is right, then Jim’s ancestors were not from the banks of the River Eu in Liverpool. The area of Amberg-sulzbach is highlighted below and is to the East of Nuremberg:

Other Trees?

I found three trees at Ancestry with John T Eubanks:

Here he is said to be born in Talbot Maryland.

This tree is similar, but Henry William is also called Alex:

Here is Talbot, Maryland, possible ancestral home of Jim’s Eubanks:

If this John T Eubanks is Jim’s ancestor, then it is likely he would have been involved in the Revolutionary War.

DNA

If Jim or one of Jim’s male Eubanks relatives were to test their YDNA, we may learn more about the ancient roots of the Eubanks family. This test may also show if Jim’s roots are in England or in Germany. I only found one reference to Eubanks being from Germany, so that may not be correct. The YDNA test may also tell if the different branches of Eubanks in the US are related.

An autosomal DNA test would also be an option, but the results are not as accurate, the more distant the relative. Also autosomal DNA will match with relatives on every line of Jim’s ancestry – not just Eubanks.

According to Ancestry, Eubanks is an English name:

Here we return to Jim’s father’s story of a bank of yew trees.

Summary and Conclusions

I have laid out a skeleton of history for Jim Eubanks which includes eight generations

Jim’s family history is deeply intertwined with the history of our Country and goes back to when we were still colonies of England. I hope that my research has been accurate. If not, it at least has given some information for further research.

April 11, 2021

Irish Petty Sessions and My Frazer Ancestors and Relatives

I recently came across Irish Petty Sessions at Ancestry. These could be helpful in sorting out relationships and/or adding some interesting information to my family history.

Let’s look at some of these records.

Let Your Light Shine in 1918

Here is the simple case of George Frazer of Derrycashel who was operating a vehicle at night without a light.

This actually happened on March 16th at 8:20 p.m. George was fined one shilling. Here is George (#27):

My great-grandfather’s brother George was born in 1879 and lived in the old family house – the one his father George grew up in in Derrycashel, Roscommon before moving to Ballindoon, Sligo.

Wild Times in Augrafinegan on 12 May 1886

I get the impression that Catherine Frazer and Anne Jane McMaster were not getting along. The first column is the complainant, the second column is the defendant and the third column contains the witnesses. It appears that Anne Jane was charged:

Who are these people? Here is the charged Anne Jane Frazer (wife of James McMaster):

James McMaster died in 1874. Here is Anne Jane’s family:

That means that in 1886, Anne Jane was about 57. That means she low-balled her age in 1901 when she was probably 72. Under this scenario, Richard could have been her brother.

Who Were the Other Frazers in This Court Case?

We may never know why Anne Jane Frazer McMaster and Catherine Frazer were assaulting each other. But who was Catherine Frazer? We know that in 1886, she was living in Aughrafinegan:

Also, I would assume that Anne and Richard Frazer could also have been living there. One guess would be that Catherine Frazer was her mother. However, Anne Jane’s mother could have been around 77 years old at that time (if she was even alive then). It does seem from the record above that that Catherine was a widow. Another guess would be that Catherine and Anne the witness would have been daughters of Richard:

For some reason, animosity between mother and daughter seem more likely to me than between Aunt and niece. Perhaps someone else will come up with a different possible scenario.

Who Was James Hartley of Oldbrook?

My third great-grandfather was James Frazer of Derrycashel, so this entry interested me:

Acconrding to this research from the mid 20th century, Oldbrook is another name for Shanvoley (or Shanwilly).

This list has Oldbrook in County Leitrim. However, other references to Leitrim should be County Roscommon. I believe Oldbrook should be in Roscommon here also. Oldbrook or Shanvoley was not from from Derrycashel.

I notice that I have a document of transcriptions – I believe from a fellow Frazer researcher:

James Frazer Complainant April 19, 1867: Defendant [Thaddy Devauny of Fermoyle] allowed his three cows to trespass on the Complainant’s lands at Fermoyle on 14 April 1867. “To pay 1/6 costs to Court”

James Frazer of Derrycashel in 1867 owned one black sheep dog and one black and white sheep dog and paid the due fees for its license.

James Frazer of Oldbrook in the Parish of Kilbryan shopkeeper Complainant June 1868: Civil Bill: An action for the sum of 3..0 for that the defendant [Patrick Rorke from Cornacwita in the Parish of Boyle] is indebted to the said plaintiff in the said sum for shop goods sold and delivered in the year 1867. “decreed payment and 2/6 costs”

James Frazer of Ballymote labourer Complainant; Defendant Mark Connelly 27 July 1871; for following Complainant into Catherine Dockry’s house and assaulting him there on 17 July 1871 at Ballymote. “No A”. Same complaint against Margaret Connelly of Barrymote married woman; Mary Morrison of Barrymote married woman. The same day Mary Frazer of Ballymote [widow]; Defendant: Mark Connelly for assaulting Complainant and making use of scandalous and abusive language towards her at Ballymote on 17 July 1871. “No Ap”. Same day James Frazer of Ballymote Defendant – assault of Complainant [Mary Morrison] on 17 July 1871. “No Ap”

James Frazer of Ballymote letter carrier Complainant 22 June 1876; the Defendant John Cawley assaulted and violently threatened the Complainant and challenging him to fight on the night on 15th inst at Ballymote. “No appearance.”

James Frazer of Ballymote Defendant: Defendant did unlawfully and violently assault the Complainant [his wife Marion Margaret Frazer] at Ballymote, Sligo on 3rd July 1888. Knocked her down abused and blackened and injured her and did so abuse and beat. Kick, knock down and injure and did endeavour to take her life within the last two months several times. Complainant claims protection. “No app”

James Frazer of Derrycashel owned a black & white sheep dog March 1875 and paid the required fee.

In March 1878 he had a black spaniel.

James Frazer Complainant: the defendant [Thomas Coyer] on 22 June 1878 at Athlone Roscommon did leave his horse and cart on the public street without anyone in charge of the same. ‘Fine 5/- costs 1/-“

James Frazer Complainant 14th June 1875; that the defendant [Michael Higgins of Kilmactranny] did refuse to pay the sum of 17/- for a pig sold and delivered purchased on 3rd January 1875 at the Boyle fair the property of the Complainant. “No appearance”.

Here is Shanvoley. It is to the SE of Derrycashel:

Archibald of Shanwilly (aka Shanvoley) had a son named James Parker but he moved to Australia before this time:

Here is another case from 1875 involving James Frazer of Oldbrook:

When I Google Oldbrook, Roscommon, I see this MyHeritage record:

This George Robert Frazer was said to have a father named William James Frazer from Oldbrook. Was this William James the shopkeeper?

Here is another possibility from the tree of fellow Frazer researcher Joanna:

If this is the right James Frazer, he would have been a shopkeeper at age 21 in 1868. This must be the same family in Edgbaston, Warwickshire in 1811:

John W and Margaret would have been the children of Archibald Frazer. Archibald was the son of Alexander and the Mary Frazer of the above Census (though Alexander had died before this Census). Archibald Frazer is the one who lived in Shanvoley or Oldbrook and moved to Drumatybonniff Farm in the Parish of Tumna, County Roscommon (see below).

While I’m At Old Brook

Here is an early case:

This is no doubt, the same Alexander:

My guess is that this person was renting property from Alexander and deserted his wife. That meant that she had to end up in the work house. Of course, Alexander would have lost the rent of his property by this man deserting his wife. These were very difficult times.

Apparently, there was a different James Hartley from Ballymote:

I hope he was not related as he was a wife beater. His wife had the same name as my grandmother’s maiden name, though my grandmother was born in the US in 1894.

Other Mentions of James Frazer, My Third Great-grandfather

There are two other mentions of James Frazer in Derrycashel. He was supposed to license his sheepdog, but he didn’t until he was caught. This suggests that James was raising sheep. My relative in Ireland said that the Frazers butchered some of their sheep to help feed the neighbors during the potato famine. This also suggests that he didn’t like to pay to license his dogs.

My guess is that James also raised Pigs as there was mention of him selling a pig to Michael Higgins of Kilmactranny at the Boyle Fair and not receiving payment.

When I put these together in a spreadsheet and sort by date, I get this short Frazer history over a period of 59 years:

These people were almost certainly all related and assuredly knew about these events as they also lived in fairly close proximity to each other.

John Frazer of Dereenargan

Here is a John Frazer from Derreenargan in 1890. I have written about a different John Frazer from Derreenargan here. The John Frazer I wrote about was living in Lockport, New York in 1870 and had a son, John Jr., who was born in New York

Here is Derreenargan in the heart of Frazer country, County Roscommon:

Here is the charge:

Here is the Complainant:

Based on other information these two were assaulting each other.

Is this the family in 1901?

The transcriber got the name as Frozier.

However this appears to be a different Derreenargan:

This John was born about 1856 in County Roscommon. I see that Frazer research MFA has a John born at Kilmactranny to Edward and Mary:

This was at Kilmactranny which is technically in Sligo. However, one may have lived in Roscommon and gotten baptized in Kilmactranny. Also, there was an Edward who was the son of John (circumstantial evidence).

Here is another John from nearby Shanvoley, but I don’t have any more information on him:

Edward Wynn Frazer

As I recall, there were two Edward Wynn Frazers. This always confuses me. This one lived in Derreenargan in 1862:

Notice this Edward from Derreenargan of Klbryan. The John above appears to be from Derreenargan of Ballyformoyle. Edward had a case against Michael Partlane for failure to pay rent:

I believe that Partlane was another name for McPartland. I have written quite a few blogs on this family. Who knew that Derreenargan was such a popular place in the day?

This is the Edward Wynn I have:

Here is the other Edward Wynn Frazer:

According to the Frazer tree of my researcher friend Joanna, this Edward Wynn’s daughter Kate Peyton Frazer was born in Derreenagan. That means that this court case would be for the Edward Wynn born in 1838 and he would have been about 24 years old at the time of this court case. The Edward Wynn pictured above is the second great grandfather of fellow Frazer researcher Kathy who lives in Massachusetts.

Here is a simplified tree of the Frazers based on YNDNA testing:

This tree goes back to about 1690. Edward Wynn Frazer from the photo is the brother of Thomas Henry Frazer on the right branch. James Frazer with the unlicensed dogs was born about 1804 and is on the left branch.

More on Edward Wynn Frazer

Here Patrick Gallagher claimed that Edward Wynn assaulted him:

This would have been about a month before his daughter Katherine Peyton Frazer was born. Here is some more background:

I appears that the Gallaghers were damaging and breaking Edward’s door with stones.

Edward Wynn brought Widow Jane Doyle to Court:

This is one tough dude. “Your chickens step on my property and we’re going to court.” I’m not sure how much damage chickens could do to “fattening grass”. Here is another complaint from Edward against Widow Doyle – apparently a neighbor:

In 1861, Edward Wynn was looking for rent from Bartley McKeon of Aughnasurn:

Here a shopkeeper is looking for money owed him from Edward Wynn:

Perhaps Edward couldn’t pay because people owed him money.

Edward M Frazer Aughnasurn

This Edward M Frazer was from Aughnasurn and was a Gentleman. He owed Jones Cuttle some money. This Edward appears not to be the same as Edward Wynn as he is not from Derreenargan.

Edward Frazer of Annagh died 8 March 1863, so that rules him out. This is leaving me stumped, unless this is the same as Edward Wynn Frazer. However, the Gentleman part and living in Aughnasurn seem to distinguish this person from Edward Wynn Frazer.

Archibald Frazer of Drumatybonniff Farm in 1876

There are a lot of Archibald Frazers, so perhaps this record will help sort things out.

However, finding these locations could be difficult. If John and Edward were under 14 years of age, that means that they would have been born 1862 or later. Here is one possibility by name but not by place:

More on Archibald Frazer

Here we see that this Archibald was from Tumna Parish. Here is a more standardized spelling:

From here, I can find them in the 1901 Census:

Archibald was born about 1840. He lived at the same place in 1866:

Thomas Malone who lived in the same Townland as Archibald was not doing his contracted work:

More problems in 1870 from Patrick Doran:

Edward Little was also listed as a compainant. I think that this is a hint that Archibald of Shanvoley was the same as this Archibald. Of course Frances would be Frances Little and Edward Little a likely relative of Frances. I assume that Mary Doran listed as the Defendant below was Patrick Doran’s wife:

There was a lot of assaulting going on in County Roscommon 150 years ago. She was not happy with Archibald. Mary Doran, married woman, charged that she was assaulted by Archibald Frazer on the same day.

More Assaulting in 1879

Let’s check Archibald for bruises:

I believe Toomna would be the same as Tumna.

Here is Frances Little Frazer from Doug Vaugh’s Web page:

That means that between at least 1866 and 1901, this couple lived at Drimitybonniff (or some variation of spelling). Here is Tumna:

Here is Drumatybonniff:

Here is another mention of Archibald Frazer in Oldbrook in 1862:

Said Archiald of Aughrafinegan to Archibald of Oldbrook, “Just put it on my tab”.

Here is my spreadsheet sorted by date:

Alexander, who was Archibald’s father was 53 in 1859. He could have passed away early in the 1860’s. Archibald marries in 1861 and becomes a shopkeeper in Oldbrook. Around 1868, the Archibald Frazer family moves from Oldbrook to Drimatybonniff where Archibald apparently farms the land. He is there for at least 32 years as he is there with his wife in 1901.

Archibald Frazer Junior of Aughrafinegan

This junior Archibald owed Archibald of Oldbrook money. Here junior does not imply that he was the son of Archibald, but just a younger Archibald. As Archibald the shopkeeper was only 24, we are looking for a younger Archibald in Aughrafinegan. Here is a guess for Archibald Junior:

If my guess is right, then this Archibald would have to have been born after 1838 and would have had to have left Ireland after 1862.

Summary and Conclusions

It’s time to bring this Blog to a close as it is becoming unwieldy.

It is important in Court cases to properly identify people. As such, detail is given to where these people lived to distinguish them from other people with the same names. This can be helpful in sorting out who belonged to which family.
Many of these cases involved assaults. Money was in short supply and neighbors did not always get along well. Other cases involved owing money. My own ancestor James was guilty of not obtaining three dog licenses and went to court when someone didn’t pay him for his pig.
I probably learned the most about the Frazers of Shanvoley. Due to the number of Petty Session cases, it was possible to monitor what was going on in the lives of at least some of these families for about four generations.
I found out a little more about Kathy’s ancestor Edward Wynn Frazer. I was able to sort him (I think) from the other Edward Wynn Frazer. He was the only one I looked at from the James Frazer Line. He was in Derreenargan. I also looked at others in Derreenargan.
I looked at a John Frazer from Derreenargan. But this Derreenargan appears to be in Ballyformoyle and different from the one in Kibryan Parish. However, bother are in County Roscommon.
I started a spreadsheet of some of these cases noting the people and where they lived.
Times were difficult in Ireland. Looking at these Frazer lives through the lens of the Petty Sessions helps to keep us from romanticizing these times and lives. It seemed there may be a correlation between the number of Court cases and the families that moved out of Ireland. For example, I didn’t see my second great-granfather George Frazer listed in any case (yet) and part of that family is still in the Ballindoon area of County Sligo today.
I will likely be writing more on the Petty Sessions.

March 28, 2021May 8, 2021

More on Mayflower White YDNA

In my previous Blog on Mayflower White YDNA, I was surprised to find out that my friend’s YDNA test supported his direct descent from William White of the Mayflower. My friend always believed that he was descended from William White, but most recent genealogical scholarship seemed to put that into doubt due to an illegitimacy in his White line in early Plymouth Colony hisory. In this Blog I would like to see if I could find out any more about my friend’s Mayflower YDNA. He took the 37 STR test which is what I recommended. I had recommended that as it would have been enough to show that he didn’t match other Mayflower Whites. As it turned out, his test showed that he matched almost all Whites and one White who had a proven ancestry back to William White of the Mayflower.

Predicting the Mayflower White YDNA Haplogroup

The easiest way to predict the Mayflower White YDNA Haplogroup would be to join the R1b – All Subclades FTDNA YDNA Project and have them figure it out. I joined my friend to this group, but it is a large group, so difficult to figure out on my own where he would belong based on his limited test. My friend is R-M269 which is one of the most popular Haplogroups for Northwestern Europeans – sometimes referred to as Northern Atlantic Europeans. I joined my friend to the R1b – All Subclades Group, but it could be a while before his is put in a more specific Haplogroup. Here is the tip of the iceburg view for R1b:

M269 is near the top of this tree in the pink or red area. My own Hartley YDNA is somewhere on the bottom left in the green area under L21. I am also under L513 which has its own group and two page tree. When I say this is a large group, there are over 26,000 members. That means that to download the results takes a long time. The results go out to 111 STRs, so that means about 3 million bits of information.

One cut is whether my friend is L21 or U106, or actually P312 or U106. According to ISOGG:

Here is what my friend has for DYS390:

That looks like R-P312 so far.

Hmm, split decision.

CDYa is 37, so that favors U106. The difference between P312 and U106 is that P312 is believed to be an older YDNA from Great Britain and U102 would be from the Anglo Saxons who were originally from Germany. The name England comes from Anglo. While Britain refects the earlier P312 people. Here is a map showing where the Britons and Saxons were around the year 600:

Here is some more information:

Of the three markers, it appears that DYS390 is the most important and that would more likely put my White friend in R-P312.

YSEQ Predictor

I tried this predictor:

I downloaded the White YDN37 STRs and put them here and got these results:

This seems to be getting somewhere. My Mayflower White desendant friend is pretty sure to be R1b-DF49. The YSEQ site also has this map:

The good news is that there are fewer than 1,000 members in the DF49 FTDNA Haplogroup Project:

I was able to find DF49 on the ‘iceburg’ tree above. Here is a closeup of the L21 section of that tree:

My Hartley YDNA is under L513 in the bottom left. That is a pretty big group which has two pages of trees now. My White friend appears to be under DF49 which is under Z3+589. If this is right, that puts White under the older British people (vs the newer Anglo Saxons).

Dating Mayflower STRs

Dating these STRs is not a precise science. In the YSEQ map above DF49 is shown at 2500 BC. in the green tree above, its predecessor L21 is shown at 2300 BC, but that is in the ball park. The point is that the M269 which is what my Mayflower friend and his proven match show are actually DF49. That brings them from about 4500 BC to around 2500 BC:

That’s an improvement of about 2,000 years.

Here is some further branching for DF49:

Mayflower White is DF49 > M222?

Based on the YSEQ Haplogroup Predictor, Mayflower White is DF49. I found this at mayflowerdna.org:

From this aricle, a different predictor was used (the Nevgen.org R1b clade predictor). This Predictor came up with the M222 which is five SNPs under DF49. I don’t necessarily agree with the stated view above that the White family came from Ireland and Scotland. I don’t think that conclusion is supported by the YDNA testing. That article had this footnote which I could not find:

This article probably refers to the person at the Mayflower YDNA FTDNA Project who is listed as a proven Mayflower descendant.

M222

FTDNA also has an M222 Haplogroup Project:

This group is larger than its parent DF49. I like trees and the one they have at the M222 Project Page:

This brings us into Roman times (100 BC). However, there is some confusion on the dating. This branching is determined by BigY testing which has not been done yet for the Mayflower White families. Not all branches are created equal. There are six branches. The most popular is S658 on the right. This is good news as it brings the Mayflower Whites from 4500 BC to 100 BC, an improvement of about 4500 years. The tree above is also called a tip of the iceburg chart as not all the branches are shown.

M222 and STRs

The “About Us” Page for the FTDNA M222 Project says this:

THE MODAL STR VALUES THAT COLLECTIVELY INDICATE R-M222 STATUS

DYS390 = 25
DYS385b = 13
DYS392 = 14
DYS448 = 18
DYS449 = 30
DYS464 = 15-16-16-17
DYS456 = 17
DYS607 = 16
DYS413 = 21-23
DYS534 = 16
DYS481 = 25
DYS714 = 24

In some to most cases the first three STRs in the list above are adequate to establish possible membership in this group. If you have at least two of those three values and differ by only one at the mismatching marker, you may (though not certainly) a member of the R-M222 Haplogroup. A SNP test for the R-M222 marker could establish firmly. If you are uncertain about whether you belong to Haplogroup R-M222, please contact a project administrator for advice.

My friend Gary has:

DYS390 = 24
DYS385b = 13
DYS392 = 15

This is interesting because Gary has only one out of three of the STRs that are supposed to define M222. Further:

DYS448 = 18
DYS449 = 30
DYS464 = 16-16-16-17
DYS456 = 17
DYS607 = 15

I bolded the values where Gary matches what would be expected of someone with M222. The additional STRs must be in the 67 STR test.

I added this kit to the M222 FTDNA Project:

The administroators think that my friend is M222 but would like him to take the BigY test to be sure and place him in the appropriate subgroup.

The White Family FTDNA YDNA Project

I added Gary to this group:

Gary is on the bottom line. He has no colored results which means he has no variations from the mode. This was discussed also in my previous Blog. The other confirmed Mayflower descendant has not joined the White Family FTDNA Project, so his results do not show there. Here is the caption for this small group of Whites:

It appears that these two other White testers with roots in Vermont may also go back to William White of the Mayflower.

Summary and Conclusions

Based on the YSEQ Haplogroup Predictor, my Mayflower White descendant is in the Haplogroup of DF49
This group is about 4500 years old and represents the older Britannic inhabitants of the present-day United Kingdom
I found one web site which linked the William White Line to M222 which is the largest group under DF49.
Based on my friend’s close STR match with a proven William White Mayflower descendant, that proven descendant must also be M222.
If these two were to do additional YDNA testing – especially the BigY 700 test, they would likely get their YDNA Haplogroup into the genealogical timeframe.

March 16, 2021March 18, 2021

Checking the New Online Mayflower Descendants Database for My Mayflower Ancestors

In at least one of my previous Blogs, I have looked at the Mayflower Database that Familysearch has. These previous Blogs mostly have to do with my Mayflower Descendants Application through William White.

William White

My previous look at William White in the Mayflower database brought me down to my father’s Aunt Annie Louisa Hartley:

That lead me to believe that one of their offspring had applied for the Mayflower Descendants. It also lead me to believe that they had applied under William White, because the Mayflower database lead down to them from William White. I don’t know if I assumed correctly. My thought today was to check on my other Mayflower ancestors and to see where their descencants lead.

Governor William Bradford

This ancestor is one of great interest to me. He was an ancestor of Hannah Thomas Bradford and Harvey Bradfor above. The reason I didn’t apply for membership under Bradford was that the trail back from Harvey Bradford and records were not as available. Here are Harvey’s Bradford ancestors based on my Ancestry Tree:

Governor Bradford was Harvey’s 4th great-grandfather. Here is the Mayflower database:

I don’t have all the children of the William Bradford in the arrow showing below:

However, I follow down from Josiah to Samuel Bradford. From there I get back to Hartley and Snell:

James Hartley and Annie Louisa Snell were my great-grandparents. That gets back to the same couple I had descending from William White:

I don’t know if that means that someone in the Gurney family applied under Bradford as well as White or that the Mayflower Society makes their own connections. I assume that it is the former. Apparently my more distant Snell relative applied for the Mayflower Society under William Bradford:

Actually, when I take the family down from William White through Harvey Bradford, I get the same image as above, so the database is likely showing all those who applied and who descend from Harvey Bradford.

Elder William Brewster

I descend from Brewster two different ways. The first way gets me back to Bradford fairly quickly. The second takes a longer route:

Here I started with Love Brewster, the son of William Brewster on the right side of the image above. That route only goes through one Bradford – Sarah.

Interestingly, the Mayflower database has a dead end at Rebecca Bartlett:

It also has her born a different date and married to a different person than I have in my tree. So perhaps my tree is wrong.

Checking My Tree

I’ll start with Churchill and Barnes and go back:

Page 182 of the silver Mayflower Families on Bradford has Hannah Barns born 1717 married to Stephen Churchill born also 1717. So far so good. Page 50 of the same book has Sarah Bradford born about 1686 married to Jonathan Barnes born 1684. At this Point it would make sense to switch to the silver Mayflower Book on Brewster. Page 354 has Sarah Bradford born before 18 December 1686 and married to Jonathan Barnes.

Reading up more on Rebecca Barlett on Page 348 of the silver Mayflower Brewster Book, I see that Rebecaa Bartlett married first William Bradford, second Robert Stanford and third Caleb Samson.

When I click on Rebecca Bartlett in the Mayflower database, I get this:

This shows her three marriages, but the database tree shows a dead end at Rebecca Bartlett. I am not sure how to interpret this. I assume that no one has applied for membership to the Mayflower Society based on Brewster through descendants of Rebecca Bartlett. However, I am glad to know that my tree is correct. Or, this may be a glitch in the Mayflower database.

When I click on the hyperlink for Husband William Bradford above, I get this:

This shows a disconnect from my tree. I have that in the first column, there should be a Lucy Chuchill born 1767. She should be at the top of the list in the first column. Again, I don’t know how to interpret the database. When I choose Harvey Bradford in the Mayflower database, I draw another blank at the point of Lucy Churchill:

This again makes me think that no one has applied to the Mayflower Society by this route of Brewster to Lucy Churchill. That being the case, the Society had no reason to check into the parentage of Lucy Churchill.

Francis Cooke

As far as I know, I only descend from Francis Cooke in one way. My Hathaway ancestors have a Cooke as their ancestor. Like my Mayflower White ancestry, my Cooke ancestry is through Harvey Bradford’s wife, Wealthy Hathaway:

Francis is the father of John Cooke. I’ll show this in two parts;

Here is the early part of the Mayflower Database version:

I descend from the John Hathaway at the top left. I have an early dead end on the Cooke Line also. The Mayflower Database appears to stop at my ancestor John Hathaway born 1653:

The Mayflower Database shows 11 of John Hathaway’s children by his first wife (not all shown above). The silver Cooke Mayflower book shows that John had 16 children including Arthur Hathaway born in 1690.

Looking at Hathaway in the Mayflower Database from the Bottom Up

Here I am drawing a blank with Joseph Hathaway. Again, my assumption is that no one below the Wealthy Hathawy level has applied to the Mayflower Descendants on the Cooke Line. This view also shows the missing parents of Lucy Churchill that I mentioned above.

Richard Warren

Unlike Francis Cooke, I descend from Richard Warren on about 5 different lines in three different generations. That means that means that depending on the Line, Richard Warren could be 11, 12 or 13 generations away from me.

My most unique Warren Line (that is, with the least other Mayflower ancestors) would be through Joseph Warren. That is the Line where I am only 11 generations from Richard Warren. On my Ancestry tree:

Here is the early part of my tree:

From the Mayflower Database:

Here are two more generations:

Then from Josiah Bradford, we get down to Harvey Bradford:

One interesting thing here is that there are three Bradford lines that carry down: Stephen Churchill, Ellen and Harvey Bradford. I assume these three lines have members in the Mayflower Society. However, when there are mulitple lines of descent, I’m not sure on which lines the descendants got their approval to join the Mayflower Descendants.

My Wife’s Cousin Pat and the Richard Warren Line

I found out that my wife’s 1st cousin is applying to the Mayflower Society under the Richard Warren Line. This is on her paternal side where she is not related to my wife. I came up with this chart to see how I was related to Pat:

I am a 12th cousin, three times an 11th cousin once removed and a 10th cousin twice removed to Pat. Let’s see where Pat’s line is on the Mayflower Database:

For some reason, the database has John Churchill which is not correct. The silver Mayflower Book has John Church. Apparently, this family moved to Little Compton, Rhode Island. After that, Pat’s line goes to Edward and Hannah Church:

Apparently a descendant of Esther Church is in the Mayflower Society, but not other descendants of Hannah as the line appears to stop here for Pat.

One More of My Richard Warren Lines

Now that I have charted my Warren Lines, I want to also check my first one:

This line does not appear to have other obvious Mayflower descendants in it. Actually, just Sarah Bradford.

Here the Database deviates from my tree. This is for the same reason as above where Rebecca Bartlett has multiple husbands. I can choose Rebecca Bartlett and get more information:

The is the same place I got stuck under Brewster above, and the results are the same. Interesting.

Summary and Conclusions

It was fun playing around with the Mayflower Database at FamilySearch
Where I ran into dead ends, it made me think that there has been no one from that line who has applied for acceptance to the Mayflower Descendants
One exception is where a person has more than one spouse. Then clicking on the correct spouse may continue that line
Many Mayflower descendants married other Mayflower descendants, so there are a lot of crossovers in the genealogies. That means if the database shows your line descends from a particular Mayflower passenger, that doesn’t necessarily mean that some applied for membership based on that passenger, it may be from a different passenger in the line.
It helped for me to chart out my five Richard Warren Lines. My wife’s cousin was curious as to how we are related.

March 5, 2021

New YDNA Results Seem to Conflict with Mayflower White Genealogy

In my previous Blog on the subject, I wrote about my application to the Mayflower Descendants and problems my friend Gary was having with his application. The problem that Gary was having was that the latest genealogical research showed that his ancestor Martha Doty had a child before the couple married. This was assumed to be John White (junior). That brought into question Gary’s unbroken line to William White of the Mayflower.

Gary’s YDNA

As a result, I suggested that Gary take a YDNA test. He took the 37 STR test, because that would have been enough to confirm the latest genealogical research on the Mayflower White Line. It is much easier for YDNA to confirm that you are not related to someone than it is to tell that you are related. I was surprised by Gary’s results:

Of Gary’s 6 matches, 5 of them had the White surname and one showed proven descent from Wiliam White, Mayflower Passenger. I asked Gary to get in touch with the match with the proven Mayflower descent. Gary did and this is the connection:

This shows that Gary is an 8th cousin twice removed to his YDNA match with proven descent from William White. This also shows that Gary must descend from Wiliam White. That is because Gary’s weak connection was the second John after Samuel White. If Gary’s YDNA match descended from this second John, then it could be that they were both from an illegitimate John. However, this suggests that John Sr fathered John Jr and perhaps later married Martha Doty.

Gary’s TIP Report with Mayflower White Descendant YDNA Match

This TIP Report at FTDNA takes into account the various results of the STR testing. These STRs can mutate on a relative basis very slowly or quickly. The differences can be off by a factor of about 1,000, so it is very important to take this information into consideration:

Here are the results. On the proven Mayflower Line, there are 9 generations to Resolved White. Gary has 11 generations going back to Resolved, his YDNA match’s common ancestor with Gary. From the above chart, that should be between about 92% and 96% accurate.

Looking at the Individual STRs

Here are the STR results at the Mayflower FTDNA YDNA Project page:

Gary’s results are not yet posted there. The reader will have to click on the image to be able to see the numbers. What are we looking at? There are four testers. The most important one is the first who is Gary’s YDNA match with proven connection to William White. The first two testers did a 67 STR test. The second two took at 37 STR test, so I did not continue further than the 37 STR results. The first three rows after the yellow row give the minimum, maximum and mode of the STR values. The Mode is most important as that is generally assumed to be the oldest result. The thinkng is that the mutations are newer and those shared by the most testers are the ancestral results.

The last line is a bit confusing as this is for a Donovan and the results do not match well at all. The colored numbers on the chart are variations from the Mode. I would have left Donovan off the list.

Here is more of a close-up:

Again, the third row is the Mode and I’d like to ignore the last row for Donovan. The proven William White descendant differs from the mode with his first blue 29. He differs also in the compound result of 38-38. This is a fast moving STR. This is sometimes even not used as it is a bit errratic. I’m not sure how the Mode was determined in this case either. What is missing is the heading for these columns:

The reddish STRs are the faster moving STRs. That is taken into account by the TIP Report discussed above. If Gary was part of this Project, it would be easy to compare his results.

Comparing Gary’s YDNA to the Mayflower YDNA Results

Here are Gary’s YDNA 37 STR Results:

We know that Gary differs from Mayflower Descendant by two STRs, but how does he differ from the White Mode? The White Mode can be thought of as the STR signature that William or Resolved White may have had.

Here is the close-up view again:

Gary had 30 in the first column for the STR named DYS449. Here Gary has the same ancestral STR where the other Resolved White descendant had a mutation to 29. That would account for one of Gary’s differences to the proven Mayflower descendant. At the CDY STR, Gary had a value of 37-38. This likely was the second difference to his Mayflower descendant YDNA match. I would have chosen 37-38 for the mode in this case. That would make Gary ancestral for this STR also.

Comparing Gary’s YDNA Results to the Mayflower White Mode

Here is an interesting and fun fact:

Gary matches the mode at every point. Here are the other STRs:

The only place Gary doesn’t match, which is at CDY. I don’t agree with the Mode. In addition, if Gary’s results were added, 37-38 would become the Mode as Gary would tip the scales. The Mode is the value occuring most and Gary would make the 37-38 the only repeat value for the Mayflower match testers for CDY.

Anything Else? A STR Tree

There are three Whites in the Mayflower Project. We can call them White1 (proven), White2 and White3. White3 has the same 37 STR signature as Gary. He is also the other White who only did the 37 STR test. You would think that could mean that White3 is more closely related to Gary than the others. However, STRs are a bit fickle, so it is difficult to know for sure. It would be interesting to know all these White genealogies with YDNA matches to Gary.

If I put the STR results for the four Whites, this is what I get:

The tree is accurate as far as the STR values go, but as we don’t know the genealogy for White2 and White3, it is a bit confusing. This shows that Gary and White3 probably have the ancestral STR signature for William White (and/or Resolved White). White2 has one STR difference from Gary and White3. The proven William White descendant White1 has a 2 STR difference (also called a GD of 2) from what appears to be the Mayflower White signature.

Further Analysis

Gary’s YDNA match brings up an interesting point. There is DNA and there is genealogy. They should be working together, but what happens when they disagree or appear to disagree? Some sort of reconciliation is needed. In Gary’s case, the YDNA match to a known William White Mayflower descendant appears to make Gary a William White descendant also. The reconcilliation could be that John White Senior had child John White Junior with Martha Doty prior to their marriage and that John Senior was the unnamed father. However, that does not explain the fact that John White Jr was left out of his father’s will.

The saying is that DNA does not lie. This is true, but there are different levels of DNA testing and differing interpretations. The best test is the BigY 700 test. If enough people take this test who are related, an accurate YDNA tree can be made. This tree reflects the testers’ genealogy. This test looks for SNPs which are more predictable than STRs. If the proven White descendant and Gary were to take this test, there would be better proof of the common William White descent. However, at the level of testing that has been done, it seems like there is a very good indication that Gary and the proven William White descendant have the common ancestor of Resolved White as shown above.

Gary has submitted his initial application in to the Mayflower Society. Hopefully that will tell him if his genealogy is OK for an application. If they say the genealogy is not good based on more recent research, I would say that we have a case to overturn or modify the recent research with the DNA results.

Summary and Conclusions

Gary’s proposed application to the Mayflower Society was fraught with peril due to the Mayflower Silver Book and other sources claiming that his ancestor John White was illegitimate.
I proposed a YDNA test for Gary at the 37 STR level to give evidence as to whether or not he really did descend from William White of the Mayflower.
The test came back showing that Gary matched 5 out of 6 people with White surnames. The 6th match which was the most distant one was not a match.
Gary contacted his YDNA match who had proven ancestry to William White of the Mayflower. The common ancestor between Gary and his match was with William’s son Resolved born in 1615.
Gary and I ran TIP Reports which showed that a common ancestor between Gary and his proven William White ancestor was over 90% likely.
It is unclear whether or not the Mayflower Society would entertain an application from Gary based on the genealogy alone. Gary has a Mayflower Lineage Match request submitted that hopefully will answer that question.
Based on Gary’s YDNA testing, he has an excellent case to show that John White Jr was indeed the son of John White Sr.

February 10, 2021

More Newspaper Entries for My Wife’s Family

In my previous Blog on my wife’s family in the Newspapers, I looked at some of the members of her Upshall, Butler and Ellis ancestors. In this Blog, I’ll start with Edward Henry Butler (born 1904) and Estelle LeFevre (born 1905):