DNA Monday: Where Are the Cousins?

Generally, I'm having a blast with my DNA results from 23andMe because it's so fascinating. The thing that's been my obsession is trying to figure out what's the very best way to discover a cousin match from the test results. And now I can report that I have tested out a better way to proceed. Let me explain.

You need to know that I have only tested with 23andMe and I am stumbling my way through this uncharted wilderness without much of a map. The seminar a week ago with Ce Ce Moore has shed ample light on the scientific aspects of this work so that's to the good. She did mention, if I remember correctly, that AncestryDNA uses the Ancestry Member Trees and gives you a head start showing the section of your tree and the cousin match's tree that seem similar. That would be a big help! A clue, any clue, is a big deal!

My problem over here is that the cousin match folks, while mostly enthusiastic about working together to discover a connection, really do lose energy when looking at Mom's Big Tree on Ancestry with over 60,000 people! Where to start?

Alternately, of the folks who replied and are in contact with me and willing to discover where we match, few have trees on line. The one experience I had with a cousin match who did have a large tree on Ancestry gave me an insight into how difficult it is looking at someone else's tree and try to find that elusive ancestor with whom we share a bit of DNA. It's a pain!

So as mentioned here previously, my job is to provide them with a list of surnames going back maybe a half-dozen generations with the locations associated with each surname. This idea came from Ce Ce Moore at the seminar and it was a super good one! This last week I reached out to those cousin matches again and mentioned the list I was working on to get a reaction from them. All of them responded warmly! They would be happy to have a list of surnames and where each lived. One even replied with the longest message I'd received from him yet with even more of his surnames and locations. Cool! Am starting to see that you need enthusiastic cousins to work this problem because it is work.

I have to say that checking in with the prospective cousin match folks first before I went off to work on that surname and location list was a better idea... granted, any other person would have thought of a while back;)

Photos of the Ladies Aide Society (above)

and Children's Choir (below)

of the Congregational Church, Frostburg, Maryland.

Circa 1930s.

 

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/dna-monday-where-are-cousins.html

Surname Saturday: The James Family From Wales

Here's the next post in the series, Surname Saturday, the blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers. We're into the 5th generation and my 2nd great grandmothers. This is fun, and it's perfect cousin bait;) Plus, I get to see the dead ends and holes in research and logic, then make research notes about both. I'll get there, eventually!


1. Diane Kelly Weintraub

2. Francis Patrick Kelly (1916 - 2007)
3. Virginia Williams, living and loving it!

6. Cambria Williams (1897 - 1960)
7. Emma Susan Whetstone (1897 - 1956)

12. Daniel Williams (1852 - 1920)
13. Jane Price (1862 - 1939)

24. Thomas Williams (about 1815 - 1868?)
25. Jane James (20 July 1815 - ????)
Both Thomas and Jane were born in Strata Florida, Cardigsnshire, Wales. Thomas was a collier or coal miner as were a number of his sons. It is presumed that Thomas died about 1868, possibly in Lampiter, Cardiganshire, Wales. The death record is inconclusive as to confirming identity.
Jane is found in the 1870 Wales Census in Llangattock, Breckenshire, Wales. Interestingly, she's living next to a woman, a widow, by the name of Dianah James, a green grocer.
We have that mystery photo of Jane James Williams with her adult children taken by a photographer in Troy, New York... however, neither Mom nor Aunt Betty or silly me have been able to find a lick of a track of them in New York state! That's our brick wall.
They had 7 children:

Elizabeth Williams (24 Oct 1841 - ????)

David Williams (22 May 1844 - ????)

Jane Williams (4 Oct 1846 - ????)
Thomas Williams (25 Mar 1851- ????)
Daniel Williams (1852 - 1920)
John Williams (Nov 1853 - ????)
William Williams (23 Jan 1865 - ????)

50. Daniel James (30 Dec 1792 - 14 Aug 1881)
51. Elizabeth Williams (1788 - Mar 1877)
This couple were both born in Cardiganshire, Wales, he in Strata Florida. We don't know specifically where she was born but they were married on 25 Nov 1814 in Strata Florida, Cardiganshire, Wales at the Strata Florida Chapel. Specifically, Daniel died in Allt Du, Parish of Caron Uwch Clawdd, Cardiganshire, Wales. Mom went to Wales and tracked down some of this information but she didn't have near enough time. She even had a nice volunteer researcher meet her at the National Archive but the flight left the next day! Guess I'll have to go some day:)
They had the following children:
25. Jane James (20 July 1815 - ????)
Elizabeth James (2 Nov 1819 - ????)
Ann James (25 Sept 1820 - ????)
David James (10 Mar 1821 - ????)
Daniel James (19 Oct 1827 - ????)
Mary James (2 Dec 1832 - ????)

100. John James (dates unknown)
101. Margaret LNU (born about 1761 - ????)
Sorry, don't know Margaret's last name so using the convention of LNU, or Last Name Unknown.  Because Daniel James was born in Strata Florida, Cardiganshire, Wales, it can be assumed that they lived there at one point, and that will be my starting point for future research.
They had at least one child:
50. Daniel James (30 Dec 1792 - 14 Aug 1881)

Well, that runs out unceremoniously, doesn't it? Too bad for Mom and me.

WANTED!

Information leading to the location of Jane James Williams from Wales!



Here she is in a photo taken in Troy NY, date unknown, with all of her children except one.

And here's a close-up.

Born 20 July 1815.

 

I dunno, maybe if I try this as a Wanted poster, I might get somewhere locating her in the States...? Should a reward be offered??

 

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/surname-saturday-james-family-from-wales.html

The Creative Process: Can I Afford My Hobby?

 

This series is about the cross-over skills and concepts between creating art and doing genealogy. Admittedly, it's all very blue-sky.

When I was teaching studio art at the local college back a ways, a goodly number of students were taking advanced drawing for personal enjoyment and were what we might call "older learners" who came joyfully to this adventure after working a lifetime. They had earned it and now were fulfilling a dream to make art. Some had nurtured a fantasy of painting their way through retirement making and selling art. A lovely dream.

One of the shocking things that hit them when they took the first art class was that making art costs money, a lot of money and there were many who forgot all about it after getting the supplies list on the first day of class and joined a book club instead. It often seemed to me that everyone was making money on making art except the artists.

Having been at one time a fool for art, I decided not to travel down that same road for genealogy. I set a strict budget for monthly expenses and try to stick to it. When it's gone, I wait until next month. No telling myself, I need that, as an excuse to splurge. My subscriptions are a big chunk out of the budget and if I don't use one for a week or so, I sit here wondering if I need it or not. Oh sure, I could wing it and just spend freely, but knowing myself as I do, I like that feeling of being in control of the money I throw at finding solutions to brick wall problems.

In the classroom I always felt bad for the students who couldn't spend a great amount of money on art supplies. A lucky affluent few bought anything they wanted and always came to class with too much stuff carrying every imaginable art supply. But you know what, it didn't make them better artists than the rest. As a matter of fact those who did more with fewer supplies and really knew how to use them were the artists who succeeded and impressed the rest of us. I wonder if that's true in genealogy?

It seems in this realm of hunting down your ancestors no one hardly ever talks about how expensive it can be, and how exclusionary that can be, separating out those who can't afford some subscriptions, books, or tools from those who can. It's all about access isn't it? Equal access. That's one thing that I especially like and respect about Family Search. It's free to all. And so was the live stream of RootsTech sessions. We all like that, don't we? Count my vote in the column that believes that the more people out there doing genealogy the better and healthier will be the community in general. But that's just me:) How about you?


Nutshell analysis and the obvious take-aways:
* It's about equal access that doesn't depend on ability to pay and that's more inclusive.
* If you have access, can you share what you have with others? Sponsor a local library's access to a paid web site? Donate a subscription to a raffle? Oh, come on, you'll think of something:)


On Fridays if I make a new post in the Creative Process series, I'll also post a painting of mine... just in case you don't care for the post, you might enjoy looking at the painting instead:)

"Pacific Waves"

24 by 30 inches, oil on canvas

Diane K. Weintraub

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-creative-process-can-i-afford-my.html

Treasure Chest Thursday: Look What's Here!!

I opened my Olde Treasure Chest and what popped out? Mom!! She's my greatest treasure, in the genealogy sphere and otherwise! So today's post is about her and her love of genealogy since the early 1970s, the stories, and the ancestors... which she has shared with me. Lucky girl am I! So here are some select items from the Olde Treasure Chest, chosen especially for you on this occasion celebrating Mom.

Cute photo, isn't it? That's Mom on the right and her sister, Dot, on the left. Mom has a bunch of photo binders with old family photos and stacks of photos of us kids and our family. She and I never met an old photo we didn't like! I'm really glad Mom kept them all... and super glad that she wrote what she knows about each photo on the back. When I copied them over for my digital files I made sure to keep them in perfect order and get an image of the front as well as the back with Mom's notations. There are, amazingly, only a handful for which she doesn't know who the people are.

 

 

Here's Mom sitting on the front porch of the Kelly house on Main Street in Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland. It was 1938 and she and Dad were probably talking about getting married which they did the next year. See how happy she looks!

Mom is great with people. That's why she has so many long-time genealogy friends who were so willing to work with her to find what all could about shared ancestors. They pooled any and all with her as she does with them. It continues today as a new list of people seek her out for advice and information on finding their ancestors. Mom has a reputation as someone you can go to to ask any and all questions. She just looks like someone who'd be happy to help you, doesn't she? And she is.

She always went out to local meetings too and knows everyone in the area, and that is especially good because our ancestors have been in Western Maryland for a couple of generations.

 



 

There's Mom and Dad in 1942. Mom won't tell you this, but I think she likes finding her ancestors about 10% more than she likes finding Dad's! Shh, our secret;) But she remembers them all equally well and is happy to have any information about any ancestors. The more the better! Last year we decided that it was time to put her Big Tree with over 60,000 people on it on Ancestry.com. I called it Virginia Kelly's Big Tree:) It opened the door to even more contact with people looking for their ancestors, as well as people who caught a random and rare goof-up on a date or place.

 



 

 

Here's Mom just a couple of years ago. She'll be 95 in July and is sharp as a tack and has relatively few complaints. Shouldn't we recommend genealogy for longevity? I think so and so does she. But it should be a balanced approach between sitting for days on end exercising the mind as well as getting out walking those cemeteries and exercising the body.

 

A young genealogist called Mom two weeks ago inquiring about a relative and Mom asked her what computer programs she was using. The woman told her that she wasn't using a family tree program because she was afraid she's lose her work, Mom scoffed and said that's why you back it all up! I talked to the woman later who was still having a good laugh at the unusualness of a 94 year old woman giving her computer advice!

 

And Mom makes genealogy fun and exciting! Just this morning I was talking to her and she said something about the House Heirs Association and the big lawsuit over a land deal gone bad. I hadn't heard anything about this!! Mom's done so much research on all of our lines, no wonder she's always coming up with something new for me. Here's what one web site, no longer online, had to say about the House Heirs Association. Now doesn't this sound delicious? Can't wait to start working on this!

 

Welcome to a website I created to provided information on the House Heirs Association of years 1889 to 1923. The House Heirs at that time felt a real injustice had occurred on their ancestors, Andrew V House and his son John Valentine House, when the United States Government failed to make payment on a 99 year lease for a large estate located in State of Maryland. The organization held several meetings around the eastern and mid-west states, appointed several investigation committees and asked all House Heirs to submit their family ancestry lists, if they felt they were related to John Valentine House. Many House families of the time submitted letters, some up to six pages in length, when making their claim. The letters will be listed as found in the files, and I hope no one is upset if a House relative talks about their family. They all meant good and saw a real opportunity to have a better life, as most had experienced a difficult time around the turn of the century.

 

Mom has documents from one of those House Heirs Association meetings about 1900 or 1910 held in Ohio and you just know I'll be all over them when I go see her next! "Oh, yeah. That's in my file," she said nonchalantly.

 

Mom: I want to be her when I grow up!

 

 

Treasure Chest Thursday is a blogging prompt of GeneaBloggers.

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/treasure-chest-thursday-look-whats-here.html

 

Wisdom Wednesday: My Changing World

It's Wednesday again so I'm using GeneaBlogger's blogging prompt called Wisdom Wednesdays and time is flying because I'm having fun! Hope you are too:) This week I'm struck by how fast my genea-world is changing. News flies in the window at every turn, DNA is my new toy, new-to-me cousins are teaming up to bust down brick walls (at least that's the plan), and I'm feeling like the 18-wheeler of information pulled up to my door and unloaded! That's a good thing:)

Right now, it's hard to stick to task as so much pops up and I need to respond to it. Seems like just when I get going on a project, get it organized and make a research plan, a juicy piece of new information about another family line falls in my lap and I need to turn my attention away from my plan to capture information that could be fleeting. That ever happen to you? I was working on the Biggerstaffs and whatta ya know, my Bridget Cocoran Kelly, my 2nd great grandmother, makes an appearance at the exact same time as I hear from a cousin who has information about my 3rd great grandfather Benjamin Thomas and possibly Benjamin's father who might be named Thomas Thomas. Where to turn first?
Feels like what I need is a two-pronged system in which I first save my latest thoughts on the present project, but move swiftly to capture what I can about the other lines. Multitasking, anyone?
Evernote is working for me on the long-term projects. However, I'm thinking that I might actually go back a couple of steps in the technology time line to ye olde spiral notebook that I can grab and go with for stuff that pops up. It's about solving problems with whatever works for each of us, isn't it?

I made a contribution to Ancestry.com by correcting/ updating an entry or three. Was having trouble finding my Whetstone ancestors in the 1850 census. Couldn't figure it out. They should be there, of that there was no discussion. But where had they hidden? Explored all the usual reasons some family might not be where they should, such as a move that year or being missed by the enumerator. Finally I just went "door to door" so to speak looking for them in the area where they should have been. Found them listed as Wheatstone. Now I don't know what it was about that search and the way it was processed but it wouldn't bring back my Whetstones no matter what I tried, and admittedly I was probably just not doing the magical combination of things the search gremlins wanted. But when I found them, I suggested the way it should be listed and they accepted the update and notified me. Cool, they notify you! That felt good.
The same thing happened to my Kelly people in the same census. They were listed as Kelley which I kinda guessed might happen. That got updated and accepted too and I got to feel good all over again.
But here's one I didn't know how to handle and maybe didn't do this correctly. My 3rd GGF, Benjamin Thomas came over on the Barque Tiberius. No discussion there at all. Well documented. Easy-peasy. Except I couldn't find it on Ancestry. Whaa? The other day I finally did find it but the ship's name was listed as the "Liberius" and not "Tiberius". I didn't know how to enter an update for a ship name, so I did it using the update mechanism for my 3rd GGF's name. If there's a better way please let me know! If this confounded me it's probably confounding other.

Geo-Grave, anyone? My good genea-pal, Shawn, mentioned that she puts the Find A Grave memorial numbers in her Family Tree Maker files! Cool idea! This good idea had not crossed my radar before, but it's brilliant and so I'm thinking that everyone but me must be doing it:)
Was also thinking about those really hard to find stones and how a hand-held GPSr (Global Positioning System reader) would be a great helper in knowing exactly where those markers are.
Over here in our house we're avid geocachers (adult hide-and-seek using million dollar satellites to find Tupperware in the woods.) We can see the opportunity to tie Find A Grave memorials into their GPS locations (and package it as a Geo-Grave system...?) My hand-held GPSr will make note of any location anywhere and it would be a breeze to add that notation to the Find A Grave listing, especially for difficult-to-find tombstones or family cemeteries off the beaten path, and we've all been to those. Most GPSr will give an audible beep when you're close to target as well as info on which direction you need to go to get there. It's very cool stuff!

Eckhart Cemetery, Eckhart Mines, Allegany, Maryland.

Could have used a Geo-Grave system there!!

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/wisdom-wednesday-my-changing-world.html

Tombstone Tuesday: Bridget is Found!

I'm not the kind of person to remain isolated for very long. Yes, it's true, I can sit quietly in a corner and think for quite a long time, or stick my nose in a book for an even longer period. Mom and I both like our alone time. But I love making connections too! Sometimes it just works out that a connection is made with a like-minded traveler and you start exchanging info and tree sections. And so it was recently.

Here's what I posted last Wednesday on my regular Wisdom Wednesday GeneaBloggers post:

Allegany County List Friends. I do like mailing lists for geographic areas! You can post idiosyncratic questions there and actually get answers. I recently posted a question asking when a manufacturing plant that my Dad worked at closed. Was surprised to find that it hadn't closed, it had just moved! Had no idea!
As with lists like this, eventually you start emailing back and forth sharing stuff and become friends. One of my friends there recently emailed a photo of a tombstone in St. Michael's Cemetery in Frostburg, Maryland. It's a beautiful old Irish Cross, and the name inscribed, which was just about the only thing that was readable, was John Kelly. Because this person knows I'm over here in the Kelly pile-o-ancestors, she relayed the photo to me... of my 2nd GGF's Irish Cross tombstone! I was able to supply all of the vital data that was worn off the stone so that correct info was now on FindAGrave.
But there's more!! Through her resources and contacts - wow, she's good and well connected - she was able to solve a long time mystery and that's where his wife, Bridget Cocoran Kelly is buried. Right there next to him!! Now we know where she lies and her date of death too. Next step: get a copy of the death certificate!

I was so blown away by what happened that I felt the need to write about it here again! What if I wasn't on that list and checking it all the time? She and I would never have started emailing back and forth. And what if I had left her emails sit in my inbox and not been sociable? What if I didn't tell her about this blog and post here about the Kellys a lot? And what if I didn't post this photo of the small-ish Irish cross tombstone for the final resting place of my 3rd great grand father, John P. Kelly (1829 - 1891)? Then it wouldn't have stuck in her mind so that she remembered and connected it up with my Kelly people. We might have eventually made the connection but I've got to think it would have taken a lot longer and perhaps even never happened.

I guess the most amazing and dumbfounding aspect of this is that she then contacted someone who looked at records and found that sweet Bridget Corcoran Kelly was resting right there beside strong John Patrick Kelly! (She's got to be "sweet" because she's a Bridget, and he's got to be "strong" because he probably worked on building the C&O Canal. Or is that just my imagination?) 

I couldn't wait to tell Mom. She's been looking for where Bridget Corcoran Kelly was buried for years. She's been right where she's supposed to be all the time! And last week I ordered Bridget's death certificate because I knew her death date. Got it yesterday!

Next time I'm visiting Mom we want to look all around the Irish cross stone searching for any trace of Bridget's marker. John died in 1891 and Bridget died in 1912 so it's quite possible that there is a small marker for her that has been covered over by dirt and grass. In this time and place, a satellite marker was often used for family that passed on later.

It's nice for me that I'm still not so jaded in the pursuit of genealogy (or life for that matter) such that I don't get all worked up by these events! Bet you can get all worked up too.

Top two photos: Marker for John Kelly (1829 - 1891) in St. Michael's Cemetery, Frostburg, Allegany County, Maryland.

The Historical site of Clonmacnoise near where John was born in Shannonbridge, Ireland.

 

This just in! Bridget's Death Certificate!

 

 



This post uses a GeneaBlogger's blogging prompt called Wisdom Wednesdays . Check them out!


The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/tombstone-tuesday-bridget-is-found.html

 

DNA Monday: Listening to the Expert

On Saturday I went to a seminar by Ce Ce Moore sponsored by the Chula Vista Genealogical Society here in southern California, and a big "Thanks" to them for doing this. It was fabulous. If you ever have the chance to see this delightful and ever so friendly and generous speaker, please do! She persevered through the end of the flu and a bothersome cough as well as technical difficulties, and did it with grace and aplomb. And I learned a lot. So here are some of my take-aways, in no particular order. Just know that if I wrote for a week about the information she shared, it would only be scratching the surface.

I liked the big picture that Ce Ce gave us along with the many detailed explanations of the how and why of DNA testing. The one really big picture statement that struck a deep chord was that my mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, has been handed down from mother to daughter over tens of thousands of years. I basically knew this, but given the occasion of the seminar, thought about it and could imagine that unbroken line of women handing me pieces of the puzzle of me. As Ce Ce said, this DNA is the tangible evidence of these ancestors living inside me. I like that!

I was particularly struck by how purposefully the Y-DNA of males and the mtDNA of females is handed down in a highly orderly manner and how that contrasts with the disorderly way the autosomal DNA - or atDNA - is just, at least to my eyes, gathered up like random laundry, thrown in a basket, and handed off to the younger generation. Nature has a sense of humor it seems, and each of us is a crazy quilt of autosomal DNA.

So nature must be having a hearty laugh at me trying to figure out which ancestor the various chunks of autosomal chromosomes came from, which is a mighty hard task, and I did not know that until this seminar. I just thought it was me not "getting it". The bulk of what we are is due to autosomal DNA so there's a lot to sort out. Sounds like a wildly random plan to me but then I'm over here trying to understand it and not over there trying to design an organic system with hybrid vigor where random changes in chromosomal segments work best.

The most illuminating aspect of Ce Ce's presentation for me and where I am in the learning curve is her advice on how to proceed once you get some DNA matches. I had wondered about a "best practices" way of going forward once you get matches and want to contact the other person. Ce Ce suggested sharing two items: surnames and locations. I did try to share the surnames but including the locations for each surname would add important depth to the process of finding the commonality. Because our American families are usually travelers, I'm willing to try a list that includes each surname followed by the locations where they moved and the order in which they did so.

Most importantly, Ce Ce encouraged us to be patient. She said that we might want to think of this as a very long-range project just now beginning. This whole area is young and just getting started. More matches are down the road a short ways, and many more after that. Think of this as the frontier. It's exciting and fun and perhaps some fine excellent day I'll actually find a cousin match out there and we'll look at our chromosomal segments and see that little chunk of orange on number two and know that we got it from the same ancestor oh so many years ago. Now that would be worth the effort!

Dad, Francis Patrick "Pat" Kelly (1916 - 2007)

Easter, 1941.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/dna-monday-listening-to-expert.html