DNA Monday: What Worked For Me

Bingo! Got a real live cousin match on 23andMe.com! And I feel good about this one because I can pin-point exactly where on the tree we connect. That's a first.

I've been working at GEDmatch and 23andMe.com looking for a cousin connection since, what, March? Yeah, it's been a while. A couple hundred emails later and we finally have a true cousin match. Listen, brothers and sisters, if you think that you'll swab a cheek or work up a lot of spit and send that sample off, then magically get a whole boat load of genealogy back, it just doesn't work that way, sad to say, or at least not for me. I kinda thought and hoped that it might, but no great big genealogy truck driven by a DNA cousin has pulled up and dumped a ton of stuff in my lap.

So here's what worked for me, and heavens knows if it was just a fluke or if it would work for others. I attended a Ce Ce Moore's seminar held at the Chula Vista Genealogical Society here in greater San Diego, and she spoke about triangulation and other sophisticated techniques, but I'm a simple person and just did it the best way I could think to do. Ce Ce Moore is wonderful and I do think that I've gotten this far because of her information:) Thanks, Ce Ce!

1.) On 23and Me.com as well as GEDmatch.com, I check back about once a week to see if new matches have popped up. At first I didn't have a feel for how long it took for new matches to show so I went from every five minutes to once in a blue moon. Once a week feels about right for me now, and since Monday is my day to work on DNA stuff, that's when I go check.

2.) The avalanche has started! As prices drop lots of new players are on the field! 23andMe.com has said that they are on target for reaching their goal of one million users by the end of the year. Impressive. And, I'm kinda shocked when I check into GEDmatch and find a couple hundred new people I match with.
You need a systematic way to cover this because a lot of them won't be matches that are close enough to bother with, at least not for me to bother with because I don't have that kind of time because of the laundry and all the rest getting in the way of me doing genealogy.

3.) There are two kinds of matches in my book: those with nice trees with a surname list and some locations and those who have a "mystery tree" or no tree at all. The really cool players are the ones - and you can spot them right away on 23andMe.com - who have a lot of surnames and locations. The other guys want you to supply a tree for them to pick over... and they never get back to you because they don't know what they are doing, bless their hearts. At least that's been my experience. Finally they say, I guess our match is just too far back. And it might be, but I'll never know because they have a mystery tree.

4) Go for the closest matches first, and for me that's less than fourth cousin on 23andMe.com, and the dozen closest matches on GEDmatch with the largest total number of autosomal segments. And while there, check out the green highlight on the kit number (in the left column) which indicates that the results are newer. I like GEDmatch's generations matrix because from that I have a clue as to how far back the match might be. I like it when it's four or less:) Whoop!

5.) Make contact and wait. You might hear back and you might now. I don't take it personally... anymore;)

Oh, yeah, about my match on 23andMe.com, Cousin Andrew. You know how I'd hoped that some DNA cousin match or other would show up and drive up the big genealogy truck with loads of info and drop it in my lap? Well not here and not with Andrew. He and his dad, still with us, don't know diddly about their ancestors. So ya know what? Mom, Aunt Betty, and I drove up the big genealogy truck and dumped it all right in his lap, charts, reports, photos and all! Genealogy good deed done for the week:) That felt great!!


From Aunt Betty's file:

Probably the wedding portrait of my great grandparents.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/06/dna-monday-what-worked-for-me.html

Sentimental Sunday: SNGF and something about my father

Randy Seaver over at the very popular and informative blog, Genea-Musings, sets out a challenge and this week it's all about our fathers and father-figures in his Saturday Night Genealogy Fun or SNGF. Here's what Randy wrote, and he likes red so I kept it:
2) What are three things about your father (or significant male ancestor) that you vividly remember about him?

My own Dad's been gone now since 2007 and there are still some bruised and tender spots around my edges but I thought that Randy's challenge was a good one that I could embrace without much difficulty. So here goes. Let me tell you a couple of things about my Dad, Francis Patrick Kelly (1916 - 2007), or "Pat" as everyone called him. What is it with the Irish using that middle name? As there were at least six Francis Patrick Kellys in the direct family line, guess they had to be practical about it, so one got to be Pat, and one got to be Frank, and so on!

1.) Dad's hands were burned when he was two years old. He was running in the house, tripped, and landed with his hands open flat on the side of the cast iron coal stove in the kitchen. His hands were burned badly and he went to the doctor, who kind of didn't know what he was doing (or had been drinking) and told Dad to close his hands and then he wrapped them up in bandages... closed. They healed stuck together and that skin later had to be cut apart. Yes, gross, I know. The stomach turns to think of it. It was horribly painful and Dad must have suffered tremendously.
The very amazing and incredible thing of it is that his grandmother Zeller, or Ma as they called her, lived with them and the very day before this happened she traced Dad's hands, both of them. (Never mind that Ma misspelled the Kelly surname to be Kelley... that was Ma all over.)

 

2.) Dad always made the best of a bad situation. Or at least that's how I look at it. Those bad hands kept him from serving in WWII so he took work in local factories working his way up to a management position. When the boys came back he was their inside guy who got them jobs. After the war Dad met a man from Ohio who owned a plastics plant and offered him a job running the operations end of it. Right place, right time.
Then later after a reversal, we all moved from Ohio back to little Frostburg where Mom and Dad came from. He had a plan, so Dad got into real estate. He sold homes and businesses to a lot of people, making a nice living from commissions. But the best thing he did was invest in apartment buildings. That insured a happy retirement for he and Mom.

Dad in the middle of an outing with Mom and friends just after the war.

Dad and Mom at a business event in the early 1960s.

3.) Dad laughed! A lot. He loved a good joke and especially a practical joke. There are so many stories about he and his brothers playing jokes on each other that I could post every day for years about it and not run out. This went on from the time three boys all shared a bed until they were grown men and should have known better. (What's the statute of limitations on drinking, driving a boat and chasing ducks? And can it rightly be called "duck hunting"?)
What's the point if you're not taking time to have fun and a good laugh?

Dad died at age 91 and he had always said that he thought 91 was a proper age to live to, so good to his word, that's how old he was when he died. He had dementia with Lowey bodies at the end and had hallucinations in which he'd call the police about various suspects in the yard. They know who he was and what was going on because Frostburg is a very small town and Mom had let them know. At times funny, it was hard on Mom. Yeah, it was a good life and we laughed a lot.


The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/06/sentimental-sunday-sngf-and-something.html

Surname Saturday: Back to Williams from Wales

We're back in the 3rd great grandmothers, having already covered the earlier grandmothers and a bunch of the grandfathers in previous posts using one of my favorite blogging prompts from GeneaBloggers called Surname Saturday! I like this one because I get to reacquaint myself with one part of the family tree and cover ground that's both familiar as well as unfamiliar. That's very useful. And last week I found another cousin! Yippee!

This week we turn our attention to another one of the families who had their roots deep in Wales, the Williams people, but possibly another line of this surname... or not.

This line might be related to the main branch of Williams ancestors because, as you'll see below, Jane James' mother was Elizabeth Williams before she married Daniel James. And her own Williams family lived right close to her husband, Thomas Williams' family in Cardiganshire, Wales. One can't help but connect the merry dots in ones head about that, even without proper documentation!

Let me say that we know what we do about the Williams family, and we're lucky to have that, only because Mom went to Wales years ago.
So in hopes of finding yet another cousin out there googling about the Williams and James lines, here's the line-up... and you'll notice that it looks remarkably similar to last weeks post because we're again talking about the Williams people, but this time without the Edwards family as a side dish:)

1. Diane Kelly Weintraub

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

6. Cambria "Camey" Williams (1897 - 1960)
7. Emma Susan Whetstone (1897 - 1956)
They had 5 children in all:
3. Virginia, that's Mom
Dorothy Williams Conrad (1920 - 2007)
Evelyn Williams (1921 - 1924)
Margaret Williams (1926 - 1926)
Cambria Williams Jr. (1925 - 1997)

12. Daniel Williams (1852 - 1920)
13. Jane Price (1862 - 1939)
Daniel was born in Strata Florida, Cardigsnshire, Wales. He worked as a collier or coal miner, as his father had, in Wales, immigrated, then moved to the George's Creek Coal Mine Field in Western Maryland, one of the richest veins of coal at the time. Jane was born in Mount Savage, Allegany County, Maryland, just over the hill from where Daniel worked, but her family came from Wales as well. Daniel was a supervisor at the mines and well respected and elected to the school board.
They had 8 children:
James Henry Williams 1882 - 1936)
William Williams (1884 - 1964)
Benjamin Williams (1896 - 1896)
Thomas Williams (1890 - 1951)
Dianna Williams (1892 - 1893)
Joseph Williams (1895 - 1948)
6. Cambria Williams (1897 - 1960), that's Mom's Dad
Charles Williams (1899 - 1979), that's Aunt Betty's Dad

24. Thomas Williams (about 1815 - 1868?)
25. Jane James (about 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.
From there on her life is a mystery. It is presumed that she immigrated and lived, possibly with a daughter or son, in Upstate New York... because we have that photo of her.
They had 7 children:
Elizabeth Williams (24 Oct 1841-?)

David Williams (22 May 1844-?)

Jane Williams (4 Oct 1846-?)
Thomas Williams (25 Mar 1851-?)
12. 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)
Both members of this lovely couple were born and died in Cardiganshire, Wales, mostly in and around Strata Florida. They had these children:
25. Jane James (about 1815 - ?)
Elizabeth James ( 1819 - ?)
Ann James (1820 - ?)
David James (1827 - ?)
Mary James (1823 - ?)

There ya' go. End of the line. Tracks run out. That's too bad and now that I've got this all lined up I can see that the census returns could be examined for any trace of Daniel James in Wales from the 1841 time period on. I wonder if he too was a miner as were so very many of his descendants down to Mom's grandfather Williams.

This couple stayed put in Strata Florida, Cardiganshire, Wales throughout their lives and that's where I'd expect to find them in any local records too. I could also look in the Welsh BMD returns for their deaths and order up the death certificate. Yes, there's work to be done here!


Photos from Aunt Betty's Archive:

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/06/surname-saturday-back-to-williams-from.html

Sentimental Sunday: Lunch, but maybe it was called "dinner"

I have some very distinct smell memories from my childhood of being at either of my two grandmother's houses at lunch time. If you aren't a regular reader here, and most people aren't, then I need to explain that we're talking about the 1950s in a very small town in the mountains of Western Maryland called Frostburg. A writer friend who lives in Frostburg recently emailed that someone there had the bright idea to attach a new slogan to the town name: Frostburg, like where you are only colder. Or something like that.

And I need to explain that my grandfathers were men who worked physically hard out in that cold when they were young and strong and they came from men and families of men who worked physically hard, so they needed a hearty lunch with big calories. Except they called it dinner.

In those days, and as Mom tells me from the 1920s on, the mid-day meal was a cooked affair in both summer and winter. I can still hear Grandma Kelly say to grandpop, "Lee, are you ready to eat?" By this time in the mid 1950s grandpop was too old and ill to work in the coal mines. The coal mines really took it out of a man and by then he had serious signs of black lung disease and was worn and thin. Grandma did all she could to shovel food into him.

Grandmother Williams cooked a mid-day meal of proportions whenever hungry people were there to eat it. Grandfather Williams was a route salesman who drove a company truck all over the tri-states of West Virginia and Western Maryland and even into Pennsylvania to deliver his wares. He was out in all kinds of weather and was an excellent hunter and fisherman who would often bring home wild game for the family. By the age of 10 I'd eaten and found delicious wild rabbit, squirrel, turkey, deer, and too many fish to count. I could gut and dress a trout with the best of them too. Don't laugh until you've tasted the home-made wonder that is fresh wild rabbit or squirrel! I have eaten at the Four Seasons and I'll take Grandmother's delicately pan fried rabbit any day.

But here's where the smell memories come in. At some point when the decision had been made based on, at least to me, a mysterious set of circumstances, grandmother would grab a cast iron skillet, place it on the stove, scoop up some bacon fat from an old coffee tin and throw into that now hot pan. Shhhh, was the sound as the bacon fat gave off a heavenly aroma. Maybe it was a slice of ham that made the meal or a pork chop, so in it went. Shhhh, as it hit the hot skillet bed. In no time it got perfectly brown so out came the slice of ham or chop and in went potatoes, sliced or cubed as the cook's whim dictated. Then in a little while fresh green beans in summer or home canned green beans in winter. A lid or old plate in service as lid would sit atop the skillet until the flavors blended and food was cooked.

A slice of home baked bread and lots or fresh butter went along with it. None of this "side salad" stuff for these hard working men. If there were green on the table they were just as likely to be wild and wilted with bacon fat and vinegar. And the smell of it all! Oh, the smell.

Well, now all these years later I live in Southern California where side salad is a whole meal. Both grandmothers would not understand tofu or sushi. Or the food truck. I fear that Anthony Bourdain's show on CNN would make them shriek, throw their aprons over their faces and run from the room. Times and locations change tastes. That said, I still have my wonderful smell memories!! There aren't any calories in smell memories, are there?

 

Grandfather Williams, Cambria "Camey" Williams (1897 - 1960)

Top two as hunter and fisherman, bottom as route salesman.

 

Grandpop Kelly in the kitchen with Grandma and Aunt Louise.

John Lee Kelly (1892 - 1969)

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/06/sentimental-sunday-lunch-but-maybe-it.html

Surname Saturday: The Edwards Family from Wales

We're back in the 3rd great grandmothers, having already covered the earlier grandmothers and a bunch of the grandfathers in previous posts using one of my favorite blogging prompts from GeneaBloggers called Surname Saturday! I like this one because I get to reacquaint myself with one part of the family tree and cover ground that's both familiar as well as unfamiliar. I like that:)

This week we turn our attention to one of the families who had their roots deep in Wales, the Edwards people. And I have to say right at the top here, I don't know a thing about them except the names of all the children and we're lucky to have that only because Mom went to Wales years ago. But never mind because in posting this, I or you or a new-to-me cousin might have a thought that could help make connections. Ya' never know!


1. Diane Kelly Weintraub

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

6. Cambria "Camey" Williams (1897 - 1960)
7. Emma Susan Whetstone (1897 - 1956)
They had 5 children in all:
3. Virginia, that's Mom
Dorothy Williams Conrad (1920 - 2007)
Evelyn Williams (1921 - 1924)
Margaret Williams (1926 - 1926)
Cambria Williams Jr. (1925 - 1997)

12. Daniel Williams (1852 - 1920)
13. Jane Price (1862 - 1939)
Daniel was born in Strata Florida, Cardigsnshire, Wales. He worked as a collier or coal miner, as his father had, in Wales, immigrated, then moved to the George's Creek Coal Mine Field in Western Maryland, one of the richest veins of coal at the time. Jane was born in Mount Savage, Allegany County, Maryland, just over the hill from where Daniel worked, but her family came from Wales as well. Daniel was a supervisor at the mines and well respected and elected to the school board.
They had 8 children:
James Henry Williams 1882 - 1936)
William Williams (1884 - 1964)
Benjamin Williams (1896 - 1896)
Thomas Williams (1890 - 1951)
Dianna Williams (1892 - 1893)
Joseph Williams (1895 - 1948)
6. Cambria Williams (1897 - 1960), that's Mom's Dad
Charles Williams (1899 - 1979), that's Aunt Betty's Dad

24. Thomas Williams (about 1815 - 1868?)
25. Jane James (about 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-?)
12. Daniel Williams (1852 - 1920)
John Williams (Nov 1853-?)

William Williams (23 Jan 1865-?)

48. David Williams (?- 1838)
49. Rachel Edwards (dates not known to us)
Again, this family was born and died in Strata Florida, Cardigsnshire, Wales.
They had 6 children:
24. Thomas Williams (about 1815 - 1868?)
David Williams (1811 - ?)
Edward Williams (1814 - ?)
Elizabeth Williams (1816 - ?)
Catherine Williams (1819 - 1823)
Catherine Williams (1824 - ?)

There you have it, sadly. That's just about all we know about the end of the line. We're back in the late 1700s in Wales and good luck on that! It's on my bucket list to go to the National Archives and see what can be found. Some fine day:)


Photo taken at Troy NY. Can you help us match the names with the faces? Do you know of any of these people? Any guesses as to what year this was taken?

The Girls:

Elizabeth (24 Oct 1841-?) she's the oldest girl so is that her on the right, standing?

Jane (4 Oct 1846-?) is that her on the left in the fancy dress? Mom thinks that she is the wife of the man sitting to the left of her. What do you think?
 

The Boys, one is missing:
David (22 May 1844-?)

Thomas (25 MAR 1851-?)

John (Nov 1853-?)

William (23 Jan 1865-?)

Daniel my GGF (31 MAR 1852 - 19 APR 1920) is seated on the right
and his mother Jane Price Williams (1815-?) is seated to the left of him

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/06/surname-saturday-edwards-family-from.html

Treasure Chest Thursday: The C&O Canal Workers

 

 

Was thinking about my Irish ancestors who came to America, all before the Great Famine. It's interesting because all of the families -- the Kellys, the O'Farrells, and the Corcorans -- came around the 1830s and landed first in Cumberland, Allegany, Maryland, of all places. Why?

 

There were three things of note going on in Western Maryland about that time that might draw these hard-workers in search of a new life: coal mining, the railroad, and the C&O Canal. I know something about the coal mines and miners as well as the railroad, because my Kelly people worked on both of those. But I was lacking in information about the C&O Canal. I went to one of my fav web sites for Western Maryland history, Western Maryland's Historical Library, or WHILBR, and you can see their page about the canal here and find a collection of maps and old photos too.

 

That was good for the facts of it but I sought more insight into the daily lives of those, especially the Irish, who worked on the canal. So I posted a question about where to turn on the Allegany County, Maryland, RootsWeb list. In a flash someone suggested these two books by James Rada Jr.: Canawlers, and Between Rail and River. And I'm glad they did.

 

Here's what the listing on Amazon.com has to say about the first book in the series, Canawlers:

 

Hugh Fitzgerald proudly calls himself a "canawler." He works on the C&O Canal transporting coal nearly 185 miles between Cumberland, Maryland and Georgetown. For nine months a year, he and his family live on their canal boat, working hard to get them through the lean winter months.

The year 1862 was a hard year to live on the canal, though. The Civil War was in full swing and the canal, which runs long the Potomac River, marked the border between the Union and Confederacy. To this point, the Confederacy has stayed south of the canal, but now the Confederate Army intends to go on the offensive and take the war into the north. Not only are the Fitzgeralds' lives endangered by the increased activity of warring army and raiders on the canal, but the Fitzgeralds' secret activity as a stop along the Underground Railroad only endanger their lives all the more.

Now you know this has got to be good! Both books are historical fiction so the history lesson goes down easy as the pages all but turn by themselves. I got what I was looking for on just about every page as a new detail of the hard life of those running canal boats were made all the more impossible by the Civil War. And this is a nice family whose story unwinds and I came to like them fast.

So what were my take away points from these two books that might guide further searching for my own wandering and mysterious Irish ancestors? And now that I have a deeper understanding of the canallers' life, what are the research questions based on these books?

1.) The dates are right for my Irish people coming in search for work on the C&O Canal. Now the question that pops to mind is, were they working on the Erie Canal before they came to Western Maryland? And if so, did they come in through Canada?

2.) Where are the records? Canal records are sparse. Good luck with that but sometimes records are hidden in plain sight so I'll keep looking. I did find some Kelly/Kelley people working in 1850s, and here's a link to the canal worker's document also on WHLBR. Look to the right of this image, below, to find the PDF files.


3.) Double-check the 1850 census for work records. That's late for canal builders but not those who made a living on the canal once it opened just about 1850 all the way to Cumberland. My John Kelly who came from Shannonbridge, Offlay (was Kings), Ireland, was listed simply as "laborer" in that census. Not much to go on. In the 1860 census John Kelly is listed as a carpenter while others on the page are listed specifically as miners or laborers. What can I make of that? Could he have been a carpenter in Cumberland building canal boats?

4.) Noticed a newspaper article on WHLBR dated 1846 that mentions that the work building the canal was halted due to lack of funds. My Irish ancestors, if they did come for work on building the canal, would have moved on to other work about this time. I'll be alert to that 1846 date in my tracking them down. Thanks, WHLBR.



Well, it's a start and now I know more about the lives of those who worked on the C&O Canal.

And then there's this: our Irish family has always been anti-slavery and for equal right in the extreme, as if it were personal or something. Now I think I have a clue as to why. The Irish who came here before the Civil War were escaping the type of "soft slavery" enforced by the British landholders who inflicted pain and punishment on the very people who once owned that same land. The family in both of Rada's books expresses this opinion and are a link on the Underground Railroad! There's my own ah-ha moment:)

Were my Irish ancestors canal workers after the canal opened?

 

All canal photos in public domain and come from WHLBR.

 

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/06/treasure-chest-thursday-c-canal-workers.html

Wordless Wednesday: Mom in Wales

That's all there is... just seeing if I can do a Wordless Wednesday, a blogging prompt from Geneabloggers! It's hard, but I'm gonna quit while I'm ahead!



The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/06/wordless-wednesday-mom-in-wales.html