Category: Solved DNA Mysteries

Deep Kentucky Roots

Yesterday, I wrapped up a project for a woman who was adopted as a child.  She was looking for her biological father.  My research began a month ago and mainly involved the state of Kentucky.  She had a person in mind whom she considered a possibility but wanted verification.

I began my research with an empty palette.  My goal was to come to a conclusion by following the DNA.  I didn’t want to begin my research with the suspected individual.

After gaining access to profile on Ancestry.com, I was able to link her DNA to her tree and started building a tree.  I began with her mother (whom she identified several years ago) and developed a comprehensive tree on her maternal side.  Her grandfather’s name was Maxwell, a very common name in Kentucky. This Maxwell line has been traced to Herbert Maxwell (1382-1454), in Lancashire, Scotland.

One of her DNA cousins was a direct descendant of her great-grandfather.  I clicked on this individual’s profile and sorted by shared matches.  I then highlighted the star on the left, next to every match.  This helped me to sort her matches (highlighted stars) were her maternal matches.  The remainder of her matches, who did not have highlighted stars, were more likely to be on her paternal (father’s) side.

I then began the painstaking process of building family trees for all of the people who were suspected to be on her father’s side.  I looked for common surnames and eventually, tied all of these trees together.  This process can take weeks or even months.  As I constructed each tree, I looked at the person with whom she shared DNA.  I looked at the centimorgans and then looked at the probable relationship.  One of her matches was someone named Larry Webster.  He shared 874 centimorgans across 41 DNA segments with my client.  The above chart shows the possible relationships based on centimorgans.  Based on my client’s year of birth and Mr. Webster’s year of birth, I knew he had to be her cousin.  He was too old to be her brother’s son/grandson.  With this information, I began looking at all of the male siblings in both his mother’s and father’s families.  At this point, I had to expand the tree and develop a tree for Larry’s mother’s side of the family.  As I began to do this, the DNA trees I had developed, started falling into place.

The final step was to connect my client (in her tree) as a daughter to one of Larry’s uncles, on his mother’s side.  We chose the gentleman whose age was the closest to my client’s mother.   As it turns out, this was the individual she suspected to be her father.  In order to be completely certain, we must reach out to one of her half-siblings and see if they are interested in submitting their DNA.  If so, their centimorgans will tell us if our hypothesis is correct.  If it is not, we will likely move to one of this gentleman’s brothers.

Because we linked my client’s DNA to her tree as we began this project, Ancestry.com was able to sort through the tree and identify matches in my client’s tree with the trees of her DNA matches.  When Ancestry finished this process, we had identified 186 shared hints.  The photo on the left shows the number of shared hints.  The image on the right shows exactly who the shared ancestor is and the relationship of the “cousins.”  The image shown is one of my shared matches with a cousin.  We share great-grandparents.

The Power of Understanding our Past

Genealogical research can be very powerful, especially when there are negative feelings associated with a parent or grandparent.  Countless times I am told by clients that their father did not speak about his past and that they have no knowledge of their family line.  In fact, my grandfather did not know his father and when I began my research, my father and uncle were eager to learn what nobody ever spoke about.  Who was their grandfather?  Why hadn’t their father spoken about him?  Why wasn’t he part of the family?  The untold stories were secrets protecting families from shame and embarrassment.

As time goes by, the shame and embarrassment fade leaving us an opportunity to explore the unknown.  Although, what we might find are less than perfect circumstances, it helps us to better understand how our fathers and grandfathers lives were impacted by circumstances beyond their control.

While conducting research it is of utmost importance to put the records into context.  This allows us to fully digest the situation and circumstances and leads us to a deeper understanding.  If we discover a female ancestor who left her child to be raised by someone else, we should explore the circumstances.  Did she become pregnant out of wedlock?  If so, what were to cultural values at the time regarding women who became pregnant?  Was she the oldest child in her family?  Did she help raise her nine brothers and sisters?  If so, was her pregnancy overwhelming to her?  Swift judgement is often easier than taking the time to develop a deeper understanding.  Taking this time may be therapeutic as you step away from judgement and embrace understanding.

Our fathers or grandfathers may have known the stories but they were never discussed because of the negative feelings associated with them.  You have an opportunity to uncover these stories and pass them on to the next generation.  An opportunity to present the facts from another point of view.  An opportunity to identify the strength of character that existed in someone impacted by such negative circumstances.

After making new discoveries, reflect and ask if the person your father or grandfather was (and how he was as a father) was influenced by the circumstances in his life that he had no control over.  The more you learn about your father’s life, the deeper your understanding (empathy) of his situation.  Empathy and understanding are important and you might actually find yourself embracing the past because it leads to forgiveness.  -peace

Our Family Secret

 

Double Irish

In researching the family history of the New England Settlers, there are several prominent families in many of our histories.  It gets confusing because the names seem to be repeated, and cousins share names.  Around the time of the Civil War and with the westward expansion of the territories, new names and DNA matches crop up.  In researching the Hadley tree I discovered that there was a new name, which was also quite prominent in early New England records, that of Gregg.   The Greggs and Hadleys were members of the Quaker Communities in Delaware and intermarried.  In researching the Greggs we ultimately end up with William “the Quaker” but their history precedes the colonies.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centimorgan

And this is when I found that Nellie A. Hadley was a distant cousin to Luella Belle Burrus.  These two women were descendants of brothers; sons born to William “the Quaker” Gregg.

This finding is the reason for the Double Irish title on this post.  My father has a DNA match which is so close to someone living in Ireland, it appears that my father was only second or third generation American.  This has been a puzzle, but the DNA only gives a piece of the story.  What the DNA cannot tell us is how the centimorgans seem to get doubled up, giving the results which appear to be less diluted due to whom we descend from.  In some cases, when there are two descendants who share DNA their offspring end up with a “double dose” of DNA characteristics.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centimorgan

Unbeknownst to my father’s parents, they were distant cousins sharing strands of DNA which gave him a “double dose” of the Irish.

The grandmother and great-grandmother came from two different areas of the United States; Luella from Texas who ended up in South Dakota.  Nellie from Iowa who went to Nebraska and then to Wyoming.

Records…Surprising Sources 2

A new found acquaintance of mine, someone who was new to my circle of friends, began discussing hobbies.  I mentioned that mine was in records research to support DNA matches.  I shared that through my research, I had discovered that my family (as are many) was descendants of the Gardner family in New England.  Her eyes lit up.  Her husband, she stated, was a Gardner.  In fact, his great grandmother had provided him with a book about the family history, and highlighted the relatives which he was descended from, and whom he was named after.

Her husband, graciously offered to let me read the book.  A short book, a fascinating read, gave me insight into our Gardner lineage.  The bonus was the genealogical records included in the last few chapters.  I discovered the mystery  behind the Widow Shattuck and was able to sort out the names and dates of birth of the Gardner family for our own tree.

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010027961

Records…Surprising Sources 1

In this computer age, and with the many various research tools on the internet, it is important to remember that past generations took time to write books.  Some of these books can be accessed at local, regional libraries.  One of our early forays was to a library in Canon City, Colorado.  We knew that we had family history from the Wet Valley in Colorado.  A relative who was a Fire Chief in Canon City, as well as family members who are buried there.  In the research section of the library was a written history of the area, around the time of the 1800s.  This was of particular interest to me, because of the oral tradition that Great Grandfather Powell had worked at a farm, as a hired hand.  In reading the book, I discovered his name was included in this document.  This was a fact that I relied upon when beginning the research on the internet.  I did find, that in fact he worked as a hired hand in his later years, but through the internet research I also found that he worked for CF&I.  I happened upon a pictorial history of CF&I at the Sangre De Cristo Arts Center in Pueblo, Colorado.  I was fascinated by the photos but the maps, oh the maps, showing all of the CF&I Company “towns” within Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico.  Suddenly, the pieces came together.  I had discovered records online which showed that Great Grandmother Patterson-Powell had died in a town named Berwind.  Living in Colorado my entire life, I had never heard of Berwind.  Yet, in this pictorial history and in the maps, clearly CF&I had a coal mine in Berwind.  http://scalar.usc.edu/works/mines-of-the-colorado-fuel-and-iron-company/berwind-coal-mine-el-moro-no-2

Great Grandfather Powell worked for CF&I, I went back to my research on the internet, and sure enough found the family at various mines up until his wife’s death.

 

Why Don’t I Recognize My DNA Matches?

It is not unusual for there to be cousins listed as relatives on a genetic family tree website.  Make sure you have your direct descendants completed in your tree for five generations or so.  Look at the distance of the relationship.  If a person is listed as a second cousin, they generally great-grandparents.  That will help you know which generation to look at.  A fourth cousin would share third great-grandparents.  Another consideration is a non-paternal event.  It might not be on your side, it might be on the side of the person you match.  Take a close look at your matches and look for commonalities.  If you see someone you don’t recognize, see who else they match and look for common names.
In my situation, my father’s paternal grandparents were Nellie Hadley & William McCurdy Cubbison.  We had matches on the Hadley side, but not the Cubbison side.  I noticed several 2nd and 3rd cousins with the surname Jordan.  I began building a separate family tree based on our cousins with the surname Jordan.   As I was researching, the surname Harmon appeared frequently.  I started adding cousins with the Harmon surname to the Jordan tree.  The two trees eventually connected with Elizabeth Harmon who married Garret Jordan in 1814.   Bingo! My father had DNA cousins relating to both sides.  Elizabeth and Garret were my direct ancestors.
When you have matches to the paternal and maternal line of a couple, they are direct ancestors. Grandparent, Great-Grandparent etc.
The Cubbison family moved from Wells County Indiana to Jay County Indiana between 1896 and 1870.

At this point, I knew the problem was on the Cubbison side of the tree.  My father had cousins who were Hadley’s so my father’s, father was not a question.  My father’s grandfather, William McCurdy Cubbison was not questionable because my father had DNA matches to cousins who descended from him.  The non-paternal event must have happened before William McCurdy Cubbison was born.   Elizabeth Harmon was born in 1798 and Garrett Jordan was born in 1793.  The non-paternal event (NPE) must have occurred with the children of Garrett and Elizabeth.  I began looking at the location of the Cubbison Family and the Jordan family in the 1800’s.

Jordan’s moved from Ohio to Jay Co. Indiana between 1850 & 1860.

The common denominator; Jay County, Indiana.  I went to the 1870 Census and looked for each family.  Much to my dismay, I found something that had been there the entire time.  I hadn’t looked close enough.  My 3rd great-grandparents (Adam and Louisa) were living right next door to my Jordan family.  William’s father was not Adam.  It was one of these brothers.

Isaac Jordan and Jacob Jordan were living on each side of my Cubbison ancestors. William McCurdy Cubbison was born in 1870. His parents were Adam and Louisa Minerva Cubbison.

In conclusion, my surname should have been Jordan and before that, we were O’Byrne’s.  The Jordan lineage goes back to Leinster, Ireland, so the name changed sometime before our Jordan family reached the U.S.

In time, I will be able to say with certainty, which Jordan was the father of my great-grandfather.  With DNA testing, each relationship is measured in centimorgans.  My next step is to look at the centimorgans so I can determine the exact person I descend from.  Right now, I am content knowing it was one of the brothers.

Why Are My Y-DNA Surnames Different Than Mine?

When my father submitted his DNA, he submitted an Autosomal test to Ancestry.com and a Y-DNA test to FamilytreeDNA.com.  The Autosomal testing would help us identify more recent relatives (within the past 5-8 generations), and Y-DNA would help us identify the origin of our surname.  When the Y-DNA results came in, my father’s matches were men with the surname O’Byrne, Byrne, Burns, etc.

The results were confusing to us so we joined the O’Byrne  Surname Project on FTDNA.  The project researchers study the male DNA to determine the origin.  Here is what we learned:

Thank you for notifying me of Jerry’s Z255  pack result.  His confirmed Haplogroup as you said is A5411. I did mention that I thought he might be Z16950. He is positive for it as it is above A5411. Looking at his matches at 67 a few of his closer matches were Z16950 which is why I predicted this one. Great to see that he is A5411. On our SNP chart I will now move Jerry from the Z255 group and into Lineage 1e.  You can see from the chart that that A5411 is the ancestor a large group of six lineages 1e to 1j and is dated as 1250 AD. I think this confirms Jerry’s O’Byrne Clan of Leinster ancestry.

Fortunately, the project managers are very skilled researchers.  We gained much infomation about our origin from them.  We descend from the O’Byrne Clan out of Leinster, Ireland dating back to 1250 AD.

Our Autosomal results were interesting.  We had matches to cousins on many sides, but none to the Cubbison lineage.  I looked for O’Byrne cousins and was not able to find any.   This became the beginning of a two year research project. I had to trace my father’s genetic past from the DNA results instead of the family tree paper trail.  I discovered a non-paternal event in the 1870’s in my father’s line.  My great-grandfather descended from a male neighbor.  My research timeline.

 

 

 

 

 

Reaching Out To Others

Inevitably, while tracking down DNA matches, you will find a match that sends you reeling.  Reeling because suddenly there is a new name in your tree.  You found that match through the curiosity of a DNA match which shows you related to someone or some family with a completely different name than those you have been using from either family records or oral tradition.

While this is extremely exciting for you, and may actually be met with disbelief or awe in your family; before reaching out to the others – REMEMBER that the information you are asking them to share with you (or that you want to share with them) may actually be hidden behind a deeply held belief of “we never talk about that”.  Your inquiry may actually cause another DNA enthusiast pain and grief.  Be cautious and considerate.

Tell the other person your story, about how you have seen these DNA matches and that you are curious as to how the connection might be possible.  Ask them if they are willing to share.  If they are willing to share, go slowly and be gentle.

Consider their level of activity on the DNA site, if they are always logging in and spending time building and researching ( you can find this in the member’s site or their postings) they may be more open to your outreach.

If your DNA research is true and valid, you have your truth.  The other person’s  matches to your DNA may not yet be their truth.

William McCurdy Cubbison: Two Families

William McCurdy Cubbison was born in Indiana in 1872.  He married Nellie Hadley, a Quaker, in 1893.  They lived together in Burr Oak Kansas and had three boys; John Franklin Cubbison “Frank”, Albert Jennings Cubbison “Matt”, and James Funston Cubbison.  According to the Census, they were living together in 1900 in Burr Oak, Kansas.  By 1907, the following article appeared in a Nebraska newspaper.  And thus, my search began….

In order to find additional information, I had to look for court records.  I reached out to Platte Valley Kinseekers, in Columbus, Nebraska and asked them for assistance.  Carol Jacobs agreed to assist me.  She went to the court house, copied the records and mailed them to me.

My great-grandmother, Nellie, was an incredibly strong woman.  She was notified of the circumstances with her husband on June 27, 1906.

Mrs. Wm. Cubbison,

Dear Madam,  Mr. W. Cubbison is keeping company with a lady friend of mine.  He claims that you left him and I have heard that he left you in destitute circumstances with three children to suffer and is not divorced.  You would do a great favor to this lady and also myself as her friend if you would write me giving the true state of affairs.

Respectfully, J. A. Canfield

At some point, Nellie Hadlie sent her brother-in-law, Arthur Garmon (married to her sister, Flora E. Hadley), to Nebraska to see if what she was hearing was true.

The witnesses in the case against Mr. Cubbison were, Nellie Hadley, John Regan, Mrs. John Regan, and Nellie Regan.  William McCurdy Cubbison left his wife and children and went to Nebraska.  He married another woman, Nellie Regan, in St. Joseph’s Church on Oct. 14, 1904.   Mr. Cubbison and his wife Nellie Regan had a daughter named Maureen Irene Regan who was born in 1907.  My family shares DNA with descendants of Maurine Regan.  She is my grandfather’s half-sister.

Nellie Hadley was a witness and provided many letters written to her from her husband.  In those letters he wrote,

September 11, 1901

Dear wife I thought I would write you a few lines to let you know how we are getting along.  We are about 101 miles from Burr Oak at this writing.  Talk about their not being any corn in the country.  We have traveled ever since yesterday at 3 o’clock in corn.  That will make from 25 to 50 bushels.  And wheat made from 30 to 40.  I tell you wife this is a nice country.  We have traveled since yesterday noon.   You can see for 25 miles where we are at now if it was not for the timber planted around the farm house, you could see that much further….

Raleigh, Nebraska, Oct. 29

Dear wife, I will write you a few lines to let you know that I am well and hope that these lines will find you well and the baby the same.  How is my baby boy?  I would like to see him. (much more)

Nellie Hadley and Mr. Cubbison reunited after his release from jail and they had a 4th son, Richard “Jack” Cubbison in 1912.  On June 26, 1916, my grandfather was born in Milford , Nebraska.

Nellie Hadley with grandson’s, Lloyd and Jerry.
My grandfather: “Cubby” Charles Chester Cubbison

William McCurdy Cubbison did not settle down.  My grandfather never knew his father.  William McCurdy Cubbison died in Sundance Wyoming, alone, in 1929.  Nellie Hadley is buried with three of her sons in Sundance Wyoming.  She was a wonderful grandmother to my father and left him many wonderful memories.

Interesting Research Discoveries

Researching family history is most enjoyable when you make new discoveries.  I have made many new discoveries, for my self and others.  Some of the discoveries come from researching documents and records, while others come from understanding the genetic trail left behind by our DNA.  Although we never can anticipate what we might find, we might find some family secrets, which were embarrassing at the time.   I have found it helpful to put the information into context.  What year did the event happen and what were the circumstances?  Trying to better understand life at the time and setting aside judgement and emotion, might be necessary to fully enjoy what you might find.  I have many interesting discoveries to share and hope you find them as interesting as I have.   This article refers to my great-grandfather, William McCurdy Cubbison.  It is an interesting read!    William McCurdy Cubbison: Two Families