Phasing the X chromosome for parents from yourself and siblings

I decided to look at the X chromosomes of my parents and for my brother of course as that is his only X chromosome and from our mother. My father has only one X chromosome and my brother's results do not show any information presumably for my father's X chromosome since only a Y is passed to a male child with my sister and I receiving an X chromosome from our father which he received from his mother and therein lies the mystery. Why do my sister and I not have the exact same results since the X does not recombine?  I had to think this one through. My brother's result is the X chromosome that results from the recombination of our mother's two X chromosomes hence he has no effect on how we look at our father's X chromosome.

As I work my way down there are occasional spots where the X chromosome which my brother received does not allow for the result that my sister and I have received so at that point it becomes either TT or CT / CC or AC / GG or AG etc. So what does this actually mean and does it then become useful to phase the X chromosome. When one looks at the chromosome browser one would think that the three of us matched exactly but a half/match gives the same result as a full/match. If there are two results for some snps on the helix then presumably one of them is switched off so that it is not expressed. I think I am beginning to understand x transmission and why males suffer more from x transmitted diseases because they do not have a second x chromosome to switch off particular snps that are recessive and perhaps unhealthy. I must admit to finding all of this very intriguing. I had a great deal of interest in DNA when I attended University in the 60s but it was still a new field and not yet down into undergraduate courses in a way that I would have found it more fascinating that Honours Chemistry which I did study. For the most part what we received, my sister, and I follows through quite logically although looking through as I now am I can see that in the first 50 snps there are seven either/or in my mother's results or 14% difference between the X chromosome which we inherited and the one that my brother inherited and we roughly share that difference 50/50.

The Xchromosome is also interesting because it lets us look at particular matches that we may have.

I have nine pages of X matches (90) at FT DNA my sister has 13 pages (130) and  my brother has only 3 matches which includes his two sisters and one individual that I can not place. The match has a fairly extensive tree and I can find a couple of lines that might be interesting but the X chromosome is our mother's lines and the Dorset that comes up is on our Father's side. My brother does not share this match with us and it actually includes two sets of surnames and two single surnames with just one that has a tree (but just because they match this singleton match does not mean that they match my brother necessarily). This is actually his first match outside the family so is rather interesting. The tree shows a family with deep Virginia/North Carolina roots and then moving west from there as far as Texas. He is said to be a 4th-distant cousin. To look at X matches for a male the restriction is always towards the female, so our mother and her paternal grandmother and her mother/maternal grandparents but excluding the male line further back each time so always following the female portion plus the husband of the female at each level. That means I am looking at Grace Gray whose family lines were from Bewcastle, Cumberland and Etton/Holme on the Wolds East Riding of Yorkshire; I am looking at Ellen Rosina Buller whose father was born in Birmingham and his mother born at Lichfield with the father from Rugeley Staffordshire and the mother from Ashby de la Zouch Leicestershire and Ellen's mother who is my mystery lady born at Birmingham of parents possibly Thomas Taylor and Ellen Roberts whose lineage both stretches back one more generation at Birmingham and then unknown for Taylor and Warwickshire/Shropshire for the Roberts lines moving back. So a fifth cousin I am looking at 4x great grandparents and comparing that with a chart of ancestry that dates back into early colonial Virginia without any known debarkation point for the emigrant ancestor is virtually impossible. But it is interesting none the less to see that there is only one individual who matches my brother other than his sisters on the X chromosome. That tells me that not very many have tested in these lines but the potential is now there for them to do so as Ancestry moves into the British Isles.

One of my strongest X matches (3rd to 5th cousin with 60.32 cM shared) other than my siblings is with someone whose father's paternal grandmother came directly from Ireland born circa 1850. Anna Foster born 1850 Ireland and the daughter of Robert Foster. She is rather interesting because Anna would have received from her father Robert his only X chromosome passed directly to him from his mother and unaltered in this exchange. Anna then would have passed to her daughter in this case this X chromosome from her father and the one she received from her mother and the two would recombine to form a new X chromosome along with the X chromosome which she received from her father who again received it as passed from his mother whose family tree goes back into Yorkshire and Ireland (an interesting combination). Her mother's side is principally from Ohio/Missouri and before that Virginia. American ancestry is quite fascinating with the variety of ancestral locations to be found in their lines. Comparing her to other known lines she shares almost the same on the X chromosome as another match said to be 2nd to 4th cousin. On Chromosome 11 I have three people with known Irish ancestry who share DNA at almost the same location. Makes you wonder if this is a special block inherited by a number of Irish families. But the largest parts that I share with each of these four individuals including the one I am discussing are on different chromosomes. I need to have more people test that are known to me but that is really difficult given that we have no first cousins, few second cousins and half second cousins but many many third cousins that I do not personally know.

I shall continue working on the phasing of the X chromosomes with somewhat more knowledge than before I think. Discussion even with oneself can be quite beneficial if properly channelled! My living memory has been most beneficial to me and on occasion from comments received has proven to be handy to others which was a side product that I never anticipated when I started my blog in 2008.

Jeremiah Rawlins (1755 - 1834)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 26

Blake, King, Coleman, Pearce, Farmer, Mary (unknown), Lambden, Sarah (unknown), Knight, Ellis, Knight, Vincent, Butt, O'Ford, Arnold, Molton, Cotterel, Bartlett, Alderman, Shepherd, Sherwood, Elizabeth (unknown), Happerfield, Collins, Rawlings, Tanner, Dove, Morgan, Lywood, Lanham, unknown, Peck, Pincombe, Charley, Rowcliffe, Pearse, Rew, Moggridge, Siderfin, Kent, Gray, Hilton, Cobb, Sproxton, Routledge, Tweddle, Routledge, Routledge, (unknown) Buller, unknown, Beard, Hemsley, Welch, Brockhouse, Cheatle, Woodcock, unknown Taylor, unknown, Harborne, Lewis, Roberts, Croxall, Lawley, unknown

Jeremiah (Jerome) Rawlins is another of my 4x great grandfathers. He has been known to me since the early part of my time in genealogy. I first met cousins online in 2006. From one of the cousins I received the fiche for Enford and I have imaged the records for the Rawlins family there. Jeremiah, unlike the rest of his siblings, was baptized at Netheravon instead of Enford. Fortunately my cousin had obtained that record as well and the priest has noted that Jeremiah was of Enford when he was baptized. Of note, the Rawlins family lived right at the edge of  the village of Enford close to Netheravon and perhaps on that day or at that time it was just more convenient to have Jeremiah baptized at Netheravon.

Jeremiah was married to Sarah Tanner at Tilshead 1 Nov 1780 and again the priest made a notation that Jeremiah was of Enford.

,

Note the spelling of Rawlins as Rallings. This Rawlins family did not begin to spell their name Rawlings until the early to mid 1800s. Some of my cousins still use the Rawlins spelling for their surname (particularly in Australia).

Jeremiah and Sarah baptized eight children at Enford, 1 baptism not found:

Elizabeth baptized 26 Aug 1781 and married to William Hurkett 10 Feb 1808 at Enford
Thomas baptized 20 Sep 1783 and married to Mary Dove 9 Dec 1807 at Woodford
Anne baptized 6 Dec 1785 and likely dead by 1793
John baptized 8 Oct 1786 (his only son William emigrated to Australia)
Jeremiah baptized 13 Feb 1790 (went to Australia)
Anne baptized 4 Apr 1793; buried 7 Dec 1793 at Enford
William baptized 5 Mar 1797
Anne baptized 5 Mar 1797
James born circa 1801 and married to Ruth Lay 24 Apr 1828 at Enford

My line descends down through Thomas married to Mary Dove and lately correspondence has indicated that my original thought that Thomas may have served in the Napoleonic Wars including being in Canada may be correct. There is a descendant of a child of a Thomas Rawlings born in North America. There is also a daughter Harriet born circa 1813 in Wiltshire but deceased likely by 1819. Thomas and Mary were married 9 Dec 1807 at Woodford. A search of this parish register does not show any Rawlins/Rawlings families there other than this marriage of Thomas and Mary. Mary was of the parish of Woodford although no baptism has been found for her there. They have six children known by me:

Harriet 1813
Isaac 1818
Harriet 1819
Jeremiah 1821
Jane 1823
William 1825 (and my ancestor)

William Rawlings married Elizabeth Lywood 22 Sep 1849 at Amesbury and they had seven children:

George born circa 1851 at Milston married Mary Ann Mead
Harriet born circa 1852 at Enford and married to Charles C Butler mar quarter 1869 at Devizes
Elizabeth born 19 Oct 1853 at Enford and married to William Taylor 11 Feb 1882 at Ludgershall
Mary Jane born circa 1856 at Enford
William born circa 1858 at Enford and married Jane Barlow jun quarter 1883 at Collingbourne Ducis
David born circa 1863 at Enford and married Hannah Elizabeth Broadhurst dec quarter 1891
Sidney Herbert born circa 1870 at Collingbourne Ducis and married Lily Sherwood 10 Oct 1892 at Abbots Ann

My ancestor was Elizabeth and she had a child before her marriage to William Taylor named Ada Bessie Cotteril Rawlings baptized 27 Aug 1876 at Kimpton, Hampshire. Bessie would marry Samuel George Blake 1 Jun 1903 at Kimpton and they were my paternal grandparents. On the 1881 census she is listed as Ada Rawlings living with her maternal grandparents at Collingbourne Ducis.

William Rawlings circa 1902













William and Elizabeth Rawlings get my vote for best grandparents ever as they took in their grand daughter at some point after her birth and baptism at Kimpton (her baptism was five months after her birth at Kimpton) and she perhaps remained with her grandparents until after her mother's marriage in 1882. On the 1891 census she is listed as Bessie Taylor living with her step father, mother and siblings. She then married as Edith Bessie Taylor and I have it on good reference that Ada pronounced by a Wiltshire resident could well sound like Edith by the time it is recorded as such in Kimpton. My father mentioned that he had three grandfathers although only met the one shortly before he came to Canada. My grandmother did know she was illegitimate as her step father signed as a witness on her marriage registration and the name of the father was blank. Perhaps the families decided that they would not marry. Such information did not pass down in my family or in the family of her step siblings.But it all worked out for the best for all parties it would appear as each went on to have their families and were content.

Back to Jeremiah my 4x great grandfather and he was a labourer. His father was William Rawlins and the marriage which another researcher (paid by my cousin) felt with a reasonable search was William Rawlins and Mary Ford 30 Sep 1741 at Wylye and I agree that this is the likely marriage for this couple. They had eight children and five of them were baptized at Enford. For the eldest Mary I have not yet found a baptism; I am missing one for Edward and the youngest, Jeremiah, was baptized at Netheravon.

Mary Rawlings born circa 1742 married Stephen Cotterel 28 Jan 1764 at Enford ( A grandchild of this couple would marry in Australia her second cousin William Rawlins (son of John).)
William baptized 17 Nov 1743 and married Mary Dyke 25 Sep 1766 at Enford
Edward born circa 1745 and married Ruth White 20 Jun 1766 at Enford
Elizabeth baptized 26 Jun 1747 and married Thomas Hillier 31 May 1772 at Enford
Thomas baptized 14 Jan 1748 and buried 11 Jul 1758 at Enford
Martha baptized 23 Jun 1751 and married Robert Matthews
John baptized 22 Oct 1752
Jeremiah baptized 13 Apr 1755 at Netheravon married Sarah Tanner 1 Nov 1780 at Tilshead

At this point William Rawlins and Mary Ford are elusive. Mary was buried 10 Mar 1789 at Enford. My object today is to learn more about William Rawlins and Mary Ford as I have not looked at this family for quite a long time. Solving the mystery of my grandmother happened back in 2006 following the purchase of eight birth/marriage/burial registrations that then permitted me to fit the family of Elizabeth Rawlins/William Taylor together with proofs. At that time I hypothesized a possible ancestry for William Rawlins which I put together from Family Search but discarded it. I have not yet found information for Mary Ford.

Searching for William Rawlins on Find My Past does verify the marriage at Wylye for a William Rawlins and Mary Ford. That this is my William and Mary is mostly based on the best fit - the only couple in the area that fits the description.

There is a baptism of William Rawlings 5 Jun 1716 at Box son of William and Ann and there is a marriage in 1750 at Box of William Rawlings and Mary West which eliminates this William from consideration. There is also a burial in 1760 of a William Rawlings at Box but could be the father of this William. The other baptisms would be underage.

There is a burial in 1759 at Charlton near Pewsey (six miles from Enford) that could well be William Rawlins. The last child born was Jeremiah in 1755. Back in 2004, 2005, 2006 I did a search on the Rawlins family in Family Search and discovered a William Rawlins baptized 6 Apr 1722 at Steeple Ashton son of John Rawlins and Ann Carrington who had themselves been married 21 Dec 1722 at Trowbridge (3 miles from Steeple Ashton). I also found a Mary Ford baptized Nov 1722 in Edington daughter of William Ford and Sarah Harding who had themselves been married 14 Apr 1718 at Edington. These two places are only 2.7 miles apart and just 11 miles to Wylye. They are both underage at the marriage in 1741 but why did they chose Enford to live in. Since William was a labourer he could well have obtained a position in that area noting that Enford is just 14 miles from Edington and 15 miles from Steeple Ashton. At the time this seemed rather fanciful and I abandoned the thought until I decided to write up William Rawlins as my 4x great grandfather and revisited these possibilities.

Looking at Ann Carrington she was baptized 25 Mar 1690 at Holt (2.3 miles from Trowbridge) so a reasonable distance. She was the daughter of Thomas Carrington and Anne Drewett who were themselves married 1 Aug 1687 at Colerne. Colerne is just nine miles from Trowbridge so not too far away. Thomas Carrington was buried 22 Jan 1717 at Holt and Anne Drewett was buried 3 Jul 1722 at Holt.

Looking at William Ford  baptized 15 Jan 1698 at Edington and he was the son of George Ford.

There is a John Rawlings baptized 21 Sep 1696 at Colerne son of William. There is a William Rawlings baptized at Steeple Ashton 16 May 1669 son of William.

Also baptized at Colerne children of William and Ann Rawlings:

Ann Rawlings baptized 17 Nov 1686
William Rawlings baptized 9 Jan 1689
Elizabeth Rawlings baptized 12 Sep 1692
John Rawlings baptized 21 Sep 1696
Thomas Rawlings baptized 14 Jul 1700
 
John, William, Thomas, Henry, Joseph and Gifford Rawlings/Rawlins are all baptizing children in this time period at Colerne.However this is the only John that fits into the marriage of John and Ann.

Looking at the places and events in which I am interested, John Rawlings/Rawlins baptized at Colerne son of William would appear to be an interesting possibility. Then this William perhaps the William baptized at Steeple Ashton 16 May 1669 also son of William. There is a William Rawlings baptized 23 Jan 1624 at North Bradley son of James (North Bradley is just 3 miles from Steeple Ashton).

There are a couple of marriages at Collingbourne Kingston for a William Rawlins - 1684 and 1694 with Anne Farmer and Ann Piper (widower at the second marriage). But it is 24 miles away so reluctant to look at that one too enthusiastically. 

I think the scenario John Rawlings baptized at Colerne son of William baptized at Steeple Ashton son of William baptized at North Bradley son of James sounds like a more reasonable lineage than moving large distances.

Ancestry of Jeremiah Rawlins:

1. Elizabeth BLAKE
2. Ernest Edward George BLAKE (b 20 Aug 1904) - Eastleigh Hampshire England
3. Edith Bessie TAYLOR (b 1 Apr 1875) - Kimpton Hampshire England
4. Elizabeth RAWLINGS (b 19 Oct 1853) - Enford Wiltshire England
5. William RAWLINGS (b 1825) - Enford Wiltshire England
6. Thomas RAWLINS (b 20 Sep 1783) - Enford Wiltshire England
7. Jeremiah RAWLINS (b 13 Apr 1755) - Enford (Netheravon) Wiltshire England
On examination the following appears interesting
8. William RAWLINS  (b 6 Apr 1723) - Steeple Ashton Wiltshire England
9. John RAWLINGS  (b 12 Sep 1696) - Colerne Wiltshire England
10. William RAWLINGS (b 16 May 1669) - Steeple Ashton Wiltshire England
11. William RAWLINGS (b 23 Jan 1624) - North Bradley Wiltshire England
12. James RAWLINGS

This is exciting to look at Rawlins/Rawlings once again. The spelling appears to be somewhat interchangeable in the records with notations being made that it is Rawlins in the Register and Rawlings in the Bishops Transcripts for the same record.

Looking a little more at Mary Ford wife of William Rawlins and married at Wylye, I had found possible parents earlier and I rather think these parents work very well. I am always somewhat troubled when you do not see the forenames appearing later (Sarah does not appear but looking at the marriage of Jeremiah Rawlings to Sarah Tanner which is a solid paper trail and Sarah does not appear in descending families in my line).The parents of this Mary could be William Ford and Sarah Harding who married 14 Apr 1718 at Edington. William is baptized at Edington 15 Jan 1698 son of George. There is a George Ford baptized 8 Apr 1672 at Edington son of William Ford. No marriage for George Ford that is reasonable but there is a marriage for William Foarde and Anne Horte 27 Oct 1662 at Colerne (Colerne is 13 miles from Edington). Another day I must get back to the Ford family. I will also work on the Sarah Harding family. Another time I shall work on the Rawlings family to see if I can find siblings and spouses for the possible ancestors of William Rawlins baptized 1723 at Steeple Ashton..

Randomness of inheritance

Thinking about randomness of inheritance as I work my way through the autosomal DNA results for my birth family lines. I thought I might write a macro to make a fast job of this but really I have to look at each line just because that works best for me. Even if another sibling tests then I would do it exactly the same way inserting their results in their birth order. One is left to wonder does birth order matter or is randomness the normal way for passage of DNA from parent to child during fertilization. Does age play a role at all; some diseases are said to be more prevalent in an aging parent than a younger parent. Do some of these genes age in such a way that adenosine becomes more dominant and aggressive in a fertilization process than say guanine or cytosine or thymine? An intriguing thought once you get down to decision making time on particular snps. One can just leave out the snps that one is unsure about and then create a file that you can then upload to gedmatch or can you? I shall have to debate that one for a bit. Gedmatch lets you look at particular lengths of a chromosome which is fascinating in itself. I will buy the extra tools once I have something in hand to work with on this idea of mine.

As a child I always felt different from my siblings and thus far my genetic complement is very different from them although enough sameness that I know we are siblings. I was number four child in a family of seven. My grandmother used to say that I was like her mother and amazingly that could actually be true. My siblings match a Pincombe twice as much as I do (my maternal grandfather) and my match with a known cousin of my grandmother on her father's side which is third cousin looks like a 4th to a 6th cousin on Ancestry so did I also get less of Buller. That only leaves me with Gray (my maternal grandfather's mother) and Taylor (my maternal grandmother's mother). Could she indeed be right that I resembled her mother. My grandmother's mother died when my grandmother was eleven. My grandmother saw her as a woman who spent all of her married life bearing children. My grandmother was the eldest and remembered the birth of her next in line sister and my grandmother would have been almost four years of age at that time. I can remember an event when I was just four years old so I can believe her story. Ada was a blue baby and born just under eight months gestation. She was kept in a bun basket near the stove to keep her warm which was probably why my grandmother remembered it so very well. Her mother had dark hair as mine was (now tinged with grey) but she did have grey eyes and mine are more hazel than grey. She was a tall slim woman probably about my height I suspect but tallness to an 11 year old is a lot of people. What reminded her of me characterwise was my hyperactivity. I was always in motion and that was how she remembered her mother. Plus I loved to sing as did her mother.

A child receives 50% of their DNA from their father and 50% of their DNA from their mother hence making it easy to work out if you have both parents or one parent and a child the likely DNA of the third member. But when you reach back to a grandparent and the amount of DNA they pass to a grandchild that can be quite variable. It could be that 25% is passed by each grandparent but this passing is done in the parent's body so that at fertilization chunks from each of their parents are rearranged at fertilization so that one could actually get nothing from one grandparent and the entire 50% that a parent contributes could have come from the other grandparent. When you reach great grandparent that you are talking about an average of 12.5% of their DNA passing to their great grandchild. The significance of ancestors in the DNA disappears rapidly - 50% in each generation because there are eight great grandparents to contribute to one child. You could have four of the eight contributing to that child and four not which would result in no matches with those lines or you could have the average 12.5% contributed by each great grandparent or some number in between 0 and 25%.

The maximum I could have received from my grandmother's mother then could be as high as 25% if at conception my mother passed DNA to me that consisted of 25% Taylor and no Buller. However I know that I match a Buller third cousin but it could be on the Welch side as a Buller married a Welch and they were my 2x great grandparents and that might account for the 4th to 6th cousin match instead of a 3rd cousin match. Thinking about it it is entirely plausible that I acquired closer to 25% Taylor and that was why my grandmother noticed that I seemed somewhat like her mother in both looks and character. However I must have also acquired some Welch, enough to match as a 4th to 6th cousin. My mother received 50% of her DNA from her mother which would of consisted of Buller and Taylor from her grandparents but the Buller included Buller and Welch and the Taylor included Taylor and possibly Roberts. That is what is so random about all of this we can get chunks that have passed down virtually intact from several generations back and they are our 4th, 5th and 6th cousin matches.

Sarah Tanner (1758 - 1835)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 25

Blake, King, Coleman, Pearce, Farmer, Mary (unknown), Lambden, Sarah (unknown), Knight, Ellis, Knight, Vincent, Butt, O'Ford, Arnold, Molton, Cotterel, Bartlett, Alderman, Shepherd, Sherwood, Elizabeth (unknown), Happerfield, Collins, Rawlings, Tanner, Dove, Morgan, Lywood, Lanham, unknown, Peck, Pincombe, Charley, Rowcliffe, Pearse, Rew, Moggridge, Siderfin, Kent, Gray, Hilton, Cobb, Sproxton, Routledge, Tweddle, Routledge, Routledge, (unknown) Buller, unknown, Beard, Hemsley, Welch, Brockhouse, Cheatle, Woodcock, unknown Taylor, unknown, Harborne, Lewis, Roberts, Croxall, Lawley, unknown

Sarah Tanner is my next 4x great grandparent to be presented in this 52 Ancestor Challenge. She was baptized 31 Dec 1758 at Tilshead daughter of John Tanner and Ann Stratton who were themselves married  27 Jan 1752 at Little Cheverell. Sarah's parent were a brick wall for me for a number of years. A researcher for whom I did a transcription (three pages) spent a little time with the Little Cheverell records at the Wiltshire Record Office but did not find any records for John Tanner or Ann Stratton other than their marriage in this village. A stroke of good luck occurred when I uploaded a new tree to Find My Past and I received hints. There was a pointer to Joseph Stratton and Rachel Whitley as the parents of Ann Stratton and that she was baptized 8 Oct 1731 at Winterborne Stoke. I have been a long time utilizing the power of the search engines at Find My Past and can now say that they are terrific. I am slowly following through on the hints which number nearly 600!

It has always been a mystery to me that Jeremiah Rawlings and Sarah Tanner married at Tilshead. The priest noted in the register that Jeremiah was from Enford thus locating him very neatly in my Rawlings family there. Jeremiah is a rather unusual forename in the Rawlings family thus making it doubly easy to connect him with his birth family. But why was Jeremiah in Tilshead? That is a story for another 52 Ancestor Challenge as Jeremiah will be next.

Sarah had one known brother John who was baptized 10 Mar 1756 at Tilshead. These are the only two births that I have found for this couple and the researcher mentioned earlier had looked for births at Little Cheverell where the parents had married in 1752 as four years is a long gap before children in this time period. Ann, mother of John and Sarah, was buried at Tilshead 2 Oct 1779 so plenty of time for more children. I do not however have any information on John Tanner her husband. Although there are hints I can not separate my John Tanner from any of these hints with any sense of correctness. I do not know when or where he died.

This day will be spent looking at possibilities for John Tanner to see if I can locate his baptism and the names of his parents. Since this family moves about a great deal I shall set my checking over a larger area than I might in general.

Possibilities for John Tanner

John Tanner baptized 26 Feb 1726 at Chisledon (21 miles from Little Cheverell) son of John Tanner and Elizabeth King

John Tanner baptized 29 Jun 1729 at Kington Saint Michael (20 miles from Tilshead, 16 miles from Little Cheverell) son of John Tanner

John Tanner baptized 30 Jul 1718 at Kington Saint Michael son of Thomas Tanner

John Tanner baptized 20 Sep 1717 at Bemerton (17 miles from Little Cheverell) son of William Tanner and Mary

John Tanner baptized 17 Nov 1728 at Draycot Cerne (16 miles from Little Cheverell) son of Isaac Tanner and Mary

John Tanner baptized 29 Nov 1717 at Colerne (16 miles from Little Cheverell) son of Benjamin Tanner 

John Tanner baptized 18 Sep 1726 at South Burcombe (15 miles from Little Cheverell) son of John Tanner and Constant

John Tanner baptized 29 Nov 1717 at Box (14 miles from Little Cheverell) son of Gideon Tanner and Jane

John Tanner baptized 27 Nov 1729 at Downton (24 miles from Little Cheverell) son of George Tanner and Jane

John Tanner baptized 25 Jun 1727 at Clyffe Pypard (16 miles from Little Cheverell) son of William Tanner and Elizabeth

John Tanner baptized 23 Aug 1724 at North Bradley (9 miles from Little Cheverell) son of John Tanner and Jane

John Tanner baptized 8 Jul 1727 at Melksham (9 miles from Little Cheverell) son of Townsend Tanner

John Tanner baptized 21 Sep 1719 at Maddington (8 miles from Little Cheverell) son of Thomas Tanner and Christian

John Tanner baptized 20 Nov 1716 at Maddington son of William Tanner and Alice

John Tanner baptized 13 Apr 1725 at Southbroom St James (6 miles from Little Cheverell) son of Edmund Tanner and Susana

Fifteen possibilities for John Tanner who married Ann Stratton at Little Cheverell. One item of interest is the naming of their first child John. Ann's parents were Joseph and Rachel. The children were named John and Sarah. Only four of the baptisms above have John as the father. Sarah does not occur at all. It does seem somewhat strange that Ann would name her first daughter Sarah with her mother named Rachel. Little Cheverell is fifteen miles from Winterborne Stoke but only six miles from Tilshead.

Rachel Strotton was buried 22 Oct 1734 at Winterbourne Stoke. Ann would have been just three years old and would have only known Jane as her mother as a child. Her younger sister Mary must have died as two children are named Mary by Joseph and Jane. Joseph Strotton married  Jane Ganger at Winterborne Stoke 12 Jan 1734 and baptisms for children of Joseph and Jane Stratton at Winterbourne Stoke:

Mary baptized 28 Jan 1735
Mary baptized 31 Aug 1737
Rachel baptized 17 Mar 1746

The Tanner family is a large one just in Wiltshire and finding the correct John Tanner will need some other evidence. I do have the marriage registration for John Tanner and Ann Stratton married 27 Jan 1752 at Little Cheverell but it does not provide any further information. Interestingly enough there is a will written by a Nicholas Tanner of Little Cheverell in the year 1565 where he mentions his wife Alice Tanner, his son Thomas Tanner, his son Hugh Tanner. His overseers are friends or neighbours. No mention of other relatives in this will. There is a Thomas Tanner father of John Tanner baptized 21 Sep 1719 at Maddington just eight miles from Little Cheverell.

It would appear that I need to do more work in Little Cheverell in case the Tanner family is simply not showing up in this area in the FamilySearch or FindMyPast records. Looking at other wills for the Tanner family in this area there is a will for Hugh Tanner dated 1600 and for a Christopher Tanner, husbandman, circa 1639 but neither of these two wills have been scanned to date. There are no wills for the Stratton/Strotton family at Winterbourne Stoke on the Wiltshire Record Office Search. However there are over 200 on the National Archives site for Stratton with 17 from Wiltshire, none appear to be useful. There is one will for Strotton on the National Archives website but again not in a useful time frame.

It would appear that my brickwall continues for John Tanner the father of Sarah Tanner my 4x great grandmother.

Ancestry of Sarah Tanner:

1. Elizabeth BLAKE
2. Ernest Edward George BLAKE (b 20 Aug 1904) - Eastleigh Hampshire England
3. Edith Bessie TAYLOR (b 1 Apr 1875) - Kimpton Hampshire England
4. Elizabeth RAWLINGS (b 19 Oct 1853) - Enford Wiltshire England
5. William RAWLINGS (b 1825) - Enford Wiltshire England
6. Thomas RAWLINS (b 20 Sep 1783) - Enford Wiltshire England
7. Sarah TANNER (b 31 Dec 1758 - Tilshead Wiltshire England
8. John TANNER

Census of Ireland and other Blake items

I extracted the census for Blake from the Irish Census for 1911, 1901, 1851, 1831, and 1821. Just under 2000 for 1911 and 1901 and much smaller for the other three. I want to add this information to the Galway Blake Family Tree on Legacy. Plus I will start a new Legacy tree for Other Irish Families. That is a side project but has an interesting reason as I search out the non-Galway Blake families. I will go in and acquire the military records for Irish Recruits into a database as well and gradually I may get a picture of Ireland and the Blake families who lived there.

Today I shall spend some time on the Cornwall Blake family as I would like to complete the extraction of the CMB records from the OPC website for Cornwall. After I complete the parishes within 25 miles of Bodmin there are only twenty parishes left that have Blake records.

I also want to do a writeup on H11 haplogroup. There are now 116 members of my mtDNA study group and the last six months a lot of the new members are from all around the world but principally Eastern Europe. It still amazes me that both the mitochondrial and the yDNA lines are fairly uncommon (i.e. the numbers would be in the tens of thousands  who are exact matches likely) thus making it somewhat easier to place our lines into particular geographic locations.

I continue phasing the DNA for both my parents using my own and my siblings autosomal DNA results. I am running at around 25% of results where I can only predict one and not two of the expected values (i.e. A, C, G, or T). But 75% of them are falling neatly into place. I can see why my two siblings who tested matched each other so much more than me (although still within the limits of being full siblings as we are) and I can see that we have a lot of differences. I am comparing my results with those obtained from 23 and Me and I could also put Ancestry into the table. just for interests sake. In general FT DNA avoided reading areas that had medical implications thus ensuring that allowing people to see your results in a Chromosome Browser doesn't release any health results. This will be a long project. I considered writing a excel macro to do the stripping but decided to do it this way. It is actually quite quick and I am not in a rush. I am hopeful that more of my siblings will test and then I can add them in as I go along. 

Waterloo

Today, the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. George Lywood, my 3x great grandfather, was at the Battle of Waterloo. That information was totally lost in my family but I have managed to find his records and publish that information so that it will not be lost again.

I am finally down to just ten emails in my inbox and shall beaver away at clearing that inbox today and tomorrow. Then, hopefully, I will be able to have it cleared every evening. As I have gone through these emails the bulk of which were dating back over this past year, I have come across a couple that resulted in my doing some research which I have not blogged. Mostly they were people asking particular questions that didn't fit into the overall family patterns that I am now blogging about.

However, in the future I will blog on the emails as the blog represents my memory and with the labels that I attach to each blog I am able to bring back quickly my thoughts on any particular day for a particular subject.

Just updating my blog for the day and my Inbox is now empty. Having concentrated totally on emails the past week I shall now have to decide how to spend the rest of my day!

Handling emails in a one name study

I have finally reached 25 emails to respond to and the glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel becomes brighter with each passing day. My plan is to have my email box empty every evening when I close the computer down and we will see how that goes. However at 25 emails that is beginning to sound doable. About 75% of the emails to respond to are for the Blake one name study and most often I can not really help people unless they are far enough back in their research and it is in an area that I am looking at.

The rest of the emails are on various DNA projects that I work on or a few extraneous ones for some of my other families. Today I hope to get to 20 emails in my inbox and then perhaps tomorrow I can get that back to 15 or less. As the number becomes smaller and smaller the amount of time to answer grows somewhat exponentially. As I am picking and choosing those that require the least amount of effort to answer first.

In future though I want to do some delegation and will send emails on that are obviously from other Blake lines to the pertinent Blake researcher (if I can manage to bring the details in line with other people's work!). I am going to continue with the quick response on receiving (most of these would have had a reply from my tablet which has since been replaced and I do not appear to have that sent mail still in my sent mail box on the tablet). Perhaps it has disappeared into a cloud somewhere but it did not return!

Email work proceeding

I am now down to 125 emails as I work my way through them all. Since they date back to the summer just after I hurt my back some of them need to be filed and this has proven to thankfully be correct as I work my way through them. I have an enormous amount of work to do on all the material from the Marriage Challenges but will save that actual practical filing into Legacy for a later date but they are all organized now. I probably still have about 50 emails that will require me to do some research and then respond to individual enquiries. Sometimes the research is just too difficult although may improve in the future as I acquire and file more and more material in which case I recommend that people watch my blog as the titles will point to their query in most cases.

I had not expected this to progress quite so quickly so I am pleased to think that towards the end of this week I may actually have a handable number of emails in my inbox! I have one email from 2013 that involves my going to the Anglican Archives. It is a project that I had considered but must first consult with them as there is a charge for going through their database and I am not sure how restricted the searches are. I think all the details are available on the database but in Canada one can not photograph parish registers. The remainder of the emails are from 2014 and 2015 with the bulk of them being from August 2014 to February 2015 when I started to pick up again in terms of answering emails and looking up items.

200 Emails

Down to 200 emails but most of these are going to be a lot of looking and replying. Fortunately some of them have two or three from the same person where I have responded and then promised to get back to the individual. Hopefully that will be accomplished by the end of this month.

A lot of the emails are asking me about Blake lines and I generally can not help people unless they are descended from one of the lines that I have worked down to the 1900s. However, if they send me material then I can enter it and have a start in case anyone else queries the same line in the future. I would then blog on the information thus gleaned and perhaps the original writer will see that.

There are also some on Family Finder matches and I look after seven kits so generally have to sort out which one and then can get into the business of seeing if we can find a match. .

Then there are the marriage challenge results from Guild members and they are greatly appreciated but I am somewhat overwhelmed at the moment but hope to get that put away by the end of the summer. When I can get into the census in a more general way they will be very helpful. I can see that I really have my work cut out for me in the next ten years of working on Blake. By the end of the year I think I shall develop a research plan to make use of all the material that I have, what I would like to acquire on our next trip to England and what I hope to accomplish in the ten years that I will continue with the Blake one name study.

William Arnold (1770 - 1855)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 24

Blake, King, Coleman, Pearce, Farmer, Mary (unknown), Lambden, Sarah (unknown), Knight, Ellis, Knight, Vincent, Butt, O'Ford, Arnold, Molton, Cotterel, Bartlett, Alderman, Shepherd, Sherwood, Elizabeth (unknown), Happerfield, Collins, Rawlings, Tanner, Dove, Morgan, Lywood, Lanham, unknown, Peck, Pincombe, Charley, Rowcliffe, Pearse, Rew, Moggridge, Siderfin, Kent, Gray, Hilton, Cobb, Sproxton, Routledge, Tweddle, Routledge, Routledge, (unknown) Buller, unknown, Beard, Hemsley, Welch, Brockhouse, Cheatle, Woodcock, unknown Taylor, unknown, Harborne, Lewis, Roberts, Croxall, Lawley, unknown

William Arnold is my 4x great grandfather. He married Elizabeth Molton 30 Aug 1793 at Milton Abbas. William was baptized 21 Feb 1770 at Milton Abbas the son of John Arnold and Hannah Norris who were themselves married 7 Jul 1751 at Milton Abbas. In my last challenge I talked about Jane O'Ford who was baptized at Milton Abbas and the coincidence of a child of hers Charles Butt marrying a daughter of William Arnold this week's challenge. That coupled with the surname O'Ford only really being found on Find My Past. It has occurred to me that I should check FreeReg but again did not found an O'Ford family but did find a Durnford family at Marnhull although no Jane baptized in the 1770s. I also wondered if there were any original records online at FMP for the O'Ford family just to see this visually but I was correct in my memory that they were all transcriptions. Carrying on with the Arnold family and the siblings of William can be found below.

John Arnold and Hannah Norris baptized eight children at Milton Abbas:

Mary baptized 8 Apr 1752; married Stephen Elford 27 Apr 1780 at Milton Abbas
John baptized 17 Mar 1754
Jane baptized 20 Oct 1756
Joseph baptized 24 Oct 1759; married Susanna Best 18 Jul 1781 at Milton Abbas
Hannah baptized 18 Aug 1762; married John Hooper 21 Mar 1791 at Milton Abbas
Susannah baptized 2 Oct 1765
William baptized 21 Feb 1770; married Elizabeth Molton 30 Aug 1793 at Milton Abbas
Ann Arnold (no record of baptism, circa 1773); married James Vacher 26 Jul 1796 at Milton Abbas

William Arnold and Elizabeth Molton baptized seven children at Winterborne Whitchurch and three at Winterborne Clenstone:

Thrysa baptized 25 Mar 1791; married Robert Tuffin 3 May 1814 at Winterborne Stickland
Abel baptized 11 Mar 1792; married Mary Lewis 6 Feb 1816 at Winterborne Clenstone
Charles baptized 1 Dec 1793
Hannah baptized 18 Jan 1795; married Charles Butt 26 Dec 1820 at Winterborne Clenstone
Jane baptized 10 Jul 1796
Mark baptized 25 Mar 1798
Sarah baptized 15 Sep[ 1799; married Joseph Butt 7 Jun 1824 at Winterborne Clenstone
Elim baptized 11 Jan 1801 at Winterborne Clenstone; married Mary Ann Cuff 24 Apr 1821 at Winterborne Whitchurch
Ann baptized 8 May 1802 at Winterborne Clenstone
Mark baptized 15 Jul 1821 at Winterborne Clenstone; married Emma Hook

John Arnold (father of William) was baptized 4 Aug 1725 at Milton Abbas son of John and Susannah Arnold.  John and Susannah baptized six children at Milton Abbas:

John baptized 4 Aug 1725; married Hannah Norris 7 Jul 1751 at Milton Abbas
James baptized 1 Feb 1726
Jane baptized 29 Jan 1728
Mary baptism not found, birth circa 1730
William baptized 26 Jan 1732; married Ann Riggs 4 May 1755 at Cheselbourne
Susannah baptized 19 Mar 1734
Thomas baptized 21 May 1737

John Arnold (father of John) was baptized 21 Apr 1702 at Milton Abbas the son of James Arnold and Mary Hardy (no proof of this but generally accepted that her surname was Hardy). They baptized six children at Milton Abbas and both left a will.

Mary baptized 8 Mar 1694; married William Lovell
James baptized 25 Feb 1697; married Honor Lovell 26 Jun 1721
John baptized 21 Apr 1702; married Susannah ?
Ann baptized 19 Oct 1704; married Peter Hause by 22 Mar 1722
Jane baptized 13 Apr 1712
Jane (Jinny) baptized 4 Mar 1714

Will of James Arnold - abstract only -  will of James ARNOLD of Milton Abbas dated 25 June 1742 Proved 8 August 1743 Mentions Wife: Mary ARNOLD Son: John ARNOLD Daughter: Mary wife of William Lovell Daughter: Ann wife of Peter House. Daughter: Jinny Appoints wife Mary as Executor

Will of Mary Arnold - abstract only - will of Mary ARNOLD (wife of the above) of Milton Abbas Mentions: son John ARNOLD Daughter: Mary wife of William Lovell Daughter: Ann wife of Peter House Grand daughter: Honor Daughter: Jinny executor

James (father of John) was baptized 4 Oct 1663 at Milton Abbas son of James and Sibyl Arnold. James and Sibyl baptized six children at Milton Abbas.

Henry baptized 4 Jan 1651
Mary baptized 12 Sep 1654
Baby baptized 18 Nov 1657 (born dead); buried 19 Nov 1657
Ann baptized 27 Mar 1661
James baptized 4 Oct 1663
John baptized 4 Oct 1663

The Protestation Returns (1641-42) for Milton Abbas have the following entries:

Henry Arnold, gent
Wm Arnold
David Arnold
Henry Arnold
John Arnold

Richard Arnold  - Constable

Given that the first son of James and Sibyl was named Henry then perhaps the father of James was Henry and there are two available in the correct time frame. However, I have not yet found information to link James to his father. That can be the object of my research today along with finding marriage dates that are missing and missing wife's surnames. From the records below it could also be that this family has come from Helton parish (I suspect this is Hilton which is just 2 miles from Milton Abbas) noting William Arnold is the father of a Henry who married 6 Apr 1655 Sara Vincent at Milton Abbas. Interesting but not conclusive results and one notes that there wasn't a James Arnold listed in the Protestation Returns. To be on the returns usually the individual was 18 years of age or older so born before 1624.

A few extraneous records gleaned reading the Parish Registers at Milton Abbas:

Henry Arnold was born son of Henry and Sara Arnold 12 Apr 1650; buried 11 Jun 1650
Richard Arnold, gent, was buried 11 Feb 1652
Davee Arnold was buried 27 Mar 1653
Tobias Painter and Alace Arnold were married 2 Oct 1654
Henry Arnold (helton parish, son of William Arnold) and Sara Vincent (daughter of William Vincent) banns published three times (March 1654) and married 6 Apr 1655
Unknown Arnold daughter of Henry and Sara Arnold born 10 Jan 1655; buried 1 Feb 1655
Henry Arnold was born son of Henry and Sara Arnold 12 Apr 1657; buried 11 Jun 1657
John Arnold son of Henry and Sara Arnold 9 Jul 1658; buried 23 Dec 1658
Jone Arnold wife of William Arnold was buried 17 May 1659
Sara Arnold was baptized daughter of Henry and Sara Arnold 27 December 1663
Sibbell Arnold wife of James Arnold was buried 28 Jul 1673
Mary Arnold was buried 22 Jun 1674
Robert Arnold of Ansty, gent, was buried 27 Mar 1677
Mary Arnold was baptized daughter of Henry and Margarett Arnold 13 Oct 1678
Ann Arnold was baptized daughter of Henry and Margarett Arnold 19 Oct 1680
Avice Arnold was buried  24 Oct 1680
Mary Arnold was buried 10 Nov 1682
Joseph Arnold and Mary Roger were married 18 Apr 1687
Ann Arnold was buried 13 Mar 1688
John Arnold was buried 14 Sep 1690
Henry Arnold was baptized son of Henry and Margarett Arnold 26 Dec 1690
Jame Arnold and Joane Arnold were married 1 Nov 1693
Jane Arnold was baptized daughter of James and Joane Arnold 6 Aug 1695
Robert Arnold was baptized son of Henry and Margarett Arnold 6 Dec 1696
Elizabeth Arnold was baptized daughter of James and Joane Arnold 11 Aug 1698
John Arnold and Jone Arnold his wife were buried 6 May 1700
Ann Arnold of Henton was buried 13 Aug 1718
Henry Arnold was buried 16 Nov 1721
Mary Arnold was baptized daughter of James and Honour Arnold 11 Oct 1722
Mary Arnold was baptized daughter of James and Mary Arnold 5 Nov 1723
Honour Arnold was baptized daughter of James and Honour Arnold 29 May 1724
Thomas Arnold was baptized son of James and Honour Arnold 31 Dec 1725
Robert Arnold was baptized son of James and Mary Arnold 21 Apr 1727
Margarett Arnold was buried 5 Nov 1727
Robert Arnold was baptized son of James and Honour Arnold 9 Nov 1727
Margaret Arnold was baptized daughter of James and Mary Arnold 11 Feb 1729


The registers for Hilton are on the OPC Dorset site:

Hugh Arnold was baptized 3 Nov 1626 son of John Arnold
Joane Arnold was baptized 8 Apr 1629 daughter of Mr John Arnold of Frome Aller
Agnes Arnold was baptized 6 Sep 1629 daughter of William Arnold of Aller
Ralph Arnold was baptized 11 Sep 1631 son of John Arnold of Twin Aller
Margaret Arnold was baptized 16 Feb 1631 daughter of William Arnold of Aller
Richard Arnold was baptized 16 Aug 1635 son of William Arnold of Aller
Elizabeth Arnold was baptized 9 Mar 1635 daughter of William Arnold of Ansty
Elizabeth Arnold buried 19 May 1638 daughter of William Arnold
John Arnold and Judith Keines married at Hilton both of Aller 17 Jan 1642
Abraham Arnold baptized 30 Jul 1643 son of John Arnold of Aller
Thomas Arnold of Pecke Mill buried 3 Dec 1645
William Arnold of Aller buried 6 Feb 1660
Elizabeth Arnold buried 21 Jul 1661
Alice Arnold widow of Newton buried 10 Feb 1662
Thomas Rogers of Ibberton and Margaret Arnold of Aller married 3 Nov 1663 at Hilton
Thomas Mathews of Tinckleton and Sarah Arnold of Milton married 17 Mar 1680 at Hilton
Mrs Margaret Arnold widow of Ansty buried 18 Nov 1684
John Arnold of MIlton Abbas and Jane Parsons married 16 May 1738 at Hilton

Still no sight of James Arnold but an overall search on the OPC Dorset site yielded 132 results for "James Arnold" but none of the results added to the available information thus far on James and his wife Sibbel. This was an interesting search through the records. Many of them have been added to greatly in the past couple of years. Although I did not add any new information, looking at the Arnold family at Milton Abbas and the O'Ford family also there has led to some rather interesting blogs!

The Protestation Returns for Hilton (spelled Helton in this return) have the following:

John Arnold
Robert Arnold
William Arnold junior

William Arnold overseer (possibly senior?)

Ancestry of William Arnold:

1. Elizabeth BLAKE
2. Ernest Edward George BLAKE (b 20 Aug 1904) - Eastleigh Hampshire England
3. Samuel George Blake (b 10 Feb 1875) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
4. Maria Jane KNIGHT (b 27 Jan 1849) - Turnworth Dorset England
5. Louisa BUTT (b 27 Jan 1827) - Winterborne Stickland Dorset England
6. Hannah ARNOLD (b 13 Dec 1797) - Winterborne Stickland Dorset England
7. William ARNOLD (b 21 Feb 1770) - Milton Abbas Dorset England
8. John ARNOLD (b 4 Aug 1725) - Milton Abbas Dorset England
9. John ARNOLD (b 21 Apr 1702) - Milton Abbas Dorset England
10. James ARNOLD (b 4 Oct 1663) - Milton Abbas Dorset England
11 James ARNOLD

1000 emails

I was approaching that dreaded 1000 emails in my Inbox so decided that today had to be a day of filing and elimination. The dream is to completely catch up on my emails and having now reduced that number to 240 perhaps it is something that can happen in the near term rather than an I must get to answering emails. Gardening is the largest cause at the moment along with cleaning the house both of which are always going to take precedence. We are slowly downsizing our possessions for that eventual move (maybe ten years from now out of our present home and into something on one floor. But time will tell on that. The biggest thing for people aging is likely the stairs and we have two flights which have to be negotiated many times a day. Good exercise for us at the moment!

Now that I am down to 240 emails I think I shall try each morning to look at 30 or so of them which could mean that in one week I would have this manageable list of emails in front of me that I can handle daily. I know I missed quite a few marriage challenges but I was overwhelmed with the results and decided that I would pass on them. Plus the British Parliament is thinking of ways of making it easier for people to extract genealogical information from their Civil Registration moneywise. With a study like Blake I would probably be spending quite a bit anyway but nonetheless I have let them pass me by although may start once again submitting my lists for marriage challenges.

The really good news is one of the Guild members in Canada East has volunteered to become Regional Representative for Eastern Canada thus taking one more commitment off of my desk. The intention is that all "timed" related committments would be gone by the end of this year in which I am turning 70. From now on I would simply set the stage for when and where I would commit myself to genealogy that wasn't personally related to looking at my own family lines. I still have Conference 2017 for the Ontario Genealogical Society on our joint plates (my husband and I) but that will be the only one to carry forward into 2016.

Phasing DNA from siblings

I have now put into practise the methodology that David Pike used in the lecture that I attended. I am looking at 700,000 lines of data and I have placed the three sets of results side by side in an excel file. It can actually be quite speedy if you have the Chromosome Browser open as you can see where the long matching runs are. As it turns out one of my siblings is right at the limit of centimorgans between siblings (actually that is me) and quite a bit closer to my other sibling that has tested. I have completed 623 lines and have 123 sets (19.7%)  that I can not definitively phase into the columns that I have set up for my parents. I can always see one of them but the second one is an either or. The first one is easy because one of us has a doublet i.e. GG at that point so both of them have a G as an example or that could be A or C or T. But  one or both of us has AG and which means either parent could have AG or both of them could or one of them could have GG. My father was an only child and my mother had one brother who did not have any children thus limiting my ability to acquire information from others. I do have a second cousin in Canada though and I may ask if she would like to do FT DNA Family Finder. That would give me information on my Blake line. The lack of first cousins is certainly noticed when one is working on DNA! I also have second cousins in the States on my Buller line and I am thinking of trying to locate them and see if they would test. Persuading my other three siblings and the daughter of my deceased brother is another option and I will continue working away on that one. I think it could be very handy in the future to know the DNA of my parents.

I believe that we have now passed over a new watershed in genealogy. Prior to the last year or so genetics was just a new tool but now a year later I think it is a necessity in a project to really give it meaning.

I have one other set of data in the Chromosome Browser for a known 4th cousin who matches my siblings twice as much as I do and will watch for that as I am working away.

Early 52 ancestor Blog and the Genetic Genealogy Day in Toronto at Toronto Branch of OGS

I posted my 52 Ancestors Blog today instead of tomorrow as I am very curious if I might get any comments on my research on Jean/Jane Durnford whom I now suggested could be Jane O'Ford baptized at Milton Abbas. Especially when one notes that Charles Butt (son of Jane) married Hannah Arnold whose father was born at Milton Abbas. I find the evidence collected to be rather overwhelmingly in favour of my thoughts on the ancestry of Jane O'Ford (called Durnford on her marriage registration).

We spent Saturday in Toronto (arrived on Friday afternoon) at the Genetic Genealogy Day sponsored at the North York Public Library by the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society. It was an excellent set of lectures and in particular I had wanted to listen to the lectures of Maurice Gleeson (known to me from the Guild of One Name Studies as he is researching one of his surnames there) and David Pike (I work with him on the T_FGS haplogroup study, I am behind putting people into their relevant subgroups at the study but will be working on that shortly).

Maurice's ancestors are Irish and I knew he would be talking about Irish records. I am especially keen these days to learn more about Irish research methods. I have been working on the Galway Blake family in order to learn as much about them, collect as many of them on the census that are available and put them into the Galway Family Tree that I have created from Martin Joseph Blake's books on his Galway Blake family. I am doing this in order to be able to separate out the other Blake families in Ireland - a number of them I am aware of and have a limited amount of material on but I want to see if there were any linked Blake families or were they all independent in their various areas in Ireland. Maurice's talk more than fulfilled my desire to learn about Irish records and I found his methodology on working on the DNA of his study of his families to be refreshing and will look again at the Blake yDNA study with some of those thoughts in mind. I also queried him about contacting some of the members of the study who are Irish and he gave me a couple of hints which will be helpful.

David Pike studies the Pike family of Newfoundland in great detail and along with that he discusses phasing of ancestors for whom you do not have DNA samples. I would like to put together my parent's DNA and with six siblings (one deceased but he has a daughter) I wondered at my accuracy in such a venture. David's talk was excellent. It was unfortunately marred by people insisting on asking questions even after they were asked not to do so. When a lecture is marked Advanced then I think people should expect to just behave as in any other lecture and save the queries to the end. It did cause him to not be able to spend the amount of time he would have liked to on particular areas. However, I did achieve my goal in understanding phasing and proceeding with the results that I have at hand. His lecture was excellent and I found a lot of other useful material in it. He also told us that he had given virtually the same lecture at ISOGG and this lecture is online so I may purchase that just to refresh my memory if I feel the need to do so.

I was also present at Maurice's talk on DNA and one name studies and he did request queries in order to better direct his talk which I can understand. This is a more specialized type of research and you can vary around the landscape on subjects you might cover. It wasn't a teaching session but rather a look at single surname research and was most interesting. He had a lot of good ideas on using some of the tools that are provided by FT DNA for studies.

We did not stay for the last lecture as we needed to head home and wanted to be there by 9:00 ish. The traffic coming out of Toronto on Saturday flowed very well and we were home in just over 4.5 hours of driving. The trip down was horrendous as we arrived at Toronto about 5:00 pm having left home at 10:00 a.m. We did do a few stops but we were nearly an hour progressing from Oshawa to our hotel near the North York Public Library (same mall actually).

Thanks again to Toronto Branch for organizing such a fantastic day.  These days we tend to do most trips like this spontaneously rather than plan ahead.

Jane O'Ford or Durnford (1771 - 1848)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 23

Blake, King, Coleman, Pearce, Farmer, Mary (unknown), Lambden, Sarah (unknown), Knight, Ellis, Knight, Vincent, Butt, O'Ford, Arnold, Molton, Cotterel, Bartlett, Alderman, Shepherd, Sherwood, Elizabeth (unknown), Happerfield, Collins, Rawlings, Tanner, Dove, Morgan, Lywood, Lanham, unknown, Peck, Pincombe, Charley, Rowcliffe, Pearse, Rew, Moggridge, Siderfin, Kent, Gray, Hilton, Cobb, Sproxton, Routledge, Tweddle, Routledge, Routledge, (unknown) Buller, unknown, Beard, Hemsley, Welch, Brockhouse, Cheatle, Woodcock, unknown Taylor, unknown, Harborne, Lewis, Roberts, Croxall, Lawley, unknown

Jean/Jane Durnford married John Butt 14 Oct 1800 at Winterborne Stickland, Dorset. She is said to be the daughter of Thomas Durnford and Mary Ball but at this time of looking once again at Jean/Jane I have not found anything further about her nor is it possible to verify her parents having been given them by another researcher back in 2004. The date of baptism was also given as 29 Sep 1771 at Winterborne Stickland which is about three years earlier than the death registration indicated but will not let that determine my final thought as it could be in error.

John and Jane Butt had seven children baptized at either Winterbourne Stickland or Winterbourne Clenstone (mostly at Stickland). These two places are very close together with Clenstone being a very small village where my husband and I spent a short while in 2008. Their eldest son Charles married Hannah Arnold (the Arnold family will be the next 52 Ancestor Challenge) 26 Dec 1820 at Winterbourne Clenstone. Their daughter Louisa married Samuel Knight 7 Sep 1849 at Winterbourne Stickland and their eldest daughter Maria Jane married Edward Blake 29 Oct 1870 at Upper Clatford and they were my great grandparents.

Jane Butt's burial lines of 3 Feb 1848 give her age as 74 years or year of birth circa 1774.

Possible matches at Find My Past:

Jane baptized at Newton Tony, Wiltshire 19 Jun 1775 daughter of Thomas and Lydia Durnford
Jane baptized at Upton Scudamore, Wiltshire 9 Jun 1771 daughter of Thomas and Grace Durnford
Jane baptized at Etchilhampton, Wiltshire 31 May 1773 daughter of Thomas and Bridget Durnford

The daughters of John Butt and Jean Durnford are named Maria and Bethaniah so that isn't helpful in determining the correct parents although Mary Ball comes closest. I have pretty much left this alone the last ten years because I couldn't find anything to prove the Thomas Durnford and Mary Ball incorrect.

Newton Tony is 33 miles from Winterborne Stickland/Clenstone.
Upton Scudmore is  28 miles from Winterborne Stickland/Clenstone
Etchilhampton is 38 miles from Winterborne Stickland/Clenstone.

Since there are very few Durnford families in Dorset I think looking at Wiltshire is a reasonable thought. However, I am really stepping out of the box as most people are sticking with Thomas Durnford and Mary Ball which I find to be a dead end in terms of learning anything about them.
Given the names of their sons I am left to wonder if Jane's father is Thomas since the sons are named: Charles, George, Joseph, Robert and Stephen.

After ten years of being brickwalled with all the online records I am left to wonder if Thomas Durnford married to Mary Ball really exists. Why didn't John Butt and Jane Durnford name one of their sons Thomas. Mind you the name Thomas does appear in great grandsons of this couple.  However this could have more to do with the forenames of some of the inlaws that married into the Butt family.

This is not a day of great gains but more a day of refreshing what I do know about Jane Durnford and it is still not very much. Lots about her descendants nothing particularly about her ancestors. I have made the decision however to change my website to remove the earlier information.

I am left with the thought that her name is simply spelled completely wrong on the marriage registration. I did a search on Find My Past and found in the area of Winterborne Stickland:

Jane O'Ford baptized 27 Jun 1773 at Milton Abbas daughter of Thomas and Ann O'Ford
Jane Coffin baptized 12 May 1773 at Durweston daughter of Henry and his wife (twin)
Jane Head baptized 15 Oct 1775 at Durweston daughter of John and Jane Head
Jane Horlock baptized 5 Apr 1772 at Blandford Forum daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Horlock
Jane O'Ford baptized 1 Jun 1769 at Winterborne Stickland daughter of William and Elizabeth O'Ford

Have I perhaps solved a mystery. That Jane/Jean's surname is actually O'Ford? The process of proving it could be rather interesting!  There is only one entry for O'Ford in FreeBMD but there are a number of entries on Find My Past for this family in Dorset. Did the name simply change? The name Oxford appears in Free BMD in Dorset in this area. What happens to the O'Ford surname in Dorset? The OPC Dorset site for Milton Abbas does not have the baptism I found on Find My Past. There is both an Oxford and an O'Ford family at Milton Abbas. There is also an Alford  and an Elford family at Milton Abbas. This is a mystery that I would love to solve. I suspect that I may be moving to the correct path. The surname O'Ford is not listed in Reaney or Titford (Dictionaries of English Surnames), nor is it listed in MacLysaght's surnames of Ireland. It is also not listed in Rowlands Surnames of Wales. Did the priest who married John Butt and Jane Durnford mishear the name Durnford? Looking at their marriage registration I note that William Elford has signed as a witness along with William Tizzard. John Butt (husband of this Jane) also signed the parish register. Both of these men William Tizzard and William Elford) did sign the registers on occasion so did not think anything of that. But there is a William O'Ford baptizing a daughter Jane 1769 at Winterborne Stickland. The year of birth seems too early but the coincidence is amazing. I never see anyone writing the name Durnford. Everytime it is written it is the priest writing it. I would be more curious about the daughter of Thomas and Ann from Milton Abbas as being the correct Jane just because of the year of baptism. The record that was originally used by most people is from Family Search:

It is a patron submission and I think it is just incorrect as I can not find this couple anywhere including in All Cannings where the Durnford family is quite numerous. I am noting however that the father was Thomas and that the Thomas O'Ford at Milton Abbas is baptizing a daughter Jane in 1773. But can I find a Thomas O'Ford marrying an Ann? There is a Thomas Elford buried 30 Sep 1798 at Winterborne Stickland.

There is a strong temptation to move to this family at Milton Abbas as the parents of this Jane. There is a Thomas O'Ford baptized 23 Jan 1729 at Milton Abbas son of John and Frances. There is also a Thomas O'Ford baptized 28 Jul 1741 at Tarrant Monkton son of John and Mary. Tarrant Monkton is just 8 miles from Winterborne Stickland. 24 Jul 1761 Thomas O'Ford was buried at Milton Abbas. There was also a Thomas O'Ford buried 23 Dec 1810 at Milton Abbas. Why do I only find the O'Ford family on Find My Past! Searching on just O'Ford between 1710 and 1750 yields 228 results in Dorset. There can be good news in some of this abstract searching and I found a Bethiah O'Ford baptized 20 Oct 1736 at Milton Abbas daughter of John and Frances. This is similar to one of the forenames of the children of John and Jane Butt.

Marriages of O'Ford at Winterborne Stickland:

Benjamin O'Ford married Mary Sheppherd 3 Sep 1737

William O'Ford married Elizabeth Williams 3 Jul 1764

Finding Bethiah is very very interesting. Thomas O'Ford baptized 23 Jan 1729 as mentioned is also the son of John and Frances. John O'Ford is baptized 20 Sep 1728 at Milton Abbas son of John and Frances. What can I find out about John and Frances O'Ford? Also Thomas O'Ford at Milton Abbas baptized a daughter Jane in 1773. I feel that I have within that measure of doubt found a reasonable family line for Jane. Certainly the other line can not be proven. I am curious if I will receive any comments on this blog from my relatives in Australia who have studied the Butt family in great detail! and also cousins in England who have done the same. This could also, perhaps, account for some of that Irish ancestry that I appear to have with my DNA testing. Jane is my 4x great grandmother and could have influence on my ethnicity. The oldest entries appear to be in the 1720s. I do not find this surname in the Discovery Catalogue on the National Archives website.

In total there are 551 results for the O'Ford surname in Dorset on Find My Past. There are 1773 O'Fords in a general search on Find My Past for Britain. Of the first 40 entries, 39 are in London in the Westminster Rate Books.There are a few records in the late 1600s in London. Some of these surnames are spelled Oford. When I get a chance I will update my webpage!

Ancestry of Jane O'Ford mispelled as Durnford perhaps:

1. Elizabeth BLAKE
2. Ernest Edward George BLAKE (b 20 Aug 1904) - Eastleigh Hampshire England
3. Samuel George Blake (b 10 Feb 1875) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
4. Maria Jane KNIGHT (b 27 Jan 1849) - Turnworth Dorset England
5. Louisa BUTT (b 27 Jan 1827) - Winterborne Stickland Dorset England
6. Charles BUTT (b 21 Dec 1801) - Winterborne Stickland Dorset England
Possibly and interestingly
7. Jane O'FORD (b 27 Jun 1773) - Milton Abbas Dorset England
8. Thomas O'FORD (b 23 Jan 1729) - Milton Abbas Dorset England
9. John O'FORD

Contacts at 23 and Me

My results are just a couple of days old at 23 and Me and already I have had two contacts (one I initiated and one to me). For the one it is my Blake line in Hampshire and the relationship is very ancient going back to my 11x great grandfather (I have one Blake marriage which brings two lines together at my 9x great grandparents giving a little extra boost to the genes I guess!) and the other is a mystery at the moment although we share surnames in both Hampshire and Warwickshire. So a little sleuthing to come on those lines (3rd cousin is the indication). I have 919 matches at 23 and Me but mostly in the distant category. No close relationships but 1 2nd to 4th unknown, 5 3rd to 5th cousins, 101 3rd to 6th cousins, with the remainder being more distant. About 1/3 to 1/2 are public matches. There are many many with American ancestry. My contacts were both from Australia with ( like me) 100% British Ancestry.

There are also quite a few matches with people having 100% Irish ancestry. Perhaps I will solve that elusive great grandmother after all with a match. I have one particularly good match on the X chromosome which bears further research and it is a public match. I have written and will see what happens there. This person has ancestry in Northern Ireland which is the likely place for my great grandmother to have been located or at least her family as she was born in Birmingham. The nice part is my mitochondrial DNA can be used as well. This particular grouping that I have is found principally in Northern Ireland and in Argyllshire/Ayshire Scotland. We are ancient to the British Isles (H11a2a1) although I note that the greatest frequency for our haplogroup H11a2 is The Netherlands which I think is one of the migration points out of Ukraina following the Last Ice Age. Because my matches are also in Sweden I was suspicious that they had taken the northern route to get to Scotland but a southern route across Europe into the British Isles (via Doggerland) is also very conceivable with people spreading out from a common migration route. All of this is so exciting and the area is under water (the North Sea flooded Doggerland thousands of years ago as the ice sheets retreated).

So all in all, another interesting result for me and I have taken all three autosomal results into Gedmatch and I am a perfect match for myself. Always rewarding given my science background to see the duplication of results from the same person. Since I have been involved with DNA from almost the beginning of my genealogy research days, I adhere very strongly to the principal that you really cannot do genealogy without both paper trails and DNA trails. It is amazing to be able to prove your research in such a scientific way.

Whats in a surname? Lanham/Lannum

Still marvelling over my latest find with Canham being Lanham/Lannum and the resultant stretching back in time with that surname. Three Josephs in a row, father of my Elizabeth Lanham, grandfather and great grandfather all in one single episode of searching on Find My Past. I wonder about the origin of this surname now given my results in my latest round of testing this time at 23 and Me. According to their ethnicity estimates I have quite a bit of European and in particular 14.7% French and German along with 54.2% British and Irish, 2% Scandinavian and 27.9% Broadly Northern European. My Southern European is miniscule at 0.3% Broadly Southern European, 0.2% Ashkenazi and then just a general category 0.8% Broadly European. It would appear that I am 99.9% European. I have 0.1% Oceanian and 0.1% North African with 0.1% unassigned. This is similar to my results at FT DNA and Ancestry although my Scandinavian tended to be somewhat higher with them but is named Broadly Northern European at 23 and Me.

Lanham/Lannum does have a DNA study site and there are 37 members with 21 yDNA results. The members are principally North American.

So I pulled out a few surname books - Reaney, Rowlands, MacLysaght, and Titford but this surname is not listed in these books.

The Surname profiler at the University of London let me look at this surname and its highest frequency is in Australia, then the United States of America followed by the British Isles/New Zealand and then Canada/Europe.  The frequency per million as follows: Australia 54.49, United States of America 37.6, United Kingdom 16.91, New Zealand 11.99, Ireland 10.29, Switzerland 0.64, France 0.59, Norway 0.28, Canada 0.23, and Spain 0.21. The name is said to be European_Other western, English.


Then to look at the British Isles for frequency on this same site. Origin is locational name; settlement ending, ham. The greatest frequency in the British Isles in 1998 is in the Hampshire/Wiltshire area where my line is from. There is also a goodly number living in East Anglia area and spreading out from these two regions plus in the Northumberland/Durham of lower frequency. 1881 shows the same type of frequency except concentrated in the Hampshire/Wiltshire area and moving northward slightly and East Anglia but considerably less dense and none in the Northumberland/Durham area. So another rare surname for me it would appear. Its occurence per million in 1881 is 28 and in 1998 20. Its rank order 5399 in 1881 and 6661 in 1998 so a diminishing surname. Lannun does not occur in this charting.

Although my first thought was to look the surname up at the Guild of one name studies and The Surname Society I resisted it; doing Blake and Pincombe is a full time job! Interestingly enough no one is doing this surname however it does appear in the Guild Records: Marriage Index 70 times, the Probate Index 1 time, World Wide Marriages Index 3 times, The Inscriptions Index 1 time, BMD index 19 times and it appears in 10 Members' Archives. No one is studying this surname at The Surname Society yet.

This surname does not occur in The Domesday Book list of surnames:  http://opendomesday.org/name/?indexChar=L

An interesting writeup online after searching for : origin of the surname lanham
http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Lanham

 This interesting surname, of Anglo-Saxon origin, with variant spellings Langham, Langam etc., is a locational name from any of the various places named with the Old English pre 7th Century "lang" meaning "long", plus the Old English "ham", a village or homestead. These places include Langham in Suffolk, recorded as "Langham" in the Domesday Book of 1086; Langham near Gillingham, Dorset, appearing as Langeham in the 1157 Pipe Rolls of that county and Langham, (Norfolk), entered as Langaham in the Domesday Book. Laneham near Tuxford, (Nottinghamshire), which may also have given rise to the surname, appears as "Lanum" in the Domesday Book, and is named from the Old English "lanum", (at) the lanes. Such locational names were originally given as a means of identification to those who left their place of birth to seek work elsewhere, and regional and dialectal differences produced variations in the spelling of the name.

I hadn't checked for Lannum in the Domesday Book and so it appears as Lanum. I must admit the surname is intriguing but I rather think I will stick to just looking at Elizabeth Lanham married to George Lywood and her ancestors.

Elizabeth Pearce (1737 - 1823)

52 Ancestor Challenge - Challenge 22

Blake, King, Coleman, Pearce, Farmer, Mary (unknown), Lambden, Sarah (unknown), Knight, Ellis, Knight, Vincent, Butt, Durnford, Arnold, Molton, Cotterel, Bartlett, Alderman, Shepherd, Sherwood, Elizabeth (unknown), Happerfield, Collins, Rawlings, Tanner, Dove, Morgan, Lywood, Lanham, unknown, Peck, Pincombe, Charley, Rowcliffe, Pearse, Rew, Moggridge, Siderfin, Kent, Gray, Hilton, Cobb, Sproxton, Routledge, Tweddle, Routledge, Routledge, (unknown) Buller, unknown, Beard, Hemsley, Welch, Brockhouse, Cheatle, Woodcock, unknown Taylor, unknown, Harborne, Lewis, Roberts, Croxall, Lawley, unknown

Elizabeth Pearce is my 4x great grandmother and she married John Coleman 7 Oct 1771 at Abbots Ann. John and Elizabeth baptized one child at Abbots Ann namely Sarah baptized 15 Jun 1773 and one at Upper Clatford William baptized 12 Mar 1775. John died and was buried 2 Jul 1780 at Upper Clatford. Elizabeth was married a second time 10 Oct 1781 at Upper Clatford to John Head. They had one daughter Elizabeth baptized 2 Feb 1783 at Upper Clatford. John Head was buried 13 Aug 1809 at Upper Clatford and Elizabeth Head was buried 8 Apr 1823 at Upper Clatford.

Finding the parents of Elizabeth Pearce proved to be a very difficult ask. She was not baptized at Abbots Ann where she married. The Hampshire Baptisms are online at Find My Past and a review of the 251 results searching for an Elizabeth Pearce/Pierce, etc did not reveal any possible hits. So I hunted around the Abbots Ann area to see why she might be there and discovered Simon Pearce who was a malster there (a Peter Pearce had been a victualler dying around 24 Nov 1744). There were three members of a Pearce family in the early records of Abbots Ann. Simon, Mary and Elizabeth. Mary Pearce had married Joseph Welch 7 Oct 1769 at Abbots Ann. Simon married Sarah Cooke 6 Sep 1775 at Abbots Ann. The three Pearce marriages in 1769, 1771 and 1775 all at Abbots Ann. Were they siblings? That set me off on a hunt in Family Search and later Find My Past to see if I could link these three people together and find their parents. It proved to be fairly difficult and another researcher living in Wiltshire looked this family up in the Collingbourne Kingston and Collingbourne Ducis registers and found the following:

William Pearce married Elizabeth Hopgood 25 Apr 1736 at Collingbourne Kingston (Elizabeth was baptized 6 Apr 1712 at Collingbourne Kingston daughter of Thomas Hopgood).

Elizabeth daughter of William and Elizabeth Pearce was baptized 1 Sep 1737 at Collingbourne Ducis
Mary daughter of William and Elizabeth Pearce was baptized 22 Jun 1742 at Collingbourne Ducis
Simon son of William and Elizabeth Pearce was baptized 9 Apr 1746 at Collingbourne Ducis

Finding this particular set made me look harder at the Farmer family at Collingbourne Kingston. It was Isaac Farmer's daughter Ann that married Sarah Coleman's son John Blake. If Isaac had relatives in Collingbourne Kingston and also born there as I thought and mentioned in last week's blog and Elizabeth Pearce's daughter Sarah Coleman married to Thomas Blake also had relatives in Collingbourne Kingston then these two families would have a common ancestral village that could just be the reason that they get to know each other considering that Ann (daughter of Isaac Farmer) lived in Andover and John (son of Sarah Coleman, grandson of Elizabeth Pearce) lived at Upper Clatford where the Coleman family were buried. Abbots Ann is 9 miles from Collingbourne Ducis and 10 miles from Collingbourne Kingston. Abbots Ann to Upper Clatford is just 1.5 miles.

Have I solved the parents of Elizabeth? I have done a fairly exhaustive search of the Pearce families in this area and the three individuals baptized by William and Elizabeth at Collingbourne Ducis appear to be the three later married at Abbots Ann. What attracted them to Abbots Ann? Perhaps the Inn that had been owned by Peter Pearce who had died around 1744. No ideas there actually.

I did find a baptism for a William Peirce 30 May 1699 at Bishops Cannings son of Simon Peirce, labourer.  Bishops Cannings is 15 miles from Collingbourne Ducis. I did not find any further details for Simon Peirce.

Ancestry of Elizabeth Pearce:

1. Elizabeth BLAKE
2. Ernest Edward George BLAKE (b 20 Aug 1904) - Eastleigh Hampshire England
3. Samuel George Blake (b 10 Feb 1875) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
4. Edward Blake (b 2 Jan 1845) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
5. John BLAKE (b 25 Feb 1799) - Upper Clatford Hampshire England
6. Sarah COLEMAN (b 15 Jun 1773) - Abbotts Ann Hampshire England
7. Elizabeth PEARCE (b 1 Sep 1737) - Collingbourne Ducis Wiltshire England
8. William PEARCE