The BIFHSGO Conference was an outstanding success. Although I missed Friday's night's lecture due to other commitments (as well as any workshop I might have attended), the Saturday and Sunday lectures were works of art to put it mildly. Every speaker more than exceeded any expectations I had.
What did I like the most? Probably the lectures by Blaine Bettinger as DNA is my strongest interest at the moment. I like to do the tree research but mostly I like to assemble the DNA into my grandparent's likely donation to their children, my parents. I want to move backwards in the New Year and start to reconstruct my great grandparents and several of Blaine's lectures gave me thoughts on how to proceed with that. As a very early supporter of DNA Painter, I was pleased to see Blaine's approach to utilizing this particularly well designed tool for looking at DNA.
I brought up one question concerning a rather good 2nd cousin match that arrived in my Ancestry account. I was especially a good match with the range for my other three siblings being third and fourth cousin. I knew almost immediately that this was likely on my father's paternal grandmother's side and when the individual wrote to me I said that he was likely matching me in the Knight family. Being very new to DNA he thought a second cousin match was a second cousin and quite often it is! However, I come from a somewhat unusual situation in that I do not have any first cousins and most of my second cousins are half second cousins. All of my second cousins are known to me but one shouldn't be too boastful in that regard! However, I could not see any of my relatives who could have had a child in England that was adopted by a couple who went to New Zealand and that that child would be my direct second cousin. The age differential was also interesting. I have very long generations in my family with my grandparents born in 1872, 1875, 1876 and 1886 with the latter three born in England (lived in England to adulthood and my father was born in England). The 1872 grandfather was born in Westminster Township, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada. He was the only child who survived to adulthood in his family and his only grandchildren are myself and my siblings. Mind you he had a lot of first cousins. But this match was definitely on my father's side as he matched several of my known Knight cousins. The tester was in mid 40s and I am in my mid 70s!
I mentioned to the tester that I was descended from a Knight line that had a second cousin marriage at the 3x great grandparent level (Ellis Knight and Eleanor Knight were 2nd cousins). This was the most recent common ancestor for most of those Knight matches. A number of my matches descend from Samuel Knight my 2x great grandfather who married Louisa Butt. Two of Samuel's siblings married two of Louisa's siblings making for lots of double cousins in that generation. Louisa Butt's parents were Charles Butt and Hannah Arnold (my 3x great grandparents) and fortunately they were not, as far as I can tell thus far, related. Hannah Arnold's parents were William Arnold and Elizabeth Molton and their daughter Sarah married a brother to Charles Butt (Joseph Butt) and in 1840 they emigrated to Canada with their ten children, Sarah died in childbirth a year later and Joseph married Ann Trewin in 1843 and they had eight children. Most members of the Butt family in Canada are probably related to me but that digresses. As a result of all of this intermarriage an endogamous situation has arisen in my Knight-Butt-Arnold family lines. That has mostly created this rather large match that I have with the tester. He is more likely a fourth cousin and does possibly share DNA with me on my paternal grandmother's side. I am still working on her line perhaps not enthusiastically enough as there is one large match with the tester that I can not match although likely on my paternal grandmother's side.
My paternal grandmother was raised by her mother and stepfather and really considered them her family. No mention was ever made of her actual father and other than her original birth certificate I would not have any particular clues as to his possible name. Her name at birth Ada Bessie Cotteril Rawlings and recorded on the census as Ida Rawlins (with her maternal grandparents in 1881), Bessie Taylor (with her mother and stepfather in 1891) and Edith B Taylor (working as a cook in the Manor House at Kimpton Hampshire in 1901). On her marriage registration she is listed as Edith Bessie Taylor. I do have matches in the Rawlin[g]s line that are not descendant of the Rawlings family lines. I would need to have a match with a descendant of a half sibling if I am correct in my thoughts on whom the father might be. Thus far that has not happened. The possible father was married three times with eight children.
The tester does not appear to match on my mother's side thus far and I have quite a few matches for her side on both of her parent's lines.
But I digress from the conference which was a wonderful event and I am looking forward to next year's event.
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