Huguenots

Before I begin let me explain the lack of blog posts for a while. I put my house on the market and it sold really quickly and so I ended up having to move a lot sooner than I had planned. Things have now settled down somewhat so I guess I'll get back to blogging more regularly now. (I hope)

A while back I blogged about a research problem I was working on that might need DNA to solve. Just as an update, I haven't been able to get any of the male descendants to agree to be tested but I haven't given up trying.

I am now currently continuing work on this same research problem in an attempt to identify the origins of the immigrant who came to Virginia in the 1600s. Herein lies the Huguenot question. One of his known sons married a woman from a Huguenot family. The immigrant's family lived in the area near Manakintown where Huguenots began to settle in 1700. Is it possible that the immigrant was also a Huguenot?

One of the factors I looked at today was whether or not you had to be a British subject to receive headrights. Headrights was the right to free land based on the number of persons you brought into the Virginia Colony. You could receive it for yourself and for anyone else you might have brought with you. After reading this article, it would seem to me that anyone could receive headrights, British or not.

Now my problem is proving or disproving he was Huguenot and if so how much time, if any, did he spend in England or Ireland before he came to Virginia. I found several instances of others with the same surname (which I can't share here because it's a client) who were Huguenots but I am still left with my mystery.

A check of the DNA chart of the ancestors of those who have been tested doesn't show any connections to what I found today to be a known Huguenot line of the same surname. I guess more DNA test volunteers are needed. Who knows if this will get solved? We can only hope.

Ancestor or wannabe?

Often times when doing genealogical research we get so excited when we find someone in a records whose name and location matches with known information about our ancestor that we just assume it's a match! Please beware! Just because the name's the same doesn't necessarily mean it's the right person.

If the record you found your ancestor in has few clues to help confirm his identity without any lingering doubts, proceed with caution. Here are just a few tips:

Do a survey of other records. How many other people are there with that name in the county or locality you're searching?

Can you trace this person through other records to compile enough evidence to feel confident that you've got your man?

Can this person sign his own name and perhaps your ancestor used a mark?

Is his occupation the same as your ancestor?

Did he associate with other people known to associate with your family?

These are just a few things to consider when you think you have your man. Is he really an ancestor or just a "wannabe!"

DNA Might Solve This One?

I recently worked on a client project that has been worked on by myself and others several different times. The family lived in colonial Virginia and they moved in and out of burned counties. I have gone through deeds, where available, and tracked their neighbors and associates as recommended by Elizabeth Shown Mills. I have come to the conclusion that one of two men was the father and immigrant ancestor but the problem is which one.

A will for candidate number one is non-existent. I haven't had the chance yet to search for the will of candidate number two but I'm sure I will in the future. This is a family that has been extensively researched by others. I have come to the conclusion that perhaps the only way to narrow this down might be a DNA test.

There is a DNA group for this surname and my suspects are both in the same group. So I'm thinking that they might be brothers. I don't know that DNA testing would prove which of the two brothers it was but it will help to determine if I am on the right track in my thinking that one of them is the father of the ancestor.

Have any of you had much experience or success in DNA testing? If so, I would love to hear from you.

Genealogy on television

Like many of you who are interested in genealogy I am a big fan of the television program "Who Do You Think You Are?" It is always fascinating to see people's reactions as they learn about their ancestors and the history that surrounded their lives.

For someone who loves research in the south I was thrilled to be part of the team that researched the ancestors of Tim McGraw. I spent hours going through land records in Missouri and Virginia working to help piece together Tim McGraw's ancestry. I can't tell you how thrilling it was to see some of the documents that I located initially on microfilm at the Family History Library be shown on camera.

For those of you who prefer to see everyday people highlighted in a television program similar in format to "Who Do You Think You Are" I would recommend The Generations Project produced by BYU Broadcasting. I also had the opportunity to work on several episodes of this program which will be airing soon.

Programs like these two encourage people to start thinking about their roots and what characteristics their ancestors might have had that have trickled down to them. I hope these types of programs will continue to be popular for a long time so many more will come to know and love family history as I do!

Mystery in Mississippi

I have been dealing with a tough research problem in Mississippi today. The husband came to Natchez, Mississippi between 1800 and 1810 but of course I've been asked to locate the parents of the wife. They married in 1810 and she was dead by 1820! They had two known children. Their son died at the Alamo and the name of his maternal grandfather, a Revolutionary War patriot who served at Valley Forge, is given in a short biographical sketch written about him.

So great! You have the name of her father, what's the big deal? Well it's a common name and who's to say that it's even accurate. I guess it's a starting point.

Let the hunt begin.

There were seven men of that name listed on the Muster Rolls for Valley Forge. I've already eliminated one. Six more to go!

Time to search Revolutionary War pension and service records. Wish me luck!!

Parishes of Virginia

I found a fun website tonight while doing some research in Virginia. This website shows all the parishes of Virginia, when they were formed, and which counties they served. I am adding it to my website list. I think it's awesome and I am very appreciative of the person who put it together. To check it out click here. It's part of the Virginia GenWeb pages. Enjoy!

Collaterals to the Rescue!

So this week's post isn't so much about research in the southern United States except the family I was working on did come to Texas. They were German immigrants. I was having a hard time finding the origins of a couple who both came to Texas where they married about 1873. Death certificates weren't much help even though they both died in the 20th century. Apparently they never told their kids much about their lives in the old country because only the death certificate of the wife gave a surname for her father but no other information was supplied for either. Talk about frustration!!

I found that the husband had petitioned for citizenship and so I sent to the District courthouse for copies of his records but to my dismay they didn't give any indication of his village back in Germany. It only gave a date of arrival in the United States. A search of passenger lists didn't turn up anyone with his name on a ship that came in that day. More frustration!!

I then turned my focus on the family of the wife. Because I knew her maiden name, I found references to a citizenship record for a male with the same surname in the same county as the ancestral couple. Once again the citizenship papers came back with no place of origin except Germany. It didn't even give an arrival date!! My next step was to go to the census and see if I could locate this man and see if I could tie him back to the wife.

I traced him in several census records and located him with his widowed mother and several siblings. I then went to the passenger lists and found the ship they came in on but the ancestral wife I was hoping to find wasn't ever listed with the family but I didn't stop there.

Since the family arrived before the 1870 census year. I searched for them in 1870. I found them, the mother and the children, listed with a man, the probable father. Also listed with the family in birth order as if she were a daughter was the female ancestor I was looking for!! What was also hopeful was that they were living just a few counties away from where she and her husband were living in 1880.

To verify that this was probably her I looked for her future husband as they were known to have married in 1873. Lo and behold I found him in the same county as his future bride. I also found to my delight that there was another young man with the same last name also living in the same household. No they weren't living with parents but these two men were probably brothers who had come over together and were living as boarders. Now I can go back to passenger lists and see if I can find the two men coming over together.

Oh and I forgot to mention that the passenger list for the mother who came over with her children gave a village name in Germany!! More future searches. It is interesting to think about this family. I'm wondering if the father and the other daughter, the ancestor, were already here when mom and the other children arrived or if they were missed on the passenger list. More mysteries to solve!