My DNA Journey - MtDNA Results

I am interested in the science of genealogy research – I’m not sure I understand it as well as I should but I am certainly interested enough to dip my toe in the waters.  Earlier this summer, they had a special running on Family Tree DNA for a 12 marker MtDNA test which tests the maternal lines of an individual.  I must say that the results were surprising.

My maternal line goes thus:

• Carmen Maria Johnson
• Betty Jean Tannahill
• Capitola Esther Friddle
• Sophia Vestelle Dollar b. TN
• Buena Vista Bailey b. NC
• Mary Marguerite Church b. NC
• Asinith Jencie McCall b. NC

I can take it no further.  I believe that the nationalities that are associated with these lines are Scottish, German, and Irish and it really doesn’t go any further back than 1800 in North Carolina.  Understanding that these maternal lines go back much further and in fact go back thousands of years, it seems a poor listing of my maternal lines.  I must admit from experience that they can be very difficult to research – sometimes you have to just get lucky because you can’t find any other documentation that lists anything other than a woman’s married name.   Several years ago, I watched a documentary on National Geographic channel called “The Seven Daughters of Eve” which discussed the maternal lines that have emerged from the genetic testing that has been done.  It was based on a book by Bryan Sykes published in 2001 called The Seven Daughters of Eve. Now I want to go back and see it again – because now I have an idea which of the “Seven Daughters of Eve” is a matriarchal ancestor.

So, I just recently received my testing results and find out that I am from Haplogroup T2 and my ancestral matriarch is “Tara”  So…what does this tell me?  Someone from Haplogroup T has a European lineage and has an origin in the near east greater than 45,000 years ago.  In fact, according to what I read, my Haplogroup of T2 is considered to be one of the older lineages that may have been present in Europe and probably dated from the “Late Upper Paleolithic”…. translation – Late Stone Age.  So, my ancestors were probably cave dwellers who might have lived in Europe between 10,000 and 50,000 years ago.  According to what I found, about 10% of European ancestry traces their maternal lineage back to Haplogroup T.  According to the theory of Brian Sykes, my ancestral matriarch – “Tara lived about 17,000 years ago in the northwest of Italy among the hills of Tuscany and along the estuary of the river Arno.” 

Now, I am not quite sure that I know what this all means.  I know that they want me to do more testing, so I can go deeper into what branch or sub clade that I come from.  As I understand it, further testing has determined that there were most likely “additional daughters” that would definitely increase the number from seven.  When I go on the DNA website, the only matches that currently show up for my Haplogroup of T2 come from England, Ireland and the United States with the most being in Ireland. 

There are some generalities that I read that actually quite interesting.  The T Haplogroup is currently found in high concentration around the eastern Baltic Sea.  Wikipedia listed Tsar Nicholas II of Russia to be part of T2 which would also include most of the royal lines of Europe, because not only was his grandmother Victoria the ancestor of most of the European royalty she was also a descendant.  Jesse James was also said to be part of T2.  So…evidently I have royal cousins and criminals as distant relatives.  That sounds about right.

I suppose that I am going to have to find the money to do some further testing.  I am curious what it might tell me.  So, now I know my ethnic heritage (My DNA Journey - The Results) and now I am curious to dig a little deeper into that heritage to find out more about deep genetic roots that I would never find through documentary research.  All I can say is that I have a lot to learn!

A Tinkerer at Heart

My mother used to say that Uncle Bernard always gave her heart a little pang.  Not because he was incredibly good looking (although he was as a young man), but because he had a quirky smile that reminded her of her father who she lost when she was six years old.  I think that my Dad thought Uncle Bernard was one of the smartest and most interesting people he ever knew.

John Bernard Gage was the third of ten children.  He was called "Bun" by his family - which I think had something to do with his ears.  My grandmother was his older sister and she always said that she was especially close to Bernard when they were growing up.  He was her comrade and playmate and during their childhood they had many adventures in and around the farm at Mapleton, Iowa where they spent their childhood.  When they moved to Hatter Creek near Princeton, ID in 1935, Bernard enjoyed tinkering around the farm.  He made himself a gun that he used to hunt around the place.  This homemade gun is a bit infamous in the family - it had the name of Diploducus and many of the younger generation wonder if it is still back in the scrap pile behind Bernard's old place.

Bun and his homemade gun "Diploducus"

Because of some sickness and stubbornness, Grandma, Uncle Orland and Uncle Bernard all graduated from Potlatch High School in 1939.  I think they might have had a class of 20 and three of them were Gage's. When he heard that they were going to have the Tin Lizzy derby in Lewiston in 1939, he got is car ready to race only to find out that he couldn't drive it as he wasn't quite old enough yet.  So he talked his sister's fiance (my Grandpa Frank) to drive the car in the race, it is still one of my favorite pictures.

Grandpa Frank ready to drive Bernard's Tin Lizzy in the Derby in August of 1939

Bernard flying his Corsair over Emeraru

 It didn't take that long after high school for Bernard to become restless.  One day he took off and road the rails back to Nebraska and Iowa to work.  It took a while before his parents knew what had happened with him.  Just that quickly, he came back home and decided to sign up with the Marines in early 1940.  He lied about his age saying he was about a month older than he really was. 
Bernard began the great adventure of flying a plane and was an experienced pilot who had already flown missions over China when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  Bernard flew over 400 missions in a Corsair flying reconnaissance for the most part, but after the war was over - Bernard was ready to come home.

Bernard and brother Don and his Indian!

Bernard's younger brother still remembers the day that Bernard came roaring up the road on an Indian motorcycle.  I know for a fact that that motorcycle thrilled his younger brothers who were enthralled with the cool machine.  Bernard was home to stay and I don't think he ever wandered too far off the mountain for the remainder of his long life.  He might make a few visits to some places...but home was always calling him back.  His wandering days were over.  Bernard settled down with his wife and young family and farmed.  My Dad has always said that Bun was probably one of the finest mechanical minds he ever knew.  Bun could take an engine and make a few adjustments and tweaks and pretty soon it was running better and with more power.  I know that on one occasion, some guy wrecked his car on Hatter Creek and Bun bought the car from him.  All he wanted was the engine - he took the powerful engine that was in that car and put it in his tractor.  (Dad tells me that it was called the Olds Rocket 88) Then he put smokestacks along either side and one evening took it on its maiden voyage.  Down the road, Dad could hear the engine roaring and looking up at the horizon, he could see flames coming out of the smokestacks.  Pretty soon they just fell off...too much heat I guess.  Bun was always tinkering with something.  He got an old VW Bug frame and used it to try engines out for airplanes.

Bun and his VW test vehicle!

 Even towards the end of his life he still had the itch to tinker with an engine.  My brother bought an old tractor from another uncle and went by Bernard's before he headed home.  Bernard looked at the tractor and half jokingly said that he would be willing to make a trade.  He was willing to trade his tractor that had been already tweaked for an old one that needed work.  He got a new riding lawnmower a year or two before he died.  Bernard was quite seriously considering buying some 4 wheeler wheels for his tractor to give him better traction...and probably more power.

Bun trying to negotiate with my brother for his tractor!

Bernard was part of the "Greatest Generation,"  like many men who had military exploits in the war, he didn't really talk about them all that much.  Perhaps to his brothers or sons - but not for general consumption.  I'm not sure that he really understood a lot of his nieces...his nephews made more sense to him.  When it came time for a hug though...he was front and center with that wonderful twinkle in his eye and quirky smile.  I learned a lot about Uncle Bun when I was older and appreciated what he had done in his lifetime.   I learned not too long before his death that he didn't allow anyone outside of the family to call him Bernard or Bun and that he was instead referred to as John.  I didn't even know his real first name was John until I was an adult.  He was always Bernard or Uncle Bun.  There was nothing that Uncle Bun liked better than to work in his shop on his latest project.  When he got to the point that he couldn't do that anymore, I think that a lot of the fun of life left him.  Bernard never liked to leave his home and after he died, his brother and son scattered some of his ashes over the home place so he would never have to leave!

Grandpa Gage's School Picture

It is hard to believe that Granddad Gage was ever a little boy.  Several years back, I was delighted to find a school picture that had been taken about 1899 probably in Esperance, NY since that is where he is in the 1900 census.  It would have made him about seven years old.  What I really find remarkable about this picture is that all of the names are written on the back.  I don't think I did that well on my school pictures.  I'm sure there are a few cousins among these names but I've never quite pinned them all down.  Granddad Gage is the one on the bottom row on the far right with the arrows pointing at him.  I thought it would be fun to post the oldest school picture that I have!

From Pennsylvania to Kansas - Kelley trails

I've been interested in history for most of my life.  Some of my earliest memories involve sitting and listening to stories by my great grandmothers.  So a degree in History and later an obsession with genealogical research seemed to be a natural progression for me.  The older that I get and the more I learn about history, the more I am frustrated at the knowledge of History exhibited by many of the younger generations and many in my own.  My family stories are not necessarily unique, but I am certainly glad that I have taken the time to learn about them.

One of the topics that I remember studying a bit in high school was about the Cumberland Gap.  Essentially, I knew it was a pathway where immigrants coming in from the north would travel to the south and that Daniel Boone was one of those responsible for establishing the trail and that it was part of the Wilderness Road.  I didn't realize how much that passage way would impact my own family history.  I have family members that came through Philadelphia and stopped in West Virginia (Shawvers & Amicks) and I have families that continued clear down to the Clinch Mountain's in TN such as the Kelly's and Hammer families.

Kinchen W. Kelley was the son of Johnathan H. Kelley and Margaret E. Matherly  who were most likely Irish immigrants who came in through Philadelphia like many other immigrants from the Pre-Revolutionary War period.  Kinchen was born on 19 Jun 1759 in Pennsylvania and probably traveled down to Tennessee as a young man.  He married Elizabeth "Betsy" Hammer in abt 1787.  I  believe from what I have read that the Hammers were already in Tennessee by the time that Betsy married Kinchen.  Like Kinchen, Betsy was born in Pennsylvania on 14 Dec 1764.  She was the daughter of John Melchior Hammer II and Maria Margaretha Kaupp who were both from Oberjesingen, Wurttemberg, Germany.  According to some sources, the Hammers traveled down about 1780 and settled near Knob Creek, Washington Co., TN.  The family got two land grants of 200 acres and had a home that was built at the first spring above Jonesborough.  John Hammer was an important man in the area - serving as a Missionary, Farm, Census Take, Property Assessor, Counter of Taxables and served on several juries.  In addition, he was appointed by John Sevier as a Magistrate after the State Constitution was formed. He died in 1817 and his wife, Margaretha died 10 years later in 1827.

When I first started studying the Kelley family, I talked to the granddaughter of William Kelley and Ailey Allen.  She was the youngest child of one of the youngest children of William Kelley and Ailey Allen and actually spent her young years on their farm.  Family legend said that William Kelly as a boy came to Clay Co., KY with his family probably in the 1840's.  They had a wagon that carried their goods...but the older children walked along side the wagon.  They came from the Clinch Mountains in Tennessee.  Researchers before me had pieced together that William's father John Kelley was the son of Kinchen Kelley.  This information seemed to be confirmed by a copy of Kinchen Kelley's will.  Even though it seems strange to have a John and Johnathan mentioned in the same will.  That seems to me to be practically the same name. The connection also seemed to confirmed to me by the prominent use of the name Kinchen within the Kelley family.

So, in just a few generations the Kelley family traveled from Pennsylvania (Kinchen b. 1759) to Tennessee (m. Elizabeth "Betsy" Hammer abt 1787) and then moved to Clay Co., KY around 1840 (John Kelley & Elizabeth Hunter).  My Great Great Grandfather was the son of William Kelley and Ailey Allen and the grandson of John Kelley and Elizabeth Hunter.  John Ward Kelley moved his own family out of Kentucky and to Kansas and Oklahoma in 1885.  Sarah Rachel Kelley, John Ward's daughter, married John Lyons Tannahill and their son, Oliver Richard Tannahill was my grandfather.  My grandfather's family didn't stay that long in Kansas and Oklahoma and left in the 1920's although I don't think it was for better opportunity but rather running from the law...but that is a story for another time.

I wonder how many Americans who had ancestors who traveled the same pathway from Pennsylvania to Tennessee and how many have tried to trace that pathway back.  I'm not sure I would have ever known where the Kelleys and Hammers had lived if it wasn't for some genealogists and historians who spent time and effort to locate the Killey Cemetery in Knob Creek, Washington Co., TN (See Killey "Kinchen" Cemetery for more info)  Here is a link to Kinchen Kelley (Killey)'s gravestone on Find A Grave and that of his wife Elizabeth "Betsy" Hammer.  Here is my Kelley Line:

Kinchen Kelley m. Elizabeth "Betsy" Hammer
John Kelley m. Elizabeth Hunter
William Kelley m. Ailey Allen
John Ward Kelley m. Melvina Robertson
Sarah Rachel Kelley m. John Lyons Tannahill
Oliver Richard Tannahill m. Capitola Esther Friddle
My Parents...then Me

The Winslow Connection

I still remember the first time I saw my great great grandfather’s name – Winslow Lonsdale Pope – and thought…if anything is a New England name…then that is.  Very quickly I found out I was correct.  Winslow was born in Weston, Drummond, Quebec but his family came out of Vermont and New Hampshire.  He wasn't even the first Winslow Lonsdale Pope in his family…he had an older brother with the same name who was born in 1839 but died in 1842.  My Winslow was born five years after his brother’s death on 1 Nov 1847.   I am always curious where names come from - and I knew the name of Winslow was pretty prevalent in New England.  After a bit of help from others and research on my own, I found out where that name came from.

Picture of Great Great Grandpa Winslow
 taken a week before he died in 1928.

Winslow Lonsdale Pope was the son of Francis Pope and Belinda Willey and Francis Pope was the son of Winslow Pope and Mary Wheelock.  This Winslow Pope was born 10 Aug 1770 in Rochester, Plymouth Co., MA to Seth Pope and Sarah Winslow.  So, as it was common to name a son from the mother’s surname, the Winslow name had a source and a New England source.  Now it was time to find out a bit more about Sarah Winslow.

 

Sarah Winslow was born on 19 Mar 1733 in Rochester, Plymouth Co., MA and married Seth Pope on 15 Mar 1752 when she was 18 years old.  She was the mother of seven children before she died on 20 Aug 1775.  She was the daughter of Edward Winslow and Hannah Winslow – 2^nd cousins who married on 14 Dec 1728 in Harwich Barnstable Co., MA.  Both are the great grandchildren of Kenelm Winslow and Mercy Worden.  I must admit that I am always a little dismayed to find ancestors who married cousins, but I've found a few who are much more closely related.  It seems that it illustrates the cruel fate that befell a lot of women – Sarah was only 42 when she died and her mother was only 34 years of age.  At least her grandmother, Bethia Hall (wife of Kenelm Winslow) lived to be 73 years old which was a grand age in 1745.  Unfortunately, Bethia’s daughter preceded her in death by just a few weeks.  When I look at the young ages of these women, it is hard to tell if their deaths were caused by childbirth, over work , or sickness – perhaps it was a combination of all three.

So, now it is obvious that my great great grandfather’s name comes from a well established and known family of New England.  While he was not descended from the Edward Winslow who was on the Mayflower, he was descended from his brother, Kenelm who  arrived a few ships later.  So, here is my Winslow line:

• Kenelm Winslow b. 1599 d. 1672 m. Eleanor Newton b. 1598 d. 1681
• Kenelm Winslow b. 1635 d. 1715 m. Mercy Worden b. 1640 d. 1688
• Kenelm Winslow b. 1668 d. 1729 m. Berthia Hall b. 1672 d. 1745 (Father of Hannah)
  & Edward Winslow b. 1681 d. 1760 m. Sarah Clark b. 1682 d. 1767 (Father of Edward)
• Edward Winslow b. 1703 d. 1780 m. Hannah Winslow b. 1711 d. 1745
• Sarah Winslow b. 1733 d. 1775 m. Seth Pope b. 1729 d. 1821
• Winslow Pope b. 1770 d. 1847 m. Mary Wheelock b. 1778 d. 1854
• Francis Pope b. 1812 d. 1888 m. Belinda Willey b. 1817 d. 1880
• Winslow Lonsdale Pope b. 1847 d. 1928 m. Nancy Ann Marie Lyons b. 1855 d. 1906
• Shirlie Louisa Pope b. 1881 d. 1927 m. Ulpian Grey Johnson b. 1881 d. 1927
• Frank Stewart Johnson b. 1914 d. 1975 m. Helen Marian Gage b. 1920 d. 2011 (My grandparents)

Harvey's Long Life

There are a lot of children to look at when you are researching the Levi Pennington and Elizabeth Henson family.  Depending on whose research that you look at there can be up to 16 children.  I personally have a list of 13 children...but it is a list that can change at any time.  You might say there is wiggle room for a few more children and it wasn't that long ago when I added a new child because of new research.  I've always been interested in Harvey Pennington - number seven on my list of Levi Pennington children.

Harvey was born on 29 Feb 1828 in Laurel, Ashe Co., NC - I suppose one would call him a leap baby? Remarkably he lived to 21 Apr 1922 and was 94 years old when he died at Piney Creek, Ashe Co., NC. As almost the middle child in such a large family, I imagine that sometimes it would have been easy to get lost in the mix.  He had three older brothers and three older sisters as well as four younger brothers and two younger sisters.  His siblings were born between 1815 and 1843. In about 1850, Harvey married Easter Little, the daughter of Isaac Little and Elizabeth Poe.  (Easter's younger sister, Mary married Harvey's brother Andrew and she was left a widow when Andrew died in 1863 when he also served during the Civil War.  It is unknown if Andrew actually died during battle or just after he was mustered out of the North Carolina 34th Infantry, which is the last time he was known to be alive) Like most young men of his age, Harvey joined up and served with the Confederacy during the Civil War with the North Carolina 66th Infantry.  I am curious as to why certain young men served with certain units.  His brother in law (my 3rd great grandfather) was in the 58th NC and they were quite notorious for deserters and my 3rd great grandfather was one of them.  Nevertheless, Harvey survives his Civil War service and after the war rejoins his family in Ashe Co., NC.

Unlike his father and siblings, Harvey lives in a different area than they...in 1860 he is found at Horse Creek in the Helton District which is northeast of his family and later lives a bit further south at Staggs Creek.  Like his parents, Harvey also has a large family of  10 children.  In the 1870 census, his nephew (Andrew and Mary Little's son) is also living with them.  Of his 10 children, only one dies young under the age of 10:

Harvey & Easter's Family:

• Sarah Pennington b. 8 Jul 1855 d. 27 Oct 1925 m. Adam Miller
• Elizabeth b. Dec 1856 d. 25 Mar 1922 m. Joseph Roten
• Mary Pennington b. 27 Jun 1857 d. 15 Jul 1934 m. Rueben K. Elliott
• James Aaron Pennington b. 16 Feb 1859 d. 11 Mar 1904 m. Genelia Ann Campbell
• Martha W. Pennington b. abt 1861 d. bef 1870
• Lucinda Pennington b. 14 Jun 1864 d. 15 Oct 1945 m1 Joel Tedder m2. Filmore Brown
• Levi Pennington b. Nov 1867 d. 19 Jun 1914 m. Amanda Turner
• Cora Ellen Pennington b. 14 Jun 1868 d. 9 Jun 1960 m. John Williams
• Isaac C. Pennington b. 14 May 1873 d. 20 May 1950 m. Mary Miller
• Caroline Pennington b. Aug 1875 d. ? m. David Jones

Harvey's wife Easter died on 26 Aug 1894 and a few years later in Oct 1896, Harvey married a widow named Martha Ann Brooks and within a year had an 11th child:

• Roy Everett Pennington b. 7 Sept 1897 d. 13 Aug 1972 m. Martha Ann Greer

I think there are actually some living grandchildren of Harvey Pennington who are still alive today.

Looking at the scope of Harvey's life is really astounding.  He probably lived through more change during his long life than most have ever seen.  His childhood was one of an agrarian childhood in small isolated group of communities in North Carolina.  That lifestyle was blown apart with the Civil War and the devastating impact it had on the entire American society.  Following the Civil War was probably the most turbulent and quick change this country has seen.  We went from a horse and buggy way of life to one of trains and later automobiles.  What was once an isolated area was now opening up to the outside world and influences. Sadly for him, he lived to see another war that was broadcast across the radio and news could arrive almost instantaneously as long as you could get a radio signal.  Harvey's father was born in the 18th century with twenty years of the founding of this country and Harvey lived to see it almost reach 150 years old.   Harvey was the longest lived of his family and only his youngest sister lived past 1922 when she died at 1926 at the age of 83.

Harvey's second wife only outlived him by a month despite being 26 years younger than him.  Wouldn't be wonderful if Harvey had left behind the story of his life - I'm sure it must have been an interesting one!

A Crack in the Wall

Moses Friddles - My Great Great Grandfather

My DNA test that I took from Ancestry has produced some unexpected but certainly welcome family links. There has always been one family that I have never been able to take beyond my great great grandfather - Moses Friddles has been a very difficult genealogy puzzle.  It seems that due to my DNA results, I am feeling as if I am finally making progress.

DNA is not a silver bullet...it will not solve all of your genealogical mysteries, but it can give you some guidance in the right direction.  I've always known that Moses Friddles was born about 1826 in South Carolina and spent some time in North Carolina before moving to Johnson Co., TN.  I've known that he was married four times.  The first time to someone with the surname of Munday, then Amanda McKee, Mary Ann Crosswhite (Clark) and lastly to Martha "Mattie" Brown.  I can trace him very easily from 1859 on fairly easily, but before that has always been a problem.  When you have an ancestor who probably doesn't have much in the way of money, there are few ways to track him because he doesn't leave that much of a paper trail.

Moses likely had four children in his first marriage with only two of them surviving to adulthood.  His daughter, Julia, married Sidney Prestwood and had three children and left her husband and ended up out west living near her brother, Albert.  Albert moved west in the 1880's and lived for the most part up at Grouse Flats near Troy, OR.  Not too long before he died, he moved down to Pomeroy, WA.  Since that first wife has always been a mystery, I obtained the death records for both Julia and Albert.  I can't remember which death record it was, but it  provided me with the name of Munday for the mother.  Every once in a while, I would check Caldwell Co., North Carolina for possibilities and did find some interesting connections.

So, now the DNA has pushed me into a different direction.  I know from the two cousins that I have discovered through the DNA tests some definite possibilities of family links.  This is leading me into the direction of looking at the Friddle family as I would a one - name study.  Meaning that if they live in a specific area, I am checking them out and adding them to my database.  I'm also adding Friddles who I know are connected but have moved elsewhere.  I'm not very far into this process but I have already discovered two very interesting coincidences.

Julia Friddles, Moses' daughter, was married to a Sidney Prestwood.  It is interesting to note that one of Sidney Prestwood's brothers, William Thomas Prestwood, married an Elizabeth Adeline Friddle.  She was the daughter of John W. Friddle and Caroline Harris.  John W. Friddle died during the Civil War but is of an age that he could definitely be a sibling of Moses.  When I first started researching genealogy, I was surprised at how many families intermarried multiple times.  Now it no longer surprises me but does make me look at the family differently.  What are the geographic similarities with the two families and what are the family connections?  Families intermarrying can definitely be a clue to something a whole lot more!

John W. Friddle had another daughter, Mary Ann Friddle whose marriage is also an interesting family connection.  She married a John C. Munday.  Now this John C. Munday was born in 1844 so he could be a brother or nephew of the woman that Moses was married to...but he could also be a cousin.  From what I have discovered about his family, there isn't a daughter who is of the appropriate age to have married Moses, but it looks like there still might be a family connection.  Munday is not that common of a name.

So now it looks like I am going to build a database that includes the Friddles as whole and not just those who are directly connected to me.  I will probably spend more time adding Munday's as well in hopes of finding that elusive first wife of Moses Friddles.  My efforts will most likely be concentrated in York Co., SC, Caldwell Co., NC, and Burke Co., NC.  With a little luck and some concentrated research, perhaps the crack in the wall will disappear and the brick wall will no longer exist.