Surname Saturday: PILLSBURY, SCOTT, THOMPSON and more: Successful Sharing on 23andMe

Finally, over the last few weeks, new Relative Finder matches have been arriving on 23andMe, stemming from the huge $99 sale in Nov/Dec 2010.

I've been looking forward to this new influx, because, FINALLY, I would be able to compare DNA results with several known cousins--for whom I already have a verified paper trail.

1) First of all, the results for the daughter of my 2nd cousin, "Myra" (not her real name), showed up.  She is the closest of my known relatives to agree to test, my 3rd cousin once removed on the maternal side of both our families (although we have different maternal haplogroups. If you are confused by this, write me and I'll explain).  I really wanted to see how or if she would match up with my other Relative Finder contacts.

"Myra" and I share 1.89% DNA over eight strands.  When I compared her DNA with my other Relative Finder contacts, I found only one match--to a woman born & raised in Germany!! This was a complete surprise, since my known connection to her was entirely English & Scotch Irish. So apparently I may also be related somehow to her father, who had German/Swiss roots--that is, if "Myra"  does indeed share DNA with the woman from Germany.

The other incredibly interesting thing about "Myra's" results is that her maternal haplogroup is A2, indicating Native American origins.  I was baffled at first, as I had personally researched her maternal line back several generations in England. Then I discovered the following article about Native American DNA found in the UK. Turns out that  many of the indigenous Native Americans (including Eskimos & S. American Indians) brought to England in the 1500s-1800s as "specimens" or translators were allowed to stay in England, marry and raise children, thus adding their DNA to the English gene pool.  Who knew? :)

2) My 5th cousin "Sally" was one of the first to sign up for the test, and I was very excited about it!   Her great great grandfather, JOSEPH ALEVIS HUGHES was first cousin to my great grandmother SILOAMA K WHITECOTTON (who married BENJAMIN B BRUTON in Christian Co MO). In fact, JOSEPH & SILOAMA were raised together by an aunt & uncle Mowery in  Christian Co MO. Both were the grandchildren of ISAAC JOSEPH THOMPSON & his wife JANE, who migrated from Burke Co NC to Bradley Co TN to Carroll Co AR to Christian Co MO.  See my Rootsweb online tree "Southern Ancestors of Minttie Mae Bruton"

Unfortunately, when I compared results with "Sally", we did not share any DNA at all!! Such is the capricious nature of recombination.

3) One day my 4th cousin "Sarah B" popped up unexpectedly in my Relative Finder. What a surprise!  I had no idea she had been tested! We had corresponded several years ago, and she had sent me copies of records from Christian Co MO, for which I am very grateful!    Both of us are  descendants of THOMAS SCOTT Sr  b abt 1790 and ELIZABETH JONES, daughter of NICHOLAS JONES & MARTHA "PATSY" MOORE.

THOMAS SCOTT & his wife ELIZABETH JONES were  from VA families who migrated through NC, KY and TN in the 1700s-1800s.  THOMAS & ELIZABETH ended up in McNairy Co TN 1820-1840. After his wife's death, THOMAS SCOTT accompanied some of his children to Missouri in the mid 1840s, and died 1849 in Greene Co MO.  See my Rootsweb online tree "Southern Ancestors of Minttie Mae Bruton"

"Sarah B" does match several of my other Relative Finder matches, and I look forward to finding out if they too are descended from the SCOTT or JONES family. "Sarah B" shares 0.22% DNA with a predicted relationship of 4th cousin--which she is. :)

4) And finally, the piece de resistance.  I was contacted by "Stan" after sending out a sharing invitation. At first, considering just the surnames he listed,  I could see no connection between our families. Then he sent me his online family tree.  I just about fainted. Turns out, "Stan" and I share a whopping 96-and-counting ancestors! Nearly all of them are in the New England ancestry of my grandmother RUBY BOLTON BROWN, and his ancestor CHARLES STINSON PILLSBURY (whose father purchased a flour mill and started the Pillsbury brand in the US). But some are also in the pedigree of my maternal grandfather R B MARTINE.

Previously, Barbara Poole from the blog Life at the Roots held the distinction of sharing the most ancestors with me (< 35). We also share a small amount of DNA, but with the large number of possibilities, it's impossible to say exactly who was the source of our shared DNA.

Also Heather Wilkinson Rojo from the blog Nutfield Genealogy shares a large number of New England ancestors with me.  I don't know if she has been tested on 23andMe, and  I have not yet compared our family trees in depth, but hope to do so in the future!

But for now,  I have to say that "Stan" takes the prize!  Here is a list of our shared ancestors found so far (most settled in MA):

The ancestors who appear in BOTH grandma Ruby's lineage and grandpa Martine's lineage are marked with ** 

WILLIAM PILLSBURY I & AGNES STODDARD (England)
WILLIAM PILLSBURY II & DOROTHY CROSBY

WILLIAM SAWYER & RUTH BITSFIELD

RICHARD KIMBALL & URSULA SCOTT
HENRY KIMBALL & MARY RIDDLESDALE WYATT

**EDMUND SCOTT & JOAN unknown (England)
**HENRY SCOTT & MARTHA WHATLOCK (Henry died England; Martha came to MA)
**THOMAS WHATLOCK & JOANE unknown (England)

WILLIAM SHEPHERD & RUTH or ELIZABETH HATHAWAY

WILLIAM SARGENT I & ELIZABETH PERKINS
WILLIAM SARGENT II & MARY COLBY

JOHN PERKINS & JUDITH GATER

ANTHONY COLBY & SUSANNAH HADDON

JOHN CHENEY & MARTHA PARRAT/PARRATT

JOHN GILL & PHEBE BUSWELL

**ISAAC BUSWELL & MARGARET SCORNA

MOSES COXE & PRUDENCE MARSTON (my line through his 2nd wife ALICE WISE)

EDWARD JEWETT & MARY TAYLOR (England, father of JOSEPH & MAXIMILLIAN)

THOMAS CROSBY & JANE SOTHERON

SAMUEL PLATTS & SARAH BATES (grandparents of HANNAH PLATTS who married JOHN CARLETON)

ROBERT CLEMENT/CLEMENTS & LYDIA DRUMMER

SIMON/SIMEON HOYT & DEBORAH STOWERS
JOHN HOYT & FRANCES TUXBURY/TEWKSBURY

JOHN GREENLEAF & MARY unknown
EDMUND GREENLEAF & SARAH MOORE DOLE

PETER COFFIN & JOAN KEMBER
TRISTAM COFFIN I & DIONIS STEVENS
TRISTAM COFFIN II & JUDITH GREENLEAF
ROBERT KEMBER & ANNE unknown (england)

NATHANIEL PIPER & SARAH EDWARDS (I have two lines of descent from this couple)

CHRISTOPHER OSGOOD & ELIZABETH BROCKWELL (england to MA)
WILLIAM OSGOOD & ELIZABETH CLEER

JOHN EMERY I & ELIZABETH NORTHEND
JOHN EMERY II & MARY SHATSWELL WEBSTER (my line through 2nd wife ALICE GRANTHAM)

THOMAS HALE I & JOAN KIRBY
THOMAS HALE II & THOMASINE DOWCETT
THOMAS HALE III & MARY HUTCHINGSON
THOMAS HALE IV & SARAH NORTHEND
JOHN KIRBY & JOAN CRANFIELD (England)
RICHARD HUTCHINSON & ALICE BOSWORTH (England to MA)
GABRIEL DOWCETTE & MERCY unknown (England)

GEORGE LITTLE & ALICE POOR (England to MA)
JOSEPH LITTLE & MARY COFFIN
GEORGE LITTLE & EDNAH HALE

EZEKIEL NORTHEND I & EDNA HALSTEAD (England to MA)
JOHN NORTHEND I & ALICE unknown (England)
JOHN NORTHEND II & ELIZABETH COLE (England)
NATHAN/NATHANIEL HALSTEAD & ISABEL unknown (England)


PETER JUNE & SARAH Unknown  of Stamford Fairfield Co CT (in lineage of my grandfather only)

Other surnames that we have in common where I was not able to find an ancestral connection:

TUXBURY/TEWKSBURY
POOR/POORE
PARRAT/PARRATT

"Stan" and I share 0.29% DNA with a predicted relationship of 4th cousin. Of course it's impossible to say exactly who was the source of our shared DNA. But what a wonderful discovery!

Have a great day!

Betty

© Betty Tartas  2011