Chromosome Mapping: My First Effort

This past week I had the pleasure of attending the Northwest Genealogy Conference in Arlington, WA, hosted by the Stilliguamish Valley Genealogical Society.  The keynote speaker on the day that I attended was Cece Moore, the genetic genealogist who is a consultant for the PBS program "Finding Your Roots" with Dr Henry Louis Gates. She also has a company called The DNA Detectives, which helps people to find their ancestry through autosomal DNA analysis.

Cece gave four one hour lectures on genetic genealogy, from the basics to advanced; unfortunately I was only able to attend three of them. She is an excellent speaker: concise, informative & very enthusiastic!  She also did an excellent job answering questions posed by the audience.

After the conference, I was inspired to start mapping the chromosomes of my ancestors. Since 2010,  I have amassed a great deal of data on my DNA matches--and some very interesting patterns are emerging-- but so far I have had only a few clues as to exactly which ancestor provided what parts of my DNA.

I used Kitty Munson's Chromosome mapping tool to make this graphic of the ancestors that I am certain passed down DNA to me, and which segments "belong' to them. As you can see, I have more paternal ancestors on this graphic than maternal.  This is because my father's ancestors generally had large families, and thus more descendants.  Also, not many from my mother's family have been tested--and there are fewer close relatives.


Paternal ancestors on this graphic:

--PHILLIP LUTHER HUBER born Oct 31, 1844 Circleville, Pickaway Co Ohio, died Jan 5, 1915 Nashville, Davidson Co Tennessee. Through DNA testing, we were finally able to ascertain that my great grandfather PHILLIP L HUBER who married "CRAMELIA" FRAZIER and disappeared from his home in Iowa in 1882 was the same person as LUTHER HUBER who married IDA HALE in Nashville in 1891. I wrote about this in a previous blogpost.

Now, I have several DNA matches with descendants from both of PHILLIP LUTHER HUBER's two families, including several 3rd cousins and a half 2nd cousin from his second family.   Any DNA that I share with these second family descendants could have come only from PHILLIP LUTHER HUBER, since there were two different mothers for PHILLIP LUTHER's children. So I am absolutely certain that the segments shown in the graphic came to me via him.


--ISAAC NEWTON WHITECOTTON my great X 4 grandfather, born about 1775 Stafford or Hampshire Co Virginia; died before 1840 Jackson Co Alabama; married ELIZABETH STUMP who died after 1860 in Madison Co Alabama.  I actually match several WHITECOTTON descendants on several other chromosomal locations, but this is the only one where I match descendants of multiple generations of this family (one person is descended from ISAAC NEWTON WHITECOTTON through his some JAMES "JIM" WHITECOTTON b 1811 who married LOUISA TURNER, and several others are descended from my gg grandfather's brother LINDLEY WHITECOTTON b 1823 , son of MOSES WHITECOTTON b 1804 & HAPPY RIDDLE,  grandson of ISAAC NEWTON WHITECOTTON & ELIZABETH STUMP).

I'm uncertain at this time whether this segment on Chromosome 4 came from ISAAC NEWTON WHITECOTTON or his wife ELIZABETH STUMP, but so far, no descendants of the STUMP family are matching on this location.


--DAVID BRUTON my great X 3 grandfather, born Jan 18, 1790 Spartanburg, South Carolina; died April 4, 1869 Webster Co Missouri; married NANCY LANGFORD.   I am not certain at this time whether these segments on Chromosome 1 and Chromosome 2 are from DAVID BRUTON or his wife NANCY LANGFORD, but I appear to be matching LANGFORD/LANKFORD descendants on different chromosomal locations.  More matches needed!


--THOMAS (aka GEORGE THOMAS) FRAZIER b 1725; died before 1790 Hillsborough, Randolph Co North Carolina; married MARY PUGH. Most of his children & descendants were and are Quakers.

Let me say, first of all, that I share more DNA with FRAZIER descendants than any other of my ancestors so far, over many different chromosomal locations.  I am not certain whether this is because there are a huge number of descendants from this family, or because they were Quakers, kept good records, and thus many people actually know they are descended from THOMAS FRAZIER & MARY PUGH. 

At any rate, this exact location on Chromosome 15 is absolutely full of FRAZIER descendants--22 so far, and counting-- and the matches are with descendants of multiple generations of the FRAZIER family (some with my great x 3 grandparents HENRY FRAZER b Aug 19, 1793 Guilford Co NC & MARY POLLY OTWELL; one with my great x 4 grandparents ISAAC FRAZIER b Jan 16, 1763 Guilford Co NC & REBECCA SAFERIGHT; and many with my great x 5 grandparents THOMAS FRAZIER b 1725 & MARY PUGH).

So far, I have had no indication that any of the DNA on Chromosome 15 came from MARY PUGH.  More matches are needed.


--JANE, my great x 3 grandmother, the wife of JOSEPH (aka ISAAC JOSEPH) THOMPSON, maiden name unknown; born about 1794 Virginia or North Carolina; died before 1870 Green Forest, Boone Co Arkansas.  She married JOSEPH THOMPSON around 1815 in Burke Co North Carolina--so I know her family must have been living in the area around the early 1800s.  JANE & JOSEPH & their family migrated to Bradley Co TN in 1839; Carroll Co Arkansas in 1854, and Christian Co Missouri after the Civil War.

I have been searching for JANE's maiden name for fifteen years, with no luck. I am hoping that DNA will provide some clues, so that I can finally know her story!

Luckily,  JANE is one of my X Chromosome ancestors, as is her husband JOSEPH THOMPSON.  I now have DNA matches with several known 4th cousins from this absolutely enormous THOMPSON family of  Christian, Douglas & Taney Co Missouri.  Several of them match me on Chromosome X.

Two of these X matches descend from sons of JOSEPH & JANE THOMPSON, one from ISAAC AVERY THOMPSON b about 1820 Burke Co NC; and the other from JOSIAH BLAIR THOMPSON b 1838 Bradley Co TN .   Because sons only receive their X chromosome from their mothers, these two descendants must have received their X chromosome from JANE-- not  JOSEPH THOMPSON.   These two descendants of JANE and her sons are both matching me on the exact same location on Chromosome X


Maternal ancestors on this graphic:

--MARY ANN SCOFIELD my great x 2 grandmother, born 1835 New York, from a family that originally settled in Stamford, Fairfield Co Connecticut; died Dec 3, 1914 Everson, Whatcom Co Washington. She married JOHN F MARTINE April 21, 1851 in Racine Co Wisconsin.  They migrated from Wisconsin to Minnesota to Iowa to Missouri to Washington state.

I have several DNA matches with known 2nd & 3rd cousins from the MARTINE family, over numerous segments, but only the segments on Chromosome 4 and Chromosome 10 are also matching known SCOFIELD descendants who are not part of our MARTINE family.  So I am fairly certain that these two segments came from MARY ANN, and not from her husband JOHN F MARTINE.  More matches are needed, however!


Have a great day!

Betty

© Betty Tartas  2015

My First "New Ancestor Discovery" (NAD) from AncestryDNA

Yesterday I received my first "New Ancestor Discovery" from AncestryDNA:  WILEY T. TUNE b 1823 Halifax Co Virginia, and his wife MARTHA ANN SPENCE.

Problem is, they aren't my ancestors. Roberta Estes in her blog DNA Explained also has experienced this and wrote about it in a recent blog post about "Bad NADs".

First problem: Since WILEY & MARTHA were born in the 1820s, they would have to be my great great grandparents.  I already have researched ALL of my great great grandparents, and have extremely solid documentation for all of them.

Second problem: Location, location, location. None of my ancestors ever lived in Halifax County, Virginia--although they did live in Pittsylvania County Virginia, which is adjacent, as well as in Granville & Caswell County North Carolina.

A quick search showed me that  TUNE, SPENCE, SCURLOCK & related families were original settlers of Farnham Parish, Richmond County Virginia. While I don't have a direct ancestral connection to that area, that I know of, other known ancestors lived in nearby Lancaster County in the "Northern Neck" of Virginia.

So, while discounting this couple as actual direct ancestors, I have decided to see if I connect to the TUNE or related families in earlier generations.  After all, nearly half of my ancestors lived in colonial Virginia!

--According to AncestryDNA,  I match three people with the TUNE surname, and over thirty people with the SPENCE surname. So perhaps my connection is through SPENCE, not TUNE?.

--According to Family Tree DNA, I match four people with the TUNE surname, including two direct descendants of the TUNE family--but none with SPENCE surname.

--According to 23andMe, I match one person with the TUNE surname and none with the SPENCE surname.

My next thought is that somehow, TUNE, SPENCE or SCURLOCK might be in the lineages of the four missing women in my Virginia pedigrees:

--JANE unknown, born 1794 Virginia or North Carolina, wife of JOSEPH (aka ISAAC JOSEPH) THOMPSON ; she lived in Burke Co NC at time of her marriage to JOSEPH circa 1815; migrated to Bradley County Tennessee in 1839, then to Carroll County Arkansas in 1854. She died about 1870 in Green Forest, Boone Co Arkansas.

--GRACE unknown, born about 1750, wife of ROBERT SCOTT, last known residence was Pulaski Co Kentucky before 1820.

--MARY unknown, born about 1749, wife of HENRY LANGFORD/LANKFORD of Henry Co Virginia, Surry County North Carolina, and Greenville County South Carolina. She was much younger than HENRY & married him probably in Surry County NC.  After his death in 1794, she married 2nd to WILLIAM COX, outlived him, and died at age 95 in Greenville, South Carolina.

--MARY MITCHELL,  born about 1750, wife of THOMAS SANDERS/SAUNDERS; they lived mainly in Buckingham County Virginia, but moved late in live to Davidson County Tennessee, where THOMAS died in 1812.  Published info on MARY's origins is incorrect, and leads me to suspect that her maiden name may not have been MITCHELL.

But, after spending a day searching for ANY kind of connection, I am no closer to discovering how or if this New Ancestor Discovery is related to me.

And now, this morning,  WILEY T TUNE & MARTHA ANN SPENCE have disappeared completely from my AncestryDNA page......?? Whah???

Have a great day!

Betty

© Betty Tartas  2015