Be Careful What You Wish For....

I know someone who decided to do a DNA test.  I had already done her family tree(the paper trail)for her and a distant ancestor on the tree is supposedly Native American.

The reason she wanted to do the DNA testing was to "find" her Native American ancestry.  She wanted to find that ancestry so she could apply to a tribe and be among the folks who could reap some sort of benefit(casino monies, health benefits, etc.).

First off, there is no record of this NA ancestor recorded in any tribal roles that anyone can find.  The fact that she "is" NA is only through family stories-both in this person's family and I have found it attached to other family trees that this ancestor is in. 

This direct ancestor is a 3 x great grandparent of the person who wants to know and she was born circa. 1810.  Having a lone NA ancestor stretching back 200 or so years ago means that chances of having any of their actual DNA recombining into what got handed down over 4 generations to her is a slim chance at best.

The only sure fire(easy)way to know you have NA ancestry is if it's your Y DNA line(your father's father's father's on back line)or your mitochondrial DNA line(your mother's mother's mother's on back line)puts you into a NA haplogroup.  If you are lucky enough, being male and your Y haplogroup is Q or C with certain mutations or being a female and your mtDNA haplogroup is X2 then you have proof easily of NA ancestry even if your ethnicity breakdown doesn't show any % of NA ancestry.
Ok this is getting too complicated but you get my drift(I hope).

We can narrow down(if this ancestor was indeed Native)potential tribes she could have belonged to according to where this family in question was from.  Ancestor in question was born in North Carolina so she could have been  Chowanoke, Croatoan, Hatteras, Moratoc, Secotan, Weapemeoc, Machapungo, Pamlico, Coree, Neuse river, Tuscarora, Meherrin, Cherokee, Cape Fear, Lumbee, Catawba, Shakori, Sissipahaw, Sugeree, Waccamaw, Waxhaw, Woccon, Cheraw, Eno, Keyauwee, Occaneechi, Saponi, or Tutelo Indians.  Some of these tribes are extinct and only 8 are recognized by the state of NC(and only Eastern Band of Cherokee in NC are recognized federally).

Not being found in a tribal role means there is no way to know which tribe she belonged to either so even if her DNA test came back and found any NA ancestry there is no way to know which NA tribe she should apply to.

The only way at that point to pinpoint the ancestors tribe would be if another person was a DNA match to my friend AND they had NA ancestry too(and the match was on that line of her family)AND documentation for that other person's NA ancestor was available.  Add in the fact that very few people with Eastern NA ancestry have DNA tested and it becomes a real big crap shoot to find any information that would help my friend in her NA search.

"Belonging" to a NA tribe nowadays is more cultural and not just genetic, according to your DNA markers.  This friend did NOT grow up in any NA culture or on a reservation(much like Elizabeth Warren did not)so really her applying to a tribe, if she could find which tribe, to reap some sort of monetary(or other)benefit is IMHO inappropriate.

Anyway this person took a DNA test for this reason without me knowing about it until after the fact.

So I am on the phone with this person, she is, for lack of a better term, "very white" and she opens her DNA result while on the phone with me, and there is no NA DNA(but then again, it's the Ancestry company test which isn't thought to be very accurate by professional genetic genealogists).

Crestfallen, she reads off her % of each ethnicity and at the bottom she comes to an ethnicity that is 2% Benin/Togo.

Um, WHAT?!?!  She didn't even know what that meant so I had to break it to her that Benin and Togo peoples are from Africa.

Yep, I don't think she believes it even now, months later.  She went looking for her inner "Indian Princess" and found out she's a "Soul Sistah".  ;-)

Just a warning that if you go digging into your DNA and/or Ancestry be careful what you wish for and be prepared for anything!

Sluggy

Genealogy-ish

Last Monday I watched PBS's American Experience.
This was an interesting program about President James Garfield, mostly taken from the book by Candice Millard called "Destiny of the Republic".  It concerned the trajectory of James Garfield's life from his humble beginnings and into politics and ultimately the Presidency.  Just four months into office he was shot by a madman and died a slow lingering death 79 days later, the book's author says is partly due to the conceit of the man who took over his medical care, Dr. Doctor Willard Bliss(not a typo-his first name was Doctor) and the lack of any antiseptic care, the idea of which was still in it's infancy in the US.

President Garfield has largely been forgotten in the history of our country due to his administration lasting only 4 months but his funerals(there were two)rivaled and even surpassed that of Lincoln less than 20 years earlier.  The expression of the nation's mourning of Garfield's rivaled that of Lincoln, if not surpassed it.

There was such hope that Garfield's time in office would heal and help the country as his getting to the presidency was unusual and he was an early proponent of civil rights, but he was not given that opportunity after Charles Guiteau's handgun found it's target.
I find it a fascinating time in our history and the backstories of all parties involved are rich and interesting and indeed the planets seemed to have aligned just right to set events into motion that led to Garfield's assassination.

And it's not because Garfield's Vice President, Chester Alan Arthur, married my 6th cousin, Ellen Lewis Herndon.  Cousin Ellen became a posthumous First Lady when Chester Arthur ascended to the Presidency in September 1882 upon the death of President Garfield.  Arthur only became Vice President due to a backroom deal with the most powerful man in NY politics at that time, Roscoe Conkling.  Once Garfield died it was thought that Chester Arthur, who had been Conkling's puppet back in the NY political machine, would allow Conkling to pretty much run Arthur's administration.
Much to his credit, Chester Arthur seemed to grow a backbone once thrust into the Presidency and made his term as POTUS his own.



As a footnote, if you are interested in the various personalities who have or attempted to assassinate American Presidents you might find the musical "Assassins" rather 'enjoyable'. ;-)

Also of interest to me is that tonight, on "Finding Your Roots", also on PBS, they will be profiling among their 3 guests, Senator John McCain.
Senator McCain is my 7th cousin.
We share ancestors, William ALLEN and Mary HUNT Allen, my 7 x Great Grands/his 6 x Great Grands.
I am descended from their daughter, Susannah ALLEN and Sen. McCain from their son, Lieutenant Colonel Valentine ALLEN a Early American patriot.
It will be interesting to see if they explore that branch of McCain's family tree but they will probably stay with the MCain ancestor, Hugh McCain, John's 6 x Great Grandfather.

Hugh was born in 1729 in County Antrim, coming to America in 1752(or was born in PA and his father, also a Hugh, was the one who had come from Ireland). He married and settled in the Waxhaws area of NC(Charlotte area).
The story goes that around 1756, a foraging party of Tories came through the Waxhaws area and demanded Hugh McCain give them a small fortune in money he had hidden on his property.  When he refused they hanged him and he lived only because a slave and her two sons rushed to cut him down after making a commontion to frighten the British soldiers away, savings his life.  Hugh lived another 50 years.  Four of his son's also fought in the Revolutionary War.
Senator McCain is also a third generation US Navy man, both his father and grandfather were Admirals.
As this episode is entitled "War Stories" I bet they focus on all those patriots.

This my 8th Cousin, John and his second wife's daughter, Meghan McCain.  She had a show on a cable network and is a sometimes political pundit.

I also see that they will be exploring Patricia Arquette's ancestry on this episode of "finding Your Roots" as well.  I think Patricia has a distant connection to Meriwether Lewis(as do I)so I am sure they will hit upon that ancestor in her segment which will be interesting....at least to me.  ;-)

You just never know what you'll find when you start down that genealogy/ancetry road.....

Sluggy

My Tangly Tree....Family Tree That Is

The more I dig into my ancestry the more my family tree branches start getting gnarly and twisted up into themselves.
Meaning, at some point in the past all the little branches start tangling up with the larger limbs they forked off of.
Like what I just discovered this past week when I broke through one of my brick walls.

One of my maternal grandmother's father, or my great grandfather was named John Little Vassar.
Now I have the Vassar branch of the family going back to the 1st Immigrant of that line to Virginia in 1635, 12 generations counting John the Immigrant to me.

Plus I have an additional 20 generations going back from John's wife, Elizabeth Dowe/Dew to William the Conqueror.
But who cares about him, right? 8-)

What I am focusing on is on that Vassar line.
My 5th great grandparents are Nathaniel Vasser(1756-1823),and his wife, Sarah Hudson(1756-1846). 
Sarah's parents were Peter Hudson and Mourning Griffith(or Griffin) of Virginia.  At this point back into this Vassar/Vasser line I only had the pedigree, or the direct ancestor once you get back into the Hudson side of the line, no siblings for anyone. 
And I only have as far back in Hudsons as Peter and 1 further generation back for his wife Mourning Griffith(her parents are John Griffith and Sarah Parrish).

The Vassers/Vassars continue down with Vassars until you get to my grandmother, who married a Harper, my mother who married a Bowman, to me....Sluggy.

That line is well established however there are other offshoots from my maternal grandmother's side that I didn't have much documentation/family tradition coming into this whole genealogy hunt.

One of those offshoots is John Little Vassar's grandmother's family.

John Little's parents were John Alfred Vassar and Rosa Belle Snead(the ancestral line that I am related to Sonya Ann through).

John's mother, Rosa Belle Snead's parents were Lewellen Snead and Rebecca Womack.  It is this Womack line that I have been trying to make headway on.

Rebecca's parents were Abraham Womack(1785/90-1863)and Willie(though some call her Millie)Wade(no dates).

I busted through the Womack brick wall this week with the aid of another researcher to discover that Abraham's parents were Abraham Womack and Tabitha Hudson.

This Tabitha Hudson was born abt. 1760.

Hmmmm.
My Sarah Hudson, in my great grandfather's line, was born 1756.

Hmmmm again.
Tabitha and Sarah both lived in the same geographic area of Virginia.

Well when I discovered that Tabitha's parents were Peter Hudson and Mourning Griffith, I knew I had found Sarah, who married Nathaniel Vassar, Tabitha's sister.

So my 2 x GreatGrandmother, Rosa Belle Snead's 2 x Great Grandparents are the same 2 x Great Grandparents as her husband, John Alfred's 2 x Great Grandparents.
And Rosa Bell's husband is my 2 x Great Grandfather.

This means my 2 x Great Grandparents were 3rd cousins.
My family tree seems to be branching out and then cleaving back together along this journey of mine. lol

I also found this same type of situation in my mother's father's sister's family.

My grandfather Harper had an older sister named Ollie Harper.
She married Joseph Warren Sublett.
I doubt she knew at that time that they were related.

Joseph Warren's 3 x Great Grandfather was a man named Pierre Louis Soblet, who immigrated to Virginia from France(first, by way of Germany, Holland and England)in 1700. Warren traces back through his direct Sublett surname line, from Joseph Warren to William Joseph, to Benjamin Branch, to Matthew Thomas, to Benjamin Sr., to Pierre Louis Soblet.

Ollie's 5 x Great Grandfather was this same Pierre Louis Soblet through her mother's side of the family.....Jennie Vie Tucker back to his mother Mary Jane Mason, back to her mother Elizabeth Weatherford, back to her mother Martha Sublett, back to her father William Abraham Sublett, back to his father Pierre Louis Soblet.

This means my great Aunt Ollie and Uncle Warren were 4th Cousins 1x removed.

Does your head hurt from the math yet?
Mine does. ;-)

Ok, back to seeing dead people for me......

Have you made any interesting family history discoveries lately?

Sluggy

Who Would Have Thunk?

Who would have thought that in spring of 1880 there could be so MANY woman named Mary O'Brien(O'Brian) that got off a ship from Ireland(or by way of England from Ireland)into the USA?!

After the last 3 hours of looking for one particular woman by that name, I can, with a fair amount of certainly tell you you that approximately 4 MILLION did! lolol

I found her husband fairly quickly because I guess Morris O'Brien is not as common a name in that era or not as many Morrises(Morri?...what's the plural of Morris?)emigrated to America in 1880.

Ok, another hour on Mary O. and then I'm onward to the kids, Honora(Anura), Mary and Margaret.
Oh great!.....they named their daughter Mary too.
Why couldn't they have more imagination when naming their kids, right?

Sluggy--who is going back into the suckhole of ancestors

Where I've Been

I am here......it's just I am not all here.

I am just not myself lately.
Since my Daughter's meltdown I just haven't had any 'umph'.
My energy is just drained.  I guess you'd say my energy is being used up in the worrying about her.
I just know there isn't much of me leftover for much else.  I drag through the day and do the bare minimum I need to do like fixing food, bathing, moving clutter around in the house and planning meals.
Oh, I am just a great big ball of FUN lately, aren't I?

I do have enough "whatever" to sit here and read blogs though, but I just can't bring myself to call up enough brain power to comment much.  Yeah, I run my mouth on a blog post here and there but I'm getting into a very negative place in the space between my ears and yeah, nobody wants to read crap I write when I am in that spot.
So I just don't.

I am having a hard time focusing on anything much.....except for genealogy.

I took another blog I started to be a clearing house for rebate offers and turned it into a personal journal where I can post about the shit I've been through in life and family stuff and how I see the family stuff.
Most of that sounds very negative as well but I feel I need to vent it or explode some days.  Maybe it will help me work through some stuff I feel....maybe not.   I just know that I need to get this stuff out of my head some days.

I have always been a big fan of that show "So Who Do You Think You Are?" on NBC.  Saw all 6 of the 1st Season episodes a couple years ago and was HOOKED.  It got me to begin searching around for my family history.  Of course I didn't know WHAT I WAS DOING AT ALL! and over the last 2 years I would start and stop over and over again looking casually online for family. 

I found a distant relative who is something like 94 years old 2 years ago who had done a shit ton of research on 1 line of my ancestors.  This gentleman's great grandfather was the  younger brother of my great great grandfather....or we share a great grandfather born in 1825...his is a 2x great, mine a 3 x great.  He even charted the lines of all the descendants from this shared relative.  His great uncle(my 3 x great gf)was so prolific that the gentleman I am related to had to put my branch of this family on it's own web page. hehehehe

Here is a photo of my great great great grandparents, Hugh and Sarah "Sally" Vassar.  Hugh died in 1895(Sally in 1902)so this was taken around 1880.

I also found Hugh & family on the 1860 census(pre Civil War VA)with my then 5 year old 2x great grandfather, John "Jack" Alfred and his siblings living on a farm near Scottsburg, VA in what was then Halifax County. 

Anyway, finding out all that made me hungry for more crumbs of information, so about a week ago I dropped a wad of cash and finally joined Ancestry dotcom.
So this should speed up my search.
Especially since I am finding it the biggest SUCKHOLE for my time, bar none!!!

I can sit here for HOURS sifting through Censuses and crap....it is not funny the time I can waste!

The BEST(very sarcastic here!) thing is......Hubs could give a rat's ass about genealogy and family history.  Of course he doesn't know much about his family's past but he is all good with that.

I even spent some time trying to suck him in but searching on his families(Hey! I told him I'm doing this for our kids, so they know about their ancestors on BOTH sides!).  He put up with helping/being interested with it for one evening and now he is done listening to me talk about this.  I start and he gets this look on his face of annoyance.  Now he knows how I've felt all these years when he went on and on about his job or his co-workers(people I don't give a rat's ass about!)and was forced to pretend to be interested. ;-)
So I guess I have to shut up about it with Hubs and just tell my other blog and all of y'all instead.....until y'all get tired and stop reading me.lolol


Sluggy