My Genealogy Blog

I was able to make a confirmation to my Brown/Guider family via a DNA match to Lena Rosalind White Keith . She is descended of Catherine Brown Robertson Purple , my mtDNA ancestor. This has been a suspicion for a while ever since my cousin Jeanne Mendes told me that Catherine Brown's daughter was called Grandma Purple. Jeanne supposed this was due to her always wearing purple, but she wasn't sure.

I ordered a new DNA test yesterday for myself. I am K2b1 haplogroup on my MtDNA. It is fairly rare. I have not tested it because it is unlikely to be of much use in genealogy. However, I am hoping, that because of its rarity, I might find a breakthrough for Mary Matilda Robinson and Catherine Brown. (They are both my mtDNA anscestors). In looking at GEDMATCH I did discover a mtDNA match (they listed K as their Haplogroup) and was surprised to find, besides the Brown surname, Catherine, Arvella and Matilda all mentioned in the appropriate generation.  These names of course all being part of the family line I am researching. The inconsistency is the Kentucky heritage, but that is not too troubling. I have created a landing pad for researching other possible matches here at wikitree .

I was reading a genealogy book and I came across an article which contains so many intersections for me I had to post them. This is a conglomeration of the [[GREER/ROBERSON]] and the [[SWAFFORD families in Bledsoe Tennessee around 1865]] questions. Both of these areas of research I have always thought were separate. Now, for some reason, they seem to come together here.  Could be a coincidence, but very interesting. It is from a book SWAFFORDS OF SEQUATCHIE VALLEY, TENNESSEE THIRD EDITION VOLUME 2 on page 1114 there is a photocopy of a newspaper (PAGE 10 - THE BLEDSONIAN BANNER. PIKEVILLE, TENNESSEE 37367 - THURSDAY, JANUARY 29,1987) Roberson builds "Belleview" around 1820 The old Roberson brick borne, built by James Roberson around 1820. was located about six miles south of Pikeville near the Sequatchie River, on the farm now owned by Clay Greer. The family pictured is the Samuel H. L. Swafford family before they moved to west Texas in the late 1890s. Sam S...

I was reading a genealogy book and I came across an article which contains so many intersections for me I had to post them. This is a conglomeration of the [[GREER/ROBERSON]] and the [[SWAFFORD families in Bledsoe Tennessee around 1865]] questions. Both of these areas of research I have always thought were separate. Now, for some reason, they seem to come together here.  Could be a coincidence, but very interesting. It is from a book SWAFFORDS OF SEQUATCHIE VALLEY, TENNESSEE THIRD EDITION VOLUME 2 on page 1114 there is a photocopy of a newspaper (PAGE 10 - THE BLEDSONIAN BANNER. PIKEVILLE, TENNESSEE 37367 - THURSDAY, JANUARY 29,1987) Roberson builds "Belleview" around 1820 The old Roberson brick borne, built by James Roberson around 1820. was located about six miles south of Pikeville near the Sequatchie River, on the farm now owned by Clay Greer. The family pictured is the Samuel H. L. Swafford family before they moved to west Texas in the late 1890s. Sam S...

So today I had a little moment of Zen. 23andAncestry provides you with an MTDNA haplogroup when you sign up with them to have your DNA done. The MTDNA is DNA that is passed down from mother to her children only.  Like the YDNA haplogroup, this is useful for finding deep history. I have been lucky enough to have been blessed with a pretty rare MTDNA Haplogroup. This help me because my GGG Grandmother, Mary Matilda Robertson is a member of the Haplogroup as well.  And so was her mother, and her maternal grandmother. This means I can go to 23andMe or GEDMATCH and pull out all my matches that are also this rare haplogroup. Then I can contact all of the people and see if anyone can give me any insight - this will mean they will have had to have done some serious maternal research. However, if nothing turns up I am not done. I will then cross compare their matches with people that match me. Those crossover matches may not have direct maternal lines to our MCRA, but they ...

Got a new hint today. I do not know why I hadn't thought of doing this before, or maybe I have and this is a new test, but here is what happened. So on GEDMATCH I have identified a woman that is related to the same MRCA as my and my cousin Vicki. This MRCA couple are both brick walls to me. I researched this woman (GERALDINE REVEAL FRUMP) and was unable to find anything. I searched my surnames on Ancestry for REVEAL to now avail. Geraldine was actually illegitimate. Her mother's maiden name was REVEAL and her father's name was BROWN. Well BROWN gets high hits on my 23andME test. (If you don't know, on 23andME they do this surname search where they compare listed surnames in your matches against the occurrence of those names in the general population and then give you a weighted average of the top 20 or so names. The idea being, the names at the top of the list probably occur in your tree.)  Brown, though a common name, has a high probability of being significant i...

Sometimes people get the impression that they can sign up for Ancestry, and get all of the information they want just by using the hints that are suggested to them. It is great if the hints are correct, but a lot of times they are not. The real fun of the research comes in when you examine the records and find something new. Or you look at records in a different way to bring about more and more hints. Case in point is a brick wall I have been working on for a few years.  My GG grandparents James Guider and Mary Robinson have been hard couple to research. One, because on his first census James and his sister were living with guardians and Mary because Mary Robinson is such a common name. I had a picture of a man named Geroge HULTZ I couldn't exactly make out my grandmother's writing, which stated that he was a cousin of Zua May Guider my Great Grandmother, a daughter of the brick walls. Well I was able to find a George Hultz on the census and built his tree and followed hi...