Working on Tree, New Discoveries!

I have been doing better about working on my tree, although I am still slacking off on writing regular blog posts. So I thought I would take a moment to write a quick update about some of my recent findings....

Several months ago I had been contacted by a gentleman named Bruce in Canada saying he was a match to a couple of tests that I manange and that he believed it is on my Simmons line, and he let me know that Simmons was not their original surname which is why I was having trouble getting past my 2x Great Grandfather George Simmons b 1841.

His theory is that George's parents are George Clements b 1801 and Mary Wagstaff, and that they used the Clements surname until sometime before the birth of their youngest daughter. I beleive there is some credience to his theory.

The oldest male son of George (1841) is George Thomas Wagstaff Simmons. That is point one in favor of a family connection to a Clements/Wagstaff couple. Also the marriage certificate for George to Emma Halsey says that his father's name was George and he was a Coachman.

I did take a quick look at his information, but since I was busy on different projects at the time I basically said thank you for the information, filed it in the back of my mind and didn't really pursure it. He was kind enough to give me viewer access to his DNA, which will prove relevant to the story here.

Recently I received an email from a woman saying she was trying to trace her family and she was a match to several of the tests I manage. I took a little time to check out how much she shared with the various tests. Lo and Behold, not only did she match me and my known cousins on the Newman/Simmons side, but she also matched Bruce! These means that we all probably descended from a common "Simmons" ancestor.

I contacted Bruce to tell him of this new match and we worked together to come up with a spreadsheet chart of all the shared matches between us. We now have a pretty good supportable theory on the descendants of George Clemments and Mary Wagstaff as we seem to have descendants of at least 3, possibly 4 of their 7 children.

We used a combination of old fashioned record research, and careful analysis of DNA matches to reach this conclusion. So what was a brick wall for me, has become another generation of ancestors! We are still working some of the DNA matches and maybe in those matches we will find descendants of some of the other children.

I am pretty excited about the breakthrough, and have hopes for further developments on this line.

Frederick Charles Newman, come out, come out wherever you are!

Frederick Charles Newman, come out, come out wherever you are! Seems he disappeared after 1891, or at least I can't find him after that point....

So I am looking for descendants of:
George Newman (b 1822 Chelmsford, Essex, England d 1868 Chelmsford, Essex, England He was a Printer/Composter) and
Mary Ann Bridge (b 1834 Essex, Southminister, England d 1911Chelmsford, Essex, England).

To my knowledge Mary Ann Bridge and George Newman had 5 children all born in Chelmsford, the youngest was born after George’s death.
They were:
George Henry b 1860 (1859 D Quarter)
Louisa Jane b 1862 (1861 S Quarter)
John William b 1864 (1863 S Quarter)
Frederick Charles (my great grandfather) b 02 November 1865 he married Mary Ann Simmons. Interesting story with these two, see below...
Alice Mary Newman b 1868 (1865 D Quarter)

After George’s death she married Francis (aka Frank) Willsher b White Colne, Essex, England.

1911 census says Mary Ann and Frank had 3 children, with 2 still living:
Mary Ann Willsher b1874
Florence Edith Willsher b 1876 (1876 J Quarter, Chelmsford)
Maud Minnie Willsher b 1879 (1878 S Quarter, Chelmsford)

On the 1891 census I have Frederick Charles (he was a billiard marker) and Mary Ann (Molly Ann) living in London, with their 2 sons (Frederick John and Eric Alexander)

In 1901 Mary Ann is living with her sister and brother in law, with another sister and brother in law in the next household. Frederick John is living with his maternal grandparents in St Albans, but I can't trace Frederick Charles or Eric in 1901. Although I do find an Eric Newman with correct birthdate registered at St John The Evangelist School father's name is listed as Frederick in July 1896...

In 1903 Mary Ann gets on a boat and comes to Philadelphia where she is met by her groom, license in hand. Problem is she has told him she is 10 yrs younger than she really is, and that she has never been married! (I have passenger list and marriage affidavit/license) When Frederick John came over a couple years later the passenger list says he was going to his "Aunt" and uncle. (Later in life she did finally admit that she was Fred and Eric's mother after making them call her Aunt Mabel for years). Side note: 2 of her sisters also immigrated to USA with their families.

Eric somehow was sent to Canada for reasons unknown to him. and eventually came down to Pennsylvania/New Jersey where his mom and brother were living.

I don't know what happened to Frederick Charles.

The story I heard growing up was that he gambled away their house and that is what broke up the family. A few years ago my oldest cousin on this line said he had heard that Frederick Charles had been hung for stealing a horse. I would like to find documentation as to what happened to Frederick Charles, part of the problem is Frederick Newman is a fairly common name, so finding the correct records for my great grandfather has been a challenge. Also, how and why Eric ended up in Canada before coming to America. I am thinking maybe tracing Frederick's family down might help me find out more about him.

I have tested with Ancestry as has my great uncle Eric's grandson Carl. Hoping that will help us find some answers.

Thirteen Months

Thirteen months since my last blog post.

Thirteen months of still letting other things interfere with something I love doing.

Thirteen months of letting urgent take priority over important.

I realized recently that my mindset and my way of thinking lately was leading to some resentments, discouragement and at times even some real feelings of anger. None of that is healthy or helpful. I kept telling myself that when "A" happens, then I can do "B".

Well, it doesn't look like "A" is going to happen anytime soon. And there really isn't anything I can do to make "A" happen, or at least nothing that I am willing to do.

Once I realized that, I had to decide if I was going to stay on the same treadmill of thinking (which was making me frustrated and unhappy) or if I was going to change my way of thinking and make some changes.

My decision is to try and change my way of thinking and look at ways to make the situation workable. Since I can't do anything about "A" I have to find a way to do "B" anyway.

Doing "B" means I have to take more control of my finances. Doing "B" means taking control of my way of thinking about things and my response to those things. Doing "B" means putting myself and my needs as a priority. And my needs include following my passions (like doing genealogy and writing).

I really hope that this time I managed to figure out a way to accomplish this. I thought I had set small enough goals last year to be successful. But even though I set goals, I didn't really make plans on how to meet those goals.

Part of problem for me in making structured plans is that my health is unpredictable, so saying I will do X on Mondays at 1 pm doesn't really work well for me. I have made to-do checklists, but they get set aside and I don't follow through. Maybe I am making them too detailed and complicated. I do tend to do that sometimes.

Maybe it is time to take a new look at those checklists and pare them down to a few basics, then with time as I build habits I can think about adding to my list.

Here is to it not being another thirteen months between blog posts.

New Year, New Goals

In 2015 I started a “Do-Over” on my Genealogy Research, or at least that was my intention.

I read Thomas MacEntee’s posts, participated in discussions in the Genealogy Do-Over Facebook Group, did some of the “assignments,” but never made much progress in actually working on my research.

Some of that is I took on outside responsibilities to a couple of different organizations. Both organizations are good and worthwhile, but they took time and energy away from being able to do what I really wanted to be doing.

I allowed the needs and priorities of the organizations to set the priorities in my life (never a good thing when we allow outside things to sent our priorities!).

They took priority over hobbies, over my responsibilities in my home, and even over my health. As a result I lost touch with good friends, my home became disorganized, my finances suffered because I spent money I couldn’t afford to spend, and my health issues worsened. I have resigned from both organizations, have been trying to recover some level of my health back, and have tightened my financial belt so I can get my life back in balance.

So here I am in January 2021 ready to review the genealogy goals I set for 2015 so I can set some REALISTIC weekly and monthly goals to pursue this year. I shared my master list of goals in a December 2014 post, as well as a number of posts about my prep work for the do-over throughout 2015 and beyond if you are interested in reading through them. They do contain some good ideas and tips so going back and reading them may be helpful to you. In fact I am going to go back and read them myself to encourage and inspire me.

I think for a weekly goal I am going to say I want to spend 30 minutes three times a week working on something regarding my personal genealogy research.

Chances are if I start working on my research I will end up spending more than 30 minutes on it, but if I give myself a small goal I should be able to meet it. Setting a big goal means other things may interfere with achieving my goal and then I will get discouraged and give up. I know me.

I think for a monthly goal I am going to read at least one article in my Family Tree Magazine and watch one genealogy podcast. Again, small goals that I can actually do even when my health isn’t good.

I would like to say I will post on my blog weekly, but maybe I better start with committing to one blog post a month and then increase the frequency as I build habits.

What are your genealogy goals this coming year?

What is Your Research Why?

I belong to some genealogy groups on various platforms. Recently I read a post by a person that said they were just starting out and was asking if someone could take them under their wing to show them the ropes. I posted a couple of responses offering some small bits of advice. Then I got to thinking, maybe there are others out there who could use “someone who could take them under their wing.”

That is what I hope to do with blog post, to take those who are new to doing genealogy under my virtual wing and offer some guidance in where to start.

One of the first things is to clarify in your own mind the “why” of you want to are setting out on this journey. The “why” will help you figure out what your are searching for and what resources will help you answer the questions that you have about your ancestors.

Does your family have stories about a famous ancestor that you want to prove for the bragging rights?

Does your family have stories about an ancestor who fought in the Civil War? In the Revolutionary War? That were passengers on the Mayflower? Do you want to be able to prove those stories so you can join a lineage society?

Do you just want to build out all your ancestors lines as far as you can because you are just curious about where you came from?

There are a variety of reasons people have for starting this journey. Each reason is valid, but each reason will require different methods and different tools. That is why before even starting having a clear idea of your reasons for research is important.

What is your “Why” for researching your family tree and its unique history?

For those wondering, when I first started my "why" was a general I want to learn more about my family and where I came from.

Where Are You In Your Genealogy Research Journey?

Where are you in your genealogy research journey?

Complete novice? Interested but haven’t actually done any research?

Beginner? Maybe added a couple of names, dates and places; but really not sure what you are doing or what comes next?

Intermediate? You have spent some time doing basic research, but know there are a lot more things you can do to research the people in your tree; however, not real confident of the how and where to look.

Genealogy Buff, like me? You have your tree fairly well developed; confident in the basics and comfortable with other records and methods to flesh out the people beyond names, dates and places. Membership to at least 1 organization/group, and/or a subscription to at least 1 publication. Shelf full of genealogy books. Watch videos and podcasts on the subject. Willing to help others just so you can learn new techniques. Think about becoming a certified genealogist.

Expert/Professional? You have been paid for doing research or teaching a class on some aspect of genealogy/family history and/or are a Certified Genealogist.

Let’s Talk Family History!

Working with my Ancestry Matches

I want to start off by saying I would really love some feedback on this posting. This is something new I am trying and I am feeling a bit cross eyed by looking at it so much. I need others who have worked with DNA matches to verify that what I am doing makes sense and that this technique can give me helpful information. If I have anything in error I would love the opportunity to correct it so others aren't confused by my mistakes....

Over the years of working with my DNA matches I had figured out how a number of them were related to me, but there are still a lot that I have no clue how we are related. So, I decided I wanted to systematically work through some of my Ancestry matches. To do that I need to figure out a plan of attack.

While looking for techniques I might want to try I came across some YouTube videos about doing Genetic Genealogy research. One of them was by an adoptee who talked about forming groups of matches to sort things out. She took sticky notes and wrote names on them and then looked at their shared matches and put them up on her wall based on groups of shared matches. This is the concept I am going to write about in this blog.

Since I don’t have the wall space to put a bunch of sticky notes up, I decided to use 4x6” index cards for this project. Easy choice, I already had a bunch of that size index cards I had bought for a different project. They are large enough to hold a good amount of info without being so large handling them becomes difficult. I also decided index cards would be easier to rearrange than sticky notes.

Since I wanted to be able to label each card as to what group I was assigning each person to the first thing I had to do is decide how I was going to group these matches and what name I was going to call each group. Since my first chore was dividing between Maternal and Paternal side, I decided that would be the basis for my group names. This is what I came up with:

Because right now I will primarily be working with my first 50 matches I figured this would give me enough groups to be able to sort out who the common ancestors are but not so many that sorting becomes unmanageable. I decided if I come across a 4th cousin match I would just put them into the group that was their descendant's group. For example if I found a 4th cousin who was descended from Antrim/Mason (parents of the Antrim part of Paternal 2B) I would just label them as Paternal 2B.

The next decision was the layout of the individual cards I would be using. It would need to be something I could quickly look at and be able to see the basics about that match. I decided there were some basics I wanted to be able to see quickly: Name, Group, Relationship, amount of shared DNA over how many segments, and if they have a tree. This is the layout I decided on:

First line on front of card: match’s name, included the managed by name if applicable, on left and on right space to put a group name.

On the 2nd line I will put my relationship to the match. If I know the relationship I will use pen to write it on the card. But, if I don’t know the relationship I will use pencil to write predicted range. I will then write amount of shared cMs and over how many segments.

On the 3rd line I will write "Tree" then note if tree is public/private/none.

I skipped a line then wrote “Contact Information:” and left 4 blank lines before writing “Notes:” these are areas I will fill in as I work the matches.

After I have put the basics on the front of the card I then will flip it over and make a list of all the shared matches between me and that person.

The first sort for most of my matches is really easy. I have a maternal aunt who has tested so if someone matches both me and her the match is on my maternal side. In addition I have a paternal 1st Cousin Once Removed and a paternal 2nd Cousin who have tested, which means if they have one of them as a shared match they will fall on my paternal side.

Like I said earlier, I decided to start with my first page of matches on Ancestry, which has 50 people on it. This will give me time to refine what I am doing without being too big of an issue if I decide to start fresh with something else. I decided to also include anyone I had a "Shared Ancestor Hint" (SAH) with. This gave me about 65 cards I am going to be working with to start.

After writing out the front side of the cards with the basics but not all the shared matches lists, I took a quick look at the groups that I had found. I discovered I had lots that were maternal, some that were paternal. However, there were 7 out of the 65 that I couldn’t tell which side they fell on. They didn’t match my maternal aunt nor did they match my paternal 1C1R. So I decided to take a closer look at those.

I started by writing the shared matches list on the backs of those 7 cards. 5 of the 7 had a lot of the same names on them. This is the basis for what I did next.

I opened excel and wrote down my name as #1 and then every name of my matches and all of the shared matches that showed up for any of those matches, numbering them as I added them so I could number the columns and know who that column was referring to.

I then went through each name and marked the intersecting square with an X if the two people were a shared match and a 0 if they were not a shared match. I then filled in the squares that had an X in them in yellow to make them easier to see. This is what I came up with:

First thing that popped out is that the first group of 10 not only matched me, but each one of them matched everyone else in that group. I am thinking with that level of matching with each other there is probably a shared ancestor there.

Then, at the suggestion of someone else, I shifted rows around a little (and I was very careful that I didn’t accidentally change who was sharing with who). That led to discovering a 2nd grouping where 58 of the 64 possibilities also showed up as shared matches. Not quite as good as first group, but probably still worth working to see if there is a shared ancestor there.

Here is that chart:

If you are still with me here, I posted this just to share what I am working on, with the hopes that someone can verify whether or not my hypothesis is even a possibility or if despite the pretty chart I still have no new real information to work with. I am really hoping that I do because many of the 25 matches have no tree or a tree with only a couple of names. And those that do have a few names, some of those have no dates or locations attached to the names. I am guessing my next step is to work on building some mirror trees but with such limited information to work with it will make building mirror trees difficult.