Month: June 2019

Fred Crawford and I became acquainted several weeks ago. He was referred to me by a friend with whom he shared DNA. Fred was trying to determine who his mother’s family was. His mother, Laurel Geraldine Denmark was born in Atlanta in 1923. Mr. Andrew Denmark and his wife, Bessie Fife, adopted her.

Atlanta in the 1920s

I began my research on Ancestry.com and looked closely at Fred’s DNA matches. Three of his five closest DNA matches were on his mother’s side. After some time, I identified a woman of interest, Bessie Gladys Bayne.

Bessie was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1900. She was the youngest child of Georgia and Thomas Bayne. Bessie had two older brothers, Macon, and Clarence, and an older sister Mary. Bessie grew up in Atlanta and married Daniel Edgar Morgan on December 29,1919. Bessie and Daniel had a daughter, Jacqueline Morgan, in April of 1921. By September 25th, 1922, Mr. Morgan was serving a 29-month sentence in Futon County, Georgia, for Larceny.

Daniel Morgan is listed in the 1930 census in Louisiana at the State Penal Farm at Angola. His marital status is “divorced.” In 1942, Mr. Morgan was back in jail for theft of an automobile, in Fulton County, Georgia. In 1958, he served time for burglary. Unfortunately, Mr. Morgan’s life of crime left his wife and child without a husband and father.

After being abandoned by Mr. Morgan, Bessie and Jacqueline remained in Atlanta until 1930. Sometime in 1922, Bessie became pregnant with Laurel Denmark and placed her for adoption. By 1949, Bessie and her daughter Jaqueline had moved to Chicago, Illinois.

Fred shares 248 cm of DNA with Jacqueline’s grand-daughter and 134 cm of DNA with Bessie’s sister (Mary’s) grand-daughter.

Fred shares DNA with multiple people on both Bessie’s maternal and paternal side, thus making them direct ancestors (his great-grandparents.) Through a process of looking at the shared centimorgans to determine relationships, the DNA supports Bessie being the mother versus her sister or one of her brothers.

Fred had several matches to another family on both the maternal and paternal sides (indicating a direct ancestral connection.) William R. Bean and Alice Buchanan married on November 5th, 1889, in Atlanta Georgia. They had two children, Theodore and Lucille. Fred had DNA matches to both the Buchanan side and the Bean side (above William and Alice.) Thus, William and Alice are Fred’ great-grandparents and his mother’s grandparents.

After determining that William and Alice were likely Laurel’s grandparents, I looked at their two children as possible parents for Laurelle. Lucille (their daughter) was married and had two daughters. Her daughter, Anne was born in 1920, and another daughter, Jean was born about 1924. I thought it unlikely that Lucille would have been Laurel’s mother, given the circumstances. Although it is feasible that Lucille was the mother of Laurel, Fred shared higher centimorgans with the children of Theodore. Fred’s DNA fit with him being a half 1st cousin once removed to Theo’s grandson. If Theo had been an uncle (and Lucille was Laurel’s mother), the DNA centimorgans would have been less. Thus, Theodore Bean was likely Laurel’s biological father.

Theodore Bean was born in Georgia in 1890 and was the son of William Riley Bean and Alice Buchanan. His father, William Bean moved to Atlanta around the 1880s to be closer to his brother. He worked as a mason before he became a partner in a printing business. When his partner died, he started W.R. Bean and Son Printing Company.

Another mystery solved! Laurel Geraldine Denmark was the child of Theodore Bean and Bessie Bayne. She was born in 1923, and circumstances at the time led her mother to place her for adoption. Theodore Bean may not have known he had a child. In the 1930 census, Theodore indicates his age was 33 when he married his wife, Clara Bell Cook. That would have been about 1924, suggesting that Theodore was single when Bessie Bayne became pregnant.

I would not have been able to solve his puzzle without the cooperation and active participation of Robert H. Bean. He was Fred’s highest DNA match and it was his DNA which helped us solve this puzzle. Fred and his siblings now have the answer they have been searching for over the years. Ba-Da-Bean!