Tag: DNA detective

Mexico: Reynoso via Ennis

A couple of weeks ago, I received a friend invitation on Facebook from a woman in Mission, Texas. I added her and figured she was interested in reading about my research. Five days ago, she messaged me and asked if I was the Kathleen Hill on her matches list. I don’t use my name on my DNA, so I knew she was referring to someone other than me. She explained that she was looking for her biological father. Her mother had passed and could no longer provide information. This woman had spent the past thirty years wondering who her father was.

Coincidence, perhaps, but I have become adept at solving similar mysteries. I asked her if she would like me to help, and she accepted. I reviewed her DNA matches. The closest match on her father’s side was a man with the last name of Reynoso. She shared 1500 centimorgans of DNA with him. My first guess was; he is her half-brother. I questioned her about him and any communication she has had. She messaged him but never received a response.

No Response, Now What?

One of the frustrating things about DNA research is the fact that many people submit their DNA to discover their ethnicity. They are not researching their family tree, nor do they pay a subscription to Ancestry to use all of the resources offered. Mr. Reynoso likely tested and has not logged back into his account for many months.

I sorted her DNA matches and looked at the few people she matched via her father. I believed her father’s last name was Reynoso, but there wasn’t enough evidence to make any additional connections.

90% Northern European and 9% Central American

My client’s mother, Edna was raised in Tennessee and lived in with her husband and children. Edna became pregnant with another man’s child and her husband raised the child as his own. My client was told that her father was of Peurto Rican descent, however, her ethnicity estimate shows otherwise.

The second closest match on my client’s paternal line was a first cousin, or a first cousin, once removed.  Given the closeness of this relationship, I narrowed my focus to the grandparents of this match; Albert Pedin Ennis and Estela Grandison Gastanza. 

Albert Pedin Ennis

Albert Ennis was an Engineer.  He worked for Electric Bond and Share Company in the early 1900’s.  His job required him to travel to Jaimaca, Central & South America, and the West Indies to examine electric properties in various countries.  His wife was Estella Grandison Ennis.  She was born in Oaxico, Mexico.  She and her children traveled with Mr. Ennis for his job.

Stella, Albert, and Thomas Ennis

Two things jumped out at me while researching Mr. Ennis.  His wife, Estella was born in Oaxaca, Mexico (note the mention of Oaxaca, Mexico in my client’s Ethnicity Estimate.)  Mr. Ennis was born in Illinois.   If both great grandparents were from Mexico, my client’s DNA should show 15-20% Central America.  Thus, only one of her great-grandparents was from Mexico.  Mr. Ennis was from Illinois and his wife was from Mexico. 

The next step was to research all of the children of Mr. Ennis and Ms. Grandison Gastanza to see if I could find a connection to the Reynoso line. I found two sons and three daughters. I researched each of these children and their spouses. One daughter, Jean Margareta Elizabeth Ennis y Grandison, “Betty”, married a man named Pedro Reynoso. Pedro’s father was from Vera Cruz, Mexico (another city listed in my client’s DNA Ethnicity results.) Additionally, his grandparents were from the United States; Kentucky, and Wisconsin. Again, supporting my client’s 9% DNA connection to Central America. I believe Betty and Pedro Reynoso are my client’s grandparents. One of their two sons is likely her father.

Mr. Reynoso and Ms. Ennis y Grandison had three girls and two boys. They lived in Browning, Texas where my client’s family lived in when her mother became pregnant.

I have meticulously constructed my client’s family tree on Ancestry.com and have uncovered photographs and documents dating back to the early 1800s. Proudly, I can say she has the most well-established tree on both her Reynoso and Ennis lines. Hopefully, she will be able to establish a relationship with her biological half-siblings and they can discover their rich family history together.

Ba-Da-Bean!

Laurel Geraldine Denmark
1923-2011

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.

Mr. and Mrs. Denmark grew up in Taylor, Florida. They married in 1912 and moved to Atlanta, Georgia where Mr. Denmark worked as a repairman for the railroad. Bessie, his wife, worked as a seamstress at a local laundry. The couple adopted Laurel in 1923. Laurel never had any documentation of her adoption and later in life, when she needed a birth certificate, the Denmarks had to present a sworn statement of birth to the local hospital. Fred had very little information to go on and requested my assistance with determining who Laurel’s biological parents were.
Atlanta in the 1920s
“It was during the ’20s, perhaps, that Atlanta reached its height of reconstruction, though its fate was sealed by the depression of the 1930s.”

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.

Mary Georgia Bayne (Bessie’s Mother)

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.
Georgia Central Register of Convicts 1817-1976

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 1890-1950

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.

W. R. Bean and Son Printing
https://exhibits.library.gsu.edu/current/items/show/925

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!

Coincidence? Perhaps, or Sheer Luck!

Three weeks ago, I received a Facebook message from a young lady asking if I managed a kit for someone on My Heritage. The person she was looking for shared my name, but It was not me. As we discussed her situation, I learned she had been adopted and was searching for her biological family. Was it a coincidence that she stumbled upon a woman who shared my name and unknowingly emailed me, a DNA enthusiast? Little did she know, her luck would soon pay off.

It took me about a week to research her DNA. She had made many contacts and had communicated with her DNA matches. She had some ideas about how she was related to the people on her list, but I was not familiar enough with her DNA to give an informed opinion.

When I help adoptees, it is more difficult because we don’t have any information about the maternal side or paternal side. When a familial connection is discovered, I am never sure which side of the tree it belongs. The challenge is to figure out how eight people divide into pairs. The next complication becomes figuring out which pair relates to the paternal side and which pair belongs on the maternal side.

I began my research by using the LEEDS method. This method helps to identify the great-grandparents (eight people at the top of the diagram.) Unfortunately, I was only able to identify six of the eight great-grandparents. With this information, I was able to determine one set of grandparents and one more undetermined branch. I narrowed my focus and looked closely at the grandparents. I found they had a daughter but was not sure she was an only child. I began with this woman. She (or a sister or a brother) were likely the parent of the woman I was helping. The woman I was helping took this information and began corresponding with people in search of her biological family.

It has been about a week since we narrowed the possibilities down. My client has been very busy contacting people and asking questions. Tonight we spoke briefly, and she made contact with the daughter of the woman whom I had identified. They corresponded over some time and eventually, she explained that she thought they could be half-sisters or cousins. The woman with whom she was communicating told my client that her mother had placed a child up for adoption when she was young. At last, sisters communicating and my client will soon get to know her mother.
Now that we have identified the maternal line, I know the remainder belongs on her paternal side.  Now we must wait for more people to test so we can locate her father.  3/1/19 Update (Her mother told her who her father was.)  I was so close, I was looking at his brother.  #nailed it

 

 

Why Don’t I Recognize My DNA Matches?

It is not unusual for there to be cousins listed as relatives on a genetic family tree website.  Make sure you have your direct descendants completed in your tree for five generations or so.  Look at the distance of the relationship.  If a person is listed as a second cousin, they generally great-grandparents.  That will help you know which generation to look at.  A fourth cousin would share third great-grandparents.  Another consideration is a non-paternal event.  It might not be on your side, it might be on the side of the person you match.  Take a close look at your matches and look for commonalities.  If you see someone you don’t recognize, see who else they match and look for common names.
In my situation, my father’s paternal grandparents were Nellie Hadley & William McCurdy Cubbison.  We had matches on the Hadley side, but not the Cubbison side.  I noticed several 2nd and 3rd cousins with the surname Jordan.  I began building a separate family tree based on our cousins with the surname Jordan.   As I was researching, the surname Harmon appeared frequently.  I started adding cousins with the Harmon surname to the Jordan tree.  The two trees eventually connected with Elizabeth Harmon who married Garret Jordan in 1814.   Bingo! My father had DNA cousins relating to both sides.  Elizabeth and Garret were my direct ancestors.

When you have matches to the paternal and maternal line of a couple, they are direct ancestors. Grandparent, Great-Grandparent etc.

The Cubbison family moved from Wells County Indiana to Jay County Indiana between 1896 and 1870.

At this point, I knew the problem was on the Cubbison side of the tree.  My father had cousins who were Hadley’s so my father’s, father was not a question.  My father’s grandfather, William McCurdy Cubbison was not questionable because my father had DNA matches to cousins who descended from him.  The non-paternal event must have happened before William McCurdy Cubbison was born.   Elizabeth Harmon was born in 1798 and Garrett Jordan was born in 1793.  The non-paternal event (NPE) must have occurred with the children of Garrett and Elizabeth.  I began looking at the location of the Cubbison Family and the Jordan family in the 1800’s.

Jordan’s moved from Ohio to Jay Co. Indiana between 1850 & 1860.

The common denominator; Jay County, Indiana.  I went to the 1870 Census and looked for each family.  Much to my dismay, I found something that had been there the entire time.  I hadn’t looked close enough.  My 3rd great-grandparents (Adam and Louisa) were living right next door to my Jordan family.  William’s father was not Adam.  It was one of these brothers.

Isaac Jordan and Jacob Jordan were living on each side of my Cubbison ancestors. William McCurdy Cubbison was born in 1870. His parents were Adam and Louisa Minerva Cubbison.

In conclusion, my surname should have been Jordan and before that, we were O’Byrne’s.  The Jordan lineage goes back to Leinster, Ireland, so the name changed sometime before our Jordan family reached the U.S.

In time, I will be able to say with certainty, which Jordan was the father of my great-grandfather.  With DNA testing, each relationship is measured in centimorgans.  My next step is to look at the centimorgans so I can determine the exact person I descend from.  Right now, I am content knowing it was one of the brothers.