Not a Grimm Tale (So far).

My Glennis DNA Project

By Don Taylor

Now that I have solved my greatest genealogical challenge, (Who was my biological father?) it is time to address my second biggest challenge – Who is my half-sister Glennis’ biological father?

The first step was to have her DNA tested. We used Ancestry DNA as our testing service. Initially, there weren’t any close matches, but a few months later a second to third cousin (I’ll call “MA”) tested and matched.  Glennis and MA share 201cM across eight segments. Looking at Blaine Bettinger’s chart, it is clear that the matched amount fits a second cousin better than a third cousin, although both are within range. If Glennis and MA are second cousins, then they share a common great-grandparent. Then, the exciting bit of information, MA has a tree online with all eight of his great-grandparents identified. So, if I follow all of the descendants of those eight great-grandparents, I could have the name of Glennis’ biological father.  If one of them was in the right place at the right time, I might have a definite candidate to be her biological father.

• Abels
• Anderson
• Biddle
• Bishop
• Grimm
• Hemsworth
• Morgan
• Wykert

He also had two more surnames for 2nd great grandparents.

• HallS
• Sullivan

  Which I will follow-up with, if I need to.I decided to work on each of the family surnames alphabetically for no real reason, so I began with MA’s great grandparents, George W. Ables and Nancy Grimm, who were living in Jackson County, Virginia, when their son, John W. Ables, was born.

TIP: West Virginia Culture (Virtual Research Records) is one of my favorite websites for vital records. They have Birth, Marriage, and Death registers available for search and include images of the various records. https://www.wvculture.org/vrr/. If you don’t already have it bookmarked, you should. It is a great site for anything West Virginia.

William George Ables and Nancy Grimm

William George Ables was born between 1826 and 1827 in Virginia. His wife, Nancy Grimm was about two years younger having been born between 1828 and 1829 also in Virginia. I suspect they were married about 1848-1849.

Known Children:

• Julia A Ables (1850-1871) – Never married.
• James A Ables (1851-?)
• John W. Ables (1854-1925)
• Jacob L. Ables (1856-?)
• Joseph M. Ables (1859-?)
• Arthur Ables (1867-?)

I also traced John W. Ables’ children. He and his wife, Alice P Anderson appear to have had 12 or 13 children. Also, with William and Nancy’s only daughter passing without a child, it reduces the potential for additional surnames. Finally, it appears that the entire family spent all of their lives in West Virginia. As such, it is less likely that their descendants were in Minnesota in 1953. Consequently, I will set aside research of Ables family descendants for the time being. I will return to the Ables research and examine the further if I need to study their offspring closer.

Next, I’ll look at the James Luther Hemsworth and Mary Belinda Morgan descendants.

Another cousin, 3rd to 4th, has a Mary Morgan in his pedigree chart. Not a descendant, but maybe close enough to a common descendant. Based upon that, I probably should have picked the Morgan line first, but didn’t notice the surname match until after I was well into researching the Ables/Grimm line.

If no success there, I’ll look at Jeremiah Anderson & Parcidia Bishop descendants.

Finally, I’ll research the Samuel Biddle and Francis Wykert descendants.

It is so exciting to be zeroing in on Glennis’ biological father.

Sources:

• Ancestry DNA Matches (Private)
• West Virginia Culture & History; Vital Research Records Selection Search; Birth, Marriage, and Death Records. Surname Ables, County Jackson.
• Family Search, 1850 & 1860, Censuses, Jackson County, Virginia.
• Family Search; 1870 Census; Jackson County, West Virginia.

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