Peterson Paternal Project – Anderson-Bishop Branch

Glennis DNA Project

By Don Taylor

Part 3

[Previously, I wrote about my Glennis DNA Project in Not a Grimm Tale – So Far and Hemsworth-Morgan Branch. This is a continuation of that project.]

My half-sister Glennis has long wondered who her biological father is. Thanks to Ancestry DNA we have a great clue. She has a match with a person, I’ll call M.A., [i] who she shares 201 centimorgans of DNA across 8 segments with. M.A. does not match with me, so we know that the match is on Glennis’ paternal side. Ancestry DNA predicts the relationship to be 2nd to 3rd cousins and Blaine Bettinger’s “Shared CM Project”[ii] suggests they are second cousins. That means that she and M.A. likely share a great grandparent. The really great thing is that M.A. has all of his/her great grandparents identified. If I can take all eight of those great-grandparents and follow their descendants, possibly one of them was in the right place at the right time. If so, I will have a very likely candidate to my Glennis’ biological father.

Background notes: Glennis’s mother was 21 when Glennis was born. I estimate that Glennis’ biological father must have been between 19 and 32, suggesting a birth year from 1920 to 1934. Supposedly his name was Paul, but he went by Phil. Additionally, Glennis was probably conceived in either Minnesota or Michigan.

M.A. provided a skeleton tree showing his eight great-grandparents and included Jeremiah Anderson his wife Parcidia Bishop and the three direct descendants to MA. My goal with this segment of the project was to follow the descendants of Jeremiah and Parcidia to find an individual who potentially was in either Minnesota or Michigan. I was able to expand my initial knowledge of

Using Ancestry Family Trees and the family tree at Family Search as well as a few census records, I was able to piece together a “notional” family tree showing the basics of Parcidia’s descendants and where they might have lived. I know it is not perfect and relies on the research of other people, but it does give me a first brush stroke and lets me know of this potential line deserves much more research or not.

Jeremiah died very young, at age 29. His only known children were his four children with Parcidia. Parcidia had six more children with her second husband, Isaac Lewis Anderson. Her ten children were:

Four with Jeremiah Anderson:

Isaiah P. Anderson (25 Jul 1854 – ? | 13 Feb 1931 – ?)
Alice Peora Anderson (8 Oct 1856 – ? | 26 Dec 1932 – ?)
Isaac Anderson (1857 | – )
Mary Anderson (15 May 1859 – Amelia | 13 Mar 1950 – Ravenswood)

Six with Isaac Lewis Anderson:

Irene Evangaline Anderson (1 Mar 1862 – Jackson | 16 Apr 1944 – ?)
Ezra Anderson (Sep 1864 – ? | – )
Benton Anderson (1872 – ? | – )
John Crittenden Anderson (25 Aug 1875 – ? | – )
Clifford Oscar Anderson (Jun 1879 – ? | – )
Rena Anderson (1882 – ? | – )

Using Ancestry Family Trees and the family tree at Family Search as well as a few census records, I was able to expand my list of descendants from an initial 3 to 58 known descendants including the following known surnames:

Anderson
Abels (sometimes Ables)
Maple
Rankin
Shaber
Simmons
Snider

The total number of surnames is relatively short because both Alice and Mary married men with the Abels surname (John William Abels and J. Bruce Ables respectively). Neither Irene nor Rena appear to have had children.

In my quick research, I found all of Parcidia descendants remained in West Virginia and western Ohio. I found no branches that located to Michigan or Minnesota, thus no potential father for Glennis from this line.

Certainly, it is possible that someone from this like left West Virginia or Ohio and located to Michigan or Minnesota sometime between 1940 and 1953, but I believe researching the Biddle-Wykert line next will be a better course of action.

Tracing these lines is grueling work, but I believe is the most likely way to the ultimate answer to the question, “Who was Glennis’ biological father.”My Peterson Paternal Project Notional Tree is accessible here. If you do not have an active Ancestry.com account and would like to access the tree, please leave a comment below and I will send you an access link.

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Peterson Paternal Project – Hemsworth-Morgan Branch

By Don Taylor

[Previously, I wrote about this project in “William George Ables and Nancy Grimm.”]

Background notes: Glennis’s mother was 21 when Glennis was born. I estimate that Glennis’ biological father must have been between 19 and 32, suggesting a birth year from 1920 to 1934. Supposedly his name was Paul, but he went by Phil. Additionally, Glennis was probably conceived in either Minnesota or Michigan.

One of second cousin M. A.’s sets of great grandparents was James Luther Hemsworth & Mary D. Morgan, were married on 28 Aug 1881. I’m looking to see if one of their grandchildren was in the right place at the right time. Additionally, the amount of DNA shared could suggest a 2nd cousin once removed, or even a 1st cousin once or twice removed. Basically, that means I need to follow each of the Hemsworth children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to about 1940 to determine if any of them are males born between 1920 and 1934.

James Luther Hemsworth and Mary D Morgan Married 28 Aug 1881.

Stella Belinda Hemsworth (1883-?) Married Joseph Frank Stewart 18 Nov 1906

Mary Naomi Stewart – (1908-? – Married John Clifford Huber 16 Dec 1929.
They had two boys,

JC Huber was born in 1930. He lived in Michigan 1935, 1940, 1988-2001.
RL Huber was born in 1932. He lived in Michigan 1935, 1940, 1987-1998.
Both are potential candidates, Further research to follow.
Ivan Stewart (c.1910-1989) – Married Mary Eloise Not a candidate.

All known children born after 1939.
Harry Stewart (c. 1913-
Franklin James Stewart (1922-2007) – Married Inza Gay Fierce 10 Oct 1942. Unlikely candidate.

Donald Dean Stewart (c. 1925-2012) – Married Joanne Ruark in 1959. Potential Candidate.

R.E. Stewart (c. 1925) Potential Candidate.
Alma Lovelia Hemsworth (1884-?) – Married Thomas J. Morrell (c. 1878) in 1905.

Had two daughters born 1919 and 1921. No male children born before 1934.
M. C. Hemsworth (1887-1887) – Died as an infant

Olive Hemsworth (1890-?) – If a descendent of Olive, M.A. would be a 1st cousin with no generational difference.

Iza A Hemsworth (1892-?) Married Leslie W. Lamp in 1915.

Three children. Son born about 1916 – Probably too old. Unlikely.
Two daughters. Too young to have sons of interest.
Baby Girl Hemsworth (1894-1894) Died as an infant.

Name	Matching Criteria	Candidate
J. C. Huber	Age & Location	Potential
R. L. Huber	Age & Location	Potential
Franklin James Stewart	Age	Unlikely
Donald Dean Stewart	Age	Unlikely but Possible
R.E. Stewart	Age	Unlikely but Possible

I finished my initial analysis of the second of four sets of great grandparents. I think I have found two potential candidates and three unlikely candidates. I have two more sets of great grandparents to look at. Possibly, I will find even better candidates there.

Endnotes

[i] I do not use the full name for living individuals unless I have received their specific permission or are citing them as a source for information.

[ii] Blaine T. Bettinger – The Shared CM Project – Version 2.0 (June 25, 2016) – http://thegeneticgenealogist.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Shared-cM-Project-Version-2.pdf

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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. http://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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