Digging Up Your Family

Using mtDNA to Break Down a Brick Wall

I can’t say that the brick wall that was broken is my brick wall necessarily, however it does include my ancestors. And therefore, my extended family.

Several years ago when I was researching Ezekiel Currey and Elizabeth Brownlee I came across a website that has a lot of Currey information (genealogies HERE and notes HERE).  It was through this website that I was able to get into contact with Imogene Bennett, an absolutely lovely woman with whom I speak with roughly twice per year.

Imogene has searched for so many years for evidence that Ezekiel and Elizabeth had a daughter named Jane who married a man named David Wood. Not having found any documentation to prove that Jane was a Currey, I mentioned that mtDNA could be used IF we could find a direct maternal descendant of Jane. Enter in Doug Wood and Michael Kenning.

Now, I don’t want to give the whole story away here.  Doug wrote a wonderful piece explaining everything, with charts and everything!

You can read more at his website Tangled Wood, and see a picture of the beautiful Imogene!

What I Have Been Doing Lately

1.  I had purchased several hundred photos on eBay that all turned out to be a family collection.  After hunting around for a while I finally found the family to which they belong.  I scanned roughly 70 of the photographs and mailed those off to the family on Tuesday.  In the coming weeks I will scan the rest of them so I can get those mailed off, too.  I am extremely happy that I found the family, and I am extremely happy that they are getting their precious heirlooms back.  I had started a blog regarding the photos just in case I wasn’t able to find family.  I will be keeping it going so you can check it out here.

 

2.  My mom and I went up to Tennessee to visit with family again.  After picking up Great-Aunt Kat we drove up to Clarksville to visit Grandmother and Granddaddy’s graves.  Then we drove down to Hurricane Mills (our usual spot) and visited with Donny and Bobbie.  We didn’t stay long because Bobbie wasn’t feeling well (luckily she is feeling much better now).  While there we had decided that instead of buying Nan Nan’s fried pies from Cissie Lynn’s store, we would go to Nan Nan’s store and buy them directly from her.  After driving out of our way (you can tell from the start of this that it ended badly) we got to the location only to find out that the location was moved.  The sign (of which I wish I had taken a photo) gave the address of the new location and said to stop in and visit.  So we drove even further out of the way.  Come to find out the new location was the original location:  the owner’s home.  She (I assume Nan Nan, but it might just be named Nan Nan by using her grandmother’s recipe or something) was not pleased to see us.  She seemed to be miffed that we pulled into her driveway.  After telling us she didn’t really have many pies to sell I asked her if she took credit cards.  No, she said, she didn’t even take them at the other location.  By now I was angry.  Their website (which is just their Facebook page from what I can tell) didn’t have the new address listed which caused the looooong drive.  They also didn’t have payment options on the page, so I didn’t know I should have stopped for cash.  But in the end, you know what?  Her attitude ruined the entire thing anyway.  Had she been more pleasant I may have considered driving out to an ATM and getting cash just to buy a fried pie.  Will I ever purchase another Nan Nan’s Homemade Fried Pie again?  Nope.  (I just checked out the Facebook page, and they now have that they don’t accept credit cards and failed to use spell check…ok, that’s just me being bitter and mean)

 

3.  A couple of weeks ago my mom and I got to meet new cousins who live here in Georgia:  Valerie Craft and her mom Ruby!  Valerie has the genealogy blog Begin With Craft, which is chock-full of great information and research tips.  Due to the shared Craft surname we think that may be how we are related.  Through DNA Valerie’s father matches up to Great-Aunt Kat an estimated 4th cousin.  That means to find out how they are related we would need to go back to, at the very least, Prestly Ezekiel Craft’s father.  I think it has been figured out that his name was John Craft (don’t hold me to that because I am not positive).  Kat’s Craft family goes back:

Henry Corbit Craft (1895 TN-1971 TN)

John Craft (1859 TN-1936 TN)

Thomas Craft  (abt 1810 NC-aft 1880 TN)

Prestly Ezekiel Craft (abt 1786 NC-btwn 1850 and 1860 TN)

Several people have that Prestly married his wife Mary Thaxton in Surry County, North Carolina.  I guess I will have to look into that more.

 

4.  My mom and I are getting ready for the Bondurant Family Association Annual Meeting next week.  I’m pretty excited about it!

 

5.  I recently applied to go back to school.  I have thought about it for a while, and now with the imminent closing of the Georgia Archives to the public I decided to just do it!  I applied to American Public University online school for history.  Who knows, maybe I will eventually become an archivist!

 

6.  In my genealogy research I am currently working on (ready for this?  It’s like it is never-ending!):

-Who are Peter McQueen’s parents?  It really is driving me crazy not knowing.  The earliest I can find him is on an 1818 bill of sale for a slave named Daniel.  Peter doesn’t appear on any census record (by name at least) until 1840, though. 

-What happened to Spencer DeMumbrie?  When and where did he die?  Where is he buried?  Why is he being difficult?

-Why am I unable to locate James Franklin Stalls’s grave in Oak Grove Cemetery in Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky?  His obituary says he is there, but there is no record of him as being buried there. 

-Is the research I did on Brett’s Murphy family correct?  It seems perfectly logical to me, but I was presented with something extremely different that is completely illogical to me.

-The Craft line (as mentioned above).

-The search for Eppy Willhite Craft’s death record.  I will have to write a whole post for this fun headache.  Let’s just say that no one is actually sure of her first name anymore, and her death cannot be found (and she had to have died unless she’s still alive at the ripe old age of about 150 years-old…which you never know, I guess).

-William Glenn Cathey:  where are you buried exactly?

-Amanda Summers: when, where and how did you die and where are you buried?  Oh, and who exactly is Lizzie’s father?  Or do you not even know?

-And let’s just say many other research subjects, such as who are the parents of John B Smith?  Where exactly was Elizabeth Brownlee from?  Where is the Stalls family from?  And many, many more questions. 

 

I’m going to go watch movies now!

A Few Marriages in Delaware 1759-1760

I started  putting all of the genealogy records I have into file folders this morning and was pretty disappointed that the marriage record for Ezekiel Currey and Elizabeth Brownlee is on ledger size paper, forcing me to fold the paper.  I’m not prepared to do that yet, so I will just put it back in the envelope it was delivered in and keep it that way for now. 

I decided to make a list of every marriage listed on that page.  When I came to the bottom of the page I discovered that the third from the last listing is for the marriage of Samuel Nail and Margaret (written as Margrete) Brownly on August 14, 1760.  I started wondering:  could this Margaret be the sister of Elizabeth Brownlee?  Elizabeth’s first daughter was named Betsey, a nickname for Elizabeth.  Her second daughter was named Margaret.  So it’s possible she named her second daughter after a sister.  This might give me a lead to who Elizabeth Brownlee’s parents are and where they are from.  This also gives me another spelling of Brownlee to search!

I have transcribed the names on the page as well as I could.  I know that they are all listed on Family Search, but some of the names don’t look as that website transcribed them (example:  the handwriting clearly says “Buttington”, yet it is transcribed on Family Search as “Bussington”).  Names that I just couldn’t make out at all I put a note beside.  If anyone has any information on any of the parties listed below feel free to comment or contact me!  I love stories!

1759

John Martin and Anne Larkin

John Smith and Hannah Otlay

James Bennet and Jane Henry

John Skelton and Mary Bush

Matthew Wilson and Catherine Kerson

Stephen Bennet and Margret Buddon

Francis Rork and Mary Pryer

George Chandler and Jane Cannelly

Albert Skeer and Patience Trevel

Peter Springer and Catherine Anderson

William Miller and Sarah Hall

Evan Morgan and Margret Morgan

Francis McMullon and Margret Gallohun

Edward Taylor and Rebecka McClour

Joseph Tatford and Susanna Wooliston

Joseph Buttington and Mary Serv. (not sure about this one)

John L Loyd and Mary Moore

Patrick Kelly and Anne Hide

John Crampton and Sarah Barnet

Petter Gallorhon and Flora Camee/Camel (not sure)

Alexander Moore and Elizabeth Moore

David Anderson and Agnes Mitchel

John Bell and Mary Stran (not sure about his one)

Andrew Rees and Anne Alderwood

William Cook and Rachel Morgan

James Underwood and Ester Matson

James Buttington and Mary Blackly

James Kear and Else Taylor

George Stalker and Sarah Thornburry

George Hall and Phoebe Thomas

James Carr and Else Taylor

Jacob Dawson and Anne Harris

Thomas Barclay and Mary Chapman

John Elliot and Clon Fits Randal (not sure about this one)

Barne Miles and Martha Moore

John Wallarlou and Mary Gray

John Bell and Margaret Mayer

Thomas Williams and Martha Rowland

Robert Wilson and Mary Wilson

James Shields and Margret Bentley

Thomas Monks and Mary Mace

James Little and Sarah Laird

William Henry and Sarah Rallston

Valentine Ofwerdorff and Agnes Peperelly

John Cann and Catherine James

Charles Springer and Margret Springer

Nathan Scutteron and Hannah Twigg

James Gibson and Mary Thomson

Evan Lewis and Margret Davis

Michel Murduck and Brigit Springer (cut off)

William Clark and Anne Bauldin

Christopher Karrl and Catherine Faril

Joseph Rafton and Jannet Parten

John Larvler and Darkeys Barker

Jacob Staahlman and Catherine Chersherin

Charles Larra and Anne Saulter

William Chapman and Elizabeth Byshop (crossed out)

Ezekiel Currey and Elisabeth Brownlees

Patrick Gamble and Jane Nosette

Abraham Springer and Christine Anderson

 

1760

William Chapman and Elizabeth Bishop

James Wilson and Mary Moore

Peter Peterson and Abiah Garrison

William Peoples and Jane Haag

John Siddon and Jane Robert

Francis McCulley and Susanna Patton

Friedz. Warner and Rebecka Robeson (not sure about this one)

James Hasting and Susanna Justice

Jacob Stilley Jr and Anne French

John Dixson and Susanna Pryer

Thomas Wilson and Agnes Young

Joseph Mea and Martha Hill

Mardechay Woodward and Bridgette Knowles

James Garman and Phoebe Bradford

Lawrence Flinn and Elizabeth Gordon

William McKea and Sarah Smith

Thomas Allen and Catherine Vaneman

Robert Adair and Isabel Douglas

Jonathan Hays and Elizabeth Horten

John Gottfied Charley and Anne Mary Reilerin

Abraham Swang and Alse Pyle

Samuel Heald and Ruth Harlan

Thomas David and Rebecca Long

Peter Gallohar and Mary Halom

Joseph Cloud and Chanty Tally

Sven Colesberg and Annah Torner

Joseph Paerce and Beata Grimes

Andrew Hall and Annah Maxel

John Webb and Sarah Green

Joseph Ball and Hannah Brackin

John Chalfint and Matire (not sure about this one)

Mathias Kaler and Annah Euklingen

Hans Peter Harale and Margrete Leana

Samuel Nail and Margrete Brownly

Cornelius McDannel and Chery Dely

Archibald Grey and Charrine/Chatrine Clark (not sure)

Ezekiel Currey and Elizabeth Brownlee Marriage Record-This Ain’t Mississippi

Sometimes getting historic records is more difficult than pulling teeth.

Back in mid-September I sent off a money order for $25 to the Old Swede’s Foundation to get a copy of the marriage record for Ezekiel Currey and Elizabeth Brownlee.  I had put in a note along with the money order that I wasn’t sure if they had married in November or December of 1759.  About two weeks after I mailed it, on September 30th, I realized that I couldn’t remember if I had included my email address, so I emailed the Foundation, knowing that they would probably prefer to contact me that way if they were unable to find the record.  I never heard back from them. 

I then waited about a month and called them them the last week of October asking about how long it would normally take to receive the record.  I was informed that they had sent me an email letting me know that they never received my money order.  I told them I would pay over the phone and that I wanted the record.  I was told it would be about two weeks until they could get to it because of how busy the Foundation was at that time. 

I waited two weeks, until November 7th, then cancelled the money order (because when I checked it still hadn’t been cashed) and sent another email asking how the search was going.  I didn’t hear back from them. 

I called the following Wednesday, November 9th, I was told it would be another two weeks.  So I waited. 

On November 30th I called again, asking the progress of finding the record and attempting to pay for it over the phone again, thinking that perhaps that was why they were taking so long.  I was told that she (the executive director) had been about to email me to let me know that they were going over the next day to make the copy.  She asked if I wanted it sent through the mail or through email, to which I told her if they claimed to be sending me all of these emails I wasn’t getting then perhaps snail mail might be best.  She sent me a test email, which I got, and so I waited to hear back from them regarding payment (she had told me that once they had the record in the mail they would send me a message so I could pay). 

I waited two days and sent an email asking about the progress of the record, and I was sent a short email telling me that she was working on the accompanying letter.  So I waited.

Finally, on Friday, December 9th, seven days after I was told that the accompanying letter was being written, I still had not received the record, nor had I received an email or phone call regarding payment, so I sent an email to the Old Swede’s Foundation letting them know how disgusted I was with their lack of service.  I let them know that I was considering a complaint to the Chamber of Commerce, the BBB, not to mention any other organizations that they may be, or may in the future be, involved with.  I received a phone call within an hour, but I was unable to get to my phone, and no voicemail was left.

Then yesterday, December 16th, eleven weeks after my first email to the Foundation and roughly 13 weeks after I initially sent in my request, the record arrived (with an accompanying letter), stamped by the United States Postal Service as having been mailed December 12th.  No apology, of course.  As soon as it arrived I sent an email asking how they wanted me to pay for the record and I have yet to hear from them.

So let’s go through the time line:

about September 16-money order and request mailed

September 30-emailed Foundation, no response

about October 28-called, told wait two weeks

November 7-cancelled money order, sent email and never heard back from them

November 30-called, was sent test email, was told it would be a couple of days

December 2-sent email, was told accompanying letter was being written

December 7-sent email of disgust

December 12-record finally mailed

December 16-record received in my hot little hands, emailed them asking how to pay, no response yet

Dear Record Keepers of the World:  this experience with Old Swede’s Foundation is an example of WHAT NOT TO DO.  The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth and, honestly, I will never deal with Old Swede’s Foundation again.  If I ever need another record from them I will hunt down someone who might be willing to share the record they have from that place, or just go without.  If you want a good example of WHAT TO DO, just look at Lauderdale County Department of Archives & History Inc., Lauderdale County, Mississippi.  They have been overwhelmingly helpful and quick to respond and send out records.

Anyway, I present to you the long awaited marriage record of Ezekiel Currey and Elizabeth Brownlee, Old Swede’s Foundation, Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware dated November 6, 1759.  Something I found interesting about this record is that Elizabeth Brownlee’s name is recorded as Elisabeth Brownlees, which leads me to think that I should start researching Brownlees, rather than Brownlee.  I know that Ezekiel Currey's family is from Belfast, County Antrim/County Down, Northern Ireland.  Now I need to find where Elizabeth and her Brownlee family is from!

Bring Out The (figurative) Bloodhounds

Trying to track the maternal line of a family is pretty difficult (unless you are royalty, in which case you probably aren’t making your family tree since it’s been recorded throughout the years anyway).  Pretty much women weren’t as important to keep up with back in the day.  Really, up until 1850 when everyone in the household was required to be listed by name on the census records, the only place you could find a woman’s name was in a family Bible, marriage and divorce records and/or possibly wills. So, in an effort to keep the maternal lines of my parents fresh in your mind, I decided to list them along with the information I have (and the information I don’t have yet).  Enjoy!

 

My direct maternal line (beginning with my grandmother):

Ruth May Craft

b. August 9, 1925 Gibson County, Tennessee

d. January 14, 2007 Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee

Katie Clady Cathey

b. December 18, 1897 Indian Bayou, Lonoke County, Arkansas

d. November 25, 1935 Trenton, Gibson County, Tennessee

Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Summers

b. March 15, 1870 Tennessee

d. October 20, 1952 Martin, Weakley County, Tennessee

Amanda Summers

b. abt 1852 Tennessee

d. abt 1889 Tennessee

Emily Jane Duffel

b. abt 1822 Tennessee

d. aft 1880 Tennessee

Susan McCarroll

b. abt 1800 North Carolina

d. aft 1860 Tennessee

Susan Currey

b. abt 1770 Rockingham County, North Carolina

d. aft 1830 Williamson County, Tennessee

Elizabeth Brownlee

b. ?

d. aft 1790 Rockingham County, North Carolina

(note: I have spelled Currey as Currie in other posts and on the sidebar. It has come to light that it may actually be Currey. Also, Elizabeth Brownlee’s last name might have actually been Brownlees. I am awaiting confirmation before I change them, though.  Another important note to add concerns Emily Jane Duffel.  Though she seems to be listed everywhere on the internet as Susan McCarroll’s daughter, I haven’t actually seen any confirmation on it.  I mean, I pretty much assumed since the census records for Susan’s husband, Allen Duffel, list an extra female-older than the rest of the children-that the Houston County, Tennessee: History and Families (Turner Publishing Company, 1995) failed to list (which isn’t surprising, considering the book is trying to tell me that Emily Jane Duffel and Basil Pinkney Summers married in 1830, which would mean Emily was about 8 years old…in reality they married about 1839).  Also, there wasn’t another Duffel family in the area that I have found.)

 

My father, Roger Dale Ray (Robert Jewell Vincent)’s, direct maternal line, beginning with his mother, my grandmother:

Louise Rose

b. March 20, 1923 Muhlenberg County, Kentucky

d. January 9, 2004 Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky

Nellie Lillian Claxton

b. abt 1893 Kentucky

d. abt 1962 Indiana

Willie Melton

b. abt 1873 Kentucky

d. aft 1920 Kentucky?

Hepseba Powell

b. abt 1848 Indiana

d. ? Kentucky?

Alice Bean

b. abt 1824 Virginia

d. aft 1880 Indiana?

(note: as you can see, I don’t have much information on this line at all. I haven’t found the death records of Lilly Claxton or Willie Melton yet, mainly because I haven’t figured out what mix of first, middle and married names might be on the records. I haven’t found Hepsy on a census after 1880 yet.)

Elizabeth Brownlee

Through my research I have been able to follow my direct maternal line all of the way back to my 7th great-grandmother, Elizabeth Brownlee.

The information that I have so far for Elizabeth Brownlee came from Houston County, Tennessee: History and Families (1995, Turner Publishing Company).  I have seen a few websites that mention her, along with further information, but I have yet to gain permission from them to use their information, nor do I know exactly where their information came from.  I have contacted the Delaware Historical Society to see if they have any further information, so now it’s just a waiting game!

Elizabeth Brownlee (birthdate unknown, parents unknown) married a merchant and farmer named Ezekiel Currie (birthdate, place unknown, died sometime after 1800 in Nolensville, Tennessee).  The marriage took place in Wilmington, Delaware at Holy Trinity Church on December 6, 1759. 

The children born to Elizabeth and Ezekiel were:

Samuel (1761-sometime after 1830)

Ezekiel (1763-1851)

Margaret (1764-1858)

Elizabeth “Betsy” (1764-1850) (Margaret and Betsy were either twins, or Elizabeth Brownlee got pregnant really soon after giving birth to Margaret)

Sarah (1766-1843)

Nancy (1768-1840)

Susan (1770-sometime after 1830) (my 6th great-grandmother)

Robert Brownlee (1774-1848)

Mary (1775-death unknown)

Isaac (birthdate, death date unknown)

Mattie (birthdate, death date unknown)

Elizabeth Brownlee died in Rockingham, North Carolina sometime after 1790.

I am awaiting the arrival of the Houston County book so I can see if there is anymore information in it.  And, of course, waiting to hear back from Delaware.  And hopefully I can track down information on her death.  It would be pretty marvy if I can find who her parents are!

If you have any information on Elizabeth Brownlee, contact me!