Looking for Connection to Agee ancestors via Autosomal DNA

My grandfather has several Y-DNA matches to men with the Smith surname.[1] We have not been able to figure out how they all connect to each other, however, we have been able to separate them into three distinct groups. I wrote about them previously here.

My grandfather, Darrel, descends from David Editon Smith, born about 1789 in Tennessee. [2][3] David was probably living in Jackson County, Alabama between 1830 and 1840 [4] and by 1850 was living in Johnson County, Arkansas. [3] His father was listed as James Smith on his daughter's Cherokee Citizen's Application. [5]

My grandfather's closest Y-DNA match, M Smith, descends from Patrick Smith, born about 1788 in Alabama. M Smith's daughter believe's Patrick's father might have also been James Smith. [6]

Two additional Y-DNA matches descend from Thomas Smith and Leah Agee, although there is some squabble about them being the ancestral couple of both of these matches and is therefore not conclusively proven. One of these matches descends from this couples' son Richard Smith who married Diana Braswell. The other match descends from Richard's brother, James Agee Smith. Both Richard and James were born in Tennessee, then followed the Mormons to Utah where they settled.[1]

The family of James Agee Smith was involved in polygamy which was outlawed at the time, but was still being practiced in the community where he lived in Utah. As you can imagine, this has made it difficult to define the exact genealogy of James Smith's family, not just because a man was allowed to have and live with multiple wives, but because it is nearly impossible to differentiate between the children of one wife from those of another. The multiple wives often co-habitated with their husband, "sisters," and their combined children. This is actually represented on the census reports. Here is an example of a polygamous family living in Saint George, Utah in 1880. You see Warren Hardy is the head of house and he has two wives listed with a bunch of children. [7]

1880 St George, UT Census record showing 

Polygamous family of Warren Hardy

The remaining two matches also squabble about who their ancestral couple was. I will list them individually here and link to previous posts I've written about this family. Their squabble is inconsequential to today's post, so I won't dwell on it.

Match No. 5, Mr. H. Smith, claims to descend from William Smith and Elizabeth Eunice Ritchie via their son Richard Smith who married Alicia Combs. There is a LOT of information about this family on the internets, but word of caution here - don't believe everything you see as fact! [8]
Match No. 6, Mr. A. Smith, claims to descend from Samuel Smith and Eunice Joliff. He has documentation to support Samuel was his ancestor and not William, as well as Eunice Joliff, instead of Eunice Ritchie.[9]

As I mentioned earlier, we have not been able to figure out the connection between these three sets of Smith families. We assume that David and Patrick were somehow related because they were both in Alabama around the same time, and they both came from Tennessee. [3] [6] Thomas Smith and Leah Agee's sons Richard and James Agee Smith were also born in Tennessee prior to moving to Utah. [10] [1] William / Samuel Smith and Eunice Ritchie / Joliff were actually from Kentucky and their family stayed in Kentucky - so 3 distinct Smith families with no known apparent connection. [8][9]

We wondered about how useful the autosomal DNA test would be in narrowing down our list of common ancestors. My grandfather's closest match took the Family Finder test by FamilyTreeDNA (ftDNA), so we compared them. Unfortunately, although they were a match on the Y-DNA, they were not a match on the Family Finder test.

In case you are wondering, there is an Advanced Matching feature in your ftDNA homepage, that allows you to compare to your match across multiple test types (ie, Y-DNA, atDNA, mtDNA). To access this feature, I logged in to my grandfather's DNA results, hovered my mouse over the My DNA link at the top left of the page, and when a drop down box appeared, I hovered my mouse over the My Y-DNA link and then when a new drop down box appeared, I clicked on Advanced Matching.

How to access the Advance Matching Page

From the Advanced Matching page, I put a check mark beside the Y-DNA67 and the Family Finder test options, then I clicked "Yes" beside the "Show only people I match in all selected tests" option. I then clicked the Run Report button to see my results.

No Results

As I said earlier, unfortunately, my grandfather's closest Y-DNA match is NOT a match on the Family Finder test. You might be wondering why or how this could be? There could be a few reasons for this. 1) The common ancestor is too far back to be picked up by the Family Finder test. The Family Finder test is only guaranteed to work back to 5 generations. [11] David Smith is my grandfather's 5th generation back. If the common ancestor was beyond David, which I'm positive it was, then it is possible it is too far back to be picked up. 2) It is possible that my grandfather and his match did not inherit the same DNA segments. DNA gets mixed up or "recombined" when it gets transferred from a parent to offspring. Oftentimes, siblings do not receive the same exact DNA segments, so one sibling may match a cousin but the other sibling does not.[12]

Since I could not do much more with my grandfather's closest Y-DNA match, the descendant of Patrick Smith from Alabama, I decided to work with the second set of matches - the descendants of Thomas Smith and Leah Agee. I could try to do a search in my Family Finder matches for anybody with Smith in their list of surnames - but that would results in a high number of matches and a lot of Smiths to go through! Instead, I focused on the AGEE surname.

Background of Leah AGEE:

The Leah Agee who married Thomas Smith was born about 1755 in Manakin, Goochland County, Virginia. [1] She was the daughter of Anthony Agee and either Christian Worley [1] or Nancy Jane Benin or Binnion. [13] Anthony Agee was the son of a Hugenot named Mathieu Agee who fled France and came to Virginia.[14]

One of the most successful ways I have found to work with my autosomal DNA results is through a targeted surname search. I have tested with both FamilyTreeDNA and AncestryDNA. I've had better luck working through my AncestryDNA results because more matches have trees posted than they do in ftDNA.

I started by doing a surname search for AGEE in my AncestryDNA results.

1.  Click the View all DNA matches button on my AncestryDNA homepage.
2.  In the Search Matches box, I entered Agee and clicked the search button.

AncestryDNA Surname Search box

3.  AncestryDNA returned a list of 14 matches

• 1 of them was a 4th cousin, but his tree was private, so I couldn't see anything
• 2 of them had private trees (I would contact them later)
• 1 of them did not have a Agee in their list of surnames at all

4.  I reviewed each of the remaining 11 matches one at a time. 

5.  This is where most people look through their matches' tree for a connection to their own tree, don't find it, give up and throw in the towel. I have a different methodology that is much more helpful. 

My Method: 

1.  I open a notepad file, or an Evernote note, or break out a lined notebook and I record the user name of the first match. I will use this file to take abbreviated notes about how my match descends from their oldest known Agee ancestor. 

2.  I review the first match. The Agee surname does not show up in the little green "Shared Surnames" box because I don't have the Agee surname listed in my tree - I don't actually know how I connect to the Agee-Smith family (yet). A bunch of other names DO show up in the Shared Surnames box, but I will ignore them for now (remember we are focusing only on the Agee surname! - Just Say NO to the Shiny Bobbly Objects!)

The list of Agee ancestors of my first DNA match

3.  I then scroll down below the green box and click on the Agee surname. On this first match, there are 4 Agees listed - Anthony, Jesse, Mary Polly, and Mathieu Isaac Agee. I click on the oldest one, Mathieu Agee, born 1670 France, died Virginia and it brings up a profile.

The profile of Mathieu Agee

4.  I then click on Mathieu's father, Anthony Agee, born 1639 France, died 1735 France, married Judith Chastain. There is a father listed for Anthony, but I ignore him for now. 

5.  In my notebook, I list the abbreviated descendancy as follows: Anthony Agee, b. 1639 France, d. 1735 France & Judith Chastain > Mathieu Agee, b. 1670 France, d. Virginia & Cecelia Ann Godwin 

6.  I then go back to Mathieu and I click on his son, Anthony Agee, b. 1719 Goochland, VA, d. 1799 Goochland, VA & Christian Worley and I record him in my notebook. Then I click on their son, Jesse Reuben Agee, b. 1757 Powhatan, VA, d. 1837 KY & Elizabeth Childress, and I add him to my notebook. My notebook entry now says: 

Anthony Agee, b. 1639 France, d. 1735 France & Judith Chastain > 

Mathieu Agee, b. 1670 France, d. Virginia & Cecelia Ann Godwin >

Anthony Agee, b. 1719 Goochland, VA, d. 1799 Goochland, VA & Christian Worley >

Jesse Reuben Agee, b. 1757 Powhatan, VA, d. 1837 KY & Elizabeth Childress...

7.  I  repeat steps 1-6 for the next 10 matches. I color code the ancestors of my matches in my list. Every time Mathieu is listed, I color him blue. Every time his sister Mary is listed, I color her pink. Doing this allows me to look at my list quickly to see what matches descend from which ancestors and it allows me to organize my list quickly and efficiently. 

My "Notes" on the ancestors of my Agee matches

Results:

• I end up with 4 matches whose oldest known ancestor is Mathieu Agee & Ann Godwin and 4 matches whose oldest known ancestor is Mary Elizabeth Agee. Both Mathieu and Mary Elizabeth are children of Anthony Agee and Judith Chastain. 
• 2 of the descendants of Mathieu descend from his son Anthony and 2 descend from his son James. 
• I also end up with three matches who have female Agee ancestors who have not yet been traced back to this family. 

I have pretty good evidence, based on my AncestryDNA results, that I probably do in fact descend from the family of Thomas Smith and Leah Agee. Leah was the daughter of Anthony Agee, who was the son of Matthew. This would mean that my closest autosomal DNA matches would be to other descendants of Mathieu's son Anthony. There were at least two of them who descended from Mathieu's son Anthony. According to AncestryDNA, one of these matches was a 5th-8th cousin, with High Confidence and the other was a 5th-8th cousin with Good Confidence.  

How does this help me Interpret my Smith Y-DNA results? 

The other thing that these results tell me is that the common ancestor is an Agee (not a Smith). Since my proposed ancestor Leah Agee was the daughter of Mathieu's son Anthony, I can conclude the following: 

• With the four matches who descend from Mathieu Agee, the common ancestor between me and the descendants of his son Anthony is Anthony himself. 
• The common ancestor between me and the descendants of Mathieu's son James is Mathieu. 
• The common ancestors between me and the descendants of Mathieu's sister, Mary Elizabeth Agee are their parents, Anthony Agee and Judith Chastain.

Now that I have identified a new common ancestor, I can start tracing him and his children down the line to see if and how my Smith line might fit in. I already  know that Leah Agee was the daughter of Anthony Agee and she married Thomas Smith. So my next goal is to determine how my Smith family descends from one of Leah and Thomas' children; Interesting enough, I learned that Leah and Thomas died in Kentucky, which is where the third group of Smith Y-DNA matches are from - so that might be their connection as well.

Next Steps: 

In my next post, I will start looking at Leah and Thomas Smith's children to see if and how my Smith family might have fit in. Because I don't know any of my Smith ancestors past David and his supposed father, James, I do not know which son of Leah and Thomas Smith we descend from. I will have to employ the same surname search technique I employed above to go through each of Leah and Thomas Smith's daughter-in-laws' surnames to see if any matches pop up. That will at least enable me to narrow down which son of Leah and Thomas I might descend from.

Before I do that, I have to do some housekeeping. I will enter the direct line ancestry of these matches into my online tree (but not connect them to myself because I do not yet know how they connect). I will then go through the process of looking for Agee surname matches in my FamilyTreeDNA Family Finder test results for myself and all of my Smith family relatives (my father, grandfather, and 3 6th cousins). 

Sources:
[1] Smith DNA Project, Website, http://www.smithsworldwide.org, accessed 01 February 2015.
[2] The middle name of Editon was found on a land grant patent no. 1953, Clarksville, Johnson County, Arkansas, filed 01 March 1855, issued to David Edison Smith, of Johnson County, Arkansas. Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records, Http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch, accessed 08 December 2008.
[3] The birth year and place of David Smith were derived from the 1850 Johnson Co., AR census which listed David Smith as head, 61 years old, which estimates his year of birth to be 1789, born in TN. 1850 US Federal Census, Johnson County, Arkansas, population schedule, Horsehead, taken 11 Nov 1850, page 139, Dwelling 98, family 100, David Smith; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed ); NARA Film M432, Roll 27.
[4] David Smith's son Richard Smith was born 1838 in Jackson County, Alabama per my grandfather, Darrel Smith's personal notes given to me in 2006. The notes say this information was provided on Richard's enlistment papers, but I have not been able to find such papers. Richard's son William was listed as born about 1832 in Alabama on the 1850 Johnson County, Arkansas census (enumerated with his father David Smith); also David's daughter Sarah Smith was listed as being born in Alabama about 1826 on the 1850 Johnson County, Arkansas census. I have not been able to definitively locate David Smith on the 1830 or 1840 census report in Alabama.
[5] Cherokee Nation Citizenship Application of Sarah Grider, 1898. Obtained from the National Archives by Mike Freels. Sent to Ginger R. Smith by Mail, 2009. Scanned to digital Files by Ginger R. Smith, 07 August 2014.
[6] Briana Felch, brianafelch@me.com, to Ginger R. Smith, ginger.reney@gmail.com, "Smith y-DNA Test Results / Genealogy," 06 June 2014.
[7] 1880 US Federal Census, Washington County, Utah, population schedule, Saint George City, Page 11 (penned), dwelling 79, family 82, Warren Hardy; digital image, Ancestry.com, (www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 September 2013;
[8] Hilliard Smith, III, hilliard_smith@att.net, to Ginger R. Smith, ginger.reney@gmail.com, "FW: Family Tree DNA match," 18 March 2014.
[9] Al Smith, al.smith@insightbb.com, to Ginger R. Smith, grs3275@yahoo.com, "Smith DNA Match," 13 April 2011.
[10] Dana Ekins, dsekins@gmail.com, to Ginger R. Smith, ginger.reney@gmail.com, "Information Request for Kit #47033 from Smiths Official DNA Project at FamilyTreeDNA :," 23 September 2013.
[11] Family Tree DNA Learning Center Beta, Website, FamilyTreeDNA, (https://www.familytreedna.com/learn/autosomal-ancestry/universal-dna-matching/generations-family-finder-analyzes/ : accessed 01 February 2015, "How many generations does Family Finder analyze or predict?"
[12] Judy Russell, "Looking at Recombination," The Legal Genealogist, posted 10 November 2013, (http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2013/11/10/looking-at-recombination/ : accessed 01 February 2015).
[13] Agee, Paul Myrtillo A record of the Agee family, Independence, MO, 1937, p. 322; Digital Image of the book downloaded from FamilySearch.org Family History Books, 01 February 2015.
[14] Public Member Tree Submitted by 5haags, "Rapp/Knutson Family Tree," submitted by 5haags, an AncestryDNA match to Ginger R. Smith, accessed 01 February 2015.

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Posts Related to this Topic:
Looking for Agee Ancestors - Building my Match Trees
Running a Targeted Surname Search in my Smith Relatives' Results

Louise's Lost Files - Taking Stock

I love going through boxes of "old stuff" as much as any other genealogist out there. And I could spend hours doing so, especially if I am looking for that elusive brickwall-busting document or photo. However, I am also aware of the importance of being able to go back and locate an item I thought was interesting without having to rummage through the entire box's contents all over again. This is why I have decided to inventory and subsequently preserve, or in more practical terms "file" these items away for easy access and with little risk of degradation or damage. 

Although I was trained in the arrangement and description of archival material while obtaining my Library of Science Master's Degree, I'm not going to go THAT FAR. I do not intend to preserve these materials for the next 150 years. Let the actual archives take care of that when I'm gone (because of course I'm going to donate ALL of my genealogical materials to the Archives before I die!) What I do intend to do, however, is to inventory the boxes' contents, organize (and describe) the materials, and arrange them into a manner in which they can be retrieved and shared as necessary. 

There is one aspect of training that I will adhere to called RESPECT des FONDS. You may recognize the two main components of this pricinple: PROVENANCE and ORIGINAL ORDER.[1] 

1. PROVENANCE: refers to the individual, family, or organization that created items in a collection
2. ORIGINAL ORDER: refers to the order in which items in a collection were organized by their creator

An example of why this is important was evident in some of the photos I quickly looked through prior to starting the inventory process... There was a small box about 3x5 that contained photos of my great-grandmother and her school friends, her siblings, her aunts and uncles. Some of the photos had writing on them. The photos of my great-grandmother were labeled "Louise" because that was her name. The photos of my great-grandmother and her mother were labeled "Me and Louise." Do you know what this box of photos was, but more importantly, who they belonged to? They belonged to my 2nd great-grandmother, Eva Benson! I mean it's pretty exciting to have photos of my 2nd great-grandparents, but even more exciting that my great-grandmother had a little something that was her mother's. Her mother did not live with them. In fact, she lived in Oklahoma and she had 7 children and umteen grandchildren and she visited every single one of them. My Benson cousins in Oklahoma have a ton of photos of my 2nd great-grandmother and I'm sure they have all of her possessions and personal items. And now I do too. 

I feel that it is important to identify these photos as those having belonged to my 2nd great-grandmother - they were collected by her; they were written on by her; they were important to her. I therefore want to keep these items separate from my great-grandmother Louise's personal items. They will probably get their own photo box. In this manner I am preserving the provenance of the collection by ensuring that the materials that belonged to my 2nd great-grandmother are kept separate from those belonging to my great-grandmother. 

I will also try to keep the original order of the things as I find them. I am not sure if they are in the original order that their creators initiated; but the least I can do is keep them in the order that I found them in. This can be important if and when I run across a photo that is not labeled. Sometimes, the photos it is grouped with can be helpful in identifying the unlabeled and unidentified photo. 

Here is my bulleted list of goals for this project: 

1.  Inventory

• Who, What, When, & Where?
• Lined notebook
• Materials bundled with rubber bands and post it notes
• Materials bundled in envelops
• Stored in numbered photo boxes

2.  Organize

• Photo boxes (stage 1)
• File folders (stage 2?)
• Letters, Documents, Bills, Photos, Memorabilia, etc

3.  Preserve

• Scan Items in Collection
• How many file folders or boxes are required? 

4.  Extract Genealogical Data

• Marriage, Death, Birth Certificates
• Photos, etc

I hope to do a little with these boxes each week and report back to you on what I found, what I did with it, and what I learned from it.

Sources: 

[1] Society of American Archivists, Website, Glossary, www2.archivists.org, accessed 17 January 2015.
[2] Image of Provenance Text Box created by the author, Ginger R. Smith, 21 January 2015. Feel free to use for noncommercial purposes with attribution back to this website. 

Louise's Lost Files

In December of 2014, my mother and I returned to Arkansas to clean out my grandfather's house. While we were there, my mother's maternal cousin brought over 3 boxes of family files that had come from my great-grandmother Louise Lasiter's house.

Louise Lasiter, 1955

My great-grandmother was born Thelma Louise Benson, January 1st, 1912 in Avant, Osage County, Oklahoma. She was the first child born to Barney Benson and Eva Dennis and became the oldest of eight children. She was a strong and independent young woman who graduated from Spiro High School in 1929. In the early 1930s she married James Putman Lasiter and they had 3 children: the oldest was Barbara Jean Lasiter, the middle child was James Putman Lasiter, Jr, and the youngest child was my grandmother, Sue Carolyn Lasiter. Unfortunately they have all passed away now. Louise and James "Put" Lasiter raised their three children in Fort Smith, Arkansas. They lived in the same house their whole life at 3720 Park Avenue. My great-grandmother lived in this house until she died in 1997. "Put" had already been gone for 20 years by then.

When my great-grandmother died, I was away at college. There had just been a big Christmas celebration and then she passed shortly after on the 27th of December.  After her death, her estate was divided between her three children, her personal belongings distributed or sold, and the house was sold and the profits also distributed between the three children. When my grandmother died in 2003, I helped my  mother clean out her house. Surprisingly I did not find anything from her mother, my great-grandmother's house. I assumed at the time that my grandmother had simply thrown everything out.

I did not become interested in genealogy until many years later. Then my mother showed me a couple of boxes of family photos that she had retrieved from my great-grandmother's house. She gave them to me in 2009. I inventoried and scanned all the contents and was able to extend the Lasiter tree out one more generation based on some writing on the back of a photo. But there were things missing. These boxes contained photos of my grandmother when she was young and of my mother and I throughout the years, and a few of my great-grandmother and her siblings, but nothing more from her Benson side of the family. I knew if my great-grandmother had kept any keepsakes from her childhood or from her parents, then they had to be in the boxes that were distributed to the other two children. And I was pretty darn sure my great-grandmother had kept some keepsakes. She kept everything and she wrote on everything!

Well you better believe that I sent letters to the children of my grandmother's oldest sister, Barbara. But they went unanswered. I queried her brother, but he too, said he didn't have anything. Now they are both gone. But his son surprised me. And guess what? His son is now interested in genealogy. Yep, he got the bug now too! And he decided to help me out.

I had found the genealogy gold mine!

I found room for 2 bankers sized boxes (they were bigger back then, by the way) and one small box that has two drawers in it on the trailer for the drive back to Georgia and then to North Carolina. I opened the boxes and you wouldn't believe what I found!

Photos of course! 

Bibles!

Bills! 

Letters!

School Report Cards!

More Photos! 

Three Boxes of Photos, Letters, and Family Memorabilia 

from my great-grandmother's house. 

Photo taken by Ginger R. Smith, 17 January 2015. 

My goal is to inventory all the items in these three boxes, preserve them, and scan the items of genealogical and historical value and post about them here, under Louise's Lost Files and share them on my Ancestry.com tree.  I will also be extracting genealogical data from the items and saving it to my genealogy software. My goal is to two-fold: to share the genealogy gold mine and to show how I can apply research methodology to extract genealogical data from the items within.

All posts relating to my great-grandmother's materials will be labeled with "Louise's Lost Files" followed by a brief description of their contents. I am estimating this project will take the better part of a year to complete. So stay tuned for more details! 

Annie O'Neal's Will, Johnston Co., NC 1829

The will of Annie O'Neal

Annie O'Neal was the wife of Zachariah O'Neal who wrote his will in Johnston County, North Carolina in March 1796. Annie wrote her will August 17th, 1829 and it was proved in Johnston County February 1835 court.

I recorded the will of Zachariah O'Neal and his wife Annie because I was looking for the parents of my ancestor Moses O'Neal who wrote his will in Johnston County, North Carolina in 1813. Zachariah O'Neal wrote his will in 1796 which would be an appropriate time for Moses' father to have written his will. Unfortunately, Moses was not mentioned as a child of Zachariah O'Neal.

I have still included Annie's will below with the hopes that it will help another O'Neal researcher. In order to save copying costs, I photographed Annie's will with my iPhone. The transcript is below.

Will of Anna O'Neal, 1835, Johnston Co NC Original Will Records, C.R. 056.801.8, North Carolina State Archives, Photographed by Ginger R. Smith, March 2014; p. 1

Will of Anna O'Neal, 1835, Johnston Co NC Original Will Records, C.R. 056.801.8, North Carolina State Archives, Photographed by Ginger R. Smith, March 2014; p. 2

Will of Anna O'Neal, 1835, Johnston Co NC Original Will Records, C.R. 056.801.8, North Carolina State Archives, Photographed by Ginger R. Smith, March 2014; p. 3

Will of Anna O'Neal, 1835, Johnston Co NC Original Will Records, C.R. 056.801.8, North Carolina State Archives, Photographed by Ginger R. Smith, March 2014; p. 4

The will of Anna O'Neal, written 17 Aug 1829, proved Feb 1835. 

Transcribed by Ginger R Smith, ginger.reney@gmail.com, 28 Sep 2014

In the name of God Amen I Ana Oneal of

the County of Johnston and State of

North Carolina do this 17th day of August

1829 make and ordain this my last 

will and testament in manner and form 

as followith first give and Bequeath to

my son Stephen Oneal fore negros by

the name of Lewis Bransill Charity and Mary

to Him and His Heirs for ever-------

2nd I give and Bequeath to my son Stephen

ONeal all my House hold and kitchen furniture

of every kind and all my stock of every kind

Consisting of Horses Hogs and Cattle and 

all my working tools of every kind. Also two 

Hundred and ninty acres of Land in said

County and adjoining the Lands of Josiah &

Holloman and other for Him and His Heirs

for ever.

3rd I give to my son Micajah Oneal

fifty dollars in money for him and his heirs 

for ever

4th I give to Aley Baley seventy five 

Dollars for she and her heirs for ever

5th I put in the Hands of Stephen ONeal

and Benjamin Haut? my Executors to this

will five negros by the name of Annicka

Gatsey Zilla Terrell and Hennery to be sold 

at _______ of Six Months and when sold

my executors pay the Amount of said bond

into the hands of the guardian of Lurry? 

Haust, Henson Haust, and Willey Haut orphans

of William _ Haust ___ which sum my

daughter Lurry Earp Owes to the above orphans 

to the amount of fore hundred and fifty Dollars

6th my will is that if the said negros over 

pays the sum of fore hundred and fifty 

dollars which my daughter owes to said 

orphan then the residue of said money 

to be equally divided between Lurry

Haust, Hinson Haust, and Willey Haust 

orphan of William _ Haust Est?

7th I appoint my beloved son Stephen

Oneal and Benjamin Haust Executors to 

this my last will and testament in 

witness where I do here unto set

my hand and seal this day and date

above written

              Anna (Her X Mark) ONeal

Attest

Richardson Oneal

A Richardson

State of North Carolina

Johnston County

February Term 1835

Then was the Execution of this deed duly

proven in open court by the oaths of Richardson ONeal one of

the subscribing witness - and Allen Richardson the other ______

witness having been proven to be out of the State his signature 

was duly proven and said will ordered to be recorded. 

          Test Rm Sanders CC

I wasn't sure at first if this Anna was the same Annie, wife of Zachariah O'Neal because Anna only mentioned a couple of the children that Zachariah had mentioned in his will. Did the children die or move away? Or did Anna feel that they had already received their legacies?

Children mentioned in Zachariah's Will (1796):
1. Thomas
2. Winney
3. Creasey
4. Edee
5. Lodowick
6. Stephen
7. Micajah
8. Aley Houst

Children mentioned in Annie's Will (1829):
1. Stephen
2. Micajah
3. Aley Baley (is this the same as Aley Houst above? - the Haust orphans are mentioned)
4. Laurie Earp?

Also, Zachariah willed several negros to his wife Anna named Dick, Peter, and Jinnie. However, in Annie's will, she mentioned negros Lewis, Bransill, Charity, and Mary to go to her son Stephen; and Annicka, Gatsey, Zilla, Ferrell, and Hennery to be sold. What happened to Dick, Peter, and Jinnie? Were they redistributed to Annie's children prior to her writing her will? Did they die? Were they sold or given away to others?

If I were to continue researching this family, these are the steps I would take:

1. Review the Johnston Co Deed records to determine family relationships 
2. Research the 8 children of Zachariah O'Neal to determine why they were not mentioned in their mother Annie's will of 1829 - did they die or did they move away ?
3. Research Aley Houst, Aley Baley, and Laurey Earp and determine their connection to the Houst orphans

AncestryDNA Post 3 - Doing a Surname Search

In Part 1 of my series of posts about my AncestryDNA test, I wrote about one of my closest relative matches and in Part 2, I wrote about those Shaky Leafs you see in your results when AncestryDNA has found a connection in the family tree of you and your match. In Part 3 of my series, I will discuss how I found a connection by using the Surname Search function in AncestryDNA. This can be especially important when trying to narrow down a person as your ancestor or in adding sons and daughters to your ancestral couple. 

I became interested in the CREEKMORE surname while working with an adoptee who had several DNA matches with Jasper Newton Campbell and Dinah Creekmore of Whitley County, Kentucky as their ancestors. I, too, descend from this couple. They were my 5th great-grandparents. 

My goal is to find all my Creekmore matches, evaluate their trees and determine which matches are legit, or, in other words, which matches might share a Creekmore ancestor with me. 

1.  Log in to your Ancestry.com account 

2.  Hover your mouse over the DNA link and when the drop down box appears, click on "View Your DNA Results" - The next page will list your matches in order of relationship - your closest relatives are listed at the top. Any known family members will be listed at the top 

3.  Click the "Search Matches" box in the top right of your match list

4.  Type "Creekmore" into the Search Box. Leave the "Search by location" search box empty for now. Click the Search Button

5.  There are 11 distant cousin matches with "Creekmore" in their trees

6.  Click on the first person's name. This will bring up the pedigree for this match and a list of direct ancestor surnames that appear in both your tree and your match's tree

7.  To find ancestors associated with the Creekmore surname, click on the name in the shared ancestors (yellow) box or scroll down the list of names and click on Creekmore. 

Clicking on the name in the yellow box will bring up a box with your match's list of direct Creekmore ancestors on the left and your list of direct Creekmore ancestors on the right. 

This match has Nancy Ann Creekmore, born 1760 in Grayson, VA and died 1836 in Whitley, KY as his direct ancestor. I have 3 direct Creekmore ancestors – Robert, Ballentine, and Dinah. Ballentine, the oldest, was born in Norfolk Co., VA in 1784. Grayson Co., VA did not form until 1793, but its original county was Orange which eventually was split up into parts of Kentucky and West Virginia. It is possible that our two ancestors descend from a common ancestor, but who that common ancestor is not apparent at this time.

Clicking on the surname in the list below brings up information about that ancestor, including their parents’ names and their list of children. 

8. Click on the “View Full Tree” button to view their ancestor in their online tree. 

9.  Once the match and surname is reviewed, add a note and mark the match as a “favorite” by clicking on the star to the left of the match’s photo. 

I will file this match away as a possible cousin and their ancestor Nancy Ann Creekmore as a possible connection. I am still looking for more solid matches. Let's look at the next match. 

Clicking on the 2nd match provides a Shared Ancestor Hint (aka Shaky Leaf). It suggests that my match and I are connected via our shared ancestors, Ballentine Creekmore and his wife, Mary Lemon Brown. 

According to this "hint," my 5th great-grandmother, Dinah Green Creekmore and my match's 4th great grandfather, Duane Green Berry Creekmore, were siblings and their parents were Ballentine Batchelor Creekmore and Mary Lemon Brown. This makes my match and I 6th cousins 1x removed. According to AncestryDNA, we are predicted as Distant Cousins, with a possible range of 5th to 8th and a low confidence. Our actual relationship of 6th cousins 1x removed fits in with the predicted relationship of 5th to 8th cousins. 

My next step is to see if this match has uploaded their AncestryDNA results to Gedmatch.com. If so, then I can compare their DNA results to my father and grandfather, who are also direct descendants of Ballentine Creekmore and Mary Lemon Brown. If they have not yet uploaded to Gedmatch.com, then I will encourage them to do so. AncestryDNA does not give us access to our chromosome data, so Gedmatch is a good tool to use to view our chromosome data with and to compare to people who tested with other companies. 

I can also compare the chromosome segments that I share with this match to those that I share with another Creekmore descendant who tested with ftDNA. A positive match will help confirm that the Creekmore surname is the connection that I have with this AncestryDNA match. I had always suspected that Duane Creekmore was also the child of Ballentine Creekmore and Mary Lemon Brown, but I was not sure. An autosomal DNA match between me, a descendant of Dinah Creekmore, and my match, a descendant of Duane Creekmore, provides evidence that supports this suspicion. 

I will communicate with this match with the hopes of exchanging information and photos and stories. I will also add their direct line ancestry to my family tree file, thus building out my family tree further.  

Have YOU tested with AncestryDNA? And if so, what connections have you found? Tell us about them in a comment below or email me. 

Additional Reading: 

Working with my Closest Matches - How I found a new cousin on my King side (Part 1)

Those Shaky Leafs - The Shaky Leaf and How I found my Next Match (Part 2)

How my AncestryDNA stands up in Gedmatch - A tale about why it's important to have access to our chromosome data because it's not always what it looks like!

Leaping Into the Unknown - Why Take a DNA test by Judy Russell

Amanuensis Monday: Zachariah O'Neal of Johnston County, North Carolina, 1796

Transylvanian Dutch blog author John Newmark started the Monday blog theme called Amanuensis Monday. According to John, “amanuensis” means:  "A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

For this week's Amanuensis Monday post, I have focused on the will of ZACHARIAH O'NEAL of Johnston County, North Carolina, written 20 March 1796. [1] Zachariah was a farmer, as you will be able to tell from the 400 Acres of Land, stock (animals), and working tools listed in his will below. 

He had a wife named Annie and at least eight children: 

1) Thomas Oneale

2) Winney Oneale

3) Creasey Oneale

4) Edee Oneale

5) Lodowick Oneale

6) Stephen Oneale

7) Micajah Oneale

8) Aley Houst

I like this particular will because it contains information about the land that Zachariah owned and where he got it from and the 3 negros he owned by name - Dick, Jinny, & Peter. Details like this help us to track and prove his children in subsequent generations. 

A little bit more about Zachariah O'Neal: 

He was listed in Captain Houlder's Company in Johnston County, North Carolina in 1787 as having 1 male 21-60 years old, 2 males under 21 and above 60, 5 white females, and 1 black between the age of 12 and 50. [2]

He was also listed on the 1790 Johnston County, North Carolina census with 4 white males under 16 years old, 2 white males over 16 years old, 6 white females, and 1 slave. 

Zachariah wrote his will on March 20th, 1796, giving most everything to his wife, Annie, and then after her death, to his children. 

I do not know when his will was proved. But his wife Annie wrote her will on August 17th, 1829 and it was proved Feb 1835. Annie only mentioned 2 or 3 of her children in her will; I'm guessing that her older children moved away from the area and that is why they were not mentioned in her will. 

Here are the images of Zachariah O'Neal's will. You can click on the image to make it bigger. A transcript of the entire will is below. 

Zachariah O'Neal's will, Johnston Co., NC, 1796, p. 1

Zachariah O'Neal's will, Johnston Co., NC, 1796, p. 2

Zachariah O'Neal's will, Johnston Co., NC, 1796, p. 3

Zachariah O'Neal's will, Johnston Co., NC, 1796, p. 4

The last will and testament of Zacharias O'Neal, Johnston Co., NC [1]

Written 20 Mar 1796

In the name of God Amen the 20th day of March 1796

I Zacharias Oneale of Johnston County in the

State of North Carolina being very sick and weak

in Body but of perfect mind and memory thanks

be given to God for the same and calling to mind

the mortality of my body and knowing that I 

have once to die do make and ordain this my last

will and testament as touching my worldly Estate

wherewith it hath pleased god to bless me with 

in this life I give and demise in the following

manner and form...

Impremis. I give and Bequeath to my loving

son Thomas Oneale four hundred acres of land

in this county being the land I purchased of

Meed Gulley and took a title in my said son 

Thomas Oneals name for the same I give to him

his heirs and assigns for ever he first paying and 

taking up my obligation of one Hundred Dollars

given Meed Gulley for a last payment of said 

land also I give to my said son Thomas Oneal

one Maire of a Sorrel collar and one shot 

gun also the household furniture that I have

given him heretofore in his possession. 

Item, I give and bequeath to my loving friend John 

Ogbon one Sorrel Mair with a saddle and bridle

Item, I give to my loving wife three worke horses

two saddles and bridles also six cows and 

their calves also four head of sheep also one

feather bed and furniture during her life time

Item, I give and bequeath to my loving daughter

Winn Oneale, two cows and calves two head of sheep

also one feather bed and furniture also six heads of 

hogs freely to be by her possessed.

Item, I give and bequeath to my loving daughter

Creasey Oneale two cows and yearlings one

feather bed and furniture six head of 

hogs two sheep freely by her to be possessed

Item, I give and bequeath to my loving daughter 

Edee Oneale two cows and yearlings one feather

bed and furniture six head of hogs two sheep 

freely to be by her to be possessed. 

Item, I give and bequeath to my loving son Lodowick 

Oneale my lower land and plantation on

Little River in this county being the land & 

Plantation I purchased of Stephen Young to

him his heirs and assigns forever also two cows

and yearlings freely by him to be possessed. 

Item, I give to my aforesaid wife, Anne, all the

remainder of my stock of hogs besides that is not

heretofore willed also I give her all my corn and 

meete now laid up for her use to support my 

family on so long as the same will serve her also 

I give to my said wife Anney my negro man

named Dick during the time of her life time

or being my widow and after her death or marriage

I give the said Negro man Dick to my loving son 

Stephen Oneale to him and his heirs and assigns

forever...

Item, I give to my beloved wife Anne the use and 

service of my negro man Peter and negro woman

Jinney during the time of her natural life and 

after my said wifes death I give and bequeath 

to my loving son Micajah Oneale my aforesaid 

negroman Peter to him and his heirs and assigns 

forever. 

Item, I give and bequeath to my loving son Lodowick

Oneale after the death of said wife, my said negro

woman named Jinny to him and his heirs and assigns forever. 

Item, I give to my said wife Anney the use and Privilege

of my lands and plantation whereon we now live

during her natural life time and after the 

death of my said wife I give and bequeath the 

said land and plantation whereon we now live to 

my loving son Micajah Oneal to him his heirs and assigns forever. 

I also give to my said son Micajah Oneale two 

cows and yearlings freely to be by him possessed

I give to my loving wife Anney all the remainder

part of my cattle not before willed also I give 

to my said wife all my dwelling houses and 

kitchen furniture that I have not before 

willed to her during her natural life and 

after her death to be all except one feather bed 

and furniture to be equally to be divided between my 

daughters herenamed that is to say Aley Houst

Winney Oneale, Creasey Oneale, and Edee Oneale

freely to be by them possessed

Item, I give & bequeath to my loving son Stephen

Oneale after the death of my wife on feather bed and furniture

Item, I give and bequeath to my loving son Thomas 

Oneale, one cart and wheeles freeley to be by him possessed. 

Item, I give to my loving wife one cart and wheeles

I also give to my said wife all my working

tooles of every nature with all the residue of

my Estate

I also constitute and appoint my loving wife 

Anney Oneale and my loving son Thomas Oneale 

Execuutrix and Executor of this my last will 

testament revoking and disallowing other and

Former will or wills Executors or Executrixs ratifying

and confirming this and no other to be my 

last will and testament. 

In witness whereof I have herunto set my 

hand and seal the day and year above written

Signed sealed and pronounced to be the last 

will and testament of Zacharius Oneales in the presents of us

T Hollemon

Etheldred Price (his mark)

Sam Oneale (his mark)

                                                    Zacharius Oneale (his mark & seal)

If you descend from this family, I would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below or email me directly. 

I have not yet determined if there is a connection between this Zachariah O'Neal and my Moses O'Neal who wrote a will in Johnston County in 1813. I would like to know more information about this Zachariah O'Neal. 

Additional Posts: 

Will of Annie O'Neal, Johnston Co., NC 1829, Wife of Zachariah O'Neal

Sources: 

[1] Johnston County, North Carolina, Original Will Records, Zacharias O'Neal, 1796, C.R. 056.801.8; North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina, copied March 2014. 

[2] "State Census of North Carolina, 1784-1787," Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Sep 2014), Zachariah O'Neal under Capt Houlder's Company, 1787. 

[3] 1790 US Federal Census, Johnston County, North Carolina, population schedule, Zachariah O'Neal; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Sep 2014); NARA Film M637, Roll 7.

Two William Godwins

DNA is a wonderful thing. Family Tree DNA is for the self-starter who isn't afraid to get their hands dirty. AncestryDNA on the other hand, is geared more towards folks who want all the tiny leaves of their family tree to just fall into their lap. No shovel required.

This is fine and dandy, but some of those leaves are falling from the wrong tree if you get my drift.

One of the issues that my Godwin surname project is having is trying to go through page after page of matches to Godwins from the South East, particularly, GA, FL, and AL. We're talking upwards of three to four hundred matches, just on the Godwins alone. It seems this SE group of Godwins were a prolific bunch! Oh, and guess what? They liked to marry their cousins too, making it even more difficult to sort through their matches.

But, I digress. As I was saying... If you have taken the AncestryDNA test, then you know that many of your matches have a tree uploaded to their profile that you, as their match, have access to. Unfortunately, as you are probably aware if you've ever tried to do any research with Ancestry.com, many of those trees are WRONG!

The two biggest errors I am finding in these Godwins trees are:

1. Everyone descends from James Godwin and Mary Parker - who IS this couple anyways? There were several message board posts and articles written in the "Huckleberry Historian" AKA the Sampson Co., NC newsletter that said so and so Godwin was the son of this couple, reference X deed. Let me tell you, this X deed does NOT exist. When I queried the author of these articles and posts, he could not procure the deed. I actually found a copy of the deed he cited and there is absolutely NO reference to any family members at all whatsoever. When I queried him further about the deed he stopped answering my emails. Typical.

2. William Godwin who married Pheriby and died in Conecuh Co., AL between 1840-1850 and William Godwin who married Winnefred and died in Johnston Co., NC in 1845 are one in the same person and they both are the sons of James Godwin and Elizabeth Dawson. This is the problem I would like to address in this post.

There are actually two William Godwins. 

Any genealogist would know this if they did the research.

William Godwin # 1:
There is a William Godwin who lives in GA and AL who is married to a woman named Pheriby. No one knows her last name. That's ok. This William Godwin died in Conecuh Co (now Escambia Co) Alabama in the mid 1840s. His parents are UNKNOWN at this time. We are trying to use DNA analysis to determine who his parents might have been.

William Godwin # 2:
There is also a William Godwin who lives in Johnston Co., NC who is married to a woman name Winnefred. Again, no one knows her last name either. That's ok too. This William Godwin died in Johnston Co., NC on 24 Jul 1845 (actually I'm not sure where this date came from, but it's "accepted."). This William Godwin did not leave a will, but there are estate files pertaining to his death on file in Johnston Co., NC from 1847. His parents were James Godwin and Elizabeth _____ [Dawson?].

If you descend from either of these two families, please correct your trees with the above information. I would like to prevent this mistake from being copied over and over again. If we can set the record straight, then maybe the CORRECT information will start to be copied.

If you would like documentation for the above information, please email me.