Check more than one index and read the full page!

A salutory reminder to not just latch onto the first apparently relevant entry on a source page, nor to believe what you find, or don't find, in indices - ie check images thoroughly - and to scroll down! 

Background:

I've been researching deeper into a Miller / Millar family in Kippen, Stirlingshire to try and make sense of the DNA match clusters that have begun appearing. As a result, the mystery of my 2*great grandmother Amelia Millar's parents seems to be inching a little closer to having a chip out of that very long standing brickwall. 

Just this week a new DNA match popped up, a descendant of a Charles Ferguson and Jean Miller, where Charles was shown variously as born Fintry or Gargunnock. Jean had previously been determined to belong to the family of David Millar and Elizabeth Weight of Kippen, so of high interest to me as potential ancestors of my Amelia, where other hints also led to assorted connections to Fintry.*

As I investigated the clusters of shared matches a satisfying number added DNA to the papertrail down from at least two sons of Charles and Jean, but with the very intertwined families in the area, could this be pushed back further to eliminate Charles and leave only Jean's line?

So I set too exploring the records I could find for Charles Freguson born about 1800-1802 Fintry or Gargunnock.

Which is where indices and original images led me on a merry trail of conflicting, and missing, information.

The exploration of records and indices:

ScotlandsPeople searches only netted me a Charles Ferguson baptized 29 Apr 1800 Gargunnock, to a John Ferguson and Janet Morrison, the image showing page 450 of the register, first entry on the page shows John as labourer in the Village, spouse Janet Morrison did indeed have a son Charles baptised. (see below)

FindMyPast, from their Scotland, Parish Births & Baptisms 1564-1929 collrction, however showed two Charles in 1800 in Gargunnock over four entries, only two of which entries had an archive reference.

FamilySearch gets even more confusing:

The source attached to the birth of Charles Ferguson, married to Jean Miller, shows 29 Apr 1800 parents John Ferguson and Margaret Stirling, BUT is indicated as a retired duplicate

where the duplicate referred to is to a baptism the same date and place for a Charles but with parents John Ferguson and Janet Morrison

So why the discrepancy between FindMyPast and FamilySearch as to the date of this baptism, Apr vs May? (The actual entry may have been interpreted in a quick look as May not April, but on balance, it looks like April to me.)

And how come both the references above on FindMyPast refer to the same page of the register but only one appears in ScotlandsPeople?

Scrolling down answered the FindMyPast two entry appearance in the OPR issue. Further down the page, sure enough, there is indeed a separate entry, squashed in between entries for the 3rd and 18th of August, for another Charles baptised the same 29 Apr 1800 date with the parents expected from his 1872 death cert., John Ferguson and Margaret Stirling.

Now to figure out, and report if necessary, how come the second entry does not appear in ScotlandsPeople.

As to why one census shows Charles as born Fintry and another says Gargunnock, from baptism indices alone it looks as if the Margaret Stirling family did shift to Fintry where the birth of the last son is recorded, so a case of apparent accuracy in one census and a "where I was brought up memory" for the other census.

Are they really two separate families?
FindMyPast and ScotlandsPeople do show several baptisms to both couples, with remarkably similar names and dates. But the 1835 Male Heads of Household indices do show both a John Ferguson in Village, Fintry and a John Ferguson, labourer in Village, Gargunnock, so on balance, yes.

* there's also a very intriguing DNA connection between this new match and a descendant of a separate Miller/Millar line who hints at a connection across two separate clusters of interest, potentially linking the families of John Miller and Roseanna McGeoch and the above David Millar and Elizabeth Weight to the  mystery ancestry of our Amelia Millar (b. 1817 Kippen). The slow progress and potentially connected families that are on WikiTree may appear there under my WikiTree Brickwall Category.

The Update

ScotlandsPeople have agreed there is a missing index entry and are remedying it, although it may take a while to make it into what we seen on the site.

For FamilySearch: As there seemed to be no way to unretire the "duplicate" I also contacted the the FamilySearch email to see if I was missing a way to do so as the Edit button was greyed out.

The response: "We suggest you ignore the retired message it may be AI being over efficient. .."

I have put notes on the source but not yet checked where they become visible.

Amelia Millar brickwall review

 

Cracking this brickwall was one of my main aims for entering DNA testing way back in 2007.
And still is.
I've never been brave enough to tally up the $$ for kits I've sponsored for descendants over the years, particularly as the initial tests were so much more expensive than now.
Many of these people are no longer with us, but their DNA lives on in our match lists to provide excellent clues for the more recent generations.

Test the relatives in your earliest generations NOW before it is too late.

My four-pronged approach towards cracking this brickwall is covered under the following headings, which I do admit make this all sound rather more systematic than I am in reality.

1. Review of research into likely families 
2. mtDNA match review
3. atDNA matches likely to be from Amelia
4. Recreation of the DNA of Amelia

1) Review of research into likely families 

Genealogy and DNA go hand in hand. 

Most of us "working" the DNA for all the clues we can mine spend a LOT of time researching / checking / creating the trees of our matches to see if the DNA is coming from where we hope/think/are being hinted at it being.  

To which every so often I add general research into Millar/Miller, Chrystal families in the right areas (Kippen, Gargunnock, Kilmadock, Fintry) "just in case" something I've missed now makes more sense with any additional information acquired.
Those more likely looking candidates usually get "tidied up" on the FamilySearch tree, and added to WikiTree, potentially being included as a link to my WikiTree Amelia Millar Brickwall page there via a "category" link.

One day someone will pop up with family information on the missing link(s).

 

2) mtDNA match review

From our one mtDNA tested descendant we believe Amelia Millar's mitochondrial haplogroup to be T2e.

FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA) sends notifications when a new match is found.
Although the chances of a relevant, close, genealogically significant match popping up un-prompted are slim, I always check to see how close, what they have entered as their most distant maternal ancestor, or what can be determined about their tree.

To date we have no exact matches (Genetic Distance of 0).

 

If you have tested either y- or mt- DNA do please make sure that you have completed the details on your profile under

Account Settings > Genealogy > Earliest Known Ancestors

where there are places to record both your Direct Paternal and Direct Maternal Ancestors

These are respectively your father's father's father's .... father

and your mother's mother's mother's ... mother

and must be male and female respectively.

eg

  

you'd be amazed at how many show their most distant maternal ancestor as male!

The entry here is what shows on the public mtDNA results pages for any projects you have joined (if you have elected to share your results), and is what your matches see about you on their match list.

 

The hope here is that one day I'll track down a direct female line descendant of the most likely families (hopefully a Chrystal) and they'll turn out to be haplogroup T2e to add to any additional evidence from autosomal matches and research eg.

3) atDNA matches likely to be from Amelia

We have a large number of  tested descendants of James Henderson and Amelia Millar and thus a large number of shared matches to work with, but as yet no real way of reliably separating the matches between the two given that 3 out of 4 of the parents of this couple are puzzles* and the fourth known branch is getting a bit far back to reliably get strong autosomal matches that can be proven to be from the McEwan DNA.

We do have some however, so, as always, I live in hope.

 

It doesn't help that this area of Perthshire/Stirlingshire has fairly inter-connnected families.

Just how much that is impacting the match lists is starting to become even more apparent now that Ancestry is actually showing us how much they have down-weighted matches below 90cM by applying their Timber** algorithm to remove the DNA that they've determined is less genealogically significant from the displayed match strength.

Where I could check Ancestry matches on other sites they were generally coming up at least slightly larger elsewhere.

But where I couldn't check elsewhere I was completely in the dark - until now.

 

So it can be a tad hard to separate out the matches relating to Amelia's DNA from that of James'.

 

*James' father is documented as Archibald Henderson but we have a yDNA discontinuity between the 3 (matching) yDNA tested descendants of James and the single yDNA tested descendant of the only one of his paper trail brother's that I've managed to find and convince to test.

 

** The "Timber" algorithm is explained in detail in the Matching White Paper that is available under Ancestry's DNA help - click on the ? top right on your DNA Matches box on the DNA home page.

 

Which pre-amble leads to 4).

4) Recreation of the DNA of Amelia

This aspect of the search is making me feel like an archaeologist digging up mammoths and trying to create a living one from their DNA. I do so hope Amelia would be amused!

So it's time to make all those DNA tests work even harder (payback time <g>).

Cue Borland  Genetics.

I'm in the process of publicizing to tested descendants of James and Amelia (Millar) Henderson that they can help this endeavour by uploading their DNA file to BorlandGenetics from wherever they tested and to let me know they have done so.

I can then invite them to a private Henderson-Millar project there for their DNA to be used in this reconstruction of the DNA of our shared ancestors.

Hopefully with enough in the pool we will get a reasonable amount of DNA that can be used to begin creating ancestral DNA profiles, AND also be able to use the output for use on Genetic Affairs and/or DNAGEDCOM for  clustering reports of the resultant matches.

The site offers you matching as well as advanced tools such as the above, which I've only just begun exploring.
Have a read.

If you are comfortable with the terms and conditions, and privacy aspects outlined on the site, contribute your DNA and we'll see how far we can get creating DNA profiles for James and Amelia.

It would be good to narrow down some options for her parents / ancestry.

Summary

Join me in this fascinating, and very frustrating but absorbing, journey

-  by testing your oldest generations of Henderson/Millar descendants and 

- upload to sites where their DNA can be compared across companies - ie GEDmatch and BorlandGenetics

- extend the connected pedigrees on the very DNA friendly collaborative WikiTree (see my Amelia Millar brickwall category page with some families of interest)

One day we WILL know who Amelia's family was.

What is Elizabeth CHRYSTAL's mtDNA haplogroup?

Well I now know a lot more about assorted MILLAR and CHRYSTAL families from around Kippen, Stirlingshire and environs.
We also have a few more DNA matches to add to the web of clues that might eventually lead to cracking the Amelia MILLAR brickwall I'm trying to keep focussed on at the moment.

Her WikiTree Brickwall page has a few more families of interest linked to it.

One family I believe to be doubly of interest is that of David MILLAR and Elizabeth CHRYSTAL, as DNA matches between descendants and a few of the assorted tested descendants of James HENDERSON and Amelia MILLAR, intersect at the couple.

But is the connection via the MILLAR or the CHRYSTAL?
Or possibly both!

Can DNA help even further?

We know that Amelia MILLAR's mitochondrial DNA haplogroup is T2e.

Would love to hear from a direct female line descendant of Elizabeth CHRYSTAL's to see what her haplogroup is.
I'll gradually add potential lines of descent to WikiTree and those inheriting her mtDNA can be checked by clicking on the link "carriers of Elizabeth's mitochondrial DNA" over on the rhs of her profile

A match would make it a possible connection*, a mismatch will rule her out as a direct female line ancestor of Amelia's, although she could still connect in other ways.

* and would be an absolute miracle given that I don't know how ANY of the mtDNA matches connect to any of the mtDNA tested individuals I monitor - but I live in hope!!!

Amelia's turn

Haven't posted for a while so you'll have to believe me that I've been busy behind the scenes, just not publishing.

For nigh on the last two years we've been working on a Mystery Grandfather case that took a few twists and turns, throwing up a few curve balls along the way, particularly in the tree of one of the closer matches which resulted in the case being extended to two Mystery Grandfathers.
With that now behind us, case solved as best it can be, it's time to return to my own brickwalls, particularly given the demolishing of the Jane GIBSON brickwall last October.

So now I'm trying to concentrate on Amelia MILLAR born Kippen, Stirlingshire, see suggested, rather empty, pedigree below, and follow progress of research on DNA suggested connections at my WikiTree page for this brickwall.
It could take some time, particularly as it is often not yet clear if the DNA matches being investigated come from Amelia's DNA or James' - which latter can be consigned to a subsequent investigation.
My main problem - staying focused!!

embeddable family tree updated live from WikiTree

THOMSON or NEILSON?

Take your pick?

My WorldConnect database LornaHenderson has been republished to include, amongst all other updates, some of the family/ancestry of Gilbert THOMSON and Margaret NEILSON of Wishaw/Shotts/Cambusnethan, Lanarkshire (emigrated to Pennsylvania).
Somewhere back up either family's ancestry is a common ancestor to several descendants of William HENDERSON and Helen Sinton WIGHT.
But which side is it, the THOMSON or the NEILSON?

It could be yet another clue to the elusive Amelia MILLAR of Kippen's ancestry?
Or some other curious connection from the Scottish Borders ancestry of Helen Sinton WIGHT?

If you recognise any of these names, particularly if you are a descendant of a sibling of either Gilbert or Margaret and would be willing to see if you get a dna match with any of us who inherited this bit of shared dna, please do get in touch.  We mostly use FamilyFinder*, but as long as the dna file is on GEDMatch.com, comparisons are possible across testing companies.

The theory is that a descendant of a sibling of Gilbert's or Margaret's should show up as an excellent match with the descendants of Gilbert and Margaret who have a good match between second cousins.

If one side of the family also show up as a match to the HENDERSON/WIGHT descendants but the descendant from the other side's sibling doesn't, we've figured out whether it is THOMSON or NEILSON.

* using this link to order a test will give a small contribution to WikiTree.com

It gets better

An update to my tentative dna success story about Amelia MILLAR of Kippen, Stirlingshire.

My Ancestry dna match has uploaded to GEDMatch.com, where I was  able to compare results with several other kits.
Bingo has become BINGO in as far as we do now know that yes, from my ancestral side of the fence that bit of shared dna has a common ancestral line at James HENDERSON and Amelia MILLAR between the extended HENDERSON/MILLAR family kits I can compare, so the shared anecstry with my match is somewhere back up from that couple - and looks unlikely to be the HENDERSON side.

Looking good that the connection is to his David MILLAR and Elizabeth CHRYSTAL - but more work needed to confirm it fully.
As he has also transferred to FamilyTreeDNA, we should have more data to work with shortly.

Love to hear from anyone recognising this couple as their ancestors and has either already undertaken dna testing, or is willing to join in the fun, or has research to share.

This really is the closest I've come in 40+ years to finding out something concrete about Amelia MILLAR's ancestry.

And another DNA success?

This one is much more tentative, but nonetheless very interesting for me.
One of my genealogy mysteries, aka brickwall, is the parentage of Amelia MILLAR, my 2*great grandmother.
Her granddaughter provided the information that her mother was "a Miss Chrystal", Amelia's death cert, the information that her father was a James MILLAR and that she was born in Kippen, Stirlingshire.
Sum total of "known" information as to her origins.
DNA matches to date have indicated that there might be some Irish connections in there somewhere, but nothing has given me a "BINGO" moment.
This however has just come close.
As a DNA addict, I've tested at all three main genetic genealogy companies: FamilyTreeDNA, 23andme, and Ancestry.
The latter drives me potty as it simply does not provide the information necessary to confirm where you match, just provides  an indication of the strength of your match, and a link to the test takers' trees.
The match can be anywhere, or nowhere, on such trees and without a chromosome browser to show you what segment of dna you share, and who else shares that segment of inherited DNA with you, it's guesswork.
Which is where the wonderful independent site, run by a dedicated group of volunteers, http://GEDMatch.com, comes in.
If only all my Ancestry matches would upload their data there, I'd be happy.
Enough of a rant.

So why am I excited by an ancestry match that I know nothing much about yet?
The attached tree had a MILLAR of Kippen in it, and around the right timeframes.
It gets better.
Their ancestor was a Jane ROBERTSON bap. 1811 St Ninians, married (1835 Fintry) a George HUTTON born Lochwinnoch (Renfrewshire), and emigrated to Quebec between about 1847 and 1851.
Jane's parents are shown as Duncan ROBERTSON & Margaret MILLAR who married 1798, Kippen.
Which rang bells.
My research into the family differs from that on a couple of ancestry trees, and is more exciting!

The last time I dug around to see what might now be available for MILLARs and CHRYSTALs around Kippen I found a death cert. for a Margaret MILLAR who just happened to be married to a Duncan ROBERTSON, and had the fortune (for us) to die in 1855, the year civil registration started in Scotland, where the certs for that year have a wealth of information on them.
Yes, a daughter Jane was shown as aged 44 on the certificate (as was a son James Chrystal ROBERTSON).
I've not yet found any other candidates than the emigrant Jane for Duncan and Margaret's daughter Jane, and the naming pattern of Jane and George's children "fits".

Who were Margaret MILLAR's parents?
A David MILLAR and an Elizabeth CHRYSTAL.
Research back then had shown David and Elizabeth also had a son James of an age to have had a daughter around 1817. Pity Amelia's death cert. provides no hints as to her father's occupation. This one was a mason, dying a pauper in 1863, no indication that he had been married. Back when I found him last year, I couldn't find him in the censuses. Still looking for earlier than 1861 now.

Anyway, the family of Duncan and Margaret (MILLAR) ROBERTSON, and some of the CHRYSTALs of Kippen have now been included in my WorldConnect database LornaFishing.
I'd LOVE to hear from any descendants who have undertaken DNA testing and work with them to explore an potential hints to see if this is indeed the line where my ancestry dna match belongs.

Black Mail

Found this in "The Kingdom of Kippen, its History and Traditions" (1903, William CHRYSTAL) on the Internet Archive.

BLACK MAIL 

FEW ancient customs are so generally, yet so imperfectly, known as that of black mail. 

It was, however, simply a lawful and beneficial service to the public which now falls 

to be performed by the police, or, in other words, money paid voluntarily by contract 

for the protection of property against the depredations of migratory freebooters who 

lurked on the borders of the Highlands. 
One of the original documents still in the possession of the descendants of 

Mr. Dunmore of Ballikinrain is drawn up as a contract between James and John Graham, 
elder and younger, of Glengyle, and gentlemen, heritors and tenants, within the 

shires of Perth, Stirling, and Dumbarton. The latter put themselves under the 

protection of the Grahams for an annual payment of £4 per £100 of rental. 

For this sum, the cattle, sheep, and horses were practically insured against loss, 

as the Grahams agreed either to return the cattle stolen within six months or make 

payment of their true value. Pickerey, such as the lifting of cattle or sheep in 

small numbers, was not to be considered as coming under the agreement, but any 

number above six was; and horses and cattle carried to the south, if not recoverable, 

were paid for by the Grahams at the discretion of the owners ; the contract to be 

nullified in the event of war. 

I was looking for any hints as to the origin of my mysterious 3* great grandmother 

Miss CHRYSTAL, presumed to be a Margaret from the naming pattern of her daughter's 

children and presumed to be married to a James MILLAR from Kippen, again from naming 

patterns.

Lot's of assumptions yet to be confirmed in any way. 

The closest we've come is the baptism of an Emilia MILLAR to a John & Margaret MILLAR 

in 1817.

We do know that she belongs to mtDNA haplogroup T2 though. That narrows the field !!