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.

The danger of assumptions

From looking at the tree attached to a DNA match, I hoped / presumed / assumed that I'd found yet another piece of corroboration for our connection to the Jenkins/Buchanan family we have so many matches to.
Which got me quite excited.
These brickwalls (Archibald Henderson and and his daughter-in-law Amelia Millar) have been standing a long time.

So I spent a happy day or two researching and validating the line back from South Africa to Perthshire.
I've never read a will before where someone was divvying up a town amongst his children: to x the railway station to y the post office to z the store.....

Between them, the two sibling kits involved had shared matches to a satisfactory selection of my Henderson/Millar cousins. Both kits were managed by a person we didn't match, so her relationship to the matches wasn't readily visible.

Thankfully this was a responsive tester and the flaw in my assumption was quickly revealed.
She was their mother, and it was her line that led back to Jenkins/Buchanan family via a branch in South Africa.
And we didn't match her. 

The matches were over 30cMs, so it was extremely unlikely this was a testing company glitch unfortunately.

So back to the drawing board and over to the paternal side of their tree, which was a bit sparse given this was why they had tested.

It didn't take me too long to realise that a Smith born in Central Otago around that time period just might be the Smith branch, well one of the Smith branches, in my tree.
All Smiths are related? Right?

Sure enough, he was already in my Henderson/Millar data.
I used to hold all these names / dates / places in my memory cells, but the explosion of people that you get interested in when exploring DNA matches means some just have to drop out to make room!

I feel old, the matches' grandmother is my 3rd cousin.

I was lacking the crucial link in my database down to the new matches as this 3rd cousin's sister had omitted to tell me the rest of the story back in 2003 and I would never have found this branch without family hints.
I feel some updates coming on.

Moral of the story: 

Shared matches and hope are not always enough to prove a theory.
If the mother had not also tested I'd likely never have realised the actual source of this DNA as at first glance nothing looked very promising to explain the link on the father's side.

The irony is that the matches will be related to the Jenkins/Buchanan family from both their parents - once we do figure out how I and my cousins connect to them given so many matches are telling us we do.
If only the right branch to test could be found, or pop out of the woodwork!

Who visited Porters Photographic Gallery in Perth in the 1870s?

I'd dearly love the carte below to be a wonderful clue to the mystery family of Amelia Millar - so I am posting this in the probably vain hope that someone  will recognise it from their family album and say that's xyz and get in touch.

It was found in the effects of my great aunt Nellie FLETCHER, aka Elizabeth Helen Sinton HENDERSON (1885-1981) and it is past time I published it in the hope of an identification.

 

I appear to be looking for a woman aged ??  in about the 1870s, presumably with two children aged about ?? and ??, within cooee of County Place, Perth, Scotland. Possibly widowed or with a camera shy husband?

A quick web search brought up the helpful page Scottish Photographers – 19th century

and showed that the Mr Porter in County Place Perth on the reverse of the carte was rather likely to be this chap:

Porter, James – County Place, Perth -1868/69-1878- and also George St. Perth by 1878

which dates seem likely to fit with the clothes of this unidentified woman with two children.

Add in that James Henderson and Amelia Millar, who are presumed to be the recipients of this carte, emigrated from Scotland to New Zealand, with those of their immediate family still remaining in Scotland, in 1874.

James and Amelia married in 1836 in Stirling but  had moved to Forth, Lanarkshire about 1840.

One son, Archibald, stayed in Scotland but was over in Carnwath, Lanarkshire, the rest emigrated between the early 1860s through to 1874.

James' father Archibald was a blacksmith at the Bridge of Allan and his wife Margaret McEwan's family, were long resident on/around the Kincardine Moss, Perthshire

Amelia's parents are - still - the subject of an onging brickwall search, but likely to be Millar and Chrystal families from around Kippen, Stirlingshire.

Where were James' siblings around this time?
Only William and John of his siblings are documented as staying in the area.

William at the Bridge of Allan, John in Tillicoultry, Clackmannshire.
The rest settled and had their families in Fife and Lanarkshire.

William is presumed to have died late 1840s to 1851, and his children are all accounted for in Australia well before this date, apart from the eldest Isabella, whose fate is still unknown.

John  had also moved to Lanarkshire from Tillicoultry about 1850, where all the children are accounted for in Ontario well before this time apart from Helen, whose fate is as yet unknown beyond the 1851 census in Cadder.

Love to hear from anyone with any answers or suggestions as to who this family are.

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

Paternal side DNA mapping progress (lack thereof) snapshot

Decided to stop work on the DNA matches temporarily and produce a snapshot of DNA segments (10cMs and above) identifiable as being Paternal (see embedded WikiTree Widget below for Dad's pedigree) and able to be allocated to a grandparent, or not as the case may be (see the Chromosome Map Key).

Way too many grey spaces as yet!

Update: I forgot to add the "why".
By identifying as finely as possible where each bit of my dna comes from, it gets much easier to slot new matches into place.
Those of them matching at a spot that therefore looks to be a hint to a brickwall ancestor is then a prime target for further investigation as to how our trees may connect, and/or for any commonality between the trees of the matches at that spot for further leads on the connections.

The prime paternal brickwall ancestors:
Archibald HENDERSON blacksmith at the Bridge of Allan married 1804 to Margaret McEWAN from the Drip Moss, Kincardine by Doune
Amelia MILLAR, born Kippen, Stirlingshire about 1815, mother supposedly Miss CHRYSTAL
John DAVIDSON born Chirnside, Berwickshire about 1817 mother Ann COLLINS .

Some day I'd also like to find out more about:
Jane WIGHT's WIGHT side, Jane being the wife of Peter SINTON
Ann ROBINSON, mother of Walter FAIRBAIRN

Click on the image to enlarge, and check below for an interactive pedigree overview linked to WikiTree

 Looks like I need to recruit more cousins back up from my paternal grandmother Agnes Manson DAVIDSON - ie my Caithness BAIN and MANSON etc lines, or more FAIRBAIRN/DAVIDSONs, where the latter are in rather short supply.
Good sale on at FamilyTreeDNA until the end of the month - give yourself, and me, a Christmas present-  FamilyFinder down to $59US - any takers?

Paternal Grandfather Archibald HENDERSON:

embeddable family tree updated live from WikiTree

Paternal Grandmother Agnes Manson DAVIDSON:

embeddable family tree updated live from WikiTree

How far have I got?

New year, review time.
Thought it was time to produce some chromosome map snapshots and remind myself why I'm having all this fun (and frustration).
The following illustrates the match coverage on my 23 pairs of chromosomes that has been identified as to which side of my ancestry the match "fits" - maternal or paternal.

The predominance of the pink over the blue makes it rather obvious that I do not have any close living paternal relatives available to test. My two maternal aunts still alive (both in their 90s) have however done their bit to humour their niece, and seem to attract the lion's share of the matches.

Why am I doing this?
To break down, or at least chip, several brickwalls.
Have I succeeded?
Not a lot as yet, but then I never really make time to stop and analyse the gaps in the above and then focus on the matches that have to be related to the ancestors that are causing this descendant so many problems tracking where they came from.

Who are they?
Archibald HENDERSON, a blacksmith at the Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire.
Where did he come from?
Y-DNA testing has as yet not produced any matches, atDNA has thrown up some intriguing matches that may well lead somewhere eventually.
Amelia MILLAR, mother supposedly a Miss CHRYSTAL. From Kippen in Stirlingshire.
We do have a fascinating match with a family that includes both MILLARs and CHRYSTALs but we need to confirm that this is the line that the matching DNA comes from.
Any descendants of David MILLAR and Elizabeth CHRYSTAL out there willing to try their luck to see if we can prove that.
Jane GIBSON, born Somerset, mother supposedly a Jane GIBSON. Where did she come from?
Although we have a reasonable amount of identified DNA segments from Simon ANDREWS an Jane GIBSON, we don't currently know which bits come from the ANDREWS side and which from the GIBSON side. Any descendants of Simon's siblings out there and willing to test to see what we can learn?
John DAVIDSON, born Chirnside, Berwickshire to an Ann COLLINS. Whereas we have quite a bit of FAIRBAIRN DNA identified from John's wife, specific DAVIDSON segments are hard to identify. Any descendants of any of John's children tested? The New Zealand contingent is fully represented - me, unless others ended up here, as I'm the last living descendant of Adam. His brother James and sister Helen had no known children.
Not forgetting the potential Irish connections of:
William AUSTIN who mysteriously disappeared in Australia presumably before his wife/widow married her ship's captain saying she was single with no former children (so much for my great grandmother who was nearly 2 by then!). My only hope here is to be able to identify more of the DNA inherited from the CLINTON/PARKER side of the family, so I would love to hear from any descendants of William CLINTON and Jemima PARKER who may be intrigued enough to help out here.
William CLINTON above. Someone must know where he came from.

The above are the problem ancestors that stop me completing the rows of ancestors at 3* and 4* great grandparents, the "lines of 32 and 64".
But until then I will continue having fun contacting and working with matches, forming triangulated groups that share an ancestor somewhere/when and seeing where that leads.

With kits either in process or en route to the lab several other theories may well be dis/proven, so there's always something fun to do.

Love to hear from you if any of the above look familiar, especially if you hold the key to the puzzle.

The atDNA tests involved here are either that offered by Ancestry DNA - provided you then upload your resulting raw data file to at least GEDMatch.com (free, donations accepted) and also preferably FamilyTreeDNA ($39US to transfer the file from Ancestry) - or simply directly with FamilyTreeDNA using their FamilyFinder test.
(I've currently gone off using 23andme, their website has been "in transition" for weeks and isn't that useable at the moment, with no current signs of improvement)

If a descendant of any of the above and you do end up on FamilyTreeDNA, do apply to join my autosomal DNA project there, FFLornaHen.

Look forward to making 2016 the year the breakthroughs happen - with YOUR help.