Friday, March 3, 2017

This Week's We're Related Relationships - 3 March 2017

I received 5 new cousin relationships on the We're Related mobile app over the last week, which is based on Ancestry Member Trees.  The new relationships, and my initial evaluation of them, are:

1)  Tami Mize -- Facebook friend, 8th cousin 1x removed, common ancestor is Jacob Warren (1642-1722).

The app indicates that Jacob Warren is the father of Abigail Warren (1707-1748), who is them other of Hannah Colby (1745-????).  My research and AMT indicates that Hannah Colby was the daughter of Abigail Worthen (1714-????) who married Joseph Colby in 1736, and Abigail was the daughter of Ezekiel Worthen (1672-1755).  I am not a descendant of Jacob Warren, but Tami might be.  My judgment is that this relationship is Unlikely.

2)  Caroline Schultz, 8th cousin 1x removed, common ancestor is Samuel Smith (1641-1691).

My line to Samuel Smith goes through his son, Henry Smith (1680-1743) of Medfield, Mass.  Caroline's line goes through Elizabeth Smith (1692-1742), who married a John Wimberly of North Carolina.  Samuel Smith and his first wife Elizabeth Turner (1647-1676) had a daughter Elizabeth Smith (1672-1704) who married Eleaser Partridge (1665-1736) of Medfield, Mass.  My judgment is that this is another case of same name not in the same place, and my judgment is that this relationship is Highly Unlikely.

3)  Jack Daniel -- Business magnate, 7th cousin 3x removed, common ancestor is Samuel Morse (1576-1654).

My line to Jack Daniel goes through Mary Morse (1620-1692) who married Samuel Bullen (1617-1692) of Medfield, Mass.  Jack's line goes through Elizabeth Morse (1606-1643), who married a Robert Daniel of Cambridge, Mass.  I can't find an Ancestry tree for the line to Jack Daniel after 30 minutes of trying.  My judgment is that this relationship is Doubtful.

4)  Marie Oakes - Facebook friend, 9th cousin, common ancestor is Catherine Morrill (1630-1662).

According to the app, my line to Catherine Morrill is through John Smith (1651-1727) of Charlestown, Mass.  I don't have Catherine as the mother of my John Smith; she may be, but I haven't found a record that states that.  Marie's line to Catherine goes through Francis Smith (1658-1744) of Reading, Mass.  I checked the early generations of this line and they look correct.  So, if John Smith and Catherine Morrill are the parents of my John Smith and Marie's Francis Smith, then my judgment is that this relationship is Possible.

On the other hand, Marie and I share a significant segment on our X chromosomes, so I know we are related on my female line; we just don't know the common ancestors yet!

5)  Bruce Buzbee -- Facebook friend, 8th cousin 1x removed, common ancestor is Abigail Richmond (1656-1744).

My line to Abigail goes through her daughter Elizabeth Remington (1686-1747), while Bruce's line to Abigail goes through her daughter, Abigail Remington (1681-1763), who married William Gardiner.  I have both Elizabeth and Abigail Remington as daughters of John Remington and Abigail Richmond.  My judgment is that this relationship is Very Likely.

 My count is up to 174 famous or Facebook cousins provided by the app.  This week, my judgment is that only 1 of the 5 cousin relationships are Likely or better.

I will say it again:  My biggest problem with this We're Related app is that it thinks it knows my ancestral lines better than I do, and adds one to five generations to some of my end-of-line ancestors.  The second biggest problem is that many of the lines of the famous or Facebook persons have colonial lines that jump from one region to another, as with the Smith lines.

The app may be right -- I don't know for sure -- and I can't really find out because the app provides no source material to back up their assertions.  If there was authoritative information for my end-of-line ancestors, I would add it.  None of the "Unlikely" or "Wrong" relationships have been convincing to me yet.



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Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver

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