Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Finding Devier J. Lamphear Smith's Parents - Part I: DNA Trails

Devier J. Lamphear Smith (1839-1894) is my second great-grandfather.  He was born in Jefferson County, New York, was adopted by Ranslow and Mary (Bell) Smith of Henderson, Jefferson county, New York, and moved with his family to Dodge County, Wisconsin in about 1843.  His adoptive father wrote his will in 1866, naming "Devere J. Lamphear commonly called Devere J. Smith, my adopted son" and Devier had his name officially changed to Devier J. Smith in March 1866 by the Wisconsin State Senate.  I wrote about all of that in 52 Ancestors Week 19: #26 Devier James Lamphier Smith (1839-1894).  

I then tried to find Lamphear/Lamphier/Lanphere/Lanfear/etc. records in Jefferson County, New York - see Finding Lamphears in Jefferson County NY - Post 1 and Finding Lamphears in Jefferson County NY - Post 2 There were several sets of Lamphere folks in Jefferson County in the 1840 time frame, and the closest one to Henderson (where the Smiths lived) was the Isaac Lanfear cluster in the town of Lorraine, two towns over from Henderson.  Isaac Lanfear also had a number of children, all of whom were identified in his 1851 probate records, which I transcribed in Estate Papers of Isaac Lanfear - died 1851 in Jefferson County NY.

At that point, I had done a lot of searching from afar, but have not had the opportunity to go back to Jefferson County and try to find other records (church records? adoption records, etc.) that might identify Devier's birth parents.  

Fast forward to early 2018, and I started getting autosomal DNA matches from MyHeritage, including one at the 4th-5th cousin level (44.7 cM in 3 segments).  This DNA match person 1 is the third great-grandchild of Nancy Lanfear (1816-1899), daughter of Isaac and Rosina (Lown) Lanfear.  Nancy married in 1834, so it is likely that she is not Devier's birth mother.  But, in my humble opinion, it is highly likely that one of her siblings is a birth parent of Devier, and that Isaac and Rosina (Lown) Lanfear are Devier's genetic grandparents.  Let me explain:

The DNA match person 1 and I share DNA with 67 other MyHeritage test takers.  Some of them share DNA on the same chromosome in the same segments as I share with the descendant of Nancy Lanfear.  Unfortunately, none of these other DNA match persons show a Lanfear in their trees!

I used the MyHeritage one-to-many chromosome browser feature to show the DNA segments that I share with the Lanfear descendant and six others who share the same segments:



The other six DNA matches (2 through 7 on the chart) share between 13 cM and 27 cM with me.

As you can see, I share:

*  6.9 cM with Match 1 on chromosome 3
*  22.3 cM with Match 1 on chromosome 4
*  15.4 cM with Match 1 on chromosome 5

*  22.7 cM with Match 2 on chromosome 5

*  13.4 to 16.7 cM with Matches 3 to 7 on chromosome 4.

*  10.7 cM with Match 3 on chromosome 14 (not shown on chart above)

There are no other shared segments longer than 8 cM on any of the other chromosomes.

According to Blaine Bettinger's Shared cM Study (August 2017), the relationship clusters appear to be:

*  Match 1 (44.7 cM in 3 segments) - cluster 9 (Half 3C1R, 3C2R, 4C)

*  Match 2 (22.7 cM in 1 segment) - cluster 10 (Half 3C2R, 3C3R, Half 4C, 4C1R) or maybe a cluster which includes 5C

*  Match 3 (27.2 cM in 2 segments) - cluster 10  (Half 3C2R, 3C3R, Half 4C, 4C1R)

*  Matches 4 through 7 (13 to 17 cM in 1 segment) - probably the 5C cluster 

If Devier J. Lamphear's parent was a child of Isaac and Rosina (Lown) Lanfear, then Isaac and Rosina would be my 4th great-grandparents, and I would be a 5th cousin of my Match 1.

For Matches 2 through 7, I am probably a 5th cousin once or twice removed, or a 6th cousin - I can't tell because they don't have extensive trees).

I wondered if any of these persons are descended from the non-Lanfear birth parent of Devier J. Lamphear, but because all but Match 2 have the same Chromosome 4 segment position, I don't think so because Match 1 (descended from Nancy Lanfear) also has the segment. 

I need to review all of the other DNA matches I have with Match 1 and see if I share more DNA than is shown on the chart above - perhaps Match 1 doesn't share DNA on segments that I do share with other Matches.

Because of the privacy issues involved with sharing genetic genealogy matches, I have kept the Match persons' names anonymous and have limited what I show on how this is done in MyHeritage.  

I am not an expert at all of this analysis, and greatly appreciate the knowledge and wisdom of the recognized experts in the genetic genealogy field.  If readers want to help me interpret this, I welcome an email with advice or observations.

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Copyright (c) 2018, Randall J. Seaver

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