It's Saturday Night -
Time for more Genealogy Fun!
Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:
1) Which ancestor(s) are at the top of your research list, and why?
2) Share your answer in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook comment.
[Hat tip to Linda Stufflebean who suggested the question 6 months ago. Thank you, Linda!]
Here's mine:
I have so many it seems:
* 3rd great-grandmother "Mrs. Feather," wife of Cornelius Feather (1777-1853), probably born in Connecticut before 1785. None of the records for Cornelius (including land, probate, children's death, etc.) have provided a clue.
* 3rd great-grandparents Lanfear (?) and his/her spouse, parents of Devier J. Lanfear Smith (1839-1894) of Jefferson county, New York. I am fairly sure (95%) that Devier's grandparents were Isaac and Rosina (Laun) Lanfear of Lorraine, Jefferson county, New York based on a number of shared DNA matches with cM values above 30 cM.
* Parents of 3rd great-grandmother Sarah Fletcher (1802-ca1850) of Prince Edward County, Ontario, wife of Abraham Kemp. I have no leads for this challenge, but may have DNA matches in my long list of "Unknown common ancestors" with more than 20 cM shared DNA.
* Parents of 3rd great-grandmother Ann Marshman (1784-1856) of Hilperton, Wiltshire, wife of John Richman. I'm pretty sure (80%) that they are John and Anne (Angel) Marshman of Hilperton, Wiltshire based on family locality and a number of shared DNA matches with cM values above 20 cM.
* Parents of 4th great-grandfather William Knapp (1775-1856) of Dutchess County, New York and Sussex County, New Jersey. There are too many Knapp families in New York and there are not enough records. The parents claimed to be "Potential Parents" cannot be based on the relative birth/death and marriage dates for the potential parents. There are no ThruLines for the potential parents.
* Parents of 4th great-grandmother Maria Magdalena Hoax (1768-1851) of Maryland and Mercer County, Pennsylvania, wife of Martin Carringer. I have Ancestry ThruLines for the "Potential Parents" with shared DNA of 15-20 cM, but have found no records to support the hypothesis.
Of all these, I've recently spent the most time on Ann Marshman's parents because I am studying Hilperton, Wiltshire and have been able to piece a number of families together in the parish records and probate records. The others have been studied for 20 years or more without resolution. DNA has helped provide clues for some of these and several other ancestors.
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