The Penny Drops

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AI generated by Pixlr 30 November 2024

The Tingle

Don't you love that moment in your research when you realize, that YES, you were right when you went out on a limb, and found something not in other public trees? And then, when you find that some of the supporting research work ahead has already been done? Of course you soon also realize that that means you are probably related to this family in multiple ways, which is why some of the work has been completed.


Filling In The Map

Or is that just me who forgets research from a year or more ago? This is the mixed blessing of pedigree collapse [intermarriage in small communities], FAN research [family, friends, associates, neighbors], and tracking down DNA matches [people with whom you share significant sized DNA segments]! I dare you to add intriguing DNA matches to your tree, and figure out how you connect. There are so many rewards to taking the chance. One of them is revisiting old research.


Tool Kit


With this Burnett line, I used the Ancestry® Pro Tools in my DNA match list to find a match of a match with a common ancestor, then looked at ThruLines® and worked my way up the tree. The match's tree was private, but the tying line still shows up, except the living. If I had not been so excited, I would have noticed that none of the connecting line people were surrounded by the dotted line, which means "suggested." This meant that they were already in my tree, and I could have saved myself work by linking to my pre-existing work rather than redoing some work and then merging profiles. Oh well!

Neighbors & Kin

Once I moved up the Burnette line a ways, I got more and more excited. I had traced one of my second-great-grandmother Louisa Smith's brothers to Jackson County Oregon, and that's where these folks were! And see at the top of ThruLines®, where there is another Louisa, daughter of Benjamin Smith? That Louisa (Louisa2) is a daughter of my Louisa's brother Benjamin Smith. Louisa2 married William Burnett Sr. I didn't stop to verify that Benjamin Smith was the brother I had followed to Oregon years ago, but oh my goodness, the revelations kept coming. William Burnett Sr (Louisa2's husband) is not listed in the ThruLines® image above but you can see them together in the US Census, below.

Portion of 1870 US Census, Long Creek, Decatur, Iowa; Roll: M593_386; Page: 321B [stamped], page 2 [penned],  William  Burnett and Louisa2, &  Benjamin Smith families, including Samuel McBee, Benjamin's nephew, Louisa's cousin; Ancestry.com : accessed 30 November 2024.

In 1870, the Burnett family were in Long Creek, Decatur, Iowa, and where my great-grandfather Samuel McBee was living with his uncle Benjamin Smith (my Louisa's brother) after Sam's mother, my Louisa Smith McBee's possible death, right next door. Some of Sam's McBee cousins were also in Decatur county from the mid-1850s as well. You can see the Burnett and Smith neighbors and kin above in part of page 2 of that 1870 US census above. The McBees are a few pages away.

I hope the image is clear and large enough so you can see how close they are. Louisa2 is living with her Burnett husband and children; one of my surprises is that I had previously followed her to Jackson County Oregon where most of this entire group went and where both she and her husband died. It would not have been a surprise if I had looked more closely at the ThruLines® image.

It must have been comforting to my great-grandfather Samuel to be surrounded by cousins and aunts and uncles. Many of the Burnett and Smith children have been followed down to the present, so here's hoping that more DNA matches will be placed into the tree. This will support that part of our McBee/Smith lineage more than I ever thought possible. Documenting the rest of the children to the present will reveal so much. Exciting work, especially now that this close connection to my great-grandfather has been uncovered. It has so much more meaning now.


Do It Yourself

For more posts about using your DNA matches to support your family  history research, see DNA: Dare to Grab the Gold Ring and more in the Index. Use control+F to search.

 

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Send your stories to m.strickland@skcgs.org

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Valorie Zimmerman

A thousand thanks to Thomas Zimmerman and Bob Zimmerman for their feedback and suggestions to make this post easier to read.

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