Mystery Match

Do you have mystery DNA matches? Many of us have matches we can’t yet connect to our family tree. But what about a match whose ancestor is already in your records, yet you still can’t figure out how you’re related?

That’s exactly my situation with a match whose paternal line traces back to William Nelson Crawford. I’ve had William Nelson in my records for some time, as he descends from one of the “other” James Crawford lines—specifically, James Crawford and Martha (Knight) Crawford.

Interestingly, this match has taken a BigY test, which confirmed their relationship to another descendant of James and Martha. However, BigY places my Crawford line in a slightly different group. I’ve explored these BigY findings in detail in several previous blog posts:

• yDNA Mystery
• yDNA R1b-01A
• Cladogram

Since I share DNA with this descendant of William Nelson Crawford on Ancestry, I’m working to uncover how we’re connected. While I’d like to claim James Crawford (1770–1833) as my ancestor, the evidence suggests otherwise. I have numerous ThruLines matches pointing to James Crawford (1772–1854) of Preble County, Ohio, as the more likely Crawford ancestor.

Determining my connection to this mystery match becomes even more challenging when our shared matches seem to align with both the paternal and maternal sides of my family tree.

Reviewing these shared matches, my notes suggest two possible ways I might connect to this mystery match:

• Reed Line (maternal): Through John Reed and his wife, Mary Buckles.
• Crawford Line (paternal): Via the Sellers connection—William Sellers and his wife, Sarah Crawford.

To dig deeper, my next steps will be:

1. Apply DNA dots to the best-known matches on my Reed line for visual organization.
2. Conduct genealogical research:
   • Explore the descendants of William and Sarah Sellers to determine why Sellers descendants appear as shared matches.
   • Investigate the descendants of John Reed’s father, John Reed, to uncover a potential Reed connection to my match.

By following these steps, I hope to clarify the relationship pathways and resolve this mystery.