Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:
It’s Saturday Night again –
Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!
Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:
1) Check out Top Five Surprises by D.M. Debacker on the Gathering Leaves blog.
I don’t know that I would call mine “surprises” in the traditional sense. Instead, they fall into the category of the unexpected or the downright illogical—findings that challenged what I thought I knew about my family’s past.
#1 – DNA Doesn’t Match the Records
The yDNA time tree for my brother’s tests indicates that I am not closely related to the other Crawford lines found in Garrard County, Kentucky, before 1800. This is puzzling because not only do my ancestors appear in Garrard County alongside the James and John Crawford families, but my line also follows the same migration path as John Crawford’s descendants for more than 150 years.
#2 – A Loyalist Among Patriots
Many branches of my family reach back to colonial America, and I’ve discovered quite a few patriots in the tree. That’s why I was surprised to learn that my Harding line followed a very different path. My ancestor William Harding was a Loyalist who went from New York to New Brunswick, a stark contrast to his revolutionary contemporaries.
#3 – From Southern Roots to Union Service
My Briles ancestors were part of the Germanna colony in Virginia before moving to North Carolina. Many descendants of Conrad Briles (or Broyles) stayed in North Carolina and later fought for the Confederacy. Since my ancestor Alexander Briles migrated to Kansas before 1860, I assumed he came to support Kansas becoming a slave state. Instead, I discovered he served in the Kansas militia on the Union side, fighting to prevent General Price’s invasion. Even more surprising, his son Noah Washington Briles (my 2nd great-grandfather) served with Company I, 1st Regiment of the Iowa Cavalry—again, for the Union.
#4 – Dutch Roots on Both Sides of the Family
When I traveled to New York City for a library conference, I knew my husband’s Sebring ancestors traced back to the Dutch settlement of Long Island. What I didn’t expect was that I also have ancestors from the same Dutch community. I believe Hiram M. Currey (1835–1901) was the grandson of Peter Harris and Rachel VanArsdale, connecting me to the Harris/VanArsdale, Demarest, Voorhees, and Banta families. This also suggests that my Ostrander line may tie back to the Dutch settlement as well.
#5 – The Welsh (and Icelandic?) Mystery
As a child, I asked my mother where our family came from. She told me that some of her ancestors were from Wales. While my DNA results show about 3% Welsh ancestry on my dad’s side, I’ve found no documentary evidence of Welsh ancestors in either my dand’s or my mother’ls lines. Even more puzzling, my mother and both of my brothers show Icelandic origins in their reports—yet I have found no genealogical link to Iceland so far.
Closing Thoughts
Genealogy is full of twists and turns. Sometimes our research confirms family stories; other times it challenges what we thought we knew. These five discoveries have reminded me to stay open to the unexpected—and to let DNA, migration trails, and historical context lead me to new questions. After all, the “illogical” paths often turn out to be the most fascinating parts of the journey.