A Pennsylvania Dutch Genealogy

Ethnicity Estimate Comparisons How Does Family Tree DNA compare to Ancestry?

Kris Hocker on 21 Feb 2017

When I saw the recent announcement that Family Tree DNA was now accepting Ancestry V2 DNA uploads for autosomal transfer, I was excited, to say the least. I’ve been waiting impatiently for this since I did the testing last summer. So, I immediately uploaded my raw DNA. Here are my initial thoughts after trying it out.

Looking through my matches, I was surprised how many I recognized from my match lists from Ancestry. I’ve already identified the common ancestor for some of them. However, there are plenty that I still need to sort through to try to make that determination. As on Ancestry, many do not have pedigree information associated with their account. So, if I’m to determine how we match, I’ll need to make use of common matches.

I found the chromosome browser tool to be pretty cool. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to use Family Tree DNA. I’m a visual person, so a tool like this is really helpful to aid my understanding. Now I need to study up on segment matching so I actually know what I’m doing!

When I checked today, my ethnic origins had finished processing. I know the experts recommend taking ethnicity estimates with a grain of salt (or the whole darn salt shaker), but given how close the Ancestry estimates were to the estimate I made from my pedigree, I wasn’t expecting anything different on FTDNA. Boy, was I surprised!

According to Ancestry, my ethnic makeup looks something like this:

Figure 1: Ancestry’s Ethnicity estimate

According to Family Tree DNA, it looks more like this:

Figure 2: Family Tree DNA’s Ethnicity estimate

Surprise!

Here’s a comparison of the three estimates I’ve got in table form.

Region	AncestryDNA	Pedigree	FTDNA
Western Europe	63%	73.72%	9%
Ireland	16%	15.6%	—
Scandinavia	5%	3.12%	58%
Great Britain	4%	1.56%	—
Italy/Greece	2%	—	29%
Iberian Peninsula	4%	—	29%
European Jewish	<1%	—	—
Unknown	—	6.24%	—
Central Asian	4%		3%
Middle Eastern	—	—	2%

Here’s what the maps from the two companies look like:

Figure 3: Ancestry’s Ethnicity Map (Outlines = trace DNA amounts)

Figure 4: FTDNA’s Ethnicity Map

While the maps look similar in terms of the areas covered (except British Isles, Eastern Europe and Egypt), the ethnicity estimates do not. Why are they so different?

Part of the reason, I’m sure, has to do with the reference panel to which a DNA sample is compared. How the testing company geographically categorizes those references counts a bit, too. Ancestry separates Italy/Greece from the Iberian Peninsula, whereas FTDNA’s My Origins has one group: Southern Europe.

Genetic overlap is also a contributing factor. For instance, those from the British Isles are likely to demonstrate DNA from Scandinavia, Western Europe, and Southern Europe due to the various invasions/population influxes the islands experienced through the centuries. But I would think that at least some of this is accounted for in the process of mapping the various admixtures.

How does that help explain my results? I’m not entirely sure. I only have one ancestor who could be considered to be from Scandinavia (or Germany) going back at least six generations on either my paternal or maternal lines. My one Danish ancestor is five generations back and would account for only 3.12% of my DNA. So, how do I get 58% of my DNA from Scandinavia? That’s more than half my DNA! Roughly the equivalent amount of DNA contributed to me by one of my parents. I should be able to account for it more recently than five generations back.

The same can be said for Southern Europe. While I can see the possibility of DNA from Southern Europe being present in some of the Swiss/German or Irish ancestors, it’s many generations back. It would likely be diluted with other ethnicities. I can’t really see how it could account for 29% of my DNA—that’s a grandparent!

Nine percent of my DNA from Western/Central Europe seems exceedingly small. Especially when I can count 46 out of 64 ancestors six generations back as most likely being of German or Swiss descent. That’s approximately 72% of my DNA. The difference is almost laughable.

So, I’m a bit at a loss to explain these results.

Godfrey Wißler 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Kris Hocker on 18 Feb 2017

This week’s ancestor is Godfrey Wißler. He is my five times great grandfather on my mother’s side. I’ve written about him before, posting his last will and testament last December. It was his farm that Heinrich Schneider purchased and that passed down to his son Joseph Snyder, then grandson Henry Snyder.

Godfrey, son of Jacob Wißler Jr. and his wife Esther(___),¹ was born about 1757 and died sometime before 21 October 1829 when his will was proven. He married Eva Catharina Weiß, daughter of Hans Erhardt Weiß and Susanna Huth, at New Goshenhoppen Reformed Church near East Greenville on 22 September 1782.² Eva was allegedly born 1 April 1759, died 5 January 1798, and buried at New Goshenhoppen.³

However, other records seem to contradict this date of death. Godfrey and Eva were members of New Goshenhoppen and took communion there in the fall of 1808 and 1 April 1815.⁴ Additionally, two of Godfrey’s daughters, including my four times great grandmother Sarah (Wißler) Snyder, were born after 1798.⁵

In 1800 through 1820, Godfrey can be found in the census enumerations for Upper Hanover Township. His household included one male aged 26-45, two females less than 10, and one female aged 26-45 in August 1800.⁶ The 1810 enumeration lists one male aged 45+, two females under 10, one girl aged 10-15, and one female 16-25.⁷ I’m not sure why his wife Eva was not listed, as she’s included in the communion records in 1808 and 1815. In 1820 the household included one male aged 45+, one female 16-26, two females aged 26-45, and one female 45+.⁸

The census entries don’t clear up the question of Eva’s death. Nor do the known birth dates of his children. In fact, Eva Catharina might not have been his first wife. New Goshenhoppen burial records list the burial of “Susana, child of Godf. Wissler, aged 9 years, 2 months” on 25 December 1785.⁹ Since Godfrey and Eva Catharina married at New Goshenhoppen in 1782, either Susana’s birth predates the marriage or Susana wasn’t Eva’s child and Godfrey was married previously.

I have birth dates for two of Godfrey’s daughters—Catharine, born 15 October 1789,¹⁰and Sarah, born 8 August 1799. For two others—Elizabeth and Susanna (the second such named)—I have only estimates based on the order in which Godfrey named his daughters in his will. I presume Elizabeth was the eldest surviving daughter as her children are named as receiving the first portion from Godfrey’s estate. Elizabeth was already deceased. She was likely born sometime between 1782 and 1789. Susanna is named in the will as his youngest daughter, so she was born after 1799, most likely making her the 16-26 year-old in the 1820 census.

Given the number of years between Catharine and Sarah’s births, it’s likely that there were unrecorded children who were born in the interim and died prior to the 1800 census. A break like this between births can also indicate the death of a wife and subsequent remarriage. But in this case, that doesn’t necessarily apply. If Eva died in January 1798 and Sarah was born in August 1799, then Godfrey remarried fairly quickly to another woman also named Eva—sometime between January and December 1798. I have yet to locate a record of a marriage.

Assuming that the records I’ve found are correct and apply to this family, then it appears that Godfrey may have been married three times. He would have had to marry his first wife prior to 1776 (Susana’s estimated birth year) and she would have died prior to September 1782. He next married Eva Catharina Weiss on 22 September 1782 and she died in January 1798. He married another Eva prior to December 1798. She was alive as of 7 August 1820 (census date) and deceased prior to 23 April 1825 when Godfrey wrote his will.

Looks like I’ve got more research to do on this family.

52 ancestors in 52 weeks

This post is part of a blogging challenge entitled 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, created by Amy Crow of No Story Too Small in 2014. Participants were to write about one ancestor every week. I’m revisiting this challenge for 2017. This is my eighth 52 Ancestors post, part of week seven.

Martha Bartleson 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Kris Hocker on 11 Feb 2017

I wrote a post about my ancestor Rachel Jones, wife of Jacob Witmer, back in 2014. While I knew Rachel’s maiden name based on the death certificates of several of her her children,¹ I did not have information regarding her parents. At the time I postulated that Henry Jones was Rachel’s father, but I did not know the name of his wife. I’m still looking for evidence of who she was.

Assuming that Henry was her father, I determined that her mother died prior to 1830 in Milford Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.² Based on the 1820³ and 1810⁴ census enumerations, she was most likely born sometime between 1775 and 1784.⁵ Unfortunately, the pre-1850 census records do not list the names of the household members.

Martha Bartleson

I’ve seen Martha Bartleson listed as his wife online. I’ve never been sure just from where that information came, as no sources were provided. Recently, I came across a posting in a Find A Grave forum that included the following:

“I found Henry in the 1810, 1820 and 1830 censuses, 1810 in Hilltown, then Milford. His wife appears to be deceased by the 1830 census.

Are you familiar with the book, Morris Lewis and His Descendants, by Mary Jane Erwin? It was published by the Lewis-Jones Assoc. in 1936. It is very helpful through there are errors, of course. That is where I got the birth and death dates for Henry Jones. It contains this story about Martha: “In the early history of the settlement of New Jersey and the eastern border of Pennsylvania, it was customary for emigrants to bring their servants with them and allow them to work for the price of their passage after arriving here. Sometimes they had to work a long while until [their debt] had been cancelled. Undoubtedly, Martha Bartleson was tired of working. It is said she took one of her master’s horses, where she lived in New Jersey, mounted and rode until she reached the Delaware. The horse swam the river. She reached the Pennsylvania side. When dismounted, she turned the horse about, and it is supposed it returned to its owner, while Martha Bartleson made her way through the country to Hilltown, where she met and married Henry Jones.” [p 22, as related by John Davis, one of her grandsons]” ⁶

What really struck me about this story is its similarity to a story that was apparently passed down through the Witmer family. It was reported in an article on four generations of the Witmer family. It went:

“There is an interesting romance connected with the emigration to this country of Mr. Witmer’s grandmother. She was a typical English girl and exceedingly pretty and fearless. Crossed by her parents in a love affair, Miss Jones escaped from her home with the aid of her favorite saddle horse, and swam across the English Channel on horse-back and fled the country.⁷”

Both versions are charming stories. The story from the forum posting does provide some clues to follow up on—as the Witmer story does not. First, there’s the name. Martha Bartleson. Second, the location—New Jersey. And third the fact of her indentured servitude.

Both stories seem to imply that Martha was an immigrant, though only the Witmer story states it as “fact.” And that could simply be referring to her mode of arrival in Pennsylvania, not necessarily her arrival in the United States. Indentured servants were not only immigrants. Sometimes families bound out children to pay debts or to provide for their care and education. Either way if she was a servant and ran away before the end of her term, I would think there should be a record of it.

To be honest, both stories strain my credulity. But as with most family stories, there is likely a kernel of truth in there. I just need to dig it out. Wish me luck!

52 ancestors in 52 weeks

This post is part of a blogging challenge entitled 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, created by Amy Crow of No Story Too Small in 2014. Participants were to write about one ancestor every week. I’m revisiting this challenge for 2017. This is my seventh 52 Ancestors post, part of week six.

Miss Snyder’s Class Photo

Kris Hocker on 8 Feb 2017

Lillian Snyder’s class posing in front of the school house

Lillian (Snyder) Greulich, daughter of Henry and Saraphine (Witmer) Snyder, taught school in East Greenville until the Greulichs moved to Lansdale in 1922. I’m guessing, however, that this photo was taken in the late 1890s or early 1900s based on the women’s clothing and hairstyles.

If you have ancestors who lived in East Greenville about that time and recognize any of the faces, please leave a comment.

Jacob Walter (c1767-1840) 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Kris Hocker on 5 Feb 2017

According to William Wingeard’s A German-American Hacker-Hocker Genealogy, Elizabeth Walter, second wife of Michael Frantz Jr. and mother of my ancestor Anna (Frantz) Hocker, was the daughter of Jacob Walter and Anna Stauffer.¹ She was born 20 October 1800, probably in Rapho Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.²

I’ve been working on Jacob and Anna, trying to identify their family, but I haven’t gotten too far. Jacob and Nancy (as she was called) were living with their daughter and son-in-law in Upper Swatara Township in 1840.³ Jacob died there on 23 September 1840.⁴ Nancy died 5 March 1845.⁵ They were both buried in the Frantz/Hagy family cemetery.

Looking back through census records, Jacob and family were enumerated in Upper Swatara in 1840 and 1830⁶, Swatara Township in 1820⁷ and 1810⁸, and Rapho Township, Lancaster County in 1800.⁹ Assuming all the children in their household in these records were theirs, their family included:

Jacob Walter, born 1760-1770
Anna (Stauffer?) Walter, born 1770-1780
Male Walter, born 1790-1794
Female Walter, born 1790-1794
Male Walter, born 1794-1800 [Christian?]
Male Walter, born 1794-1800 [John?]
Female Walter, born 1795-1800
Elizabeth Walter, born 2 Oct 1800
Male Walter, born 1800-1810
Male Walter, born 1804-1810
Female Walter, born 1804-1810
Female Walter, born 1804-1810
Female Walter, born 1810-1815
Female Walter, born 1810-1815

Jacob and Anna received a marriage license from Lancaster County 18 April 1795.¹⁰ In the 1800 census, they had 3 boys and 2 girls under 10 in their household. Daughter Elizabeth wasn’t born until October, so she is not included in these five children.

In 1810, they had five males—1 male (1784-1794), 2 males (1794-1800), and 2 males (1800-1810)—and four females—1 female (1784-1794) and 3 females (1800-1810). By 1820, there were two younger males—one born 1794-1804 and the second born 1804-1810—and four females—two born 1794-1804 and two born 1810-1820.

So, either not all the children survived or they were not living at home in every census. It’s also possible that Ann was Jacob’s second wife. Several of the household members consistently show birth years prior to 1795 when Jacob and Anna married.

Jacob purchased 129 acres in Rapho Township from James Mayes (aka “Mease”) on 27 February 1790.¹¹ He sold three acres of this land 20 March 1795 to Jacob Otto.¹² He sold the rest of the land to Peter Lindemuth on 27 March 1800.¹³

He purchased 58 acres in Mount Joy and Donegal townships from Christian Bare on 2 May 1801.¹⁴ This land adjoined land of John Stauffer, deceased. He sold it on 17 April 1807 to Jacob Rohrer.¹⁵

Jacob patented 290 acres of land in Swatara Township on 31 December 1813. He sold 42 acres to Jacob Steigelman on 6 April 1815.¹⁶ He sold another nine acres to William Rutherford 22 May 1822,¹⁷ 20 acres to Daniel Page 2 April 1835,¹⁸ and 103 acres to Jacob Shuh on 2 April 1839.¹⁹ By my calculations, there are about 120 acres for which I need to account.

I have found no estate records for Jacob in either Dauphin or Lancaster County. If he still owned land at the time of his death, then there should have been a probate record dealing with the dispersing of the property to his heirs. It’s likely he sold the land prior to his death and the pertinent deeds were not recorded at the county Recorder of Deeds office.

I believe Jacob might have been the son of Jacob Walther of Rapho Township who wrote his last will and testament on 26 January 1789, naming his children: Andrew, Margaret, Magdalena, Peter, Baltzer, Barbara, Jacob, and Dorothea. I need to request this will from the Lancaster County archives as it is not available on FamilySearch.

52 ancestors in 52 weeks

Michael Frantz (1789-1865) 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Kris Hocker on 2 Feb 2017

I’ve written before about Michael’s parentage, but not very much about him. Michael Frantz Jr. was born 22 May 1789 in Paxton Township, Dauphin County.¹ He was the fourth child and second son of Michael and Veronica “Fannie” (Nissley) Frantz. He died in Upper Swatara Township on 5 June 1865 and was buried in the Churchville cemetery in Oberlin.²

On 19 March 1812, he married Elizabeth Neidig, daughter John and Mary (Bear?) Neidig³ who owned land adjoining his father’s. She was born 10 April 1790 and died 3 December 1821.⁴ She was buried in the graveyard on their property. After her death, Michael married Elizabeth Walter, daughter of Jacob and Ann (Stauffer?) Walter.⁵ She was born 20 October 1800 in Rapho Township and died 15 Sep 1882 in Swatara Township.⁶ Her family moved north into Swatara Township sometime between 1807⁷ and 1810.⁸

When Michael’s father died in 1797, his uncle Jacob Frantz was named as guardian of him, his brother John, and sister Veronica.⁹ His uncle Christian Frantz served as guardian of his older sisters Elizabeth and Mary. His uncles Christian Frantz and Jacob Nissley were the administrators of the estate.¹⁰ His brother John died before 1807 and sister Veronica likely died prior to 19 May 1810.¹¹ Michael served as the head of household in the 1810 census.¹²

On 19 April 1810, Michael purchased his father’s farm from his sisters for $2,000. It adjoined the Susquehanna River and lands of Jacob Nissley (likely his cousin), Jacob Eagley, John Neidig, and Henry Hagey.¹³ He farmed this land until his death in 1865. Michael was a member of the United Brethren Church. His ancestors—and likely his parents—were Mennonites.

Children of Michael and Elizabeth (Neidig) Frantz, born in Swatara Township:

Mary Frantz was born 28 November 1818. She married John Raysor.
Elizabeth Frantz was born sometime between 1812 and 1821. She married John Miller.

Children of Michael and Elizabeth (Walter) Frantz, born in Swatara Township:

Samuel Frantz was born 21 July 1825 and died 4 November 1908 in Mount Pleasant, Isabella County, Michigan. He married Catherine Hershey in 1847.
Anna Frantz was born 13 Sep 1828 and died 3 February 1918 in Harrisburg. She married Levi Hocker on 6 February 1851.
Michael Andrew Frantz was born 15 January 1830 and died 26 May 1917 in North Manheim Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. He married Barbara Anne Rush on 14 January 1861.
Fannie Frantz was born 10 May 1833 and died 16 November 1916 in Harrisburg. She married Abraham Hursh by January 1854.
Jacob W. Frantz was born 13 Jun 1835 and died 12 May 1906 in Florence, Marion County, Kansas. He married Emma Loveland about 1884.
John H. Frantz was born 21 January 1840 and died in 1904 in Florence, Marion County, Kansas.
Margaret “Maggie” Frantz was born 6 November 1837 and died sometime after 28 April 1910. She married Abraham Shirk after 8 June 1880.
Sarah Frantz was born 10 February 1842 and died 11 January 1851. She was buried in Churchville Cemetery.
Christian G. Frantz was born 8 March 1845 and died 13 March 1906 in the Dauphin County Alms House. He was a teacher and musician.

My Ancestors Were Refugees

Kris Hocker on 31 Jan 2017

I don’t want to get political; that’s not what this blog is about. But I can’t help but remember that my ancestors were not only immigrants, they were refugees.

Like nearly every other citizen of the United States, I am descended from those came here from somewhere else. My forebearers came from England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. They came from Germany, France, Switzerland, Poland, and Denmark. They left their homelands, crossed a dangerous ocean, and made new and better lives for themselves here in the the New World.

Some of them left home for new opportunities, a chance at a better life. Life was precarious for many villagers across Europe. The chance to own your own property, to simply be able to grow enough food for your family—to many it was an irresistible siren’s call.

But some of my ancestors had little choice. Voluntary religion—practicing a religion of your choice instead of the state religion—was considered a threat to the state. My ancestors had their property confiscated by the government. They were imprisoned. Tortured and killed. Some were even sold into slavery. Eventually, the survivors were deported and left to find new homes where they could.

They were refugees.

Some found homes in German regions decimated by religious wars and were welcomed. Temporarily. Their safety was dependent on the will of those in power. If that will or the person in power changed, their welcome changed. They soon found themselves in the same situation. Intolerance and fear made them unwelcome again. Homeless again.

Even my German Reformed, Lutheran, and Catholic ancestors—those whose religions were or were to become the state religions—even they had to endure and survive as war raged across Europe decade after decade, as their kings, margraves, and emperors fought over what would be the religion for their people. They, too, saw religion imposed on them based on where they lived. They, too, had little choice.

A New World

But William Penn not only welcomed them to Pennsylvania, he promised them a home where they could practice their religion without interference, without limitations placed on their congregations by the government, without having to pay a surtax simply to be left alone. In doing so, he created one of the foundations of our “American experiment.” That we the people should be free to practice our religion of choice. That the government and religion should be separate and that there should be no “official,” state religion to dictate to us.

My ancestors were Mennonites, Brethren, Schwenkfelders, Quakers, Baptists, Lutherans, German Reformed, Catholics, Presbyterians, and—given what I’ve learned from my DNA test—if I go back far enough Jews. My ancestors were immigrants and refugees. The stood up for their right to practice their religion. Many of them died for that right. Here in America they found both the freedom to practice their religion and safety from oppression.

I will do my part to support the rights of immigrants and refugees today to find that same freedom and safety.

5 Reasons to Search Orphan’s Court Records Even If Your Ancestor Left a Will

Kris Hocker on 26 Jan 2017

Are you familiar with estate records in Pennsylvania? Yes? Then you know that there are two basic types of probates—testate, those who left a last will & testament, and intestate, those who didn’t.

Some counties store all the documents pertaining to a particular estate in one file. This is very helpful to the researcher. Request the probate file—or locate it online—and you’ve got all the pertinent documentation.

But other counties recorded the documents in separate books. For the testate, the will, inventory, and account were recorded. For the intestate, the administration bond for the administrators, inventory, account, and quite likely Orphan’s Court entries can be found. But to get the documentation, you need to look in multiple locations.

If your ancestor left a will, would you look in the Orphan’s Court records? No? Here are five reasons why you should check the Orphan’s Court records even if your ancestor left a will.

Guardianship

By far the most well known purpose of the Orphan’s Court—as the name implies—was to appoint guardians over the estates of the minor children of the deceased. Anyone under the age of majority was required to have a guardian until they came of age to administer their estate.

Children over the age of fourteen could request a specific person be appointed as their guardian. You will often see young women ask that their husbands be appointed for them. The Court appointed the guardian for those children under the age of fourteen, but those children could request a different guardian once they were fourteen years-old. Those appointed as guardians were usually relatives or persons of significance in the community.

One thing to remember is that the guardian very often was not the custodian of the child. A parent usually maintained physical custody of the child/children until they came of age. The guardian was legally responsible to administer the child’s estate, i.e. their right to property or money from the deceased’s real or personal estate.

Administration Accounts

The executors and administrators of a decedent’s estate were required by law to file an account of their administration of the estate with the Register of Will’s office within one year or as requested by the Court. These accounts were recorded in the Orphan’s Court’s books when those overseeing the estate came into court. Often these entries only mention that the account was approved and name the amount of money to be distributed or debts to be paid.

Sometimes however, the record actually includes the names of those to whom any balance on the estate was paid out and exactly how much money they received. In the case of a testate, the amounts were determined by the last will and testament; in the case of an intestate, the amounts were determined by the inheritance laws. Usually this meant that the balance was divided into equal shares, after the widow’s third was deducted, with the eldest son receiving two shares and the other heirs receiving one share.

Land partition

When an intestate died owning land, the heirs petitioned the court for an inquest of partition. The court would appoint men to assess and value the property and determine whether or not it could be divided among the heirs without “prejudice to or spoiling the whole.”

In most cases, the land could not be divided, and thus the court would grant the land to the heir who accepted it at its valuation and agreed to pay the other heirs. In the event that none of the heirs took the land, the court often granted a writ of sale, allowing the administrators to sell the land. The proceeds would then be distributed among the heirs.

If your ancestor left a will, but died owning land which had not been accounted for in the document, the process for determining who would get that property was the same as if there were no will. The heirs went into the Orphan’s Court and petitioned for an inquest of partition for that specific tract of land. Once the inquest and valuation were returned to the Court, it would either assign ownership or issue a writ of sale.

No named executor

In most cases, the will named those the decedent choose as executor to administer their estate. However, I have seen cases where no executor was named in the will. I have also seen cases where the will was not accepted by the Register of Wills. In those cases, the estate was treated as if the decedent died intestate and administrators were appointed, an administration bond issued, and letters granted to them even though there was a will.

Estate inventory

And finally, the estate inventory. In most counties the Register recorded the estate inventory in its own book. However, I have on occasion seen inventories recorded in Orphan’s Court books. While I believe that they are most often those of intestates, I can not vouch 100% that that is always the case. It’s not a common occurrence, but if you’re looking anyway, you might get lucky.

So, there you have it. Five reasons why you might want to check out the Orphan’s Court records, even if your ancestor left a will.

Estimating Ethnicity Percentages Comparing Your Pedigree to Your DNA

Kris Hocker on 23 Jan 2017

I recently read an article on how to estimate your ethnicity percentages from DNAeXplained. Roberta Estes explained how to estimate your percentages based on what you know about your 64 great-great-great-great grandparents. You could then compare it to the ethnicity estimates generated by any DNA testing company.

I wanted to see what I’d come up with.

I used Google Sheets to create a chart that included six generations of my direct ancestors. It’s basically an ahnentafel chart, but in reverse because it’s just easier to create it that way. Here’s the chart:

6 Generation pedigree chart

In the header, you’ll see percentages. This is an average of how much DNA I could get from each person in that generation. In reality the percentages are likely not exact. Could be a little more, could be less, could be none. Read Roberta’s article if you’d like more of an explanation.

Next I color-coded each of my 4x great grandparents based on what I know of their ethnic heritage. Most of them were born here in the United States, so I was relying on what I know of their ancestors or the communities they lived in. As you can see, they were mostly of German descent (green). I’m including my Swiss ancestors as Germans as that is the language they spoke and the group that they immigrated with and settled among.

My Smith and Bennington ancestors (blue) came over from Scotland in the late 1800s, so they were easy to identify, too. James Buchanan and Sarah Craig were both born in Ireland (orange), so I included them as Irish, though it is likely they were from Northern Ireland and of Scottish descent. I also have a couple of ancestors I can identify as Irish (orange), Welsh (red), Danish (purple), or English (light magenta). Several of the German ancestors have names that appear to be of English-origin, but closer examination of their lives shows a close relationship with German communities and use of the German language.

I was pleased to see that I only have two 4x great grandparents who remain unidentified. I wasn’t surprised to see they were Jefferson Force’s parents. He is largely an unknown, so I’ve identified his parents as of unknown heritage, though they could possibly have been French.

How does this relate to my AncestryDNA ethnicity?

According to Ancestry, I’m:

63% Western Europe: Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Netherlands, Brussels, Northern Italy, Western Poland
16% Ireland: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Britain
5% Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark
4% Iberian Peninsula: Spain, Portugal, France
4% Great Britain: Eastern Great Britain, Normandy, Brussels, Netherlands
2% Italy/Greece
<1% European Jewish

Compare that to my estimates from the pedigree chart after I’ve matched them to Ancestry’s regions:

Region	AncestryDNA	Pedigree
Western Europe	63%	73.72%
Ireland	16%	15.6%
Scandinavia	5%	3.12%
Great Britain	4%	1.56%
Italy/Greece	2%
Iberian Peninsula	4%
European Jewish	<1%
Unknown		6.24%

Ancestry’s regions are fairly large and overlap significantly, so the estimates aren’t actually that different. The variance in Great Britain is insignificant given that Ancestry’s region for Great Britain includes most of Western Europe.

What is interesting to me is just how close my estimate of my Irish ancestry from my pedigree is to the DNA estimate. To the best of my knowledge, I have exactly three possible Irish ancestors in the 6th generation: John Mulhollan, James Buchanan, and Sarah Craig. That works out to 4.68%. If I add in all my Scottish ancestors (9.36%) and Welsh ancestor (1.56%), it comes out to 15.6%, only 0.4% off Ancestry’s estimate. Pretty amazing.

The Scottish and Irish comes to me through my dad, the Welsh through my mom. It’s likely that the 16% is DNA I inherited primarily from my great grandmother, Isabella Aitken (Smith) Hocker. And maybe there’s a bit from my great grandmother Nora Melinda (Houdeshell) Hoover and my Welsh ancestress Rachel Jones, too. That’s actually quite a bit given how overwhelmingly German my ancestors were.

I know a lot of researchers who are more expert at this stuff state that the ethnicity estimates are entertaining, but hardly reliable. In my case, they’re pretty close to what I would have expected from my research.

Lydia (Markley) Kline (1806-1890) 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Kris Hocker on 21 Jan 2017

Lydia (Markley) Kline was born 22 October 1806 in Pennsylvania and died 8 April 1890 in Upper Hanover Township, Montgomery County, and was buried at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church in Pennsburg.¹ She married Philip Kline on 17 July 1825 in the New Hanover Lutheran Church in Gilbertsville.²

Philip Kline and Miss Markley marriage entry

According to the entry on Find A Grave for Lydia, her mother’s name was Hannah (Hartzell) Merkel (1777-1852). Hannah’s entry includes a transcription of the gravestone inscription naming her as the wife of Daniel Merkel.³

Who were Daniel and Hannah Merkel? Were they really Lydia’s parents? What evidence is there of the relationship? A connection between two entries in a database is not evidence. But it may be a lead.

Lydia died in 1890—too early for statewide or county death registration. Some counties recorded vital records before it became mandatory. However, I did not find death records for this period in Montgomery County listed on either FamilySearch’s list of vital records microfilms or the Pennsylvania State Archives’ list of microfilmed county records. So, that was out as a possible source for her parents’ names. The marriage listing didn’t even include her given name, referring to her as “Miss Markly,” let alone her parents’ names.

Since Hannah Merkel was buried in Bucks County, I decided to start with probate records in that county. I did not find an estate record for her around 1852 or so. There was a Daniel Markley who died intestate in 1823. Intestate means no will. However, since Lydia was born in 1806, she would have been only 17 in 1823. If Daniel was, in fact, her father, then there should have been Orphans Court records associated with his estate.

On 14 September 1830, Hannah Markley petitioned the Orphan’s Court to issue an inquest to partition Daniel’s property in Rockhill Township.⁴ This petition names Hannah and Daniel’s seven children as petitioners: Josiah Markly, Absalom Markly, John Markly, Benjamin Beaker [Baker] and his wife Catharine (late Markly), Philip Kline and his wife Lidia (late Markly), and Sano Markly and Hannah Markly, as represented by their guardian John Hartzel. The two lots were sold—one on 29 December 1830 to Abraham Housekeeper⁵ and the second 20 October 1831 to Daniel’s son Absalom.⁶ These Orphan’s Court records are consistent with what I know about Lydia. In 1830, she would have been 24 years-old and already married to Philip Kline.

An examination of census records for Daniel in 1810 and 1820 reveals the following households:

1810 US Census⁷

3 males, <10 [Josiah?, John?, & Absalom?, b. 1800-1810]
1 male, 26-45 [Daniel, b. 1765-1784]
2 females, <10 [Catharine?, Lydia?, b. 1800-1810]
1 female, 26-45 [Hannah, b. 1764-1784]

1820 US Census⁸

3 males, <10 [Sano?, ?, ?, b. 1810-1820]
1 male, 10-16 [Absalom?, b. 1804-1810]
1 male, 26-45 [Daniel, b. 1775-1794]
2 females, <10 [ Hannah, ?, b. 1810-1820]
1 female, 16-26 [ Catharine or Lydia?, b. 1794-1804]
1 female, 26-45 [Hannah, b. 1775-1794]

These census records are relatively consistent with what I know about Lydia, too. Given the fact that the household’s inhabitants are not named in these early census records, there is some guessing involved in identifying the inhabitants. We can’t really be sure of who is referred to by the numbers in each age group. The more we learn about the family members, the better our guessing becomes. But still…

At this point, it is plausible that Daniel and Hannah (Hartzell) Markley were Lydia’s parents. I haven’t done the due diligence to prove that there wasn’t another Philip and Lydia (Markley) Kline, but I’m reasonably sure I’ve got a possible match. I want to learn more about Daniel and Hannah’s other children. Family connections are the best way I’ve seen to locate additional evidence to prove or disprove a relationship.

So, we’ll have to see what more I can dig up. In the absence of contradictory evidence, I’m inclined to believe that I’ve found Lydia’s parents, though.