Friday, December 21, 2012

Dr D Digs Up Ancestors: The DNA Dilemma

Dr D Digs Up Ancestors: The DNA Dilemma @David Dowell, PhD, a frequent blogger on genetic genealogy and a former professor of librarianship has written a Letter to the Editor in response to the current Time Magazine cover story “The DNA Dilemma: A Test That Could Change Your Life”. As usual it is a thoughtful response that deserves your time to read with the article.

Friday, December 14, 2012

More BAD Genealogy on the Washington-Ball family

Today I got the following email from Geni.com:
The world's largest family tree

Dear Stiofan,

Did you know that you and George Washington, 1st President of the USA are related? George Washington, 1st President of the USA is your second cousin 7 times removed! Click on the link below to see your relationship path to George Washington, 1st President of the USA for FREE!

Click here to see how you're related to George Washington, 1st President of the USA![link removed]

On December 14, 1799, George Washington died in Mount Vernon, Virginia. Washington served as the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and presided over the drafting of the American Constitution. Widely regarded as the "father of the country," Washington also served as the first president of the United States. After retiring from the presidency, he returned to his home in Mount Vernon to attend to his plantation. Upon his death, Washington freed all of his slaves in his will. George Washington is connected to over 66 million people in Geni's World Family Tree. How are you related?

View George Washington's Geni Profile[link removed]

- The Geni Team

The link they site is to John Ball of Stafford and Fairfax counties Virginia via Richard Ball of Maryland, son of Col. William Ball. This link is WRONG. This is shown by the article by Christopher Johnston, "A Forgotten Member of the Ball Family", serialised in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. VII, pp. 440-441 and vol. VIII, pp. 80-83 (1900), reprinted in Genealogies of Virginia Families, vol. 1, pp. 23-27 (1981), recounts how court records show Col. William Ball went to Maryland and probated the estate of his son Richard Ball. Richard had one daughter and NO OTHER CHILDREN.

Others have put forward Richard Ball and Elizabeth Linton as the parents of John Ball. The father of Elizabeth Linton was a Moses Linton of Lower Norfolk Co., VA. Richard Ball and Elizabeth with several Lintons moved to the Fairfax-Stafford county area from Norfolk Co. At this time, there is no known record evidence which links Richard Ball and Elizabeth Linton with John Ball.

In their book The Ball Family of the Potomac, 1654-2004, by Doris LeClerc Ball, Ph.D. George L. Ball, M.S., it is shown that DNA studies link John Ball of Stafford Co with a James Ball of Maryland.

The Ball DNA study has two descendants of Col William Ball in haplogroup I, kit #112926 and kit #13692. I have traced them back to a son of Col. William Ball using census, probate and land records. The descendants of John Ball are in Haplogroup R1b. They are NOT related.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

The National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections and ArchiveGrid

Often when doing genealogical or family history research in the United States you want to know if there are manuscript materials available. In the past this was done using the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections in a printed series of several hundred volumes or by going to the online site at http://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/

OCLC has now opened up one of it's proprietary databases, ArchiveGrid, to the public, http://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/

With ArchiveGrid you can share your location with OCLC and it can pinpoint archive collections near you.  You can also enter the location details or the postal zip code for a location to get  links to archives in an area of interest to your genealogy.

Hopefully this will remain a free resource after it exits beta testing.

Persons with ancestry in the United Kingdom can use the Access to Archives, A2A, site at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/


Monday, May 28, 2012

In Memoriam: Mary Ruth Ball Perkins

My Mother passed 52 years ago today, 28 May 1960. Her birthday is June 14th.

Memorial Day, 28 May 2012

This is a revision of my post from 8 June 2011:


Decoration Day, now called Memorial Day, started to remember the war dead from the War Between the States and later was expanded to include all United States military actions. 

To obtain Veteran Service Records go to http://www.archives.gov/veterans/

Vietnam Era:
I served in the Army Security Agency during the Vietnam War. I was stationed in Ft Devens, Massachusetts; Ft. George G. Meade, Maryland; Shemya Air Force Station on Shemya Island, Alaska; and TUSLOG Det-4 in Sinop, Turkey.

In Memoriam: 
 TEDDY EUGENE MIDDLETON, Army - CPL - E4 Age: 19 Date of Birth: Oct 29, 1949 From: MASON, OH
Length of service 0 years, 7 months in country; His tour began on Dec 16, 1968; Casualty was on Jul 15, 1969 In BINH LONG, SOUTH VIETNAM; HOSTILE, GROUND CASUALTY, GUN, SMALL ARMS FIRE; Body was recovered.

 MARTIN STEVE GRUBER, Army - SP4 - E4 Age:19 Date of Birth Feb 13, 1949 From: MASON,OH
1st Infantry Division; Length of service 1 years, 4 months in country; His tour began on Mar 28, 1968; Casualty was on Aug 8, 1968; In BINH DUONG, SOUTH VIETNAM; HOSTILE, GROUND CASUALTY, MULTIPLE FRAGMENTATION WOUNDS; Body was recovered.

Korean War and World War II:
My father, Denval "Dennie" or "Dick" Perkins, served in the US Navy and saw combat in WWII and the Korean War. He was on several ships that were sunk, one being the USS Preston DD-379 which was sunk during the Second Battle of Guadalcanal or Third Battle of Savo Island. He served 17 years in the Navy. His younger brother, Ralph Carl Perkins, served 25 years in the Navy and retired as a Master Chief Petty Officer. He served in the Korean War and later was a Recruiter.

Two of my maternal Uncles served in WWII in the US Army, Arnold Dow Ball, and Homer Darus Ball. Both saw combat in France and Italy.

World War I:
My paternal grandmother's first husband, James Francis "Frank" Inman served in the US Army during WWI. I do not know if he saw combat. I haven't found any others with service during WWI.

Spanish American War:
None known.

Indian Wars:
None known.

US Civil War:
Several of my ancestors and their siblings fought for the Union during the US Civil War: my paternal great grandfather, Jesse Perkins; my paternal great great grandfather, Nathaniel F. Walker; my maternal great great grandfathers, James Ball; Jesse D. Swain; John Kidd.

Mexican-American War:
My maternal second great aunt's fiance, Reuben Meadors, was killed in the Mexican- American War.

War of 1812:
None known.


American Revolution - 
Paternal lines:

My fourth great grandfather, Timothy Perkins, and his brother, Joseph Perkins, who were from New Haven, Connecticut and lived in Ashe and Wilkes Co., North Carolina, were Loyalists in the American Revolution and they served in several South Carolina Militia companies, one of which was commanded by a Captain Benjamin Perkins. It is not known if he was a relative. Timothy was killed during the War. During the War the Perkins brothers supposedly captured a notorious American officer, Col Benjamin Cleveland, and locked him in an out-building while they went to get other Loyalists. It is said that their wives let him escape.

Fourth great grandfathers Henry Porch served from Virginia; and William Bishop; Samuel Wiatt served from North Carolina; James Sullivan, who later became a Methodist Circuit rider, served from Virginia as did his brothers, John Sullivan, and Charles Craven Sullivan; as did fifth great grandfathers John Bennett of North Carolina; James Whitecotton of Virginia; Joshua Moses served from North Carolina, was captured for nine months and escaped from a prison ship in Charleston Harbor, his brothers John Moses and Samuel Moses also served.

Maternal Lines:

The brother of my fifth great grandfather, Lt. James Ball of Virginia; fifth great grandparents Lt. Joshua Phipps of Virginia at Battle of Guilford Courthouse; Jeremiah Burnett of Virginia; James Harvey May of Virginia; Thomas Stephens of Virginia.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

1940 US Census released on 2 April 2012

Tomorrow the 1940 United States Population Census will be released. In order to find someone in this Census it is necessary to know the Enumeration district the person or family lived in at the time of the Census.  My ancestors and immediate relatives are in three main locations: Hamilton County, Ohio and Whitley and McCreary Counties, Kentucky.

The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County has placed many Cincinnati City Directories online and these allow you to get the address where your relative was living. Once you have the address you can go to either the National Archives or to the 1940 Unified Finder Steven Morse One Step page to get the enumeration District number.  With that number you can view the 1940 Census page to search that ED for your relatives.

Name indices are not expected to be available until later in April and not to be available for all of the USA and its Possessions until the end of the year.


Tuesday, January 3, 2012

FTDNA extend Holiday Sale through 7 Jan 2012

Products and Promotions

Holiday Promotion extended to January 7, 2012

Due to popular demand Family Tree DNA extended its Holiday Promotion, which encompasses the widest rage of tests, from new kits to upgrades. Here are the details of the promotion:

New Kits Current Group Price SALE PRICE
Y-DNA 37 $149 $119
Y-DNA 67 $239 $199
mtFullSequence $299 $239
SuperDNA (Y-DNA67 and FMS) $518 $438
Family Finder $289 $199
Family Finder + mtPlus $438 $318
Family Finder + FMS $559 $439
Family Finder+ Y-DNA37 $438 $318
Comprehensive (FF + FMS + Y-67) $797 $627
     
Upgrades    
12-25 Marker $49 $35
12-37 Marker $99 $69
12-67 Marker $189 $148
25-37 Marker $49 $35
25-67 Marker $148 $114
37-67 Marker $99 $79
Family Finder $289 $199
mtHVR1toMega $269 $229
mtHVR2toMega $239 $209
Orders must be placed and paid for by January 7, 2012 to receive this offer.
IMPORTANT: This promotion will not be extended beyond January 7, 2012.
Order An Upgrade
Order A New Kit