Sunday, November 23, 2014

Sometimes the answer is a tree in the forest: my paternal mtDNA - U5a1b

In order to find the mtDNA haplogroup of my deceased Father, Denval Perkins, I have been trying to get female line relatives of my Grandmother, Eleanor "Nellie" Walker Inman Perkins, to do either the autosomal test at 23andMe, because it also gives a limited mtDNA haplogroup, or an mtDNA test at Family Tree DNA. Because he and his half and full siblings are all deceased, I have asked his niece, but she has finally decided not to test. I then asked some of my Grandmother's sisters descendants but they also refused to test.

This week I used the Charting program in Legacy Family Tree to go back to my Grandmother's Grandmother, Mariah Moses Manning, and trace her mtDNA descendants. When I examined the chart I realized that two of those female line descendants had already tested at 23andMe and had the mtDNA haplogroup designation of U5a1b. This mtDNA haplogroup is considered one of the oldest European mtDNA haplogroups. It is currently concentrated in the Baltic and Scandinavian countries. This location ties into my Fathers's Y DNA haplogroup of R1a1a (R-176.1) which is mainly found in Scandinavia and Scotland.

My Father's known matriline:

  1. Denval Perkins (1921-1974);
  2. Eleanor "Nellie" Walker (1891-1965) - 1) Francis "Frank" Inman and 2) Henry Franklin Perkins;
  3. Rutha Manning (1867-1928 - Andrew J. Walker;
  4. Mariah Moses (1832-1873) - Jacob H Manning;
  5. Martha Richardson (1814-1869) - 1)Edmund DeBerry Moses and 2) William Manning;
  6. Elizabeth Davis (1778-1860-70) - John Richardson.

Locations covered are Whitley Co., KY and McCreary Co., KY. See the US Census reports for 1850 through 1930.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Some changes at the UK National Archive catalog site

The following notice may be of interest to online UK archives searchers: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/news/952.htm

Other UK archives information is on the News page: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/news/newsarchive2014.htm

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Rediscovered Headstones Hold Clues To Calif. Quake: [the Gilliam-Sullivan Cemetery]

This is a program on NPR about the Gilliam Cemetery of Sevastopol, Sonoma County, California. In 1852, my 3rd great-granduncle and his wife, Mary Gilliam, buried their still born child there to start the cemetery. Isaac Sullivan was a wagon train drover and explorer.

His parents were James Sullivan and Eleanor Wilson. James was a Revolutionary War veteran and Methodist circuit rider in Kentucky and Tennessee. Served in 1st VA State Rgmt., Rev War. In Yellow Springs Hospital at Valley Forge, 4 Apr 1778. He was Ordained by Bishop Asberry in Knoxville, TN in 1793. School teacher at Carrol School on Cumberland River and Clear Fork Creek.

[Whitley Co., KY, Will Bk 1, p25, made 9 Feb 1817 or 18? Nuncupative will on deathbed. recorded July 20,1818, Book 1 Page 25. See, History and Families, Whitley Co., KY, 1818-1993, page 325.]

Isaac appears in the 1860, 1870, and 1880 censuses of Annaly, Sonoma Co., California. He has not been found in 1850. They had the following children:

  • J W Sullivan 53 KY
  • Mary Sullivan 26 MO
  • James M Sullivan 7 CA
  • John W Sullivan 5 CA
  • Cornelius G Sullivan 4 CA
  • Minerva A Sullivan 2 CA
  • Nancy A Sullivan 1 CA

The following children first appeared in the 1870 census:

  • Sophrona C Sullivan 9
  • Charles C Sullivan 7
  • Letha Sullivan 5
  • Asa I Sullivan 3
  • Amanda J Sullivan 4/12

In 1880 a last son shows up:

  • Jabez B. Sullivan 7

James and Isaac Sullivan were descendants of Peter Sullivan or O'Sullivan and Emma Craven of Northumberland, Virginia. See these wills:

  • Will of Peter Sullivan, Northumberland Co., VA, Record Book 1743- 49, pp 227a-228. Will dated 15 April 1746, proved 10 Aug 1747.
  • Will of Charles Swillivan of Wiccocomoco Parish, Northumberland Co., Virginia, will made 19 March 1767, will proved 11 May 1767, Record Book 7, p. 77. Abstract printed in Lewis, Wills and Administrations of Northumberland Co., VA, vol.1, p. 132.

For more information of Col. Isaac Sullivan and Mary Gilliam and their descendants, see, The Patriarch of the Valley: Col Isaac Wilson Sullivan by Emma A. Street-Hively.