Our X chromosomes matter! When I tested with 23andMe, I was surprised to see that my single X chromosome contains a long Native American segment. It is colored in gold below. My X chromosome (23andMe) Males inherit their X chromosome from their mothers, so I awaited my mother’s 23andMe results to see her X chromosome. …
Continue reading From Whom Did This Native American DNA Come From?
2023 Edwards Family Reunion, Oklahoma City, OK, Edwards Park, photo by Oklahoma Reunion Committee Back in 1993, when I began researching my family, my mother’s oldest living first cousin told me that their grandfather, Bill Reed, had a sister named Aunt Hattie Whiting. Another family elder corroborated his claim. My mother even remembered her only …
This picture above represents the decision many of our enslaved ancestors had to make after they heard, “We free now!” Let me explain. Many of our enslaved ancestors asked, “What do we do now?” Options were VERY few. Many remained in the area where they had been enslaved, and some packed up and left eventually …
Picture Source Everyone has 23 pairs of chromosomes. One chromosome in each pair was inherited from the mother and the other chromosome was inherited from the father. Below is a snapshot of my mother’s paternal chromosome 2 in DNAPainter.com, a web-based tool for chromosome mapping – the process of labeling/assigning your chromosome segments to specific …
Continue reading Chromosome Data Matters: Exploring Ewe Connections from Ghana
Image Source: Mike Polston Recently, I observed that several Dockery DNA cousins, with roots from Columbia and Nevada County, Arkansas, were paternal DNA matches to my mother, aunt, uncle, and their paternal first cousin. Shared DNA matches in AncestryDNA included several descendants of their paternal great-grandfather Pleasant Barr’s sister, Sue Barr Beckley. Therefore, I ascertained …
In 1845, Robert F. Bridgforth of Mecklenburg County, Virginia sold his land, purchased 2,800 acres of land in Yazoo County, Mississippi, and moved his family and over 40 enslaved people to the Vaughan area. One of them was a young man named Jacob. I have concluded with great certainty that Jacob was my father’s maternal …
Continue reading Climbing Jacob’s Ladder with Genealogy and Genetics
After my recent webinar, How Three Types of DNA and Genealogy Uncovered the Long-Lost Father, a family member basically asked, “Your father’s paternal grandfather, Albert Kennedy, and Albert’s sisters, Martha and Adaline, had all married three full Ealy siblings, Martha, Bob Jr., and Paul Ealy, respectively, so how were you able to tell that a …
After over 150 years, his name is known and is finally being called again! And what better day to do so – Father’s Day and Juneteenth 2022. It took me 28 years to find him. Who was Grandpa Albert Kennedy’s father? Albert & Martha Ealy Kennedy’s third son, Hulen Kennedy of Leake County, Mississippi, was …
Have you ever wondered if some of your research findings are purely coincidental? You know, when the people, places, and times seem to add up, but you still wonder if some findings are just a coincidence? I hope that the approach to these research findings will be a great help to others. Genealogical ideas and …
John Hector Davis (1871-1935) and Hector Davis (1842-1925) A common conversation in the genealogy community is how often emancipated African Americans retained the surname of their last enslavers. Varying statistics suggest that most did not, while many did. For many (or a large majority of) researchers who have ancestors who chose a different surname during …
Roots Revealed 