DNA strongly indicates there’s a relationship between descendants of Henry Cato and his wife, Tabitha, and descendants of my 5th great grandparents, Martin Trantham and his wife, Massey. (The latter is a brick wall.) Henry and Tabitha lived in Lancaster County, South Carolina prior to 1800. Lancaster County sits next to Kershaw County, where Martin and Massey were living prior… More →
Category: Trantham Kenfolk
Hi, Sheriff
This is my first post in some time. I’ve been chasing DNA matches trying to solve multiple brick walls. And there are a plethora of brick walls along my Trantham line. My father has many DNA matches who descend from Whittingtons who migrated from South Carolina to Mississippi. Among them are descendants of Grief Whittington and Cornelius Whittington, early settlers… More →
Drakeford
It’s been quite a while since I last posted. I have not stopped researching. Pushing my family lines back beyond numerous brick walls has gotten harder which means discoveries are fewer and further between. Thus, I have turned to DNA match analysis as my primary research focus. “Robert Floyd Trantham” is both the name of my 3rd great grandfather and… More →
A long time ago in a county Farrar, Farrar way…
For the second time in recent memory, I have started down a path trying to solve a specific brick wall using DNA matches and inadvertently and possibly solved another one. See, I have this methodology that I use in which I find a DNA match who’s likely in the 4th to 6th cousin range from an unknown common ancestral couple… More →
Naomi Dalton
I find as much joy in helping other folks break down their own brick walls as I do my own. I have to admit that I was a bit excited when I came across a DNA match who descends from a woman named “Naomi Dalton“. It was clear, looking at his family tree and other trees on Ancestry, that Naomi… More →
Hawkins Reboot
A little over a year ago, I learned that I had Hawkins ancestors on my mother’s side. If DNA is any indication, I appear to have Hawkins on my father’s side, too. Most trees on Ancestry.com indicate that Valentine Choate’s middle name was “Hawkins” for two reasons: 1.) a deed floating out there somewhere attributing a middle initial of “H”… More →
Naomi
A lot has happened since the last time I posted just a short few days ago. I now know the identity of Naomi Pearce’s father and her maiden name. She’s no longer a brick wall. KA-BOOM! It happened like this: I reached out to a DNA match on Ancestry whose private (i.e., hidden) family tree contained the surname “Gabel”. I… More →
Uncle Barnabas?
In 2017, I wrote about my 4th great grandmother, Neoma Pearce (maiden name unknown). Neoma, or Anna, was the mother of Harriet (Pearce) Boren. Three years later, I am still searching for clues as to Neoma’s parentage. I’ve said this before: the further back in the time you go, the harder genealogical research becomes. The lack of records pointing you… More →
I have fifteen going on sixteen…
Just when you thought you’d identified all of your cousins who married your cousins, up pops couple number 15. It’s been a while since I’ve posted on this topic. In summary, I have found 15 of my mother’s distant cousins who married 15 of my father’s distant cousins. I have to give Ancestry’s ThruLines credit for this latest find. Based… More →
Nancy Rogers
A couple of months ago, I decided that I needed my DNA to work harder. I came to this conclusion after realizing that the tried and true paper-trail methods of genealogical research were getting me nowhere. Brick wall here, brick wall there, brick wall everywhere. If the documents I needed to prove a genealogical relationship didn’t exist, DNA was my… More →