I can’t make this stuff up. I’ve stumbled upon yet another “Martin Trantham“. Well, it’s more like I stubbed my big toe on him.

One of my dad’s DNA matches on Ancestry.com (who by default is also my match) happens to be very knowledgeable about genetics. By profession, she’s a medical doctor and my “go to” person when I have questions about DNA. (Lucky me!)

For months she and I have been trying to figure out how we might be related with no success. But it seems we’ve been barking up the wrong family tree branch. Here’s how we know that now: she and another one of my dad’s DNA matches, who just recently uploaded her DNA results onto GEDmatch.com, share DNA with him quite fortuitously on the same chromosome (#10). But the shared DNA is on opposite ends so to speak. This was revealed on GEDmatch.com. Since our two DNA matches share no DNA with each other, it means one is related to my dad on his mother’s side and the other on his father’s.

The latter cousin is a “Wessel” and kin to my paternal grandmother. That much we know. Thus, my cousin the doctor must be related to my paternal grandfather who was a Trantham!

But, since I thought she was related to my paternal grandmother, I had never bothered to look for Tranthams (or Borens or Sims) in her family tree. Back I went for another peek. And I found one, sort of. Only one “Trantham” appears in her family tree: Martin Trantham Causey, Jr.

Okay, this is an interesting and unexpected twist.

“Trantham” is, or was rather, his MIDDLE name and not his last name. And, he married into my doctor cousin’s family. She is not related to him biologically that I can tell and she is not his descendant.

I am going to have to shimmy further up Mr. Causey’s family tree to figure out how he’s related to my Martin Tranthams and me, if at all. But seriously. Who names their child “Martin Trantham” unless it’s a family name?

Meanwhile, while we’ve narrowed the possibilities down, my relationship to my doctor cousin remains a mystery. For now, at least.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: Clear as mud
Common ancestors: Your guess is as good as mine at this point

Some of my most favorite “discovered” distant cousins are the unassuming ones who lived extraordinary lives. When I find myself thinking: “I could never have done that”, I know that I’ve found another one. Helen Luelf, my 3rd  cousin, 2x removed, is an inspiring leaf hanging proudly from the Winter branch of my family tree. She was the 7th of 14 children born to Herman Luelf and Alma Winter.

Helen passed away in 2010 at the age of 91 having lived a remarkable life. A deeply religious woman she found her life’s calling at a young age. At age 20, she left her home in Troy, Missouri to attend Cincinnati’s God’s Bible School where she would later graduate as valedictorian. In 1946, she and fellow missionary Zola May Rich were selected to serve overseas in the West Indies, first in Barbados and later Grenada.

Helen and Zola worked together for the next 36 years before “retiring” back to the US. Together they helped establish 11 churches and a school in Grenada according to an article written about Helen in 2009. During her time in Grenada, she survived Hurricane Janet in 1955 and witnessed the communist takeover and subsequent U.S. rescue mission in 1983. The latter struck a chord with me because I remember as a teenager how this story dominated the nightly news.

Helen and Zola returned to Missouri on occasion in the 1950s. News of the evangelizing duo’s visits made The Warrenton Banner newspaper on more than one occasion. It was a big deal. Apparently, they were all to happy to preach and share pictures and stories about their lives in those far away places. And why wouldn’t people want to hear about them? Lets face it: Barbados and Grenada were not exactly island paradises.

My life is comfortable and uncomplicated for the most part. Helen’s was most likely difficult and perilous at times. While I would never have wished for the life she chose for herself, I have the utmost admiration for her dedication and accomplishments.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: 3rd cousin, 2x removed
Common ancestors: Helen’s 2nd great grandparents, Anton and Catharina (Bracht) Winter, are my 4th great grandparents

References:
http://pottsfuneralhome.com/services.asp?page=odetail&id=38598&locid=90
Johnson, J. (1937, May). Luelf shared her life with others. The Iola Register.
(Retrieved from http://old.iolaregister.com/Archives/News/Stories/2009/May/Luelfsharedherlifewithothers.html)
Various news stories from The Warrenton Banner, Warrenton, Missouri

Genealogy wouldn’t be the same for me if I didn’t have my DNA-matched cousins on Ancestry.com “turbocharging” my research. Many of these distant cousins have built out their public family trees far enough back that they often unknowingly help me confirm a connection or overcome a research roadblock.

Earlier this week I introduced yet another Martin Trantham. I wondered if any of my DNA cousins could provide evidence that this Martin and his descendants were related to my Martins. So, I ran a quick surname search in my DNA matches and did the same thing in my father’s. I do this periodically because new matches appear almost daily. If you’re wondering, my father has DNA matches that I don’t simply because Ancestry.com won’t display matches below a certain amount of shared DNA.

Lurking in my father’s DNA matches was a distant cousin, “*_mccown87”. According to her family tree, she is a descendant of Margaret Trantham and Reuben Roundtree of Mississippi. BINGO! Margaret was the oldest child of Robert Trantham, one of the three children of the newest Martin Trantham in the bunch. Margaret and Reuben appear on pages 2 and 3 of Herbert R. Trantham, Jr.’s genealogical study. As such, I may not know exactly how this branch aligns within my family tree but the Tranthams of Tennessee and the Tranthams of Mississippi were almost positively related to one another.

In much the same way, DNA has also helped me confirm a connection to one of the former occupants of the White House. But, that’s a story for another day.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: Based on Herbert’s research, I estimate that Margaret is my 2nd cousin, 7x removed, give or take a generation
Common ancestors: The Tranthams or Trenthams of North and South Carolina

References:
Trantham, H. R., Jr. (date unknown). Descendants of Martin Trantham (Trentham) of South Carolina. Unpublished manuscript.

A package from the public library of Huntsville, Texas arrived this week. It was stuffed with the genealogical findings of a distant Trantham cousin. In a frenzy reminiscent of Christmas mornings past, I ripped into the padded envelope and quickly scanned for the section on “Martin Trantham”, our presumed common ancestor. I had high hopes that the author, Herbert Raymond Trantham, Jr., had successfully made sense of the many Martins.

Not so much.

It appears Herbert’s ancestor, Martin Trantham, is yet another entrant in the “Too Many Martins” melee. His Martin Trantham was born about 1720 and died about 1800. The names of his children – Robert, John and James – set him apart from the other Martin Tranthams. Herbert also found evidence that his Martin fought in the Revolutionary War.

There are a few theories swimming about in my head. We know that a Martin Trantham sold (or gave) land to a “Robert” Trantham in 1754. Robert’s son, “Robert”, was also named in the deed. We also know that Martin Tranthams cannot help themselves and like to name sons by different wives “Martin”. Thus, it’s possible that the father “Robert” was a half-brother to the Martin selling him the land and his name was also “Martin”. His middle name may have been used in the deed to avoid confusion between the two Martins. The only problem with my theory is that Herbert believes the younger Robert was born about 1775, long after this land transaction occurred.

The search continues.

Herbert died in 1993. Thankfully, he had donated his Trantham research to the local library and they were kind enough to photocopy it for me. There was no issue doing that because Herbert wanted others to be able to benefit from his research as long as he was given credit.

Credit is duly noted. Thanks, Herbert.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: Unknown
Common ancestors: Presumably the earliest Tranthams or Trenthams of North and South Carolina

References:
Trantham, H. R., Jr. (date unknown). Descendants of Martin Trantham (Trentham) of South Carolina. Unpublished manuscript.

The Mississippi Legislature adopted resolution SC 593 on March 5, 2015, mourning the loss of Henry Outlaw, my 2nd cousin, 1x removed. The resolution recognizes the remarkable career of one of Mississippi’s beloved sons who passed away February 21, 2015. An award-winning academic, Dr. Outlaw taught chemistry at Delta State University from 1966 until 2002. His numerous contributions to this school, its students and faculty cannot be summarized easily. In 2014, his “retirement” culminated with his becoming the first recipient of the “Dr. Henry Outlaw Faculty/Staff Service Award”. The award, which was created in his honor by the National Alumni Association, specifically recognizes former Delta State University faculty or staff members like Henry who remain influential upon the school long after retirement.

Regrettably, I never had the opportunity to meet Henry. His Facebook account was still active when I “discovered” him a couple of months ago. It was here that I learned that Henry’s devotion to his school was surpassed only by his devotion to his family. Henry was a proud father and grandfather and husband to Brenda Faye (Bickerstaff) Outlaw for 52 years. The warmth of his personality, his Southern charm, and his general good nature emanate from a gallery of photos “liked” by countless family members and friends.

Henry was passionate about a great many things. The murder of Emmett Till and the ensuing injustice that sparked the Civil Rights Movement was one of those passions. His fascination with this tragedy undoubtedly started many years ago because he was in the right place at the wrong time.

In September of 1955, a young Henry had driven his grandmother to Chicago to visit his father who was working there at the time. Unbeknownst to them, their arrival coincided with the funeral of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old black youth who was brutally killed the week before by two white men in Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white female. The open casket images of Mamie Till’s beloved son, tortured and beaten beyond recognition, shocked the nation and the world. The acquittal of the accused by an all-white jury further outraged and embarrassed a nation that was struggling to hang on to its identity as the land of opportunity and freedom for all.

In Henry’s own words, it was his Mississippi license plates that were behind the unwelcoming reception that he and his grandmother received. His presence in Chicago at this volatile time and his memories of the event must surely have influenced his decision to revisit this topic more than five decades later. And he did so in a big way. With the help of a grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council, Henry turned his collection of oral histories and artifacts surrounding the case into a traveling exhibition, which has since won national praise.

Fortunately, I found a video of Henry giving a lecture about the Emmett Till case posted on the web. After I downloaded it, I realized the video was also an oral history which is now part of my collection. It captures the essence of the fascinating character, quick wit and bright intelligence of a relative that I never knew but am proud to call my own.

Click here to access the video. I am indebted to Henry’s wife for permitting me to share Henry’s story and photo.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: 2nd cousin, 1x removed
Common ancestors: Henry’s maternal grandfather was Luther Henry Boren, brother of Lula Betty (Boren) Trantham, my great grandmother

References:
http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2015/html/SC/SC0593IN.htm
http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2015/pdf/history/SC/SC0593.xml

My cousin Hallie is a person and not just a DNA match.

While that might seem obvious, after a dozen or more emails exchanged the only thing we had learned about each other is how we might be related. Our suspected common ancestors have the same last names and came from the same part of Europe blah blah blah. I fully intended to introduce Hallie within this context and had even prepared visuals from her family tree showing her ancestors of the same name next to mine.

A couple of days ago (seriously) Hallie asked if I would share some information with her about ME. So I did. And I asked her to reciprocate which she did. No offense to our common ancestors but Hallie’s story is a lot more interesting. Those folks will have to wait their turn should it ever come up.

I was AMAZED to learn how much Hallie and I have in common. We have some powerful shared DNA going on up in there! It’s no wonder we’ve connected.

Like me, Hallie is a middle child. Do I need to go any further? She has an older brother who’s an engineer. Me, too. She has a younger sister who works in a school. Ditto. Her brother’s oldest child is a nurse. Um, Twilight Zone! Lawrence Welk was not instrumental (I couldn’t resist) but was present in our early lives. Yikes! Hallie married a man who likes Judge Judy. I have about 50 episodes of Judge Judy sitting in my DVR waiting to be watched. Uncanny!

Neither of us has children of our own. Our mothers died too soon. She has a career I might have had if things had turned out differently. I could keep going.

Hallie and I may never figure out exactly how we’re related. It goes back pretty far. I am okay with it. After all, those folks are long gone. I am happy just knowing we’re related. I told Hallie that reading about her life story was a lot like catching up with an old friend. We just met so how can that be?

I think it’s because we’re not just DNA matches. We are family.

Kenfolk: Tranthams (we’re definitely related on my dad’s side)
Relations: Probably 5th or 6th cousin
Common ancestors:  Nope, not gonna do it. That story will have to wait.