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 had messaged her before back in February asking if she could tell me which of her ancestors came from Lawrence County, Tennessee. (You cannot see the details in private trees on Ancestry but they will still show up in your search results if they contain names or places that meet your criteria – a very cool feature.) The question I posed in February was apparently too broach because she never responded – lesson learned. So I messaged her again asking a direct question: “Are you a descendant of Barnabas Gabel of Lawrence County, Tennessee?”

She responded almost immediately. “Yes.”

She graciously offered to share with me information she had on Barnabas which I readily accepted. Much to my surprise and delight, the information she had was a copy of the family Bible Barnabas Gabel started in 1829!!!!!!!

In this family Bible appeared the death date of Aaron A. Pearce, the son of Samuel Pearce and grandson of Spencer and Naomi Pearce. It struck me almost immediately… why would Aaron have been included in their family Bible had he not been family?

The Bible also contained references to members of the Choate family. Barnabas’ wife, “Sary” (Sarah), was a Choate. “Ederd” Choate was also mentioned as being the son of “Valtin Choat”.

“Valtin Choat” I quickly learned was Valentine Hawkins Choate, who was also Sarah’s father. I had new names to explore so I started Googling them. (Search for research done by others…)

I am not sure at what point I searched for both “Valentine Hawkins Choate” and “Pierce” together because everything that happened immediately after that is a bit blurry. That’s what happens when you realize you’ve busted through a brick wall. It’s a mix of astonishment, jubilation and relief. Time stands still while you wrap your head around what you’ve just read or learned.

I found a reference to a letter written in 1905 by the wife of one of Valentine’s grandsons, Dr. Augustine Martin Choate. The good doctor was the son of John Hawkins Choate. In this letter, the wife recounted her father-in-laws siblings: he had a brother named Edward “Ned”, a sister named Sarah who married a “Goble” (Barnabas!), a sister named Jane who married a Willis, and a sister named Naomi who married a PIERCE.

Two and a half years of searching had come to an end with the revelation that Naomi Choate is my 4th great grandmother. The DNA matches who descend from Barnabas also descend from his wife, Sarah – Naomi’s sister. Ironically, a few months ago I jokingly told my research partner and 5th cousin that my DNA needed to work harder to help me solve some of these puzzles. And that’s exactly what happened.

Kenfolk: Trantham
Relationship: 4th great grandmother
Common ancestors: Naomi Choate is the a daughter of Valentine Hawkins Choate and (presumably) his wife, Ann. Behind every brick wall is another one waiting to be knocked down.

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 in a direction can make it difficult to get somewhere. But, I’ve just learned a valuable lesson TWICE: paying closer attention to the records you do have and leveraging your DNA (i.e., your DNA matches) might just fill in some gaps.

About three months ago, I made a discovery researching DNA matches whose ancestors resided in or were born in Lawrence County, Tennessee. Unfortunately, that discovery should have happened some time ago had I been paying attention to the written records. “Live and learn” as they say. In March, I wrote about finding multiple DNA matches (now 17!) who descend from the Byrds of Robertson and Lawrence. At the time, I thought I had stumbled upon clues potentially revealing Neoma’s heritage. Not so. It’s funny how the brain works but, out of the blue, I remembered that I had seen the name “Byrd” associated with one my ancestors: Absalom Boren! Alford or Alfred Byrd was Absalom’s co-signer on the marriage bond that was filed when he married Harriet Pearce. Duh. Thus, the Byrd connection appears not be on the Pearce line, but the BOREN line. More about that later.

Getting back to Neoma, it occurred to me that I had potentially overlooked a connection with someone in her F.A.N. club, too. Indeed, I had. In that same 2017 post, I referenced a man named Barnabas Gabel who became the guardian of Neoma’s minor children after her death. Daughter Harriet would have been about 20 years old when she died so I think she was likely in her late 30s or early 40s. Undoubtedly untimely, tragic for sure.

I’ll cut to the chase. I’ve now identified six DNA matches who are descendants of Barnabas Gabel. It would appear Barnabas was not some kind, random neighbor who took on the task of raising Neoma’s orphaned children. He was related. Broadening my search to other DNA matches with the surname Gabel (or Gable) in their trees revealed a plethora of folks whose Gabel ancestors hailed from Pennsylvania, having migrated there from Germany. According to the 1850 census, Barnabas was born in Pennsylvania.

Two discoveries, both of them rooted in DNA, both from overlooked individuals who knew my ancestors. I am going to call this a win even if it wasn’t a timely one.

Kenfolk: Trantham
Relationship: 4th great grandmother
Common ancestors: I am circling the airport hoping to land soon

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 only alternative.

Collectively, my father and I have more than 140,000 DNA matches on Ancestry.com. Obviously, many of his matches also match me so that number is probably closer to 100,000 unique matches between the two of us. (I just made that number up but it sounds impressive, right?) That’s a lot of DNA relationships that might help me solve some of my genealogical brick walls. But where to start?

I have the attention span of a gnat. So climbing thousands of family trees sounded about as appealing as watching stain on my deck dry. (I know from experience.) Instead, I came up with my own methodology for sorting through these thousands of DNA matches. You won’t find this in any DNA genealogy handbook – probably with good reason.

Spencer Pearce is my 4th great grandfather. His wife, Neoma, is a brick wall. I do not know her maiden name. Applying my new methodology, I examined DNA matches who are confirmed fellow descendants of Spencer Pearce and said wife. I was only interested in those who did not descend from my ancestor, Harriet Pearce, Spencer’s daughter. “David K” is an example of a DNA match who descends from Spencer and his wife. “David K.” and my father have several SHARED DNA matches in common. This means my dad, David and these matches have a common ancestor (beyond Spencer and wife). I labelled each one of the shared matches as “Spencer match x2” to indicate that they were a match of a match. (From this point on, when I refer to a “Spencer match” I mean Spencer and his wife since I cannot determine if the shared DNA match is related to Spencer or his wife.) Then I looked at people who shared DNA with them and my father and I labelled them “Spencer match x3” to indicate that they were a match of match of a match that started with “David K.” I did this for all confirmed descendants of Spencer and wife who share DNA with my dad.

Next, since Spencer Pearce’s mother was a Hackney, I searched for DNA matches who had the surname “Hackney” in their family tree and labelled them “Hackney in tree”. As you can imagine, some of these people were already labelled “Spencer match x2” or “x3”. Clearly, there was a Hackney ancestor between them and my father! But this helped me not because I already knew that Spencer’s mother was a Hackney, the daughter of Daniel Hackney. This time-consuming exercise did nothing to help me identify Spencer’s wife’s parents.

So I decided that this methodology would perhaps only help me identify an unknown male ancestor. Thus, I turned to Jacob Blythe, another 5th great grandparent. Would I be able to find a pattern hidden in all of the DNA matches with the surname “Blythe” in their family trees? (Answer: No.) Jacob’s wife was Nancy Rogers, which is relevant because any shared matches could be related to her or Jacob. (The same was true of Spencer matches.) I followed the same methodology labeling all shared matches as either “Blythe Rogers x2” or “x3”.

Almost immediately a pattern emerged that I was not expecting. I found myself looking at dozens and dozens of shared matches that were already labelled “Hackney in tree” and/or “Spencer match x2” and even more “Spencer match x3”. What was going on? Why were so many “Hackney” and “Spencer” matches also “Blythe Rogers” matches or matches of matches, etc? Spencer’s cousin Daniel Pearce, another 4th great grandfather, was a Hackney by his mother and he married Jacob and Nancy’s daughter but why would Spencer’s descendants potentially share DNA with the Blythe Rogers bunch who did not descend from Daniel? (If you are lost about now, I promise I’ll tie up the loose ends eventually.) That made no sense to me unless Spencer’s WIFE was related to Jacob Blythe or Nancy Rogers!! I then turned to DNA matches who descended from William Hackney, Spencer’s maternal uncle (confirmed) and labelled the shared matches as either “Hackney x2” or “Hackney x3”. Here again, almost 100% of them were already labelled “Hackney in tree” (duh) AND/OR “Spencer match x” or “Blythe Rogers match x” – the last bucket being the most relevant!

My father’s DNA matches had revealed that William Hackney, Spencer Pearce’s mother, Elizabeth Hackney, and Spencer Pearce were related in some way to Jacob Blythe and/or Nancy Rogers. The additional “Hackney in tree” matches helped solidify that the common ancestor was likely a Hackney.

Quite after the fact, I realized there was another DNA match on Ancestry.com that I had not yet examined. Ancestry.com’s new feature ThruLines revealed that Nancy Rogers likely had a brother named Greenberry Wilson, who, like Nancy, was a child of Wilson Rogers and his unknown wife. When I looked at people who shared DNA with my dad and Greenberry’s descendant, everything suddenly came into focus. The closest shared match between this descendant and my dad was “David K.” who you’ve already met, and who, like my father, descends from Spencer Pearce and Elizabeth Hackney. The rest of the shared matches were already labeled either “Spencer match x2” or “Blythe Rogers match x2”, etc.

Logically, this must mean that Nancy Rogers, my 5th great grandmother, was related to Spencer Pearce, his mother Elizabeth, and her father Daniel. While the mystery is far from solved, DNA matches have certainly pointed me in the right direction as to the possible identify of Nancy’s mother. Nancy’s father, Wilson, was born in Granville County, North Carolina in 1758. Were there Hackneys in Granville County at the time he likely would have married?

Yes. Lots of them. Most notably, the descendants of Joseph Hackney and his wife, Sarah. The search continues….

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relationship: 5th great grandmother
Common ancestors: Nancy Rogers is the daughter of Wilson Rogers, my 6th great grandfather, and his unknown wife (who might be a Hackney!!)