Comparing with Thrulines

 

AncestryDNA Thrulines for my Dad on the Haiss family.

While looking into the Haiss family on my Dad's side of the tree, it is useful to also check AncestryDNA's Thrulines feature for DNA matches. From Marianna Haiss' brother Sebastian, we can see two DNA matches, descending from Charles and Josephine Hais. We have 32 matches from Marianna. Her half-sister, Josephine Haiss, shows three matches and will be featured in an upcoming post.

Clicking on the matches for Marianna uncovered a surprise potential branch that I was not expecting to see in the tree.

Thrulines descending from Marianna Haiss Oyler.

The match "SE" descending from George W. Oyler shows up as a genetic match to my Dad across 2 chromosome segments. This George was not in my tree, but seems to be a potential son of Samuel and Marianna. Another George! There are so many Georges in this line of the family - George Sr (1795), along with Samuel's brothers George G. Oyler and George Washington Oyler (1828). Samuel's brother William G. Oyler had a son George (1864). Perhaps it is not surprising given George Sr was born in England during the reign of King George III, and the later Georges in the family were a combination of sharing the family name and honoring George Washington on arrival in the United States.

I have been unable to locate Samuel, Marianna and family in the 1860 US Census, which poses a problem for positively identifying this new George W. as their son. He does appear in the 1870 US Census, and there are some strong clues connecting this George to our Oylers and others in the family orbit.

The Case for George

In the 1870 US Census, young George W. appears as a laborer in the household of wealthy landowner Samuel P. Bowles in Hamilton County, Ohio. Bowles was a neighbor of George Sr (1795), and in the census is listed only a few houses away from George Sr, who was hosting Marianna and her younger children in 1870. Living in the same household with George W. was another young laborer, John Gale. He later married Sophia Oyler, a daughter of Samuel and Marianna.

1870 US Census, Hamilton County, Ohio.

The Lawrenceburg Press (Dearborn County, Indiana) contained a clipping mentioning a wedding in January 1874 between George W. Oyler and Susanna Jeter of nearby Brookville, Franklin County, Indiana.

Lawrenceburg Press, 22 Jan 1874.

I initially confused Franklin County with the town of Franklin, Indiana. Looking at the map, Brookville, Franklin County is quite close to the border and Harrison, Hamilton County, Ohio.

Google Maps. Brookville in the top left.

The death of Samuel Oyler in 1863 divided the family and sent those old enough to work outside the home into the households of others. My 2nd-great-grandfather Charles John Oyler was sent to live in the home of aunt Elizabeth Oyler Wright and uncle Charles Wright in Tippecanoe County, Indiana. Charles' older sister Sophia was working as a domestic servant in the household of wealthy miller T. B. Calloway in Hamilton County, Ohio in the 1870 US Census. Another brother, Benjamin Oyler, was sent to school in nearby Butler County, Ohio in 1870 when he was eleven years old.

There is more to share from Hamilton County, Ohio land deeds mentioning George (1795) and Samuel's brothers. For now, this is a great use of AncestryDNA to uncover gaps in the tree and missing-to-me ancestors.