Happy Friday

 

Winslow Homer. Fresh Eggs. 1874.

It's Friday after Thanksgiving and the house is slowly waking up. Turkey broth is cooking from yesterday's feast and the dog is hovering around the kitchen for samples. Today we're picking up the Christmas tree and watching more college basketball, hoping for better results than the past couple of days.

With the calendar flip to December coming up on Sunday, we're entering the closeout of 2024. I'll have year-end recap post toward the end of the month. I am hoping to make more family history progress leading up to the holiday break. I have plans for work and personal travel through the first half of 2025 including a trip to Rootstech in early March.

Casting a wide net

 

Winslow Homer. Hauling in the nets. 1887.

As I've transferred autosomal DNA results to MyHeritage to look for matches, I've also uploaded test results to FamilyTreeDNA. I've already found some matches who tested there and were not visible on Ancestry or MyHeritage. The hope is that by casting a wide net for DNA matches, I'll locate the right set of matches who will help resolve the mystery on identifying the parents of my 3rd-great-grandmother Bridget, or figuring out the connection with the Pennsylvania O'Briens.

More work to do here as I sift through the finds that have already started to appear.  

Start of a Y journey

 

Source: FamilyTreeDNA. Migration map for R-U152.

As noted in my last post, my 2018 Geno 2.0 Y DNA result showed a paternal haplogroup of R-U152. Using FamilyTreeDNA's migration map, this haplogroup traces back to an area north of Florence in Tuscany, about 2600 BCE. I'm curious to see what the new test will show more recently than this ancient branch from 4600 years ago.

Going Big(Y)

FamilyTreeDNA currently has a Black Friday/Thanksgiving sale on their products, including the Big Y-700 DNA test. After looking at this for a few years, I've decided to take the plunge on yet another DNA test.

I've tried a number of DNA tests since 2008, originally taking the Ancestry Y DNA and mtDNA tests, then later the Ancestry autosomal DNA test, and National Geographic's short-lived Geno 2.0 test. My 2008 Ancestry Y test gave me a haplogroup R1b, and mtDNA haplogroup A. The 2018 Geno 2.0 test had more refined haplogroups for both, returning a result for R-U152 on the Y DNA, and A2d on the mtDNA side. I'm interested to see how these change when my big Y and mtDNA results arrive sometime in 2025.

I am also curious to see how this test and the information received afterward compares with other test results I administer for myself and others in the family. I'm interested in the possibility of gifting a test to another on my Dad's side of the tree. 

Stepping back a generation

 

George Fuller. Harvest Time. 1880.

Last week I shared a long post describing the breakthrough on my Mom's side of the tree, discovering the identity of the father of Mary Alice Cain Read, my 3rd-great-grandfather, Robert Gran Taylor Gibson. I'm now going back another generation, to Robert's parents, James Robert Gibson and Lucy Street. James was born between 1807 and 1809 in Adair County, Kentucky, and his parents were Job Gibson and Lydia Young. ThruLines shows we have 138 DNA matches to both. Lucy's parents were Anthony Street and Mary Polly Janes, and ThruLines shows 128 DNA matches to both of them.

James and Lucy were married in Adair County on 22 September 1831.

Ancestry. KY Marriage Records.

James and Lucy had at least the following children:

• Louvisa Gibson
• Mary Jane Gibson
• Julius Gibson
• William Gibson
• Lucy Gibson
• James Riley Gibson
• John Gibson
• Robert Gran Taylor Gibson
• Lucinda Gibson

In the 1850 US Census, the family appears in District 1, Adair County, Kentucky.

Ancestry. 1850 US Census. Adair County, KY.

By the 1860 Census, James and Lucy's household included five children in school, and son Julius with his new bride Maurenina Singleton Gibson.

Ancestry. 1860 US Census. Adair County, KY.

In the 1870 US Census, James and Lucy were in the Leatherwood District of Adair County. All of their children had moved out of the household.