Happy Halloween

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. El Cuyo, Yucatan. 17 Mar 2023.

Clustering Matches

 

MyHeritage AutoClusters.

Back in August I posted a similar image to the one above. This one is taken from the autocluster report generated on 18 October 2024 via MyHeritage using my Mom's DNA matches. The theme of next week's DNA study group session is on autoclustering techniques, so I thought I'd attempt once again to see if I can identify groups of related matches using this report.

The red cluster at the top left corner has a lot of connections with names in the green cluster in the middle, so much that it probably should be one group. I am still comparing this with matches on Ancestry, but it looks like these two groups are Flatt and possibly Cain Targets (who I have renamed to 3GGF Targets). These people also have a strong link to descendants from Adair, Barren and Metcalfe Counties, Kentucky, so both groups are worthy of a close review to see if there are Hubbard and Dowell matches.

More Basketball in the Family

 

Ancestry. 1925 Thorntown HS Basketball.

With the return of college basketball this week for the 2024-2025 season, it's fitting to see family connections in basketball from 100 years ago. Two members of the 1925 Thorntown High School basketball team were brothers Russell Hankins (in the middle of the first row of the photo above, with the basketball at his feet) and Richard Hankins (far right end of the second row). Both were older brothers of Guy Hankins. Guy was later a reserve member of the 1937 Thorntown team.

Russell was a multi-sport star for Thorntown, participating in football, basketball and track all four years. It appears he ran in the Indiana State track meet in 1926, and I'll have more on this in another post. His brother Richard was also on the football and track teams.

Both Hankins boys appear on the first row of the 1926 Thorntown basketball team photo, with Richard on left corner and Russell in the middle with basketball on his right foot.

Ancestry. 1926 Thorntown basketball team.

Another sporting member of the family was their sister, Pearl Hankins, who was on the 1927 Thorntown girls basketball team. She appears in on the top right corner of the photo below. Pearl was the junior class basketball captain in 1927.

Ancestry. 1927 Thorntown girls basketball.

A Hubbard-Dowell Connection

 

Ancestry Thrulines.

Last week I looked at the possibility that the mysterious father of Mary Alice Cain Read was not Robert Cain, but more likely John Hubbard, son of Nancy Dowell Hubbard (third wife of Pleasant Flatt). Looking at Ancestry's Thrulines on my Mom's results after I switched out Robert for John Hubbard as the father of Mary Alice, yields some clear connections with DNA. There's a definite possibility and the link seems much stronger than I had previously in the tree.

Here's what comes up when I used the dot method and tried to isolate a "Cain Target" group of matches in an earlier post. I'm now at about 1737 matches in this potential group. But working from some with stronger cM amounts, a few match to the Hubbard-Dowell line or descend from ancestors of the Hubbards, Dowells and related families. One match, LW, has 33 cM, descending from a son of William C. Hubbard and Amanda Dowell (sister of Nancy Dowell). My Mom also matches SE, with 22 cM descending from the same couple.

Another match shows 14 cM descending from James W. Hubbard (another son of William C Hubbard and Amanda Dowell). My Mom also has a 15 cM match descending from Elizabeth Dowell (a sister of Nancy and Amanda), and a 17 cM and 14 cM match descending from John S. Dowell (a brother of Nancy and Amanda). My aunt Patty's results have those same matches, along with a 12 cM match from a daughter of Amanda Dowell, and an 11 cM descending from Genetta Hubbard (sister of potential father of Mary Alice, John Hubbard). 

These numbers are small, and I'm not yet seeing matches descending directly from John Hubbard, although any that do appear will be half connections. There's more work to do on the matches we have. 

VT Homecoming 2024

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Blacksburg, VA. 26 Oct 2024.

We went down to Blacksburg on Friday for Virginia Tech Homecoming and the VT vs Georgia Tech game. It's a pretty cool experience seeing the team enter Lane Stadium to Metallica's Enter Sandman. We saw a defensive game, with a few trick plays and key stops for a VT win 21-6. Our seats were right on the 50 but almost at the top of the stadium. They have a great game day atmosphere and we had a fun time in town.

Photo by Patrick Jones. VT Motorsports demo.

Prior to the game, we attended the Alumni tailgate. The shot above is Allison in the VT Engineering racecar.