Finding Winifred Mullen: A Long-Lost Aunt, a Boy from Mackinac Island, and an Unexpected Family Connection

My father Robert Kapple standing behind his sister around 1940 (about when Patrick Chapman visited). On right, you can see how much information I've collected on Winifred Mullen since earlier this month.

Winifred Mullen Found!

For years, my Great-Great Aunt Winifred Mullen was just a name in old Irish census records—born around 1892, living in Ireland in 1901 and 1911. I assumed she had stayed there her whole life, unlike her siblings—my great-grandmother Helen Mullen-Mason, her sister Bridget (who became Sister Mary Kathleen), and their brother Thomas—who all immigrated to Chicago (their brother Michael Mullen remained in Ireland until his death).

But Winifred had a secret: she, too, had crossed the Atlantic.

The Ellis Island Breakthrough

After years of searching Irish records for a marriage or death certificate, I finally found her—on a passenger list. In 1913, she arrived at Ellis Island, her name misspelled so badly that previous searches had missed her. Like her siblings, she was headed to Chicago.

But then… she vanished again.

The Chicago Clue

Frustrated, I turned to Ancestry family trees—usually a last resort due to unsourced information—and there she was: Winifred Mullen, married to Henry Chapman in Chicago in 1929. No parents listed, but the details fit (but her married name, Chapman, led me to find more records):

• By 1930, they were living on Mackinac Island, Michigan.

• The 1930 Census gave her year of immigration as 1913 (oddly her marriage record didn't come up in the searches until I included the name Chapman)

• They had a son, Patrick Henry Chapman, born in 1931 

And then I remembered something my father had mentioned decades ago…

The Little Boy from Mackinac Island

My father, born in 1933, once recalled a childhood visit from a young relative—a quiet boy from Mackinac Island, around his age. The boy, he said, was Native American, which made him wonder if we had Indigenous ancestry.

The family thought the boy hadn’t enjoyed his visit—until they heard he couldn’t stop talking about it when he got home.

Now, the pieces fell into place: That boy was Patrick Chapman, Winifred’s son.

The Métis Connection

Further research revealed that Henry Chapman’s family had Métis roots—descendants of French-Canadian fur traders and Ojibwe women on Mackinac Island. Patrick, as a tribal member, carried that heritage.

But our link to him wasn’t through his father—it was through his Irish mother, my long-lost aunt.

A Bittersweet Discovery

Winifred died of breast cancer in her 50s. Patrick passed in 2002, and his only daughter is also gone. I’ll never hear his memories of visiting Chicago or what he thought of my father’s family.

But this journey taught me something: Family stories hold hidden truths. A passing comment about a "Native American cousin" led me to an entire branch of my family tree—one that tied Ireland, Chicago, and Mackinac Island together.

If you’ve ever hit a brick wall in genealogy, don’t give up. Sometimes the answer lies in:

• Misspelled names (check every variation!)

• Unexpected locations (who knew Winifred went to Mackinac Island?)

• Family stories (even vague ones can hold clues)

• Indexing and Transcription Errors (errors in indexing can affect search results)

And if you have ties to the Chapman family of Mackinac Island, I’d love to hear from you. There are still more stories to uncover, and photos.

What Ever Happened to Winifred Mullen? Dealing with early 20th century Irish and American records

 

My Great-Grandmother Helen Mullen-Mason, Bridget (Sister Mary Kathleen), and Thomas, but not Winifred? 

 I've been researching my Irish roots for a quarter of a century. My great-grandmother Helen Mullen-Mason immigrated to Chicago with cousins in the 1890's. Her sister Bridget (Sister Mary Kathleen), and brother Thomas, followed a few years later. That left two siblings in Ireland, after 1911. Brother Michael inherited the family land and remained in Ireland until his death. What happened to their sister Winifred has been a mystery? I have not been able to find a marriage or death record for her in Ireland. Also, oddly, I have not found a civil registration birth record for her either? The other children all have civil registration birth records, even though they are wrong because the family registered the births late and wanted to avoid paying a fine. I've done lots of research in Ellis Island records and did not find her. Winifred has been difficult. 

Why have I researched the siblings of my great-grandmother? For one I'm curious about their lives and their relationship to my grandmother Helen. Did they keep in touch? Yes, they did. My father knew Bridget Mullen (Sister Mary Kathleen), his great-aunt. Apparently my grandmother, and her siblings kept in touch with Thomas, their uncle. I have not found any evidence they kept in touch with Winifred, however. Another reason to research these relatives is I have been looking for photos of my great-great grandparents who lived until the 1930s and I believe there must be photos. Photos, letters, or any information about them would be appreciated. 

The first mention I had of Winifred was in Bridget, Sister Mary Kathleen's, eulogy. When the 1901 and 1911 censuses for Ireland became available I found her on those censuses too. That's all I had about her. I decided to devote last Saturday to researching her. I asked the Gemini AI chatbot for advice on where to search to see if it came up with any new record groups? It did suggest writing to Sister Mary Kathleen's order, the BVM archives, to see if there is any information about her sister Winifred in her file. I wasn't going to get any information from them on Saturday. The AI also suggested getting the exact date of birth for Winifred. Unfortunately, 1892 is missing from the church register book. She should be somewhere in the civil registration books, since legally they were required to register her birth.

Old Irish civil registration records are available at the irishgenealogy.ie website. It's very difficult to find someone at this site because the search provides a limited sounds like search for surnames. If first names and surnames are badly misspelled you can't find them. When you click on a record you get a pdf digitized copy. You can't turn pages and look through entire years to find misspelled names. The only search parameters are generally the first and last names of the individual the record is for. Parents' names and other names on the documents generally are not searchable for birth records. There are boxes to search for parents, but those names were generally never indexed. The page before the digitized record generally had null for parents names. The only way to narrow your search is by the large civil registration districts. 

What you can do is  slowly search through the records, page by page. You can do that if you know the approximate year of birth, then you click on every name that comes up. Each digitized page has ten birth records on it. The problem with that is it will often involve opening, and closing over 100 pages. You'll be opening the same pages over and over again because there are a number of people on each civil registration page. After doing that for a while I decided to use the census records to find other people who were born around 1892 in the townland, and neighboring townlands, to pull up pages for the more specific area of Dunmore (I tried searching on Dunmore, but could only search on the larger Tuam area). I never found her birth record. Being able to narrow searches would be helpful. I have given up on finding her in these records for now. 

I moved on to searching at Ancestry.com. I decided to go through different record sets looking for her. I've been searching passenger lists for years and didn't expect anything to come from that search. I was wrong! Two Winifred Mullens immigrated from Ireland to Chicago in 1913. Researching in Irish records I found that Winifred wasn't a very common surname in the area of western Ireland, where my family is from. Two Winifred Mullens immigrating to the same city, the same year is very unusual, given that uncommon first name. 

Was one of them my Winifred Mullen? Yes, it was! Why hadn't I found this record earlier? Her surname was badly misspelled in the index. The place she was from was the townland of Pollaturick, County Galway, Ireland. Of course Pollaturick would have been difficult to spell, and generally my family would instead give the name of the nearest town, which was Milltown. Of course Pollaturick wasn't spelled correctly on the passenger list either. Now I know she was still alive in 1913, and came out to Chicago to visit the family or settle there? 

I was very excited to find something else about Winifred! I later realized I forgot to copy the second page of the passenger list. I went back to the passenger list search. I searched using the same names I used before. Only one Winifred showed up, and it wasn't mine. I guess the search doesn't bring her up everytime. There are glitches with the Ancestry.com search, and could be why it didn't come up for me before. I was able to use my search history to find it. 

Armed with this information I searched for a marriage, death, or any other record for Winifred Mullen. I found a marriage record from the 1920s for Winifred Mullen. I hoped this was my relative. I also saw that there was an obituary for her in the 1974 Chicago Tribune. The obituary index at Ancestry.com said she had a sister named Kate. I immediately guessed it was the wrong Winifred because she didn't have a sister named Kate. Then I thought maybe this is referring to Sister Mary Kathleen, and Kate was a nickname? There was also a last name, but it seemed to just be a jumble of letters.  I went to Newspapers.com to see if I could find the entire obituary. They didn't have the Chicago Tribune for 1974. I eventually ended up on the Newsbank, HeritageHub site. It didn't have a digitized copy of the newspaper, but it did have a full transcript of the obituary.  

After reading the entire obituary I realized this person was the other Winifred Mullen who immigrated to Chicago in 1913. She indeed had a sister Kate who did marry, so was not a Nun. She had brothers named Michael and Patrick. My Winifred had brothers named Thomas and Michael. 

Below you can see Ancestry.com had Kate's last name indexed as Onanagner, instead of  Gallagher. The obituary was probably indexed using AI. 

HeritageHub saved me the time and effort of trying to get a copy of the 1974 Chicago Tribune. I suppose the information at Ancestry.com was from AI. It would have been nice if Ancestry had a more accurate, and complete index for newspaper obituaries. Only one relative's name was on it, when there were also two other siblings in the actual obituary. 

I have not been able to find anything further on my relative Winifred Mullen, so far. The fact there were two in Chicago, who immigrated in 1913, and were born around 1892 makes it difficult. They were also around the same height. My Winifred was 5ft 6 inches, and the other Winifred 5ft 7inches. After the other Winifred marries it becomes easy to separate them. I will keep trying to find more about this mystery relative, as I wait for the 1926 Census for Ireland to become available which will provide more family information.  

RootsTech 2025 My Virtual Summary/ The good and disappointing announcements

 RootsTech 2025

 I did enjoy attending RootsTech virtually, however, there were aspects I didn't like. RootsTech 2025 revealed a clear trend: genealogy is becoming increasingly pay-to-play. The relentless push for premium subscriptions and upgrades to access basic tree and DNA tools is deeply concerning. While innovation is essential, it shouldn't come at the expense of accessibility.

FamilySearch remains a vital resource, offering free access to a wealth of original records and tools for building and sharing family trees. Their dedication to providing digitized microfilms, not just transcriptions, is a testament to their commitment to accessible genealogy.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for many other major genealogy platforms. The constant barrage of requests for subscription upgrades and DNA kit add-ons feels exploitative. It raises serious questions about the future of genealogy research, especially for those who cannot afford these escalating costs.

Is genealogy becoming a hobby reserved for the financially privileged? 

The main topics and announcements covered at RootsTech 2025:

1. AI was featured in many presentations. Using AI to do research and transcribe records. 
2. MyHeritage and 23andMe had presentations about their new Ancient Origins features available to subscribers. 
3. Ancestry.com announced the rollout of a new tree feature allowing users to add FAN club members to be added to their trees. You can build networks of people your ancestors were associated with in some way. You have to have a subscription, and also subscribe to Pro Tools. 
4. One of the best announcements was that AncestryDNA will be adding a cluster chart feature. It's like the clusters at MyHeritage grouping matches who likely relate through common ancestors
5. Ancestry also introduced a tool to allow you to attach DNA matches' family lines to your tree.  
6. MyHeritage announced a Cousin Finder search feature, which uses trees to find cousins. You can find it under discoveries. I found 196 cousins using this search. 

My favorite presentations: 

1. FamilySearch Full Text Search Is Even Better by Robert Raymond. Full Text search is my favorite feature at FamilySearch. I hadn't searched there lately. When I heard many additional records have been added I searched there again and found some new information. Really wonderful!   
2. Learn Genealogy Faster and Easier with Artificial Intelligence Mark Thompson. I'm interested in learning more about AI for genealogy so I watched several of these kinds of presentations. This one was very good! 
3. How Just One Match Can Help You Find Missing Ancestors in 2025 Diahan Southard. All of her presentations are excellent!
4. How Does DNA Fit into Your Family Story? Identity. Connection. Answers. Diahan Southard 
5. Combine Multiple DNA Test Types (How atDNA+YDNA+mtDNA+atDNA=More Answers!) Diahan Southard
6. Telling Stories with DNA: Case Studies from PBS' Finding Your Roots CeCe Moore 
7. Ethical Standards in the Genealogy Community: Town Hall Discussion CeCe Moore, Lynn Broderick, Dr. Amy Harris
8. On the Record: An Introduction to Civil Registration in Ireland Daniel Loftus
9. Funeral Traditions in the Victorian Era Cathy Wallace
   
10. What the Heck is a Centimorgan?  Kelli Bergheimer
11. AI Genealogy: Year Two: The 2025 Outlook: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re At, Where We’re Headed Steve Little

Court Records Find Beaver County, Pennsylvania

One of the discoveries I made with the full text search was sad, but I'm glad to confirm some family information. It also helps with a timeline for when my ancestor Mary Kurta-Kappel returned to Austria. 

My father Robert Kapple told me his paternal grandfather, Frank Kappel, had a bad temper. My father's family lived with his paternal grandparents until his parents bought their own house. My father remembered Mary Kurta-Kappel was hysterical when she heard my grandparents, and their children, were moving out of the house. She said her husband, Frank, would kill her. (My father was born in 1933, and I believe the family moved out about 1940.) 

I found two court records, for Beaver County, Pennsylvania, using FamilySearch full text search, after listening to the presentation, which confirmed Mary was right to be frightened. 

This court record from 1908 states Frank had hit Mary with his fist and drove her out of their house. She dropped the charges likely because she had a number of children by 1908 and needed financial support. 

At the same time Frank drove his wife Mary out of the house he also drove his children out. There were 6 children under the age of 10 as this record states. They were thrown out of the house at night. The Humane Agent brought charges against Frank on behalf of the children. 

Frank was fined hundreds of dollars. I'm surprised that, working as a laborer, he had enough money to pay the fines. 

Soon after these incidents Mary took her children back to Austria, where her sister was living. She was likely pregnant at the time of the assault. My grandfather Rudolph Kapple was born 9 months later while the family was in Austria. 

Mary returned with her children to America in August 1910, two years after the abuse incidents in August of 1908 (however Joseph Kappel was left in Austria with family and didn't join the family in Chicago until 1923). Why she decided to come back I don't know? She probably couldn't afford to support 7 children herself. 

Here is Mary, with some of her children, in Austria probably in 1909. 

I also found a few other family deeds using the full text search at FamilySearch. I'm very happy with the additions to this Labs project. You can find the full text search under FamilySearch Labs. 

Personally I'm sticking with searching free records and only buying anything if I need it to solve a brickwall.

Rootstech 2025 has been productive for me! 

New MyHeritage Ethnicity Results Update/ (and yes I do work with matches also)

 I've been looking forward to seeing the MyHeritage ethnicity results update for years now, and it finally came out a few days ago.

(The tools for working with DNA matches are much better at MyHeritage than at Ancestry. I really wish more people would test with them.)

As for my own update, I’d say it’s not particularly impressive for me, though it’s better for my mother and an aunt. Since I’m more ethnically mixed and farther removed from immigrant ancestors, my results tend to be less accurate than theirs.

In fact, my updated results are pretty close to earlier estimates from companies like Ancestry, FamilyTree DNA, and 23andMe. They still miss some of my grandfather’s ethnic contribution, which should account for about a quarter of my genes. He was of Austro-Hungarian ancestry, but I suspect the discrepancy is because most people testing with them are Western European. Additionally, I’m a quarter Hispanic, which isn’t as well represented either. Germanic and Eastern European should combine for around 25%, but instead they only add up to 12.7%. My Hispanic-related ethnicities should also total about 25%, but they’re listed as 16.5%. Still, the Hispanic predictions are better than the Austro-Hungarian ones representing my paternal grandfather.

Their genetic groups better reflect my ancestry, as you see below. 

My aunt’s updated ethnicity results are much more accurate. Her ancestry breaks down as 50% Austro-Hungarian, 25% Irish, 12.5% British Isles mix, and 12.5% French Canadian on paper. Her Irish percentage of 26.7% is spot on, considering her maternal grandmother was from Ireland. I figure 44.7% represents her Austro-Hungarian father—still a bit off from Rudolph Kapple’s genetic contribution but closer.

After adding up the numbers, I have to say the MyHeritage ethnicity update isn’t as bad as it initially seemed to me. If they had a larger database, which they should based on the quality of their product, the ethnicity results would be even more accurate. 

Why DNA Ethnicity Estimates Matter (and Why They Don't)

 

Those colorful break downs of your heritage can be exciting and insightful, but they've also sparked controversy. Here's a balanced look at the pros and cons:

The Concerns:

• Accuracy isn't perfect: It's true that ethnicity estimates are, well, estimates. They're based on comparing your DNA to reference populations, and the accuracy depends on factors like the size and diversity of those populations.
• Potential for division: Some worry that focusing on genetic differences could fuel ethnic conflicts. Exacerbate racism. 
• Misinterpretation and misuse: In the wrong hands, ethnicity data could be used to justify racist beliefs or discriminatory actions.
• Uneven accuracy: The accuracy of your results can be influenced by your ancestral origins. Some regions and ethnicities are better represented in databases than others.

The Counterarguments:

• Improving accuracy: Companies like AncestryDNA are constantly refining their algorithms and expanding their reference databases, leading to more precise ethnicity estimates.
• It's mostly just fun: For most people, exploring their ethnic origins is a harmless and entertaining way to connect with their heritage.
• Responsible use: The vast majority of people use their DNA results responsibly, to learn more about their family history and connect with relatives.
• Genealogical benefits: Ethnicity estimates can be a valuable tool for genealogists, helping to identify which side of the family a DNA match might be on.
• Understanding limitations: Most users are aware that ethnicity estimates are not absolute truth and should be taken with a grain of salt.

The Bottom Line:

While it's important to acknowledge the potential downsides of ethnicity estimates, it's equally important to recognize their value and the positive impact they can have. By approaching these results with a critical eye and a sense of responsibility, we can use them to enrich our understanding of ourselves, our families, and our shared human history.

How Are the New AncestryDNA Ethnicity Results Looking? Including Comparisons With First Cousins

 

The new AncestryDNA ethnicity results are looking pretty good! They're a lot better than when I first tested back in 2014. I even have French admixture now, which is a first at Ancestry. I'm glad that my French Canadian great-grandfather is now represented in my results! 

French Canadian Ancestry

I was curious about how much DNA I'd inherit from a great-great-grandfather, so I asked Gemini and ChatGPT. They both said the average is around 6.25%, but there's a slim chance I might not share any DNA with him at all. I know that's not the case for me because I have French Canadian matches and I'm in a few Quebec Settlers groups on Ancestry. It always seemed odd to be in those groups without having any French ancestry show up in my results. Now, with the update, I have 3% French! That seems about right.

Irish and German Ancestry

My Irish went down a bit, from 22% to 19%. My German went up to 23% and comes from my dad's side, which makes sense. His dad, Rudolph, was from a German-speaking Austro-Hungarian family. Ancestry says my mom is about 13% German, but Sideview says I didn't get any German from her. That doesn't seem right since I have matches on her German lines.

The best improvement is that my grandfather Rudolph Kapple is finally represented in my ethnicity estimate! It's not 100% correct, but it's close.

Comparing Cousin Results

I compared my results with my paternal first cousins (unfortunately, no maternal first cousins have tested with Ancestry). It highlights some probable errors with the estimated percentages.

Our paternal grandfather was Austro-Hungarian, with ancestors from both Austria and Hungary. He was born near Graz, Austria. When I first tested, I had NO German admixture. Now I have 23%. Here's how my German admixture compares with my cousins:

• Me: 23%
• Cousin Darryl: 7%
• Cousin Judy: 19%

Judy's 19% isn't far off from my 23%, but Darryl's 7% doesn't seem accurate. He has 13% Eastern European and 3% Balkan on our shared Kapple line, which would also represent our grandfather's heritage. He even has some Spanish on that line. If you add those up, it represents our grandfather's heritage much better. Judy also has 5% Central and Eastern European, so her totals represent our grandfather well, too. It's great to finally see our grandfather's heritage showing up in our results!

These cousins and I also share an Irish great-grandmother. Here's how our Irish results look:

• Me: 19%
• Cousin Darryl: 27%
• Cousin Judy: 35%

Sideview says our Irish comes from our shared grandmother, Dorothy Mason-Kapple. She was half Irish; her mother, Helen Mullen-Mason, was born in Ireland. We should each have around 12.5% Irish from her. Every Ancestry update brings my Irish percentage down, which is probably correct. I think they tend to overestimate Irish ancestry. Judy likely has Irish on both sides of her family, so it's not an easy comparison.

Here's a comparison of our French admixture:

• Me: 3%
• Darryl: 4%
• Judy: 0%

Since we share around 6.25% of our DNA with our great-great-grandparents, my results and Darryl's seem pretty accurate. Judy's result isn't; she should have inherited some French DNA from our great-great-grandfather.

Comparing my results

If you compare these results from 2014:

And this year's update:

You can see how far these tests have come! 

Overall Impressions

Overall, for what these tests can do, the results are pretty good! If you compare my results from 2014 and the recent update, it's clear that AncestryDNA ethnicity estimates have come a long way!

Total Shared cMs Are Important, A Chromosome Browser Is More Important

 

I  asked Gemini AI which technique of evaluating DNA matches is the best? Is total cMs shared or comparing segment data better? I agree with this chatbot that if you are serious about using DNA for genealogy both segment data and a chromosome browser are best

It is true that total cMs can be helpful when it comes to identifying close family. The new Ancestry Pro Tools Advanced Matching allows for comparison of cMs with shared matches, and matches you share with them. It also shows relationship predictions of your matches shared matches. It can also spot NPEs when total cMs are very different from what is expected. 

Total cMs isn't as helpful at all for matches beyond a couple generations. As you see below total shared cMs can vary quite a bit between first cousins, and matches we share. I share 173 cMs with a 2nd cousin 1x removed. My cousin Judy shares 248 cMs, and my cousin Darryl shares 350 cMs. My cousin Darryl shares 177 cMs more than I do with our 2nd cousin 1x removed. 

Generally I share around 1000 cMs with my first cousins. Oddly my mother shared fewer cMs with a couple 1st cousins descended from the same uncle. One first cousin shares only 534 cMs with my mother. I thought possibly there was an NPE. No, this cousin has matches on the correct lines. Another cousin, who is a half first cousin, only matches on our maternal grandmother's side and shares around 500 cMs also. Lower than expected matches need further evaluation. 

This match's brother shared only 782 cMs. Both of these cousins tested at AncestryDNA. I wonder if Timber chopped down some segments leading to these lower cM shared totals? 

My mother only shares 13 cMs with a distant cousin, but a first cousin shares 32 cMs. This demonstrates the wide range of cM totals, and the difficulty of using autosomal DNA to predict relationships. Different relatives may share more or less DNA with the same distant cousin.  

With such a wide range of relationship possibilities total shared cMs aren't that helpful. Building a chromosome map with segment data you can associate certain segments with particular families. Just looking at cMs can be helpful for close relationships, but can be a waste of time for distant relationships. 

A chromosome browser is definitely essential when trying to confirm distant matches, and solve a brickwall. I've been going through my chromosome map analyzing segment matches, and making some corrections. I can't extend it much farther at this time because fewer people test at MyHeritage and Family Tree DNA. 23andMe no longer allows you to download shared match segment data. It's difficult to get matches to upload to GEDmatch. Many just don't understand how, or what information it would provide. 

I've marked my segments, from my Genome Mate Pro segment map, with names of the ancestors who contributed them. I'm not able to visually phase my segments to recreate the segments passed down to me by my grandparents because you need siblings to do that. I'm an only child. I marked the segments I received from each grandparent using Microsoft Paint. I was thinking of using DNA Painter, but that would have taken too long. I would have had to upload segments, and mark them from scratch. 

Since AncestryDNA is unlikely to ever provide segment data my hope is 23andMe allows this data to be viewed and downloaded again, and the other companies attract more testers. Otherwise, I can't make any more progress using DNA. 

  

A Sad Message On A Photo

 

 My mother Edna Forgey-Kapple was born in Granada, Nicaragua. Her father Charles Lynn Forgey was a US Marine serving in Nicaragua. He married my grandmother Graciela Del Castillo, a Nicaraguan, in 1919. My mother was born in April 1921. 

My grandfather Charles Lynn Forgey returned to the United States without my mother and grandmother at some point after my mother's birth. I've found him referred to as Dick Forgey in Brownstown Banner newspapers. His hometown newspaper in Jackson County, Indiana. 

Here we see my grandfather mentioned in a visiting newspaper announcement published July 4th 1923. 

In August 1923 Dick Forgey is again mentioned in the Brownstown Banner. 

The fact my grandfather had been in Nicaragua hasn't been mentioned and likely hidden. My mother thought he had no plans to bring her and my grandmother to the United States. He may have wanted to start again and abandon them. 

My grandmother's father had died and he supported the family. My grandmother struggled to feed my mother after her father left. 

My grandmother had no choice but to track down my grandfather by contacting his family in Indiana. She sent the photo with the message below of my mother asking if he remembered her? 

My mother believed his father probably encouraged my grandfather to do the right thing and support his wife and child. 

In 1925 my grandfather finally did the right thing and brought his wife and my mother out to join him in California.

My grandfather did show some pride in my mother when he sent this photo to his family in Indiana. He said my mother could speak both Spanish and English. I am sorry my mother never saw this photo and the writing on the back. I had never seen it until recently. 

Was this a happy ending? It was good for my mother and grandmother to have been rescued from a difficult life in Nicaragua. My mother, however, felt she had been abandoned by her father all of her life, and it really hurt her. It saddened me to see the photo with my grandmother's plea on the back.  

My grandfather Forgey was too young and immature to marry in 1919. He was only 20 years old. I never thought about his age before. I never really did the math. I think I would have talked to my mother about his age if I had known his age at marriage to help her try to overcome sadness and feelings of abandonment. 

I feel fortunate that I always felt loved by my parents and never experienced a sense of abandonment. I'm sorry about what happened to my mother. 

New Ancestry DNA Enhanced Shared Matches Pro Tool Feature/Helpful and Meh at the same time

 

I have subscribed to Ancestry for a month in order to use the new "Enhanced Shared Matches" Pro Tool showing how many centimorgans, cMs, your matches share with each other. This has been a wonderful feature which has been available for years at 23andMe, and MyHeritage, at no additional charge. You need to have a regular Ancestry subscription in order to add Pro Tools, which is an additional $10 a month. 

My main reason for using this feature is so I can see how shared matches are related to each other on a brickwall line. I'm using this mainly with my mother's kit. I don't really care how all 30,000 of my mother's matches are related to us. I'm just interested in matches descended from George Lafayette Campbell. I've been trying to resolve a brickwall on our Campbell line for over 20 years. Our ancestor Sarah Campbell died young. She also died before the 1850 Census, so we don't have any information from when she was alive as to where she was born? She was married to Anderson Wray and had a few  children before her death. Only one Campbell was connected to the Wray family, his name was James Campbell and there is no surviving information about where he was from, or his relationship to Sarah Campbell-Wray? The children of Sarah stated on census records that she was born in Tennessee, and that is the only information about her they seemed to have. 

Looking at my mother's matches related to Campbells I noticed there were a number who descended from George Lafayette Campbell of Greene County, Tennessee. These matches don't appear to relate to us any other way. If matches are closely related to each other such as siblings, first cousins, parents and children, it could be that we aren't related through the Campbell line. We may share a different line farther back. If they don't all descend from the same children of George Lafayette Campbell the circumstantial case is stronger. If we had the underlying segment information the case would be stronger still, but AncestryDNA doesn't provide this information making the process of attempting to establish relationships slower, and more of a hassle. 

I'm gathering up the shared centimorgan information for descendants of George Lafayette Campbell and using a spreadsheet to document the shared cMs. I'm not documenting the shared cM's of every single descendant, only those sharing over 20cMs with my mother, or over 100 cMs with their shared matches, and those descended from different children of George. I want to make sure the descendants aren't closely related, or double cousins, or there wasn't endogamy in these families. 

I am discovering more close family of my matches, and noting those. Problems I'm running into include few people with trees or very limited trees. As I go through the matches I'm again looking for matches with more complete trees. One match is related through another line. It's crucial to have segment data to sort out matches who may not be related through Campbell. 

It's a slow process sorting through the information because AncestryDNA has information on so many pages, unlike MyHeritage where you can see all of the information about a match on one page. I've created notes for matches who descend from George Lafayette Campbell. I haven't been able to filter notes to bring up only notes regarding those descendants. To get to these matches I have to use the Chrome Browser search feature. Every time I return to the match list I have to search the notes again, which is another reason I'm only documenting a few descendants of George. 

When I Googled to see if there was a way to search notes I got this AI response: "As of January 2023, it's not possible to search notes on AncestryDNA, but users can use custom groups to help. However, users can find notes and comments for people in their tree on that person's profile page. Notes and comments can be found in the research tools bar to the right of the profile photo, and in the Tools menu."

I'm finding some of the matches are very closely related, such as parent child, aunts and uncles. Most matches aren't, which is good for my hypothesis. 

Before using the new Pro Tool the matches attached to this tree (below) were our main connections to the George Lafayette Campbell family. Using the shared matches tool I've found close family members of these matches that don't have trees, or a tree with a couple people on it. 

I've also looked at some close matches we didn't know how we were related to. Some of these matches have close relatives which I've found with the new tool. A couple of their matches have trees allowing me to find our relationship. We have thousands of matches and I'm not interested in determining how every match is related. This has helped with a few close matches, which is good. 

I now have 29 matches sharing descent from George Lafayette Campbell. There are many more shared matches without trees who likely share that descent too. 

This is the spreadsheet I've made to track all the shared cM totals and predicted relationships. The predicted relationships seem a little too close in some cases. I'm recording the match names across the top and side of the spreadsheet and filling in the information. There may be a better way, but this is working for me. 

Here is an example of the information I'm recording. This shows how Mary is related to our shared matches in the Campbell line. The names of the matches are on the left (I didn't include them for privacy reasons). I'll probably add which George Lafayette Campbell child each match descends from. 

It is good to know how many distinct matches you have when looking at shared matches. Sometimes people test a bunch of close relatives so your shared matches may be closely related. If they are closely related and have not extended their tree far enough back you may not be able to determine how you are related. Creating chromosome maps helps confirm relationships. You can't do that at Ancestry. 

Also, if AncestryDNA had more information about a match on one page it would save a lot of clicking back and forth.

This new Pro Tool is very helpful, but not a game changer. A chromosome browser or segment data would be the game changer we really need. 

Update: All Farmhouses Look Alike / and new Tabitha Wray information

Update from last post: I discovered looking more closely at the house I thought may have been in a photo shared on Ancestry.com, as a Moses Wray house, that it doesn't match the house in the photo. I knew it wasn't his house, he would have lived in a log house, but thought it could have sat on his land. 

The only house I could find similar to that house, using Google Street View, compared more carefully, can't be the same house in the old photo. When I looked at Google street view from another angle I could see the house didn't have 3 windows on one side. It has only one window on the side. 

Posting about my mistake on Facebook several people identified the house in the photo as being a house on Poff Lane. The house was at one time owned by a Wray family, but the original owners of the house and property were Wrights. This 1906 built house was constructed around a log cabin, likely belonging to the Wrights, sometime before the Civil War. 

Looking more carefully at the Inn it doesn't have 3 windows on the side of the house. The second floor of the house was destroyed by fire and rebuilt. I suppose windows may have been removed when the house was remodeled? An old photo taken in the 50s or 60s also shows only two windows, however I don't know which side of the house the photo was taken on? Also the slope of the land, looking at the right side of the photo is different. 

Someone would have to verify the house in the photo on Poff Lane is the same house. It may not be. Many farm houses were built just like these. The house in the photo may have been torn down, or remodeled? I think we are learning which houses are not the house in the photo. 

Old photo

What we do know is that Moses and Elizabeth Wray owned property on both sides of White Oak Bottom Creek, north of Maggotty Creek. 

Some unanswered questions about the location of their land. Is White Oak Bottom Creek the same as today's White Oak Creek? Has White Oak Creek always followed the same course? Water can always change course and people sometimes change its course. What we do know is the creek existed as early as 1755 when Jester Cox made a survey on that creek. 

Moses and Elizabeth also own land on Maggotty creek. So I'm figuring their land on White Bottom Creek was likely near where White Bottom Creek emptied into Maggotty Creek? 

New Wray Information

I've questioned whether Moses Wray's wife Elizabeth Morris could have been the mother of all 18 of his children. That seems to be more children than possible for one woman to give birth to. It is possible though. It's happened, but not frequently. My ancestor Benjamin Wray was one of Moses Wray's oldest children. So was his mother Elizabeth Morris? 

Robert Grant shared some of his research with me. His research, on the Wright family, can be viewed at FamilySearch. Sorting some of the Wrights of Southern Virginia : part III, 1809 William Wright of Franklin County, his wife Mary (Grant) Wright and his descendants Sorting some of the Wrights of Southern Virginia by Robert Grant contains information about many associated families. 

My ancestor Benjamin Wray had a sister named Tabitha Wray-Wright. 

According to Robert Grant's research Tabitha Wray-Wright's daughter married in 1792. What does this mean? It means she was likely born around 1761 or earlier. I had about 1767 as the approximate year she was born. It's very likely Elizabeth named Tabitha after her mother, her mother's name was Tabitha. My ancestor was born a few years earlier than Tabitha, but she was born much earlier than 1767. This suggests that most of Moses Wray's children were Elizabeth's. So Elizabeth Morris could be my ancestor Benjamin's mother. 

  

The information provided by Robert Grant proves there is more information out there that maybe I've missed? Eventually my questions may be answered.