Resolving A Brickwall with Maps/ Why DNA Segment Data is Important

Resolving A Brickwall with Maps

Last week I blogged about my efforts to identify the family of Sarah Campbell-Wray b. about 1812 in Tennessee, according to one of her daughter's Polly Thurman Wray-Hall.  Sarah Campbell married Anderson Wray in Jackson County, Indiana in 1833. There were no Campbells living around Anderson and Sarah, or least not within 20 or more miles.

This week I did page by page research in court orders and probate records, but no additional Campbells have surfaced. So far James T. Campbell still seems the best candidate to be a relative of Sarah Campbell. He is a  possible brother or cousin, based on his age on the Census, if he is the same person listed on the 1840 US Census for Indiana? I first discovered he lived near some of my ancestors in Jackson County, IN a week ago. This James did live within 10 miles of Sarah Campbell's mother-in-law. Sarah's husband Anderson Wray's Uncle, William Harrison, purchased land from James T. Campbell.

I mapped the land grants for the township, range, and section using the BLM search for James T. Campbell, and neighbors . From the landing page clicking on related documents I was able to find descriptions of land purchased by neighbors living in and around township 5, where James T. Campbell lived.

 

 

 

I paid $5 to map all of these land purchases at Earthpoint, which produces a map at Google Earth Pro. Clicking on the purple dot displays the section number. Dividing the sections into 16 squares with a drawing tool allowed me to add the names using the directions, NW of NE quarter for instance.

Looking the map, below, it does prove James T. Campbell was a neighbor of several Wray family relatives. Villorous Wray, Sarah's brother-in-law owned land in township 5 also. The land was indeed close to where Sarah Campbell's mother-in-law was buried, at the yellow pinpoint on the map. Several other Wray and Forgey family in-laws also lived in the same area. The interrelated web of relationships proves that individuals usually married neighbors during this time period. The more distant Campbell families are less likely to have been related to Sarah.

Sections 23 and 24 of Township 5

 

Why DNA Segment Data is Important

I would like to resolve the Sarah Campbell b. 1812 Tennessee brickwall with DNA. 5 years after first taking an autosomal DNA test,  DNA hasn't resolved this particular brickwall. I've tested with all three major companies. Family Tree DNA does provide segment data, but I see no matches who are good candidates to be distant cousins through Campbell. Same with 23andMe. 23andMe lacks tree information and most testers have no surnames posted. There could be a good match at 23andMe, but I would never be able to identify it without surname information.

AncestryDNA has a possible Campbell related match? This match is a close match of my mother. This match shares 43 cM's on 3 segments. She doesn't match through a Campbell family in Indiana, but does relate to one in Tennessee. Unfortunately one of her shared matches relates through another line of our family. Only one out of a dozen, however, which could be a coincidence? Roller is the line shared by one of her matches. I have a good DNA map for the surname Roller. If I could see the segments we share with the Campbell match I, most likely, could confirm or rule out a relationship based on Roller.

If this match didn't share segments with known Roller matches I could go through matches at Family Tree DNA , 23andMe, and GEDmatch looking for matches on the same segments we share only with this Campbell match. Since my grandmother on that line was Nicarguan it would be easy to establish whether a match was likely a Campbell and I could contact that match. Even if they had little information I could establish whether they, or their ancestors, lived in Tennessee or Indiana.

Without the segment info there is no way for me to work with this high quality Campbell match at AncestryDNA. I've contacted them, but haven't received an answer. I've contacted them twice in the past 3 years. If AncestryDNA would offer an opt in segment sharing option that could help me, and many others solve some brickwalls. 23andMe's opt in segment sharing is fabulous! I haven't bought an AncestryDNA kit in years. I would consider buying more if they had a segment sharing option. If our Campbell match had decided to opt in when she first tested I might have been able to make some progress using DNA for this match?

AncestryDNA may hold the key to at least identifying a potential place in Tennessee where Sarah Campbell's family originated, and a possible shared Campbell ancestor. It could also provide me with more matches on the same segment related to us through our Indiana family.

I will continue to look for potential Campbell related cousins at these DNA companies. Hopefully a match with an Indiana Campbell family will surface.