DNA testing | Genealogy Lady

Collateral lines, Locations of Interest, Naming Patterns and DNA (Oh My!)

I have previously discussed Bathsheba Laughead and Ruth (Laughead) Coen and their status as persons of interest in my quest to determine the parents of Joseph Laughead. During the last year, another person of interest came to my attention through the use of DNA. One of my matches (at 23andme) is a gentleman named Mr. Glover. The surname Glover sounded familiar to me because I have traced the collateral (or descendant) lines of many branches of the Laughead family. With a few emails back and forth, I knew how we were connected.

Graphic courtesy of 23andme

Mr. Glover is a descendant of Susannah (Lawhead) Glover of Greene County, Indiana. On 2 March 1840, Susannah married John D. Glover in Guernsey County, Ohio. Later that year, John Glover lived in Union Township [now defunct], Monroe County, Ohio. His household consisted of: a twenty something male (John), a twenty something female (Susannah), and a female child under the age of 5 (Martha). That same year, Joseph Laughead and his family lived in Somerset Township, Belmont County, Ohio. Somerset Township borders Guernsey County on its western side. By 1850, both families had moved around the tri-county region and had settled in Seneca Township, Guernsey County. Coincidentally, the two families migrated west to Greene County, Indiana by the 1860 census.

Lawhead, Susannah & John Glover - Marriage extraction, 1840

Image courtesy of Family Search

Clearly, the families of Joseph Laughead and Susannah (Lawhead) Glover were connected. The families lived in the same region of Ohio. They migrated further west around the same time, and settled in the same geographic area of Indiana. Another clue that links the families is naming patterns. Different historical time periods, religious groups, ethnic groups, etc. have practiced the tradition of naming children after family members, sometimes in a set pattern. In some cases, a strict pattern was followed. For example, the first born male was named after the child’s paternal grandfather, the second male child was named after the child’s maternal grandfather, and so on. In the case of the family of John and Susannah (Lawhead) Glover, they named their third daughter Bathsheba.

Extracted Information:

The families of Joseph Laughead and John D. Glover lived in the same areas of Ohio and Indiana, AT THE SAME TIME
John D. Glover named one of his daughters Bathsheba
A descendant of John D. Glover and Susannah (Lawhead) Glover shares DNA segments with several descendants of Joseph Laughead. The relationship is computed to be that of fourth cousins.
The ages of Joseph (c1817) and Susannah (1821) are close enough to fall within the same generation.

Conclusion:

Joseph Laughead and Susannah (Lawhead) Grover were siblings. Susannah named one of her daughters Bathsheba after her mother. Most records consistently state that Susannah was born in Ohio. Since Joseph was born in Pennsylvania, it is likely that the family migrated to Ohio between the births of Joseph and Susannah, c1817-1821.

	Mr. Laughead & Bathsheba
Susannah Lawhead (1821-1906)m. John D. Glover		Joseph Laughead (c1817-1883)m. Cassandra Harding
Charles H. Glover	First Cousins	James H. Lawhead (1840-1920)
John Glover	Second Cousins	Emma Lawhead (1872-1943)
John Glover	Third Cousins	Gladys Foster (1905-1998)m. Roscoe Yegerlehner
Mr. Glover	Fourth Cousins	David Yegerlehner

Sources:

1840 U. S. census, Belmont County, Ohio, Somerset Township, p. 10 (penned), line 14, Joseph Laughead; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2014); citing NARA microfilm publication M704, roll 378.

1840 U. S. census, Monroe County, Ohio, Union Township, p. 83 (penned), line 19, John Glover; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 April 2014); citing NARA microfilm publication M704, roll 416.

1850 U. S. census, Guernsey County, Ohio, population schedule, Seneca Township, p. 474 (penned), dwelling 3045, family 3067, Joseph Lawhead; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2014); citing NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 684.

1850 U. S. census, Guernsey County, Ohio, population schedule, Seneca Township, p. 373 (stamped), dwelling 3133, family 3155, John Glover; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 April 2014); citing NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 684.

1860 U. S. census, Greene County, Indiana, population schedule, Centre Township, p. 75-76 (penned), dwelling 530, family 530, Joseph Lawhead; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2014); citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 262.

1860 U. S. census, Greene County, Indiana, population schedule, Beech Creek Township, p. 36 (penned), dwelling 252, family 252, John D. Glover; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 April 2014); citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 262.

“Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1994,” database and images, Family Search (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 9 April 2014) John Glover and Susannah Lawhead, 2 March 1840; citing Guernsey County, Marriage records 1832-1848, v. C: 306.

Image by Zephyris at the English Language Wikipedia

Last spring, I finally broke down and entered the world of genetic genealogy. When I starting writing my blog, one of the things I also started to do was to read genealogy blogs. Soon I found blogs like Judy G. Russell’s Legal Genealogist and Roberta Estes’ DNA Explained. Before I tested, most of what they wrote about did not make sense. I did not have a frame of reference for the foreign languages they were speaking. But I kept reading Judy’s posts in which she compared and evaluated the three main companies’ tests (FTDNA, Ancestry, and 23andme) hoping that meaning would finally dawn upon me. Eventually I reached the point when I decided I would test. I asked my Dad if he would be interested in testing with me. He agreed and I ordered two tests from 23andme. I completed my test first and then brought my Dad’s test with me when I went to visit him last summer.

As my results came in and then my Dad’s, I made some good solid connections with some of our 3^rd and 4^th cousins from the Lawhead side of the family. After 20 years of research, I already knew who these cousins were, even though we had never met. I connected with a cousin on the Schwartz tree, a descent of a sibling of W. B. Schwartz and Elizabeth (Schwartz) Yegerlehner. There are some 3^rd cousins from the Yegerlehner tree as well, descendants of Christian’s brother John. In the beginning, the best part for me was the validation. All those years chasing documents and creating paper trails has been confirmed by DNA evidence. Through this blog, I have made some wonderful connections with the descendants of my great grandmother’s half sister. A few cousins from that branch had already tested and another cousin is waiting for her results. I still have some matches that I can’t explain, but the more people who test, the better our chances are for solving those mysteries. I often think of DNA as an endless logic puzzle. Eventually we will get the pieces to fit together.

By Thanksgiving, I was feeling limited in what I could do with just the DNA from my dad and me. I had asked my brother to test over the summer but he hadn’t completed his kit. I bought two more kits for my mother and my husband. And then 23andme had trouble with the FDA! Needless to say, everyone completed their tests promptly, and then we sat back and waited. By mid January, the results started to come in. I now have five kits that I manage. A few weeks ago, a new program called Genome Mate was introduced at Rootstech. I had previously tried to build a spreadsheet to keep track of all the matches and shared segments. With five samples, the spreadsheets were not working. It was too confusing to keep track of everyone and everything. Genome Mate is currently my favorite tool for keeping track of all my matches.

At this point, I can’t imagine doing genealogy research without DNA. It is an amazing tool. This week I made a connection with someone who appears to match one of my brick wall lines from Gladys’ family. Most of Gladys’ ancestors settled in the United States before the Revolutionary War. Due to the migration patterns of the late 18^th and early 19^th century, many of the records from their lives are lost or never existed. It has been an uphill battle to chip away at her ancestry. I have long theorized who the parents of Sarah Ann Jewell were without direct evidence. Sarah is the last known female ancestor on Gladys’ female line (her mother’s mother’s mother). I think I may have figured it out, and DNA has helped me to do it.

I recommend DNA testing to anyone who wants to know more about their heritage. I urge people to ask older family members to be tested before it is too late. Just like the advice seasoned genealogists give to the newcomers “Get the oldest family members to tell their stories before they are gone!” Ask if they are willing to submit a DNA sample before they are gone. The DNA tests we currently have for genealogy are geared towards testing relatives in a six generation range. You can find some matches further back, but it gets harder with every generation.

There are some great genetic genealogists out there with lots of tips and advice. Some of my favorites are:

Roberta Estes DNA Explained
Judy G. Russell The Legal Genealogist
CeCeMoore Your Genetic Genealogist
Blaine Bettinger The Genetic Genealogist

I am currently reading Emily D. Aulicino’s book Genetic Genealogy: Basics and Beyond.

If you are interested in pursuing genetic genealogy and testing your DNA, educate yourself. DNA is only a tool (albeit an awesome one!). It is not a magic wand for discovering your family’s genealogy. Doing the research and collecting the documents and stories are still an integral part of the process.