Beyond ThruLines

Today, I stretched beyond Ancestry's ThruLines® and added a set of 6th great-grandparents to my tree! I was quite excited to "meet" Roger Gantlett and Sarah Ponting of Wiltshire, England. 

To be fair, I wsn't actually using ThruLines® on this branch of my tree. Wiltshire, England has parish records aplenty and it's been relatively easy navigating this line. But it was nice to verify Ancestry's predictions through my 5th great-grandparents on this line were correct. And even more exciting to stretch beyond them.

I'm always in awe as I scroll through the dutifully recorded events from more than 250 years ago. It amazes me to see the original writings, carefully scanned and preserved for future generations. Ink dark in some places, yet almost unreadable in others. Some entries clearly written, others not so much, as perhaps the scribe tired of penning the events of the day. I'm glad the records have been so well preserved, and they've been made available to me without crossing an ocean.

I still have much more to uncover. I know Roger and Sarah were married (by license) on October 13th, 1757, but I don't yet have confirmed birth and death dates. I know they had a daughter Sarah Hart Gantlett (my 5th great-grandmother), but I also see some of their other children, both baptized and buried, in the records. I need to work slowly and add as many as I can find. I'll set aside time to review this particular record carefully, likely going page by page. It's only 68 pages, and in the past, I've found it can be well worth the time to review the entirety of the parish ledger.

One document I saw showed Roger's signature. It put to rest the question of Gauntlett (as quite a lot of records show) or Gantlett (how he signed his name). A quick look shows me I'll likely be able to add the names of both of their parents, but I don't want to rush. I want to take time to "get to know" Roger and Sarah first. To hopefully find his occupation, see how many children they had and how many they lost. I like to reflect on how their lives were so different than ours.

I only have 5 of my 6th great-grandparents identified thus far. Not accounting for possible (ok, likely) pedigree collapse, I only have 251 more to go!

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

Could Cherokee Be Back On the Table?

I'm still on the hunt for any clues to my 2nd great-grandfather, Abijah LeRoy. He's the reason I started researching...he's also one of my most stubborn brick walls. I've previously shared our family lore, what I know, and how (were it not for the proof of his children) he seemed to never exist. 

For some time, Ancestry's ThruLines has suggested his mother may have been named Dorcas (possibly Cherokee, but last name is totally unproven at this point) and his father John LeCroy (a spelling variation I'm used to trying). In fact, Abijah may have been named John. I'm not sure yet. However, poking through those DNA match trees didn't yield any definitive "Ah ha!" moments. I really thought Dorcas may have been wishful Cherokee thinking. The given name may be totally right, but that doesn't make her Cherokee. Recently, as algorithms update, so too did the information shown in ThruLines. I noticed John LeCroy had only 39 DNA matches, and Dorcas suddenly showed 54. Certainly, since DNA inheritance isn't exact, it's not surprising to see a small difference in matches, but 15? Looking further, it appeared Dorcas may have had another son, named Thomas LeCroy (this is where all those new DNA matches were). I went ahead and tentatively filled John, Dorcas and Thomas in my tree, even though I've yet to document to my satisfaction. That covered potential 3rd great-grandparents (even if they are a work in progress).

Given the sharp difference in DNA matches, I wondered if perhaps Thomas had a different father. For the time being, I've added an unknown LeCroy as his other parent. A few days after doing this, I noticed even more new potential ThruLines extending further back. The next suggested 4th great-grandparents are a Chulio Tuskingo (Cherokee) and Lucy Daul. This loosely backs up an entry from a book "Ties That Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom" by Tiya Miles. While the story compellingly mentions a John LeCroy, I've not yet found enough documentation to prove the account. I did find one property deed, using FamilySearch's full text search, but it alone is not enough. All my matches to this couple descend through Dorcas, making me wonder if this is a real connection or wishful thinking. And then came the "Cherokee is back on the table" moment...a potential 5th great-grandmother, Nionne Ollie Attakullakulla. Keeping in mind, I'm totally unsure of this trajectory, I've not added any more names to my tree beyond those I mentioned...but I have poked around in my DNA match trees, and my interest is piqued. 

I have 51 DNA matches to Nionne. 10 of those descend from Chulio (obviously still in question). But there are 8 other potential lines with 41 matches! I can easily understand how anyone looking for Abijah or Thomas might perpetuate incorrect information, but now I have 8 more other potential Native American ancestors. While I haven't had time to research any of these in detail, poking through trees shows a couple actually reference Dawes Roll entries. I clearly have a lot more research ahead! I do know for sure, I have some kind of DNA connection to a group of 51 people also looking into Cherokee ancestors, and 41 of them are not through Abijah, Thomas, Dorcas or Chulio. I see a glimmer of possibility!

Could we all be wrong? Certainly! We are talking about the early 1700's for this potential 5th great-grandmother. There will be few if any records. It will not be easy to research. And the Cherokee family story is a common one. But could all these people researching different ancestors be wrong? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps I dismissed the Cherokee possibility too soon. Maybe my 1st cousins and I who've tested simply didn't inherit the DNA. But unquestionably, we have DNA matches to 51 other people also looking into Native American heritage. I need to begin the search into each of them to see if there's a true trail of records, or if debunking the family story will be my own personal trail of tears.