Week 17: DNA (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2023 Version)

April 25 is DNA Day, and it's no coincidence that the theme for Week 17 is "DNA." Has DNA testing broken down a brick wall for you? Is there a brick wall that you wish it would break down? Have there been any surprises? (If you're posting anything publicly, remember to not identify living people unless you have their permission.) Click here to check out all the themes for 2023.

My DNA breakthrough started with a message from another Ancestry user.

I noticed some common names such as Scott and Malone. However, these brought up red flags because my Scott line is on my maternal grandfather’s side while Malone is on my maternal grandmother’s side.

On the message page, the right column has the person who message me and it had a “view” link to take me to our DNA match page. She had a very nice tree. I clicked on the Shared Matches tab to see what clues I could discover from our shared matches. 

We had twelve matches. The first being my full sibling, then a close family who I already recognized to be the son of my 1st cousin on my paternal side. Next was one Extended Family who I had already identified as a 2nd cousin Once removed with our common ancestor of Myron O’Brion and Mary Goodwin, who are on my paternal grandmother’s side of the family.

Then I had nine distant family members. Looking at the notes, I had good notes for three of the matches. They descended from my O’Brion/Goodwin Branch. Four of the matches had trees, where two of them were managed by the person who sent me the message. Thus, I explored the other two trees since I only flagged them as being on my paternal grandmother’s side of the family

These two trees both had a Bartholmeus Kernan and his wife Mary Byrne. I referred to the message from my DNA match, and her mother was a Kernan. I decided to see what kind of information these two trees had on Bartholmeus Kernan. It showed he died in Lost Lake, Wisconsin. I already knew of Lost Lake, Wisconsin because Myron O’Brion and Mary Goodwin are buried in Lost Lake, Dodge County, Wisconsin.

I just so happen to be working on expanding my tree by finding all the descendants of my Thomas Goodwin and Jane Burns. This couple is my dead-end couple, since I know nothing of either of their parents, and they are the immigrant couple. 

While working on the Goodwin project, I found out that a local library had a book titled “Some Goodwin & Kieffe Families of New York, Wisconsin & Nebraska”. Compiled by William R & Helen (Kral) Houk, of Claymount, Delaware. This was printed in July of 1997. The 28-page booklet didn’t know much about the descendants of Thomas and Jane, however, it had a transcribed copy of Jane Goodwin’s will. She named Edward Kernan the executor of her will. 

Edward was the son of Bartholomeus Kernan and Mary Byrne. I also did a little searching of Edward and found his marriage record (image) on Ancestry and his witnesses were Thomas Goodwin and his wife Jane. WOW! 

I decided to see who else was researching the Bartholomeus Kernan family and looked at more trees of Bartholomeus and found some listed his wife as Mary Burns. This caused a light bulb to go off in my head.

What if Mary and Jane are sisters? Since both of Jane’s sons had died before she did, this might explain why she choose Edward Kernan as her executor of her will. This might have been her nephew, a family member she trusted. 

I also noticed that some of Thomas and Jane’s descendants moved to Nebraska and so did some of Bartholomeus and Mary’s descendants. They moved to the same location in Nebraska. Thus, this might signal family ties. 

Even though I haven’t totally broken down my brick wall, it is starting to crumble a little. I need to research these two families a little more. However, I am still in the middle of my project to find all the descendants of Thomas Goodwin and Jane Burns. I am trying hard not to wander off one unfinished project before moving to another project. Therefore, I printed out some tree pages, and created a new project folder for this brick wall. When I get completed with my Goodwin project, I can then dedicate the proper attention to this problem.

I am so happy that my DNA match reached out to me. Even though, I wasn’t able to help her in her research goal, she now knows how we might be related and it might help her identify other matches that are not on her Scott side of the family but on her Kernan side of the family.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

Week 16: Should be a Movie (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2023 Version)

The theme for Week 16 is "Should Be a Movie." What is family history without the stories? (It's a bunch of cold, lonely facts, that's what!) What story in your family should be up on the silver screen? Write about it this week! Click here to check out all the themes for 2023.

Thomas E Goodwin, my 1st cousin 3x removed (my paternal grandmother’s side) first married Catherine McMahon (possibly my 1st cousin 3x removed on my paternal grandfather’s side) on Oct 26, 1881. They had two children. Catherine died Nov 1, 1885. She was found dead in bed with marks of violence were plainly visible on the neck, and her death is supposed to have been caused by strangulation. 

An inquest was held and the verdict of the coroner’s jury was that the death was from natural causes. 

Thomas E Goodwin then married Mary Biel on May 29, 1890. They had five children born between 1891 and 1899. Thomas was a saloon keeper. On their 10th wedding anniversary, Thomas came home intoxicated. Mary helped him to bed. About a half an hour later, he came into her room where she lay asleep. He told her that a horse was sick in the barn and that he wished her to hold the lantern while he attended to the animal. However, when they were near the old well, he grabbed her and after a struggle, threw her into the well. Mary was in the well most of the night and nearly died from fright and exposure. Mary’s screams brought help and she was removed from the well by her brother, Lewis Biel and several others.

During the trial, it was mentioned that Thomas had tried to commit his wife, Mary to an insane asylum a few weeks before the alleged attempt to murder her. Also, Thomas tired to show that his wife, if not insane, was in a highly disturbed and hysterical mental condition and had either wandered to the region of the well and fallen in or had attempted suicide. The trail also shown that the couple had domestic troubles.

On Nov, 21, 1900, Mary Goodwin was granted a divorce by Judge Dick and awarded a $2000 alimony.

In Dec 1901, Thomas was sentenced to five years in Waupun State Penitentiary by the same Judge Dick that awarded the divorce between Mary and Thomas. 

Thomas took the appeal to the Supreme Court and in the meantime, was released on bail.  

Even though the case was tried in Janesville, Wisconsin, in Oct 1902, he was found guilty a second time. Unfortunately, for Thomas, this time he was sentenced to ten years.

In Dec 1907, Governor Davidson paroled Thomas on the recommendation of the state board of control, having served only five years of his sentence. A new law was in place that required a prisoner before being paroled, must have served one half of the full term and have guaranteed employment for at least one year. Plus, a monthly report must be made on the conduct and condition of the paroled prisoner.

Mary died on July 24, 1921 and Thomas died Dec 26, 1927. Thomas and his first wife are buried together in Lost Lake, Dodge County, Wisconsin while Mary is buried in Beaver Dam, Dodge County, Wisconsin.

This story sounds like a movie to me. I wonder who would play, Thomas, Catherine, and Mary.  

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

Week 15: Solitude (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2023 Version)

The theme for Week 15 is "Solitude." Is there someone in your family tree who lived by themselves or would seek out time to be alone? Celebrate them this week by writing part of their story. Click here to check out all the themes for 2023.

When I saw this week’s theme, I thought, how would I know if someone lived by themselves or would seek out time to be alone? I can speculate as a mother, that like me, they may seek out time to be alone. When the kids were in school, I sometimes took a day off, so I could hang at home alone, or soak in the tub. It was to do genealogy! It can’t be that unusual in wanting alone time. Also, as the youngest of nine children, I never really knew what alone time was as a child. There were a few “hiding” places I would go, to seek out alone time.

I looked up solitude and read that it was an opportunity for introspection, imagination, and contemplation with yourself. Solitude of this kind allows us to be more creative. Loneliness is different from solitude. Being alone is a scary and dangerous place for some people.

Whether anyone in my family lived by themselves, I am not sure. I see many elderly couples or even elderly individuals who appear in census records with other family members. I find many single family members who lived in boarding houses or single siblings living together. I am sure there are those “hermit” members of family, that lived alone, however, maybe these are the people we can’t find documents for and don’t know they were “hermit” members. 

I have family who took off alone and moved out west to never be heard from again. Whether they remained alone or married and had a family, I just don’t know.

I think about the family member who left their homeland in Europe and traveled to parts unknown alone. How scary that must had been and how brave of them to travel despite being scared. Did they travel with friends, or maybe family that I don’t know about? Did they travel to meet up with friends or family?

I know after seeing this week’s theme, I will be a little more observant when reviewing census records for family, especially those that appeared to live alone. I will wonder what circumstance lead to them being alone, whether by choice or losing a love one, such as a spouse that they were living with.

Are you a solitude type person, do you have solitude type people in your family? 

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!