Week 21: Brick Walls (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - 2023 Version)

The theme for Week 21 is "Brick Wall." Do you have an ancestor (or 4) who you can't seem to make any progress on in your research? This would be a good week to write about that ancestor and really think about what you know about that ancestor, how you know it, and where you might look to fill in the gaps. Writing is part of the research process! Click here to check out all the themes for 2023.

I am no exception, I have many “Brick Walls” or “Dead Ends” where my research ends and I am unable to get further back. When I look at my tree as a Fan and it is at my 3rd great grandparents where things start to end. I have all my 2nd great grandparents figured out. YEAH! That’s half the battle. 

My 2nd great grandfather, James Crinion (1832-1922) parents might be Patrick Crinion and Ann Dillon. That’s a big might be. I obtained these names many years ago from my great-aunts. Rumor has it that Patrick came to America with four of his children, who all settled in the Columbia County, Wisconsin area. I can’t find anything about Patrick in America. However, I do match a Crinion family in Ireland and the male Crinion and my father do have the same Y-DNA. Thus, his ancestors and my ancestors are most likely the same. I really need to get some more facts from her.

My 2nd great grandfather, William Gadow, (1844-1923) parents might be Gottfried Gadow and Anna Maria Rosenow. These names are suggested names via Ancestry’s Thrulines. To be honest, I just haven’t had the time to research this yet. Having the names is exciting, it gives me something to prove or disprove.

My 2nd great grandmother, Dorothea Wolter (1836-1897) wife of William Gadow, her father might be Johann Wolter. Her father’s name was on her death certificate and supplied by her husband. He might have known him, since they were married in Germany, but I don’t know where to start looking in Germany for more clues. I have no idea who her mother is.

My 2nd great grandfather, Michael McDonald (1827-1910) father might be Edward McDonald. Michael and his wife Catherine Quinn were married in Utica, Oneida County, New York, USA. I don’t know if Edward came to the America’s, or if Michael came with any siblings. Maybe DNA will give me some clues on the subject. I have no idea who his mother is.

My 2nd great grandfather, Seymour Hiltz (1850-1880) was born in Manilius, Onondaga County, New York, USA. I know his father is Lawrence Hilts and his mother is Nancy. I don’t have a maiden name for Nancy. Speculation is that she is also a Hilts because my DNA matches on the Hilts line are very strong, stronger than the relationship should be if using Lawrence’s line. However, if Nancy is a Hilts, then it would explain why we are such a close match to some of these Hiltses.

My 2nd great grandparents Timothy Obrien (1836-1914) and his wife Mary OReilly (1839-1901) father’s might be John O’Brien and James Reilly. This information was given on their death certificates. Tim and Mary were both born in Ireland and were married in Cook County, Illinois. I found their marriage record and it listed a Bridget Reilly as a witness and this might be a sister to Mary. I don’t know enough to make worthwhile searches. However, I have some promising DNA matches to review.  I have no idea who their mothers are.

As you can see, I have lots of dead ends. I am currently working on a different line, on a known 3rd great grandparents’ line, who I don’t know who their parent’s are. I am researching all their descendants for a book I want to publish. I also want to identify which DNA matches belong to this branch of the family. 

In the past, I would bounce from one “Brick Wall” to another, never really accomplishing anything meaningful. I have switch gears this year, I am concentrating on what I can figure out and I want to start creating books for branches of my family. I am getting older, turning 60 this year and I want to start preserving my research. I also want to identify as many DNA matches to those branches. Thus, I will be left with unknown matches that might help me with these “Brick Walls”. I have decided to approach the method a little different. It makes me think of Sherlock Holmes, "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Thus, I will eliminate the known Matches and whatever remains, hopefully will match the Brick Wall lines.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

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!