I Wish for More Tools at AncestryDNA

My mother, wearing the hat, and 

her sister were not surprised 
when their DNA differed. 

I have been a fan of Ancestry.com since I started my membership in 2000 so was very pleased to try their new Autosomal DNA test last summer. Since then, I have coerced three family members to take the test and have several thousand matches, but organizing and taking the time to look at them all is an overwhelming task.

I have 58 pages of DNA matches with 50 matches per page - that's 2,900 matches. One match is immediate family (my mother), another is close family (my aunt), and I have two 3rd to 4th cousin matches; one who I know and love and one who also matches my mother and my aunt, but we don't have a clue as to how she matches us. Ninety-eight of my matches were in the 4th to 6th cousin range making the remaining 2,700+ matches distant cousins in the 5th to 8th cousin range. 

Now, triple the 2,900 matches as I am the administrator for both my mother's and my aunt's DNA. And, add my brother's DNA as his is processing. This will give me approximately 11,600 matches to wade through and more are added each week! Looking at over 11,000 matches is impossible so I don't look beyond 4th to 6th cousin matches. 

Of all of those matches, I have had a few new leads, but I have yet to find any new conclusive matches. Honestly, I can find more by searching the Public Trees at Ancestry.com. 

A newer tool at AncestryDNA puts a leaf next to any match that contains someone in my tree, but, in all of my current matches (almost 8,000), I only have two leaves. 

I have read that having the raw data from AncestryDNA will really help with the matches and that will come soon.  I know that if I can access that raw data, I will need to upload this data to another site such as GEDmatch or FamilyTree DNA.  However, are all those persons who match my DNA going to upload to another site? 

So AncestryDNA, make our matches easier to manage and please grant my wish!

Diana

© 2012

Friday's Photo: Said to be Mary Rourke

This photograph is said to be Mary Rourke, mother of James Murray. I received a copy of this picture from a distant family member who received it from another distant family member. 

James Murray was the father of my husband's grandmother, Susan Murray. There are many who read this blog that can say that James Murray was their grandfather or great-grandfather which would make Mary Rourke their great or great-great grandmother. 

Does anyone have a similar picture? Is this Mary Rourke? 

While I am asking questions, when did James Murray die? What did he do for a living? Does anyone know?

Diana

© 2012

My Other Genealogy Blog

Reddick Bryan 1793 to 1864

If you look to the bottom right on this blog. You will see, above the ads, "My Other Blogs." The Budget SLP is my professional blog and most of you reading this blog won't be interested in my speech and language posts. The other blog is another genealogy blog, The Reddick Bryan Family. Anyone related to my Bryan or Regan family may be interested in this one. Early Giddens family information may sometimes be found at this blog as Jacob Giddens, a brother of my ancestor Mitchell Giddens, lived in the same communities as the Bryan families in both Georgia and Louisiana. 

Reddick Bryan was born in 1793 in North Carolina. His second wife, Elizabeth Span Regan was also born in North Carolina. Both, Reddick and Elizabeth, migrated to Georgia and later settled in Bienville Parish where they both are buried. 

I am slowly writing about this family in the form of a timeline. My last post was about the family in 1821. However, in addition to writing about my Bryan family, I have found much information about slaves owned by the Bryan and Regan families. If you are interested in Slavery and the Bryan Family, click here. 

Diana

© 2012

Friday's Photo: Mary Lucy Glynn Giddens

Mary Lucy Giddens was my great-grandmother. She was photographed with a Mrs. Weller. The picture below also found in the album is labeled Weller's Farm. This farm was in Phillipsburg, Warren County, New Jersey where Mary Lucy Giddens lived with her family.

Diana

© 2012

Friday's Photo: Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

Whit Criswell Bryan  1920 - 2001

My father, Whit Criswell Bryan, a 20 year old pharmacist mate, was stationed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He had transferred from the U.S.S Aragonne to The Mobile Naval Hospital No. 2 on December 1, 1941. 

When the attack on Pearl Harbor began, Dad said that he was delivering newspapers for a friend who had a paper route. He had driven a friend’s car and was at a top of a hill when he saw the planes coming in; first thinking that they were US planes. When the bombing occurred, he left the car and ran back to the Mobile Hospital. He told my brother that, from the hill, he could see down into the cockpits of the Japanese planes. 

Diana

© 2012

Friday's Photo: The James Children

Dorothy, John, and Evelyn James - about 1925

This picture of the children of Elizabeth Giddens and her husband, Louis M. James was taken in Easton, Pennsylvania about 1925.  Elizabeth was the sister of my grandmother, Edith Giddens, and the daughter of Charles Giddens and Mary Lucy Glynn. 

Evelyn James Lilly,  the last surviving child, died this week at age 91. Evelyn was my mother's first cousin. I only remember meeting her once, but my mother often talked about her cousins,  Dorothy and Evelyn. 

Click here to see Evelyn's obituary. 

Diana

© 2012

Get Your Flu Shot!

From the Baylor County Banner - October 24, 1918
However, this was not the end. Influenza continued its deadly campaign into 1919. 

Last year, I looked for information about some soldiers from Baylor County, Texas who died during World War I. Not surprisingly, about half of them died from disease rather than from fighting overseas. By 1918, the influenza had spread around the world. Most families would not make it through the pandemic untouched as it is estimated that at least a quarter of the United States population fell ill and more than 50 million died worldwide before its end in 1920.

My father's Hairston family lost a family member.  Hugh Gresham, of Estelline, Texas, was just 19 years old when he died of influenza in 1919. 

In NYC, my great-great grandmother, Julia Harvey Glynn died of bronchial pneumonia on February 12, 1919. Could influenza have been a contributing cause of the pneumonia?

Schools, church services, lodge meetings, theaters, bars, factories, and even courtrooms were closed to limit the spread of the disease. In Baylor County, Texas, where my grandparents lived, 29 deaths* were reported by the Baylor County Banner on December 19, 1918. In the months ahead, many more in that community and millions worldwide would lose their lives to influenza. 

To learn more about this pandemic, watch Influenza 1918 at the American Experience from PBS. 

* Deaths reported by the Baylor County Banner on December 19, 1918 occurred between October 18 and December 15, 1918. 

• Ben F. Martin - 1/2 year
• Mrs. Orval Cox - 19 years
• Henry E. Lewis - 31 years
• J. Covington - 30 years
• Katie Jones - 10 months
• Grace Lowry - 17 years
• J. H. Patterson - 68 years
• Mrs. Rosa Tipps - 23 years
• Luther Jones - 15 years
• E. E. Breedlove - 38 years
• Mrs. W. T. Wheeler - 46 years
• Infant of Mrs. and Mrs. Tim Nix - 1 month
• Mrs. H. A. Lowry - 29 years
• Burnett Bailes - 18 years
• Mrs J. A. Bailew
• Annie Lee Caldwell - 14 years
• D. A. Holman - 84 years
• Albert Wirz - 22 years
• Mrs. T. J. Praytor Jr. - 36 years
• Frida Wirz - 15 years
• Mrs. C. B. Daniel - 32 years
• Mrs. H. C. Harrison - 29 years
• W. H. Strange - 37 years
• N. B. Williams - 39 years
• Leonard E. Hill - 32 years
• J. N. Cassle
• Claude Clouse - 3 years
• Mrs. Claude Clouse
• Mrs. John McCauley

Diana

© 2012

_________________________________________________________________

Sources: 

John M. Barry, The Great Influenza, The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History (Penguin Books, 2005).

Influenza at Camps. The Baylor County Banner [Seymour, Texas] October 24, 1918.

Harvest of Death. The Baylor County Banner [Seymour, Texas] December 19, 1918.

Honoring Our Veterans

Veterans Day Poster Gallery - 2012 Poster

Today is Veterans Day, a day that we honor our veterans. Veterans Day, originally Armistice Day,  began after WWI to honor those who fought in "The Great War." In 1954, November 11th became Veterans Day, an official United States holiday, honoring all armed service veterans. 

For more information visit History of Veterans Day at the United States Department of Veteran Affairs. 

Today, I am posting a short list veterans from the various branches of my family tree; many who did not serve in traditional U. S. armed forces. Most served during wars and some volunteered while others did not.  I will save this list for next Veterans Day and add to the list as I find more. If you know of others, please comment below or send me an e-mail. 

Whit Criswell Bryan, USN - WWII, Korea, Vietnam

Elizabeth Bryan, USN

William Joseph Quinn III, USA - Korea, Vietnam

James G. Richardson II, USA

John Joseph Quinn, USA - WWI

Charles Giddens, USA and USN - WWI, WWII

Mitchell Giddens, USA - WWI, WWII

Joseph Oscar Noah, USA - WWI

Terrell Bryan, CSA - Civil War*

Tilman Capers Bryan, CSA - Civil War*

Joseph B. Bryan, CSA - Civil War*

George Luellen Giddens, CSA - Civil War*

Seth H. Davis USA, Civil War

Simon Baker Bryan, Georgia Militia - Second Seminole War

James Bryan, Georgia Militia - Second Seminole War

John Regan, Georgia Militia - Second Seminole War

John Giddens, NC Minutemen - American Revolutionary War

Ralph Regan, NC Militia - American Revolutionary War

*I didn't know if I should include my ancestors who fought in the Confederate States Army, but found the following at the Sons of the Confederacy website: 

"First, and most significant is the fact that by Public Law 85-425, May 23, 1958 (H.R. 358) 72 Statute 133 states –“(3) (e) for the purpose of this section, and section 433, the term ‘veteran’includes a person who served in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, and the term ‘active, military or naval service’ includes active service in such forces.”

"As a result of this law the last surviving Confederate Veteran received a U.S. Military pension until his death in 1959, and from that day until present, descendants of Confederate veterans have been able to receive military monuments to place on graves from the Veteran’s Administration for their ancestors. A Confederate Veteran should therefore be treated with the same honor and dignity of any other American veteran."

Diana

© 2012

Friday's Photo: William J. Quinn, 1931 and 1933

I thought that the Quinn / Murray family would enjoy seeing these. These are copies of William Quinn's Chauffeur's Licenses from 1931 and 1933. He drove a bus in New York City.  

Diana

© 2012

Sunday's Obituary: Charles Allen Giddens

Found at Newspapers.com - Click here to view. 

Charles A. Giddens was my great-grandfather. The father of my grandmother, Edith. This obituary contains a few errors and didn't tell the whole story.  

Charles was the son of George L. Giddens and Luellen Bradshaw and was born in Giddensville, Sampson County, NC. George L. Giddens married Sarah Rich after the death of his first wife in 1890.  

In North Carolina, Charles worked in his father's store and was once postmaster in Giddensville. 

By 1891, Charles was in New York City where he delivered milk. He married Mary Lucy Glynn, my great-grandmother in Manhattan on March 31, 1891. 

By October of 1891, the Giddens family was living in Crew, Virginia where he owned or co-owned a dry goods and shoe store.

He left Crew, Virginia in 1894 and moved to Phillipsburg, New Jersey where he worked as a laborer in one of the many factories. 

From about 1898 and 1920, he owned a dry goods store in Phillipsburg . Around  1920, he divorced his first wife and in 1922, married Estella Moyer Rosenburger.  They relocated to St. Louis, Missouri where he opened a clothing store. 

Around 1946, Charles Giddens and family left Missouri to settle in Edinburg, Texas where Charles and Estella opened a hotel - The Giddens Hotel. 

By 1952, Charles was retired and living in Sedalia, Missouri where he died at the age of 92. 

Charles was preceded in death by his children Elizabeth, Warren, Florence, John, and Georgie. Edith, my grandmother, was living in New York and his son Charles lived in Florida.  Mrs. Roy Wilhite was his step-daughter - Margarette Rosenburger Wilhite. 

Diana

© 2012