My CARR-line mtDNA

[First, a comment: This is embarrassing…my first post in a year…how did that happen? Better late than never?]

One of the projects I've been most involved with over the last year has been genetic genealogy.  Altogether over the past few years, I have paid for or won  (Going to conferences does pay off!) a total of 9 DNA tests on my husband's or my lines.  For the past 18 months, I've made a point of studying more about it.  I've read books, blogs, articles, and gone to several seminars, including the DNA Day at Jamboree last year.   Unfortunately, the field is seemingly growing and changing faster than I can keep up! But I am finally feeling confident enough to post the first in what should be lots of upcoming DNA posts sprinkled among others.  I believe that writing about my results is part of my learning process, but my main goal is to share what I've learned about specific lines…and there's really been a good deal of progress on some of them lately!

A few years ago, a first cousin graciously agreed to give a sample so I'd have info on our CARR maternal line.  From Grandma CARR it goes back through Ann Matilda CAUSIER, Catherine HUGHES, and Lydia COOPER.  The paper trail to my 3rd great-grandmother, Lydia COOPER, is well documented.  According to census data, Lydia was born about 1803 in Brierly Hill, Worcestershire, England.  I hope this year to really search for her parents.

mtDNA Results

Grandma CARR's mtDNA comes back as haplogroup J and is consistent with her English heritage.  As of today, there are 304 HVR1, HVR2 matches.  With just a quick review and, as is the nature of mtDNA, there's no sign of a match in a genealogically relevant time frame.

This test was done over 4 years ago; so, to determine a specific subclade, I'd need to upgrade the test.  Doing so could be useful in eventually confirming or disproving any hypotheses I might come up with for Lydia's parentage.

TO DO

• Review Brierley Hill baptism records to see if I can find any possible parents for Lydia.
• Spend more time/care in reviewing the current mtDNA "matches," …who knows what may show up?  Also, I have my aunt's atDNA…I need to get it transferred to FTDNA and see if any of her mtDNA matches are also atDNA matches.
• Review the FTDNA projects available to me and consider joining them. 
• Consider upgrading this test.  Maybe there'll be special conference pricing at Jamboree!

Advantages of Sharing Info: Great-Great-Grandmother Catherine Hughes

When I started working on genealogy, I had my grandparents' names and virtually nothing else.  It took some work and a lot of luck, but I was very fortunate to soon find other researchers who had been working for years and had all purposefully put their data online or published it in society newsletters, etc., to make it easier for others to find.  I think of their generosity whenever I meet genealogists who proudly proclaim they don't share their work.  I understand, and have had those thoughts myself..., but I know my research wouldn't be as far along as it is now without the help of others before me.

Today, I found Great-Great-Grandmother Catherine HUGHES' 23 July 1837 baptism in the Bishop's Transcripts of St. Thomas' Church in Dudley, Worcestershire, solely because of distant Cousin Judy and the info she shared with me several years ago.  She had done her research over years in the "dark ages" of genealogy research: alone, by hand, by snail mail, taking months to go from one clue to another.  Thank you, Judy! And, if you should see this, please contact me--I can't find you....

Line of Descent
John Hughes = Lydia Cooper
Charles Causier = Catherine Hughes
John Henry Carr = Ann Matilda Causier
Grandma, Bertha Maud Carr

Source
FHL film # 350,620:  Pre-printed forms,  film starts at p. 230, goes to 300, and then starts over at #1 in about April.  Catherine's baptism is on the page numbered 64.  Unfortunately, Catherine's is one of the many which have only a baptism and no birthdate.

Lydia (Cooper) (Crummet) Hughes

Great-Great-Great grandmother Lydia has been a bit of a puzzle.  It's embarrassing to admit that it took many, many months for me to realize that her marriage to John Hughes clearly said she was a widow....  [Duh: No wonder looking for Hughes/Crummet marriages had yielded absolutely nothing anywhere!]

Then, it took quite a while to find her first marriage:

This record is clearly written as CRUMPETT, but CRUMMET seems to be a more frequent form.  Lydia Cooper married, by banns, John Crumpett on 3 December 1820 in St. Peter's in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire.  [FHL # 1,040,907, Item 5: Marriages, 1818-1823]

Their (only?) child, Anne Crummet, was baptized 31 Mar 1822 in St. Leonard's, Bilston, Staffordshire [ FHL # 1,040,824, Item 3, p.27]:

I have not yet found a burial for John Crumpett/Crummet/etc., but there are no other baptisms for additional children in St. Leonard's records, and widow Lydia married John Hughes on 23 Jul 1832 in Tipton, Staffordshire [FHL # 435873, 1832 marriages, p. 372]:

I have some additional years/records to review, but I am now fairly certain that this all fits and that I have the right person.  A review of my info by the nice people at British Isles Family History Society gave me the confidence I needed!

I am in the process of tracing Anne Crummet for descendants: new cousins on the horizon???

Geography Notes
It's only about 7 miles from Wolverhampton to Tipton, and Bilston is just about half-way.

Lessons Learned
I must read documents very, very carefully and repeatedly -- especially if I'm not making any progress! And, unfortunately it seems, this is not the first time I've blogged this conclusion....

Joining a genealogy society and using their services can be incredibly helpful!

Great Resource: British Isles Family History Society - USA

Week-before-last, I had the privilege of attending the monthly meeting of the British Isles Family History Society--USA in Los Angeles.  I've been a member for a few years and thoroughly enjoy their publications and meetings. Unfortunately, it's a long drive with an ugly traffic pattern, so I don't make it to every meeting. 
  
This last meeting was "Ask the Experts," a yearly program.  Members could email in questions or problems ahead of time and a panel of the group's experts would discuss each one as the program for the meeting!  I couldn't let that opportunity pass me by....

I had sent off a family group sheet on my great-great-great-grandparents, John Hughes & Lydia Cooper, and loads of questions.  Sure enough, John & Lydia were the third item on the agenda!  I won't go into the details here but, trust me, I have lots to go on now!  Two of the experts had obviously spent a good deal of time on my issues before the meeting and had lots to say.  Both also had several printouts for me of their research efforts.  The two experts had approached different issues, so I left the meeting with a handful of their printouts and 2 pages of notes from the group discussion!  It was great!!  I can't wait for next year: I'm already figuring out which couple I'll target then!

Annual Seminar

...from the BIFHS website...

You may have missed last month's meeting, but BIFHS's seminar is coming!  Full information is available at their website.  It will be all day, October 22 in Whittier, California.  The speaker is Darris Williams, of Salt Lake City, FamilySearch, and the Family History Library there.
 
A special, added feature, is that for no additional fee, you can attend the group's regular meeting the next day in Los Angeles and have all of Sunday afternoon to research at the Los Angeles Family History Library.  The speaker (I think he's giving an extra speech there) and all the experts will be there for individual help.  Check the Library website to search their catalog before your visit; they have an extensive British Isles collection.  What a great weekend it will be! 

Conclusions
Joing genealogy groups is a great thing, and BIFHS-USA is no exception.  I'm really looking forward to the seminar next month!
 

Disclaimer

I am a proud member of BIFHS, but I receive no special consideration from them other than what comes from membership.  I think they are all nice to everyone all the time anyway.

Great-Great Grandparents CAUSIER & 7 missing children

This photo was one of the first CAUSIER items that I found online: it’s posted in numerous places now by several family members. I first found it at Genealogy Cousin Kathy’s website. It shows great-great-grandparents Charles CAUSIER, Catherine (HUGHES), and four children: Manwella, Ann Matilda, Charles, and Martha.

Here is the young family in the 1861 census at 70 Chapel Street in Dist. 29, Sedgley, Staffordshire, England:
In 1871, they are at Half Acres in District 9, Castleford, Yorkshire, England:
By 1881, they have moved a bit to 85 Richard Row, Whitwood, Yorkshire
It was fairly easy to find additional info on the four children, which I'll only summarize here:
Manwella (1859-1937), married Enoch Field
Ann (1861-1940), married John Henry Carr
Charles (1874-1961), married Elizabeth
Martha (1876-1937), married David Slater

The 13 years between the births of Ann and Charles bothered me. Having read several basic genealogy books by then, I knew that such gaps should raise questions. I even went so far as to wonder if the last two were actually grandchildren or were otherwise not birth children of Charles and Catherine.

But then I found Charles and Catherine in both the 1900

and 1910 census
In both of these US census records, they are at 188 Williams St. in the 17th ward of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Both images show entries with Catherine having 4 living children but having had 11 children! I was missing seven children!

Since I already had found the family in every possible England census, it probably meant that the seven had died very young and missed census listings. But it really bothered me not to know their names. Since finding they existed, I have been on the lookout for the missing children.

A reference from Genealogy Cousin Judy first showed me that the family had been non-conformist. (I now know that in that time period in Yorkshire non-conformists were common.) Judy’s reference led me to FHL# 1,657,057, which is primarily baptism registers for several Methodist chapels or circuits in Yorkshire. It wasn’t too hard to find three entries (Item 3, Primitive Methodist Baptism Register, Castleford Bradley Street, 1862-1880, pp. 12, 28, & 37 respectively) for children of Charles & Catherine Causier, living in Castleford with Charles’ occupation as a labourer:

Charles (#1), born 24 Dec 1867, baptized 19 Jan 1868
Sarah, born 1 Aug 1871, baptized 27 Aug 1871
Lydia, born 30 Dec 1872, baptized 2 Mar 1873

Now, my list of the children of Charles & Catherine CAUSIER is:
Manwella, born 1859
Ann, born 1861
Missing child 1863?
Missing child 1865?
Missing child 1866?
Charles (#1), born 24 Dec 1867
Missing child 1869?
Sarah, born 1 Aug 1871
Lydia, born 30 Dec 1872
Charles (#2), born 1874
Martha, born 1876

Of course, the possible dates that I’ve listed for the missing children are merely guesses. Catherine would have been about 40 in 1878, so there could even be one that late. [Writing this blog entry also shows me that I am missing real sources for most of Charles & Catherine and for all 3 of the girls in the photo, too! I have to see if the Primitive Methodists kept burial records…. This family group sheet is not in anywhere as good a shape as I thought it was… ]

So, this blog entry is not complete. It is important to me to remember all 11 of Charles and Catherine’s children. At least now I only have 4 missing children. I will keep looking for them and I hope to have good news here one day!

IMAGES All census excerpts are from ancestry.com images

Great-Great-Grandparents Charles Causier & Catherine Hughes: New Info!

Familysearch.org is adding new databases almost daily; I try to remember to go and look for new info regularly. Currently, the site is still at pilot.familysearch.org , but that URL will probably be changing in the near future as the "New" FamilySearch rolls out.

Last night, while just playing around, I saw new data for the Wisconsin State Censuses and ran the surname 'Causier' just for fun. Sure enough, there was great-great-grandfather C. CAUSIER in June 1885 in the village of Bay View, Milwaukee County!

The household is 2 males and 2 females, all born Great Britain. That data lines up perfectly with my expectations for Charles, wife Catherine (HUGHES), son Charles, and daughter Martha. This new info is especially nice to have since Charles & Catherine supposedly immigrated in 1881 but I had found no record of them in the USA until 1889 and 1890 at 188 Williams St., Milwaukee in a Milwaukee Wisconsin Directory (ancestry.com). Now I can look for them specifically in Bay View.

An adjacent 1885 Wisconsin census entry is for the family of E. Field. That data lines up perfectly with expectations for son-in-law Enoch Field, his wife Manwella (Causier), and their 3 oldest children Enoch, Ada, and Charles. This new info is nice to have since it fits so well with a ship manifest showing them arriving May 11 in New York on the ship 'Germanic' from Liverpool (NY passenger list available at ancestry.com). Note that in the 1900 and 1910 US censuses, Manwella is said to have immigrated in 1884, but in the 1930 US census, she supposedly immigrated in 1888. So, even given that census entries and memories may be faulty, we must at least consider that there may have been both earlier and later trips to the USA than the 1885 trip for the Fields.

What a great find! The only problem that every "great find" seems to lead to more questions...!