Ancestry Saturday: More Photos From Cousins

The latest ancestral photo passed along to me by a second cousin once removed is actually a photo of a charcoal sketch. Harriet McConnell Bernard (1810-1892) was my third great grandmother.

The sketch closely matches what was previously thought to be the only likeness of her I'd ever find. The resemblance tends to confirm both are of the same person.

Ancestry Saturday: Cringing at The Thought For More Reasons Than One

My mother-in-law could be my eighth cousin.  My mother-in-law is a stereotypical mother-in-law so that's enough reason to cringe right there.

It means I married my eighth cousin once removed too.  It also means my kids are not only siblings but also their own tenth cousins.

Ok.  That's enough.

The McConnell family that first came to  Ohio in 1798 traces back to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  Alexander McConnell was was my 7th great grandfather.  It appears he was my mother-in-law's 7th great grandfather too.

Links from Alexander and his children are hard to show with certainty, but DNA evidence is showing common ancestors on both my kids' mom's side and their dad's side.

It has me convinced this is truly the case.  And it has me cringing.

Ancestry Saturday: Award in Hand

This is the First Families of Ohio award and the 1803 pin for pre-Statehood status. Both are from the Ohio Genealogical Society lineage society to remember my ancestors who were proven to have come to Ohio before 1820 and, in some cases, before 1803.

212 Years of Ohio Pride, Verified

The Ohio Genealogical Society gave recognition today for a member of my family being in Ohio before Ohio became a state.  Thanks to James and Sallie McConnell coming to Ohio before Ohio was a state, I earned First Families of Ohio status with the pre-statehood designation.

They got married in Kentucky and came across the Ohio River, probably, in 1798.  I could prove it in 1802.

I missed the actual ceremony today, but I can celebrate nonetheless.

Ohio Ancestors 2013 Year in Review

I'm reading newspaper updates on the stories of the past year.  Why not a blog version?

Here's some updates on the ohioancestors.blogspot.com columns from the past year.

My column of the year was the eight-part series titled Solved: The Their-Disselbrede Mystery.  The update is that my father-in-law has, for the first time, visited the cemetery where his grandparents William and Barbara Disselbrett are buried.  It was a less than 30 minute trip, but he never knew where to look.

Trading Finds was about Elaine in Wisconsin.  She sent me a photo of my kids' third great grandfather as a trade for my finding some records for her.  I traded back again when I sent her one that included her great grandfather a few months later in Are These The Same People?

I preached, mostly to myself, the need to document vital records for my five-generation family tree in March.  I celebrated finding the elusive Gretna Green marriage of Royal and Grace Smith Platt in August though.

The digital photo matching search for which regimental band trombonist was my great grandfather proved right on.  More From The Mogon Attic brought an end to the mystery and showed the value of digital photo face matching software.

That great Mogon Attic find was a true highlight for the year too.  I'm Facebook friends with my second cousin once removed, third cousin, and third cousin once removed in Pittsburgh now.  There's little chance of losing that connection now.

I puzzled about Group Think in Genealogy that had me wondering who were the  parents of Thomas Worthington Sanders.  Now, months later, I found my cousin in Eastern Ohio admitting that he doesn't know where the name Worthington as Thomas' middle name came from in the first place.  I've taken that name down and posted an update to the columns on it.  Since I've now also located an obit and a photo of Thomas W. Sanders, I'll have more to say about this in the future.

In September, I sweated out the acceptance of my "proof" of James McConnell being in Ohio pre-statehood.  Not long after, I got accepted into the First Families of Ohio lineage society with the coveted pre-statehood status to boot thanks to James McConnell.  Oh yeah, they generously added some ancestors I hadn't even sought too.

On Veterans' Day, I put my first list of Revolutionary War patriots together and marveled that my kids could boast, by my research, at least 21 patriots in their bloodline.  This month, I grew the list to 27.

2014 has more mysteries to solve.  Stay tuned.

Ancestry Saturday: On a Flatboat Down The Ohio River

I'm not sure I'll ever know for sure, but the wharf at Wellsburg, West Virginia was a highly likely place where my ancestors got on a flat boat that brought them down the Ohio River.

My fourth great grandfather James McConnell, the ancestor for whom our family gained pre-Ohio-Statehood First Families of Ohio status, was one of them.  This would have been the closest place to get on the mighty Ohio from his home in Washington County, Pennsylvania.

Friend Cox, my sixth great grandfather, was one of the early settlers of this part of Virginia when he came here and built a fort, Fort Cox, in 1771.  The wharf likely brought his grandson and my fourth great grandfather, Isaac Newton Cox, down the river too.

The Downing, Gutridge, and Naylor families all could have gotten on the path that brought them to Southwest Ohio right here at this wharf.

I'm glad they did that.  I'm glad my kids can still visit the place.

Ancestry: When a RoboSearch Just Won't Do

A long-time goal of my research got fulfilled yesterday. I now have the most definitive proof to date that my family first set foot in Ohio before Ohio was a state.

Ohio became a state in 1803 and some circumstantial evidence pointed to my fourth great grandfather coming to the territory in 1798 or 1799.

I was stuck though.

So, I made a trip. I had to do it in person. No online, digital search had produced the results.



With the Northwest Territory Census of 1802 in hand at the library in Georgetown, Ohio, I found James McConnell along with his brother, Thomas, and brother-in-law Amos Ellis among the 154 males in Pleasant Township, Clermont County, Ohio.

Done.