Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - How many Autosomal DNA Matches Descend from your Eight 2nd Great-Grandparents?

 From Randy (my cousin) over at Genea-Musings:

it's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun!!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  How many autosomal DNA matches do you have descended from your eight 2nd great-grandparents (they would be your 3rd cousins)? Do you know how they are related to you? Have you corresponded with them? Why are your numbers high or low?

2) Share the number of your autosomal DNA matches for each of your 2nd great-grandparents, and answer the questions above on your own blog, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook or other social media post.  Please leave a link to your post on this blog post so readers can respond.

Here's mine:

The number of autosomal DNA matches I have on AncestryDNA (using the numbers from ThruLines) with a known common 2nd great-grandparent is:

    * George Washington Tapley (1814-1880) & Elizabeth Hicks (1824-1880):  64

    *  Solomon Page (1800-1860) & Elizabeth Caroline Scoggins (1802-1880):  288

    *  James William Drake (1829-1908) & Mary Ann Brantley (1837-1891):  13

    *  William Robert Harrell (1838-1908) & Catherine M Odom (1841-1875):  15

    *  James Madison "Jim" Tapley (1847-1912) & Elizabeth Rebecca 'Becky' Page (1844-1924):  49

    *  George W Schwalls (1837-1908) & Lincelia E "Celia" Claxton (1839-1882):  13

    *  Comfort Ranney (1838-1920) & Mary Margaret Hesser (1842-1920):  1

    *  Charles Kelso Carter (1843-1916) & Sarah Schoonover (1840-1918):  0

TOTAL = 443 (380 paternal; 63 maternal)

I am sure that there are many duplicates in the Tapley line.  

A1:  I have traced the lines from my 4th cousins (and closer) back to our common ancestor and entered them into my family tree in Family Tree Maker.  However there are many matches that that I have not been able to trace back to a common ancestor.  There are a lot of matches without family trees or I can trace only so far down but some generations are a black hole.  

A2:  I have tried to correspond with many of my matches, but I haven't had much luck.  Most never respond.  I seem to have more luck with finding cousins through my blog. 

A3:  The numbers are high or low for many reasons... some families have larger families than others (Tapley vs. Page for instance); some families have had more members test their DNA; my great-grandmother Carter was adopted so there are no matches on that line; and like I mentioned, a lot of DNA matches do not have a family tree or a very small family tree.  

I did not include matches I have at MyHeritageDNA because I could not figure out how to find matches per generation in an easy way like ThruLines.  

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - How Many Children Did Your Ancestors Have?

 From Randy over at Genea-Musings:

it's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun!!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

(1)  Thinking about your direct ancestors back through 2nd great-grandparents - in other words, ancestors #2 to #31 on your ahnentafel chart - how many children did they have?  How many of those children lived long enough to marry?  How many died before age 10?

(2)  Tell us all about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a post on Facebook.  

Here's mine:

#2 and 3:  My parents Gilbert Earl Tapley (1928-2008) and Linda Irene Tapley (1942-) had 2 children - a boy and a girl.  One of them married.  One of them died before age 10.

#4 and 5:  My paternal grandparents Lusion Keman Tapley (1870-1935) and Nealie Vermell Drake (1895-1970) had 6 children - 5 boys and 1 girl.  All of them grew up and married.

#6 and 7:  My maternal grandparents Charles Morgan Tapley (1907-1973) and Ethel Irene Ranney (1913-1973) had one child - a girl.  She grew up and married.

#8 and 9:  Great-grandparents James "Jim" Madison Tapley (1847-1912) and Elizabeth Rebecca "Becky" Page (1844-1924) had 12 children - 7 sons and 5 daughters.  Nine of the children grew up and married.  One never married.  Two children died before age 10.

#10 and 11: Great-grandparents William John Drake (1857-1927) and Emma Vermell Harrell (1867-1935) had 9 children - 4 sons and 5 daughters.  Eight of their children grew up and got married.  One died before he had that chance, but not before age 10.

#12 and 13: Great-grandparents Lusion Keman Tapley (1870-1935) and Mattie Schwalls (1877-1912) had 4 children - all sons.  Three grew up and married. One died before age 10.

#14 and 15: Great-grandparents Luther Boardman Ranney (1870-1943) and Bessie Alice Carter (1883-1960) had 3 children - one boy and two girls.  They all three grew up and were married.

#16 and 17: 2nd Great-grandparents George Washington Tapley (1814-aft 1880) and Elizabeth MNU (1824-aft 1880) had 7 children - 3 boys and 4 girls.  Three children grew up and got married. One never got the opportunity to marry because he was killed in the Civil War, and three children possibly died before age  10.

#18 and 19: 2nd Great-grandparents Solomon Page (1800-1860) and Elizabeth Caroline Scoggins (1802-1880) had 4 children (that I know of).  Of those, all 4 were girls and three grew up and married.  One I am not sure.

#20 and 21: 2nd Great-grandparents James William Drake (1829-1908) and Mary Ann R Brantley (1837-1891) had 9 children - 5 boys and 4 girls.  Four of the children grew up and got married.  One child died before age 10.  The others grew up, but never married.  

#22 and 23: 2nd Great-grandparents William Robert Harrell (1838-1908) and Catherine M Odom (1841-1875) had 3 children - 2 girls and a boy.  All off them grew to adulthood, but only two of them married.

#24 and 25: same as #8 and 9.

#26 and 27: 2nd Great-grandparents George W Schwalls Sr (1837-1908) and Lincelia E Claxton (1839-1882) had 7 children - 3 boys and 4 girls.  Six children grew up and got married.  One child died before age 10.

#28 and 29: 2nd Great-grandparents Comfort Ranney (1838-1920) and Mary Margaret Hesser (1842-1920) had 4 children - 2 boys and 2 girls.  They all grew up and married.

#30 and 31: 2nd Great-grandparents Charles Kelso Carter (1843-1916) and Sarah Schoonover (1840-1918) had one adopted daughter.  She grew up and married.

There were 36 male children and 30 of them married.  There were also 36 female children and 25 of them married.  (Does this indicate that men marry more often or that there were not enough men to go around?)

Two families had only one child; one family had two children; two families had 3 children; two families had 4 children; one family had 6 children; two families had 7 children; two families had 9 children; and 1 family had 12 children.  

That's a lot of family in four generations!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - My "7 Generations in 1" Chart

  From Randy over at Genea-Musings:

it's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun!!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

(1)  Please see the Genea-Musings post for this challenge to get the template, etc. used.  I'm going to just cut to my result tonight.  

My challenge tonight was to fill out my 7-in-1 Ancestor chart and show it off.  The chart covers ancestors #1 through #127 in an ahnentafel list.  I used the spreadsheet, added the ancestor numbers while adding the names (starting with 1 = me, 2 = my father, 3 = my mother, etc.).  I added the names and birth and death years (if known) for the first 7 generations.  I colored the boxes for the two ancestors who were born in other countries.  As you can see, my families are deeply rooted in the United States.  I saved my chart in Excel, copied it to Paint 3D and then saved it as a JPG image file.  This task has taken more than an hour!  So if you choose to do it, plan ahead!

(2)  Show me your 7-in-1 chart in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a post on Facebook.  

Here's mine:

My columns are wider than the ones you'll view from Genea-Musings because, like Randy, I added their birth and death years.  This helps me a lot since several of my ancestors share the same name.  

There is other color coding I would like to do, such as by states, military service, blanks that need to be filled in, etc.  I'm open to other ideas for coloring coding!

Thank you to Ann Raymont (DNAsleuth) for the original idea of doing this; Linda and Dave Shufflebean (Empty Branches on the Family Tree) (Also, thank you Linda for always commenting on my Saturday Night Genealogy Fun posts.  I love the feedback!) for creating and sharing the spreadsheet version of the chart, and of course Randy Seaver for sharing this idea.  I think I am going to suggest to my mother, BFF, cousins, etc. to refer back to this chart when I am going on and on about an ancestor - it may help to keep them all straight!  

Tombstone Tuesday: Francis R Drake

Francis Richard Drake

b May 28 1859

d Nov 28 1933

laid to rest at

Poplar Springs United Methodist Church cemetery

Adrian, Georgia

Son of

James William and Mary Ann R Brantley Drake

Frank Drake was my great grand uncle.

Tombstone Tuesday: Francis R. Drake

Francis Richard "Frank" Drake

b May 28, 1859

Washington County, Georgia

d Nov 28, 1933

Adrian, Emanuel County, Georgia

son of

James William and Mary Ann R. Brantley Drake

laid to rest at

Poplar Springs Methodist Church Cemetery

Adrian, Johnson County, Georgia

Frank Drake was my great grand uncle.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Longest Gravestone Line

From Randy over at Genea-Musings:

Dear genealogists everywhere, it's Saturday Night!  Time for some Genealogy FUN.

Your mission this week, should you decide to accept it, is to: 

 1)  Determine what is your longest unbroken line of ancestral gravestones - how many generations can you go back in time?  Do you have photographs of them?

2)  Tell us and/or show us in a blog post of your own, or in a comment to this blog, or in a Facebook status or a Google+ stream post.

Here's mine:  

(1)  I really cannot go back very far in gravestones... but here's what I've got.

My father, Gilbert Earl Tapley (1928-2008) in Gumlog Church Cemetery (outside of Kite, Johnson County, Georgia):

 My grandfather, Lusion Keman Tapley (1870-1935) in Powell's Chapel Methodist Church Cemetery (Johnson County, Georgia):

 

My great-grandfather, James Madison "Jim" Tapley (1847-1912) in Oaky Grove Church Cemetery (Johnson County, Georgia):

 

 After this, they are unmarked graves in unknown locations.  

 Of my Drake ancestors, I have the following:

My father as shown above... then his mother:

My grandmother, Nealie Vermell Drake Tapley (1895-1970) in Powell's Chapel Church Cemetery:

 
 My great-grandfather, Rev. William John Drake (1857-1927) in Poplar Springs Church Cemetery (outside of Adrian, Johnson County, Georgia):

Unfortunately, I do not have a photo of my 2nd great-grandfather, James William Drake, but I do have...

My 2nd great-grandmother, Mary Ann Brantley Drake (1837-1891) in Poplar Springs Church Cemetery: 

My 3rd great-grandfather, Francis Bryant Drake (1806-1875) in Poplar Springs Church Cemetery:

(2)  Done!
 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - My "Heritage Pie" Charts

From Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings:

Ah, Genea-folks, it's Saturday Night again - are you ready for more Genealogy Fun?

Your mission tonight, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  List your 16 great-great-grandparents with their birth, death and marriage data (dates and places).  [Hint - you might use an Ancestral Name List from your software for this.]

2)  Determine the countries (or states) that these ancestors lived in at their birth and at their death.

3)  For extra credit, go make a "Heritage Pie" chart for the country of origin (birth place) for these 16 ancestors. [Hint: you could use the  chart generator from Kid Zone for this.] [Note: Thank you to Sheri Fenley for the "Heritage Pie" chart idea.]

4.  Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a post on Facebook or Google+.

Here's mine:

My 16 great-great-grandparents are:

1. George Washington Tapley, son of Canneth Swain and Sarah (Sally) Tapley, was born 02 May 1814 in Emanuel County, Georgia.  He married Elizabeth MNU on an unknown date at an unknown place.  He died sometime after 1880, presumably in Georgia.  
2. Elizabeth MNU, daughter of unknown parents.  She was born in 1824, presumably in Georgia.  She died after 1880, also presumably in Georgia.
3. Solomon Page, son of Solomon Page and Mary Horton, was born in 1800 in Sandersville, Washington County, Georgia.  He marred Elizabeth Scoggins on 14 July 1839 in Washington County, Georgia.  He died in 1860 in Washington County, Georgia.
4. Elizabeth Scoggins, daughter of unknown parents, was born in 1802 at an unknown location.  Her death date and location are unknown.
5. James William Drake, son of Francis Bryant Drake and Selina King, was born 19 December 1829 in Washington County, Georgia.  He married Mary Ann R. Brantley on 29 June 1856 in Washington County, Georgia.  He died 14 December 1908 in Emanuel County, Georgia.
6. Mary Ann R. Brantley, daughter of William Brantley and Eliza MNU, was born 19 December 1837 in Georgia.  She died 05 May 1891 in Emanuel County, Georgia.
7. William Robert Harrell, son of James K. Harrell and Nancy Beasley, was born 02 March 1838 in South Carolina.  He married Catherine M. Odom Riner on 21 December 1865 in Johnson County, Georgia.  He died 18 April 1908 in Emanuel County, Georgia.
8. Catherine M. Odom, daughter of Elijah Samuel Odom and Rutha Goff, was born 27 July 1841 in Emanuel County, Georgia.  She died 17 September 1875 in Adrian, Emanuel County, Georgia.
9. James Madison Tapley, son of George Washington Tapley and Elizabeth MNU, was born 29 April 1847 in Georgia.  He married Elizabeth Rebecca Page Horton on 18 February 1866 in Johnson County, Georgia.  He died 05 November 1912 in Johnson County, Georgia.
10. Elizabeth Rebecca Page, daughter of Solomon Page and Elizabeth Scoggins, was born 08 September 1844 in Johnson County, Georgia  She died 18 May 1924 in Johnson County, Georgia.
11. George W. Schwalls, son of unknown parents, was born 01 January 1837 in Germany.  He married Lincelia E. Claxton in 1866 in Edgefield County, South Carolina.  He died 21 January 1908 in Johnson County, Georgia.
12. Lincelia E. Claxton, daughter of Zachariah W. Claxton and Lincelia Bush, was born 10 April 1839 in Edgefield County, South Carolina.  She died 18 January 1882 in Georgia.
13. Comfort Ranney, son of Luther Boardman Ranney and Sarah Maria Carter, was born 07 February 1838 in Boston, Summit County, Ohio.  He married Mary Margaret Hesser on 18 December 1868 in Nevada, Wyandot County, Ohio.  He died 18 September 1920 in DeWitt, Clinton County, Michigan.
14. Mary Margaret Hesser, daughter of James Warren Hesser and Sophia Humphrey was born 17 July 1842 in Ohio.  She died 06 October 1920 in DeWitt, Clinton County, Michigan.
15. Charles K. Carter, son of Samuel Carter and Polly Marie Ozmun, was born 12 October 1843 in an unknown location.  He married Sarah Melissa Schoonover on an unknown date in an unknown place.  He died in 1916 in an unknown location.
16. Sarah Melissa Schoonover, daughter of Richard Schoonover and Sarah Ozmun, was born 13 July 1840 in an unknown location.  She died 23 May 1918 in Elsie, Clinton County, Michigan.

The birthplaces of my 16 great-great-grandparents are:

• Germany - 1
• United States - 15  

             Georgia - 8             South Carolina -2
             Ohio - 2
             Unknown -  3
            
Here are my "Heritage Pie" charts:

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - It's Find-a-Grave Time

From Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings:

Hey genea-searchers, it's SATURDAY NIGHT ... time for more GENEALOGY FUN!!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  Go to the Find-a-Grave website (www.findagrave.com) and search for ancestors that you don't know the burial location of.   How far back in time did you have to go to find this person?  Hint #1 - use your ancestor list to help you.  Hint #2 - don't forget to use the last surname for females!

2)  If you think that Find-a-Grave will not have your persons of interest, then check another burial index that might help you.

3)  Tell us about your search - who did you look for, and who was the first ancestor that you found that you did not have a burial location for previously?  Write your own blog post, or make a comment on this post.

I love Find a Grave and use it all the time... so #1, it was a no-brainer for me to join in on this Saturday night fun, but #2, using it so often made it kind of difficult to figure out who I didn't know their burial location!

Here's what I came up with: 

1. Carol (Andrews) Way, died 1983 in Florida.  No listing.
2. Mary E. (Atwood) Hubbard, unknown date or place of death. No listing.
3. Curtis Manning Barwick, died 1902 in Georgia.  Success!  He has a listing complete with a picture of his tombstone.  He is buried in the Barwick Cemetery, Norristown, Emanuel County, Georgia.
4. Elijah Samuel Beasley, unknown date or place of death.  No listing.
5. Harriet (Beaty) Pullen, died 1943, place unknown.  No listing.
6. Earnest Boulineau, died 1987, place unknown.  Success!  He has a listing complete with a picture of his headstone.  He is buried in the Oaky Grove Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, Johnson County, Georgia.
7. Clifford K. Brantley, died 1964, place unknown.  No listing.
8. James Thurman Drake, unknown date or place of death.  No listing.
9. William Dewey Harrison, died 1980, place unknown.  No listing.
10. Eleanor V. (Schwalls) Wilson, unknown date or place of death.  No listing.

That's all I looked up tonight, but I agree with Randy.  There are many more potentials in my database that I can search for on Find A Grave!