The Year Ahead – June 10

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

June 10 – Look for wills and estate papers among court documents. You may find bequests to friends, relatives or neighbors, as well as names of debtors and outstanding bills.

I once received a surprise probate record in the mail from a distant cousin or perhaps it was a distant collateral cousin (my made-up terminology). This is a person who shares cousins with you but isn’t your cousin. They are related to the common cousin(s) on one parent’s side and you are related to them with the other parent.

Anyway, she sent me a copy of my 2nd great grandfather’s petition for probate of will. This typed document from the Columbia County, Wisconsin court was very interesting. James Crinion of Fountain Prairie, Columbia County died on the 25th day of February, 1923.  Then it listed his next of kin, three sons, a granddaughter of his deceased daughter, Rose and 8 children of his other deceased daughter., Jennie. It states that all of the said heirs are competent and of full age except five grandchildren are minors and his son John who is incompetent. I believe John had learning disabilities, because after his father’s death, he went to live in an asylum. 

James had personal property of about six hundred dollars and real estate at about three thousand dollars. Plus, the annual rents and profits of the real estate doesn’t exceed one hundred twenty-five dollars. He left no debts.

He left my great grandfather, David three hundred dollars to be paid within three years and a lien on the property shall remain until the debt is paid.

He left five dollars to John. Speculation is that he left him something, so the will could not be contested but only five dollars because he was incompetent.

He left Jennie’s children nothing, for the reason is that he made provision for his daughter in her lifetime and his grandchildren have never assisted him in any way. He didn’t leave anything to his other daughter, Rose’s only child because she previously received one hundred dollars from him, and was in a position to provide for herself. This granddaughter had lived with James and his wife. She even stayed there after her grandmother’s passing in 1899. However, sometime in her teenage years, she went to live with her father, who was a wealthy man and her step-mother and their children.

He left the farm to his third son, Charles and all of his personal property. He was also the executor of the will. Charles had lived on the farm with his father, James. 

The will was written on 29th day of July, 1918.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

Ancestry – Ethnicity Inheritance

Ancestry has created a new feature called Ethnicity Inheritance.  Based on your matches DNA and your DNA, it has been able to separate your DNA into two groups, one for each of your parents. Even though, Ancestry doesn’t know which parent each group belongs too, if your parent’s have any unique ethnicity that the other parent doesn’t have you might be able to figure it out.

Here are examples of my DNA along with four siblings. One sibling is my full sister and the other three are my older half siblings. My mother was a widow and remarried my dad and had three more children, with me being the youngest.

My Dad has a strong Irish background, while my mother has a strong English background, my half siblings have Indigenous American ethnicity. Thus, based on these facts, I am comfortable that I was able to determine who Parent 1 and Parent 2 were for all of us.

This first example is for my father’s side, he was a Crinion. Crinion is an Irish name. His paternal grandmother was from Germany. My sister’s ethnicity seems to reflect this with her Eastern Eurpoe & Russia slice of DNA. Being of Irish descent, I am not surprise to see the Sweden & Denmark or Norway in our DNA.

The second example is for my half sibling’s father’s side, he was a McAbee whose ancestors immigrated from France in the Early days of Canada and finally settled in Wisconsin and were some of the early French-American Fur Traders. Because of this, I knew there were Indigenous Americans in their ancestry. Their grandfather’s birth certificate which is pre-1900 states “half-bred” as his race. Since they had ancestors who were in the America’s since the beginning, seeing English and Irish ancestry was not a surprise. I have been able to trace many branches back and found both English and Irish Ancestors.

Finally, my mother’s side. My mother’s father’s ancestry has strong English roots. Her mother’s side has Irish; however, I see some strong Scottish ancestry showing up, which could be from either of her parents, however I feel as if it was from her father whose ancestors came to America much later than her mothers ancestors.  Even though my grandmother’s maiden name is originally German, they settled in America in 1710 and thus started to marry the English who were already here. Thus, the German DNA appears to have dispersed out before reaching my siblings and me. 

If these charts show anything, it shows how random DNA really is. For my mother, My eldest brother, the last one on the right is the only sibling who received any Norway DNA from our mother. My other brother and sister, the third and fourth from left, never received any Sweden & Denmark DNA.  That same sister, doesn’t appear to received any French DNA from her father, while both of my brothers did. My one brother received the most Irish and a little bit of everything else from his father while my oldest brother didn’t receive and Sweden & Denmark DNA.

I am sure these circles might change over time as they refine their process and as more people test. If you have taken a test with Ancestry, check out this feature, it can be interesting especially if you have relatives that you can compare it against. Both of my parents are deceased and thus this might be the only way to see what their DNA might have looked like.