New Year, New Discoveries

I was not very good at keeping up this blog in 2017. Instead I spent much of  last year updating my family history and finally self-publishing it. I have distributed copies to several family members. This was to make sure all my hard work was not in vain and that written information is out there for those who are interested. It is a pet peeve of mine that so many family historians do the hard work of investigating their family but never write it down for others to see.

I had plans to go back to Mississippi. Unfortunately I did not make it. However, I did correspond with a Mississippi cousin who I discovered through AncestryDNA. She is one of the few ancestors I have discovered who is related to me through Winnie Dear, my grandfather Stanley's grandmother. I knew more about our history than she did and I shared that info. One important fact she shared with me was that one of her uncles, which would have been my grandfather's uncle, was lynched in Mississippi. She's not sure of the name because two uncles disappeared from the records. Their last name was Ames. She also told me that one of the other uncles migrated to Chicago because of the lynching. This could have also been a reason for my grandfather moving up north. The other interesting fact was that this particular uncle was a communist, something my grandfather was accused of being because he was a strong union man.

One more thing. The most exciting things I discovered were the photos of my grandfather's maternal grandparents. Photos are priceless. I found these on ancestry.com on a tree of another DNA cousin. These are the parents of Mary Sanders. I wish I had a photo of Mary and Napoleon but I will take what I can get. And who knows, maybe someday those photos will surface too. As an extra added attraction I also found the photo of James, the brother of Mary.

Charles Saunders

Rosa Thomas? Saunders

their son James Saunders

I will try to do better this year. I never stop searching even if I don't blog about it. Happy New Year! Happy New discoveries!

Dog Day Afternoons

It is sweltering outside but inside it is cool. This is the perfect time to do some armchair sleuthing. Wintertime is perfect too. Hey, if you are addicted to genealogy, like I am, any time is perfect.

Although I've been remiss in posting, I am continuously searching online. I hope to make a few road trips soon to follow up on my internet work.

Earlier I mentioned the find of a possible ancestor. There is little doubt in my mind that Josiah Pridgen fathered my great great grandmother Mary Jane Roberts. He keeps turning up in my DNA matches on ancestry.com. All I need is some kind of paper trail. That, however, may be difficult since we're talking about slavery records. Pridgen did not have a large farm and several farm hands. He only had one adult who I think was Judie Spence, my great great great grandmother, and her children. Still I will keep looking for a definable source.

I confess. I was paranoid when it came to having my DNA tested for genealogical purposes. And I still don't want to look to closely at the fact that my DNA is now on file. But it has been helpful. Is it disingenuous to wish that others, preferably my unidentified third cousins would take the ancestry.dna test too? I have only three close connections so far at this time and all three of them I knew of before they took the test. Then again, my uncle has two close matches but one has a tree that is private and the other has a tree with few names. No help, at all.

Yet, after learning of the surname Spence through DNA evidence and ancestral records, I am on the trail to find those elusive ancestors. The name Nathan Spence and Adaline DeLoach keeps coming up in my DNA matches. Hmmm. The game's afoot!

And one clue leads to another

I hate it when I look at trees on ancestry.com and they are incorrect because someone took one factoid and decided it was correct without checking. I confess I was guilty of this myself when I first started out rooting my tree. All the more reasons why I hate it now in others.

I am fairly certain that Josiah Pridgen is my 2xgreat grandmother's father. However, I still put the question mark on my tree. The DNA doesn't lie but there are so many ancestors out there after you pass the first great grandfather, I rather err on the side of caution.

Still, that clue has led me to another clue. On Mary Jane Roberts' sister's death certificate, it is stated that the sister was born in Cherokee, Alabama in 1866. This makes me more certain that Grandma Jane was also born in Cherokee and closer to being 100% certain  Pridgeon is the father. Even more exciting is that the informant included the maiden name of Jane's mother. It was "Spince." Eureka! I have a surname for Judie.

When I looked at Josiah Pridgen's family tree, I noticed he married Mary Lou Spence in 1842. Spence! On the 1850 slave schedule, Josiah owns one slave, a young girl around 12 years old. I think this was Judie, Jane's mother. It means she was born before the marriage took place likely on the Spence grounds

Unfortunately, the trail seems to end there. For now. I am just beginning to look for more. I'm sure something will turn up. That's what makes genealogy such a nerdy joy. The games afoot!

DNA Detective

I always feel guilty when I look at how long it has been since I posted here. Even though it's been a while, I am still researching, although not as obsessively as I have in the past. For example, I still check my ancestry dna matches every month.

So far most of my matches are distant but my maternal uncle who also took the test had a match that was close, a 3rd to 4th cousin. I checked out the match and looked at the 2x grandparents that my uncle may share with the match. One name stood out because of the location where this person lived. I had never heard this name before--Josiah Pridgen--but he died in Cherokee, Alabama.

My maternal 2xgrandmother Mary Jane Roberts Koonce was born in Alabama. The oral legend claimed that her father was white and her mother was native American-Cherokee. It also claimed that she and her mother came to Tennessee during the Trail of Tears.

That part about the Trail of Tears is wrong because she was born after that infamous trail.  But is it possible that the legend got twisted? Could she have actually lived in and/or be from Cherokee, Alabama?


I checked the 1860 slave schedule for Josiah and he had three slaves who matched my family's ages--
Julie, Jane and the oldest son Joseph--and they were all designated mulatto! Could Josiah be the missing link for the Roberts’ family?

I put it aside for a minute but today I checked my dna matches again. I searched Josiah Pridgen again. He was born in 1812 in North Carolina. His parents were Joel Pridgen and Elizabeth Richardson. In searching for Josiah, the name Zilly Pridgen and Reuben Bachelor were in the results. I searched my dna matches to see if Bachelor or Pridgen came up and hit pay dirt. Through deduction and dna matches, I am certain that Josiah Pridgen is my 3x great grandfather.

Add to that there is a resemblance between Josiah's son Milton and my grandmother Mary Jane especially around the noses.  Or is that just wishful thinking? Photos aside, according to the DNA, I am related to the Pridgen family.