When maternal and paternal ancestors intersect

After finding no trace of her in Edinburgh for several years following the 1851 Scotland census, this year, I found that Margaret Falconer (abt 1835-aft 1901), eldest child of my maternal 2nd great grand aunt, Ann Smith (abt 1811-abt 1851), married twice, had children and emigrated to Canada. As is happening increasingly, this discovery came about through AncestryDNA's Thrulines feature, on a nephew's AncestryDNA. I wrote about the family of Ann and her husband Angus Falconer (1815-1872) here.

Starting with the ThruLines connection, I was able to build out Margaret Falconer's descendants through the usual statutory and other records. By her first husband, David Leckie (1831-1867), Margaret had three children. Margaret remarried the following year to John Fraser (abt 1835-aft 1901) and they had a family of five children by 1879. After the 1881 census, John Fraser and his stepson, David Leckie (1866-1936), left for Canada. The following year, Margaret and the rest of the family (Isabella and Anne Leckie, Catherine, Margaret, Mary, John and James Fraser) emigrated from Edinburgh to Canada. The family settled in Manitoba.

'Manitoban' passenger list arrivals 5 May 1882, Quebec City

As I built out Margaret's children's trees and descendants (as we genealogists can't help ourselves but to do this), I came across a familiar family name. Margaret's granddaughter, Nellie Dorothy Curtis (1844-1933), who is my 3rd cousin once removed, married a man named Harold Morton Archibald (1877-1960), whose father, Edward Archibald, was born in Nova Scotia.

Anyone who is remotely familiar with Nova Scotia genealogy will know that the Archibalds there are many. Four Archibald brothers -- David, James, Samuel and Thomas -- are counted among Truro and Stewiacke's New England Planters, arriving in Nova Scotia from Ulster via New Hampshire in 1762. Chapter five of Thomas Miller's 1873 book, Historical and Genealogical Record of the First Families of Colchester County is devoted to the Archibald brothers, who each had very large families. The Archibalds warranted 75 pages in Miller's book, far more than any of the other first families.

I have no direct Archibald ancestors, but I've have found dozens of Archibald cousins in my family tree on my father's side. This is a case of where worlds collide.

I traced Harold Morton Archibald's ancestry back to Samuel Archibald (abt 1719-1774). As it happens, Harold and I are 4th cousins 2x removed. Harold's and Nellie's ten children are my 4th cousins.

And Margaret? I haven't found a record of Margaret's death so far, but I'm sure that will emerge eventually.

So far, there is just one connection with a descendant of Margaret Falconer among the Ancestry DNA tests I manage. But that one connection helped me to build out that line. Margaret's Leckie children have been easy to trace. Less so, her five Fraser children. So far.

The never ending story continues....




© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2019 All rights reserved

Collecting more Nova Scotia-origin Nelson ancestors and cousins

A couple of months ago, in this post, I mentioned that I had learned about a distant cousin had a self-published book, Descendants of Alexander Nelson, writing, "Perhaps someone reading this will have a copy they may be willing to share or loan me this book." I shared this post in the excellent Nova Scotia Genealogy Facebook group, and very quickly heard from another new-found cousin, who was none other than the daughter of the author of this book.

Even better, Brenton E. Nelson is still living, at age 90. We are 4th cousins, once removed, both being direct descendants of Alexander Nelson and Margaret Robinson. I called Brent to introduce myself. After a lovely chat, Brent said I was very welcome to have one of the few remaining copies of his book. I insisted on paying the postage.

Skimming the book when it arrived, I found that Brent focused on those Nelsons who remained in Nova Scotia. In his preface, Brent writes that "the bulk of [his] family history [research] was prepared prior to 1985" and explains that he focused on the eight sons and their descendants of Alexander Nelson, and asks to be excused for not continuing with the history of Alexander's female descendants. Despite this, Brent's book gives an incredible road map for this 21st century researcher. His focused on the Nelsons who remained in Nova Scotia.

I've referred to Brent's book many times in the short time I've had it, and know that it will continue to be my top go-to resource for Nova Scotia Nelson information.

I've found Alexander Nelson descendants scattered across North America. They are very numerous. Since Alexander and his wife, Margaret Robinson had a family of 14 children, many of whom went on to have their own large families, this is to be expected.

And I keep connecting with Nelson cousins.

Just a few days ago, reading a June 2019 article about a 2017 biography of 20th century American politician, John William McCormack, the biography's author name caught my eye. I saw  that his ancestor had migrated from Nova Scotia to Massachusetts, and that the family name was Nelson. Well, we had to be related.

It was very easy to locate a current email address for the author, and within a matter of hours, we were able to confirm that we are 4th cousins, sharing:

• 3rd great grandparents, Elias Nelson (1783-1871) and Elizabeth Forbes (abt 1786-1877)
• 4th great grandparents, Alexander Nelson (abt 1737-1803) and Margaret Robinson (1735-1823) and Robert Forbes (abt 1742-1812) and Lettice McLean (abt 1754-?)
• 5th great grandparents, Samuel McLean (abt 1729-aft 1791 and Frances Brown (abt 1729-1781)

Brent's book will remain a treasured part of my genealogy home library.

The never ending story continues....




© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2019 All rights reserved

Unsolved Mysteries: Doughertys are everywhere...but are we related?

A couple of years ago, a Dougherty 1st cousin once removed asked me for a copy of her family tree -- her son had a school project, as often happens in elementary school. Well, off to work I went, to fill out her tree more completely on her father's side, so that her son would ace his school project.

I soon discovered in my research that not only does she have our Dougherty ancestors through her mother's side, but that through her father (my cousin-in-law), she is also a Dougherty descendant. Imagine that!

Family Crest

My cousin-in-law's 2nd great grandfather, William Dougherty, was born in Ireland about 1830.  He immigrated to Pennsylvania as a young man during the Famine, settling eventually in Luzerne County, where mining was the main industry. Luzerne is in the east central part of Pennsylvania.

William Dougherty married Mary Priest, an Irish-born woman, in 1855 and had at least eight children.

William died in 1910. I can find no death notice or obituary for him, which is a shame, but not unexpected in a time when money was scarce for miners and their families.

Unfortunately, there is no information about where in Ireland William was born, or any surviving ship passenger lists either in Ireland or in America that may have held clues. I've been looking to no avail.

Susan Dougherty Buckley obituary
Wilkes-Barre Leader 14 Nov 1910

William's eldest child, Susan Dougherty (1857-1910), married Edward Buckley (1855-1913) in 1876, and stayed in Luzerne County all her life. Together, Susan and Edward had at least 13 children, including Daniel Thomas Buckley (1897-1980), the grandfather of my cousin-in-law, and great grandfather of his daughter, my 1st cousin once removed.

This lovely obituary, entitled Death of an Esteemed Lady, is a tribute to Susan Dougherty Buckley.

I'd love for my cousin-in-law or his daughter to do an AncestryDNA test, so we can learn once and for all whether my cousin-in-law and I are distant cousins on our Dougherty side. Every DNA test contributes to the story of our family history.

I've included the image of the Dougherty family crest here. In English, Ár nDútcas, the ancient Gaelic motto in the crest, means "our heritage",  O'Dochairtaig is the ancient Gaelic for Dougherty or Doherty and all their many other variations.

The never ending story continues....




© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2019 All rights reserved