Genealogy, My Family Tree, Paternal Side

Is John Andrew Akers Really My 4th-Great-Grandfather?

In the past year, John Andrew Akers has popped up on Thrulines as a potential father for one of my favorite brick walls, Suzanna Akers. I have even had John Andrew Akers written down on a piece of paper and looked into him a few times myself but never felt I had enough information to officially list him as my 4th-great-grandfather (I really try to be quite thorough when working on my tree and not just plop people down).

Anyhow, I’ve opted to take the time to do some in-depth research to try to come to some sort of conclusion about whether John Andrew Akers is truly the father of my 3rd-great-grandmother, Suzanna Akers.

What is Thrulines?

For those of you who are not familiar with AncestryDNA, I will enlighten you on what Thrulines is. Thrulines is a DNA tool that uses both your DNA matches and the family trees of your matches to create a view of who your ancestors may be.

A key point of Thrulines is that it is only as accurate as your matches trees.

See how important that statement above is? I bolded it because it’s the piece of the puzzle that many don’t realize. If your distant relative has just plopped information down that they have taken randomly from hints or other peoples trees, their family tree may not be accurate, which would then lead to a false identity on Thrulines.

This is why I am going to do an examination of John Andrew Akers, so I can discover if he is in fact Susanna’s dad. For some reason I don’t recall finding a census for him that would have a female of the correct age for him and that is why I wasn’t willing to think he was my guy. Or maybe he did and other trees that I saw had females listed for the age leaving no room for Susanna. But maybe they were wrong. At the time I did not take the time to do a research plan on him. Today is a different day and I’m up for the challenge.

One last thing about Thrulines. I presently have 28 DNA matches on Thrulines claiming John Andrew Akers is my 4th-great-grandfather. We shall see.

The Research Plan

In an effort to keep myself on track, I’ve created a research plan. Here is what I have down. It’s very rough and may evolve as I go along and that’s okay. It’s 8:30am on a Wednesday and so my mind may not be as technical sounding as I should (especially when I have to head into work here in about 10 minutes). But here is my start. I created a table in Word (I took a screenshot so my nicely bolded header is not so bold). I literally have no information on John Andrew Akers so I’m starting from scratch. This could be very difficult because I know these are dealing with census records from before 1850 so I will not find a lot of good information like you do post-1850. But you have to start somewhere.

I began seeking using Thrulines to come up with a birth and death date and created a family tree on Ancestry that I made private so I didn’t have to worry about anyone taking to heart what I may or may not find. I really am not wanting to offend anyone in my search because I am having difficulty believing people who suddenly think this man is their relative. I should note one key piece of evidence with Suzanna: with as little documentation that I have on her, one fact is consistent on all the censuses I have for her – she always has a birth date of 1826. Andrew Blair’s age is all over the place, but Suzanna is consistently 1826. Here is my list of events in my Legacy Family Tree Software for Suzanna and she is listed being 24, 34, 44, and 54 for each census I have for her (1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880).

Probate Records

Like most everyone else when doing my family history, I opted to go backwards in time. On Ancestry there was an inventory listed as a hint that would correspond with John Akers death date of 4 January 1866. Finding this inventory leads me to believe that John Akers died intestate, so this should be easier than I thought, as I should just find the probate record because all heirs should be listed in the record if he died without a will.

And I found just that, his daughter, Lucretia, petitioned the court and all his children are listed, along with his widow.

Found on FamilySearch under Pennsylvania Probate Records, 1683-1994, for Fulton County

As you can tell in the snippet of the record above, no Suzanna is not listed. And I have census records from 1870 and 1880 to prove she was still alive when John Akers passed away in January 1866. In case you are unable to read what I have shown, the name of John Akers children are: Lucretia, Ann, Matilda, Joshua B., John Thomas, and Erastus J (with John and Erastus being deceased when their father died).

The DNA Matches

It’s interesting, once I began writing this blog post (which I thought was going to take me longer than it did) I thought I was going to have this in-depth research plan all documented, never realizing the intestate probate record was the key to everything (thank you Susan Monson for your fabulous Family Tree Webinar “No Will, No Problem” which really brought the entire intestate process to light for me). Anyhow, after working on this for a day or so John Andrew Akers was no longer coming up named on my Thrulines, but as an “Unknown” person was. I didn’t know if this had anything to do with the private Akers tree I created for this project if it would have thrown confusion to my algorithm (I doubt that would do THAT much), I stand corrected, I deleted the tree a few hours ago and he is back on my Thrulines. At least I now know without a doubt that John Andrew Akers is NOT my 4th-great-grandfather.

As for the DNA match, as I looked more closely, most of the matches I had for John Andrew Akers were the same matches that I have for Andrew Blair and Suzanna Akers, all but 1, and he is also a match with my Morgart-Ritchey line so he could actually be related to these Akers where I am not.

The Finished Research Plan

As a genealogist who always wants to do things correctly I can honestly say I’m so glad I took the few minutes (because it really only took a couple of minutes) to type up this research plan in Word using tables. It really helped me stay focused on the objectives I was seeking. And a few times when I began to make things more difficult for myself in my head (as I am often my own worse enemy) this research plan really helped me stay calm and carry on (to steal a quote from a very popular meme).

I have many more Akers to go through to try and figure out who Suzanna’s parents are. One day I’ll find them.

And can I say I love intestate probate records?

Genealogy

It’s October!!!!

October is one of the greatest months of the year because it means we all have an excuse to work on our genealogy!

Not that we ever have to have a reason to continue to work on our family trees, but it is a month filled with educational webinar’s, podcasts, and articles that will further our knowledge to find our ancestors.

So I hope you are all able to enjoy the month and get the most out of all the opportunities that are out there. May you break down your brick wall and move on to new ones!

Genealogy

Obsessed With Your Brick Wall?

Like most people, I have a lot of ancestors that I can research over the 4-primary branches of my family tree.  But are others of you out there like me, obsessed with your brick wall ancestors?

Whenever I read a book on genealogy, any time a new idea is brought to me as far as considering how to find people, the first thing I think of is can I use this new method to find more about Andrew?

Andrew is referencing Andrew Blair, born about 1812 in Pennsylvania and for whom I have no parents.  He just shows up in my 1850 census with his wife and 2-children and I can’t find him before or after.  His wife, Suzanna, also a brick wall, is born around 1826.  And no other Ancestry trees have anything more than I do.  Even my late cousin, Darlene, couldn’t find any parental information for Andrew or Suzanna.

Ways to Get Over the Brick Wall

There are many suggestions out there for overcoming a brick wall.  Ancestry has 7-points to do to find the answers you seek.

  1. State a clear research problem (specifying your problem succinctly)
  2. Back-up a generation and review (do you know all there is to know about their children?
  3. Use ALL the records (have you searched through all possible documents to find them?)
  4. Create a timeline (this one is pretty self explanatory)
  5. Account for inconsistencies (if records give you differing information, rationalize them)
  6. Research the FAN club (friends, associates, neighbors)
  7. Ask for help (hire a professional genealogist in the area where your ancestors lived)

FamilySearch is a bit more thorough with their suggestions for dealing with brick walls.  They have 33 points that they spread out in 7 larger areas:

Preliminaries:

  1. Start with the most likely records
  2. Go from the known to the unknown
  3. Focus on one question at a time
  4. Look for alternate spellings and nicknames
  5. Do not trust indexes
  6. Do not trust copies selected by someone else
  7. Make friends with librarians and archivists

Fundamentals:

  1. Start with a well-documented family group record
  2. Research logs – keep good research logs for each family
  3. Document and organize as you go
  4. Search worldwide indexes for your family name
  5. Look for death documents
  6. Local histories, biographies and genealogies

Advanced Research Strategies:

  1. Draw a timeline
  2. Organize, review and evaluate evidence
  3. Use forms to create new brain connections and raise questions

Expand the Number of Sources Used:

  1. Be thorough
  2. Substitute record types
  3. Use Wiki articles as a checklist
  4. Switch jurisdictions
  5. Area searches
  6. Try an exhaustive preliminary survey
  7. Search more libraries and archives

Search Records of Kin, Neighbors and Associates:

  1. Find your relatives children
  2. Research neighbors and relatives

Use Logic, Deduction, Inference, and Inspiration:

  1. Create a master research plan
  2. Correlate and integrate records of neighbors
  3. Study migration patterns
  4. Try to disprove uncertain connections
  5. Listen to your feelings

Continue Education and Follow-Up:

  1. Get an education
  2. Get help
  3. Share and collaborate

Genealogy in Time, an online magazine, wrote about 50 different ideas to tackle your impossible to find ancestors, here are a few suggestions:

  1. Search for maiden names
  2. Use middle names as first names
  3. Use naming conventions (such as the Victorian way of oldest son – father’s father, second son – mothers father, third son – father; oldest daughter – mothers mother; second daughter – father’s mother; third daughter – mother)
  4. Search by Village – sometimes searching records by a small village will have a bad transcription pop out because they are only a few pages they may be easier to tackle)
  5. Be aware of changing jurisdictions (boundaries for towns, counties, states were always changing)
  6. Schoolhouse records
  7. Electoral records
  8. Church/Synagogue records
  9. Land records
  10. Port of Entry
  11. Cemeteries – where they are buried and who they are buried near
  12. Wills
  13. Pensions
  14. Family associations that are for your last name

Lastly, that is not listed anywhere above is using DNA.  By taking a DNA test that provides you with cousin matches, you may find someone who you are related too and it could provide an answer to the question you seek.

So many ideas that you can use to try to knock down your brick wall, or at least chisel away at them a bit.  I was reading in one of the Facebook Groups I belong to today that one lady had a brick wall that lasted 35 years.  I asked her how joyful her happy dance was after finally crashing it down last year and she said she is still dancing.  I guess it puts in reality how my 4-years is really nothing.

If you have found yourself trying to find unknown ancestors and you have an idea that was extremely useful for you but not listed, please share in the comments below.  I would love to explore more ways to find Andrew and Suzanna.

 

Genealogy

Mind Mapping

I’m presently taking a class on genealogy and one of the things they briefly went over in last week’s portion is mind mapping.  I’ll be honest, I never really knew what mind mapping was, now I could sum it up to it being brainstorming on a piece of paper.  But I decided to take a little more in-depth examination of mind mapping and how it can help you with your family history research.

What is Mind Mapping

Using the Wikipedia definition, a “mind map is a diagram used to visually organize information”. It’s hierarchal and shows relationships among the pieces of the whole. According to MindMapping.com, it’s a “highly effective way of getting information in and out of your brain” as it’s both creative and logical at the same time.  Mind maps are illustrations of what you are thinking.

Which goes back to my original statement of it being like brainstorming on a piece of paper.

Characteristics of Mind Mapping

There are certain characteristics that each mind map must possess.

Main Idea

Each mind map has a main idea.  It’s the theme of what your mind map is about.

Branches

These are the main ideas that branch off of your main idea that create connections.

Keywords

These words or ideas that support or describe your main idea are summarized into keywords, no sentences allowed.

Twigs

Lastly, you have less important ideas that aid in describing the keywords, and these branch off onto smaller lines, or twigs.

Creating Mind Maps

There are different ways to create mind maps.  You can draw from hand (I apologize for my bad photo – somehow my paper got folded but something told me trying to re-write it wouldn’t work as I’d probably just mess it up and get totally frustrated).

20191112_193005

Mind maps can also be made with computer software.  Some of the software that you can use are the following: Coggle, Mindly, Draw.io, iMindMap, MindMup, MindMeister, Scapple, and SmartDraw to name just a few.

MindMapping_mindmap_handdrawn-796x531
Photo found at MindMeister.com

Using Your Mind Map

Mind mapping is a tool that helps make you a better thinker. When you come across a problem, even something that really has you stumped like a brick wall, write it down, all of it, you may just get pointed in the right direction on where to look next.

The one I did above is one of my brick walls, which actually leads to a bigger brick wall.  George Washington Blair is the 4th child of my great-great-great-grandparents.  I only have 1 death certificate listing my 3x-great-grandmothers name and I strongly feel that if I can find George Washington Blair’s death certificate, that maybe it will give me some insight on my 3x-great-grandparents.

A mind map isn’t going to solve your problems, but it will allow you to see your information in a logical flow and give you the opportunity to see what you still need to find, and then you can best decide where to go to seek your answers.

Good luck!