Sellers Circle Puzzle on AncestryDNA

How can I have a Nathan Douglas Sellers circle?

Yes, I have a Nathan Douglas Sellers in my Heartland_Genealogy tree on Ancestry. He is part of my FAN (friends, associates and neighbors) club for my early Kentucky research. The Sellers family is also part of my FAN research for Preble County, Ohio.

Yes, I have DNA matches to support a Sellers relationship.

No, I don't have the SELLERS surname in my pedigree. I have lots of documentation to support my pedigree back for 5 and 6 generations. Generation wise, Nathan Douglas Sellers (1797-1874) would match up with Nelson Garret Crawford (1808-1864). Nelson Crawford is my 3rd great grandfather (6th generation).

I have yDNA results to support my CRAWFORD lineage.

So where do the SELLERS fit?

Based on my paper research, the only possible connection between Nathan Douglas Sellers and myself is thru his mother, Sarah Crawford. Sarah was given permission to marry William Sellers by Rebekah Crawford in 1795 in Lincoln County, Kentucky.  This is where it gets 'fuzzy'. Based on the marriage record, I (and other researchers) have Rebekah Crawford as Sarah's mother. Rebekah's husband is believed to be John Crawford who died in 1779. Other children in this family may include Mary (who married James Sellers) and James Crawford. At this point, the conclusion has been that this James Crawford is the James Crawford who married Martha Knight and NOT my James Crawford.

Going back another generation, the John Crawford who died in 1779 is claimed to be the son of James Crawford and Margery.  Researchers have identified the sons of this couple as James, John, William and Andrew. One Crawford researcher has proposed that my James Crawford is a son of Andrew Crawford. Ancestry's 'We're Related' app did propose that my James Crawford was a grandson of James Crawford and Margery. The app had an unidentified male as the father of my James Crawford.

Based on this 'fuzzy' tree, Nathan Douglas Sellers and my James Crawford (married Sally Duggins) could possibly both descend from James Crawford and Margery.

Nathan D Sellers --> Sarah Crawford --> John Crawford / Rebekah --> James Crawford / Margery
James Crawford (Sally Duggins) --> unknown --> James Crawford / Margery

If the above scenario is accurate, then James and Margery Crawford would be our common ancestor. That would make me a 2nd cousin to Nathan Douglas Sellers FIVE TIMES removed.  It would also mean going back EIGHT generations from me to get to the common ancestor.

In looking at the relationships in the circle, I am shown outside of the circle. I do match 2 family groups in the circle along with a third individual in the circle.

Does this DNA circle support the idea that Nathan Douglas Sellers and my James Crawford are related thru a common ancestor such as James (Margery) Crawford?

Still a puzzle!

RootsMagic - Preparing to Sync

It's almost here! The ability to 'sync' my genealogy data stored in RootsMagic with Ancestry is arriving soon.

According to the RootsMagic blog post, "Questions about Upcoming Ancestry Features - We've Got Answers", the first preparatory step will involve a decision.

Which set of data do I use to sync RootsMagic with Ancestry?

• RootsMagic data 
• Ancestry tree

I'm going to use my RootsMagic data

• RootsMagic contains all of my collateral line research
• RootsMagic contains sources from outside of Ancestry (deeds, licenses, certificates, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, newspapers, etc.)
• Most of the events in RootsMagic have documentation attached. Some of this documentation is older and not as accurate as current standards -- but it is documentation. 

Since this will be a 'new' tree on Ancestry, I believe there will be some consequences associated with switching to this 'new' tree. (NOTE: This is MY opinion. The sync may not work this way.)

• I will have to 're-connect' the DNA tests I administer to this new tree
• matches may change
• shared hints may change
• circles will likely disappear at first before re-forming
• genealogical communities will likely disappear at first before reappearing

• Shaky leaf hints may be affected -- This will depend on how well Ancestry recognizes the events and associated documentation in my file. 

Because I don't want to risk losing something that is in my RootsMagic file, I'm willing to risk having a ton of shaky leaf hints appear when I elect to use my RootsMagic data for the sync.

Thus, my major concern is making sure I have downloaded my DNA matches and documented the shared matches and DNA circles.

There may be other consequences that I haven't considered. I would love to hear from other RootsMagic users about how they are preparing for this upcoming sync.

There's work to do to prepare -- but I am looking forward to this new feature!

Genealogy Communities - Connections

My Communities

Early Settlers of the Lower Midwest and Virginia

• 614 DNA Matches
• 460,062 AncestryDNA Members
• Confidence: 20%
• My Surnames (1775-1825)
• Beckerdite
• Bland
• Buckles
• Briles
• Browning
• Burke
• Butler
• Christy
• Crandall
• Crawford
• Foster
• Ricketts
• Rush 
• Smith
• Story
• Thompson 

Genetic Communities

Prior to the release of Ancestry's new genetic communities, Blaine Bettinger posted the following in the Facebook group, Genetic Genealogy Tips and Techniques:

What are your two largest cluster predictions? Don’t list every possible cluster, just list two (2) probable clusters where the largest number of your relatives were located in 1800-1850 or so.

Even though I've already looked at the genetic communities associated with my DNA, I decided to take the time to study my paper research to see what it would indicate.

To help with that 'study' I decided to re-create the 'Where were they born?' spreadsheet. I extended the spreadsheet to a sixth generation. For the most part, this sixth generation catches people born in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

Current evidence indicates that my New Brunswick, Canada branch is actually loyalists from New York. Evidence also suggests that almost all of my New York lines go back to early New England. Thus, I'm going to predict that I have a genetic community that expands out of New England. (on both my mom's and my dad's side of my tree)

A lot of my other branches go across Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. A couple of these lines migrate into these areas from Maryland while others venture thru Kentucky and lead back to Virginia. Thus, I'm going to predict a genetic community associated with the Ohio River Valley.

Even though, it was suggested to only pick two genetic communities, I'm going to propose a third one: North Carolina.

So -- how do my predictions stack up against my Ancestry Genetic Communities?

Judson Foster Crawford - Josie Winifred Hammond

Judson Foster Crawford was born in April 1866 in Warren County, Indiana. He was the second child born to Washington Marion and Mary (Foster) Crawford. Judson's father had only been home from the war for a year when Judson was born.

At the age of 14, Judson was living with his parents in Warren County, Indiana. Family tradition says that as a young adult, Judson

• was a cook's helper on a cattle drive
• worked on a ranch
• worked in a grocery store

Even though these stories are hard to prove, they could all be true. Judson's uncle, James H. Crawford migrated from Indiana to the Dodge City area where he owned both a ranch and a grocery store. Thus, Judson could have worked for his uncle on the ranch or in town at the store. The 1885 Kansas census indicates that Judson did work in a store since his occupation is listed as clerk.

Leon Russell Crawford

Leon Russell Crawford was born in Newton Kansas on the 6^th of Feb 1894.

According to Leon’s wife, Winnie Crawford, the family lived in Oklahoma when Leon and his sister Bernice were young. Winnie stated:

Judson Crawford worked on a ranch in Oklahoma because Josie’s sister and husband were there. The family all almost died. Judson was extremely ill. The children, Bernice (over 2) and Leon (1) almost died because of poor diet.

Documentation for this story has not been found. However, Josie’s sister and husband did live in Oklahoma.

The family was living in Dodge City by his 6^th birthday. As a child, Leon attended the Third Ward School that was located on Boot Hill.

GPS Study Group - Chapter 1

Genealogy Proof Standard Study Group
Homework Chapter One  -What is the Genealogical Proof Standard? Your Name

Reference: Christine Rose, Genealogical Proof Standard: Building a Solid Case 4th Edition Revised, (San Jose, California: CR Publications) 2014.


My book arrived today -- so I can get the homework done in time!

While waiting on my book, I've been thinking about which areas of my research that I could pull from for the assignment. However, after spending my day working with a genealogical resource and trying to figure out the mystery behind it, I've decided to use it for my homework.

The resource in question is a journal found in the archives of the Nemaha County Historical Society titled: Dr. Fangman's journal of baby deliveries.

This journal contains birth information from June 1932 until August 1955.

I would categorize this journal as a derivative source.

• The handwriting is very similar throughout the journal. This would imply that the same person entered the information
• It appears that the same ink was used on an entire page or pages.
• At least one entry appears to have been recorded twice (March 1952)
• There is a loose sheet of paper in the back that appears to have been a list that was used to enter some of the information

Based on the consistency of the handwriting and ink, it is likely that the information in this journal was copied from some other source -- such as the original records.

At first glance, this journal appears to be a source of primary information for the birth information. To be able to say this journal contains primary information, more information is needed about the journal itself and its provenance.

According to the letter that came with the journal, the journal may have been a record of all of the births of Dr. Fangman in Nemaha County.

Since the Seneca area has a rich German heritage, it was fairly obvious that the names in this journal were likely Nemaha County names. (ex: Koehler, Steinlage, Huerter, Bergman, Engelken, Kramer, Bramlage, Olberding, Luebbe, Heiman, Feldkamp, Broxterman, Brucken, Rettele, Wempe, Rusche, Lueger)

Before this source could be considered to provide primary information, we had to verify the identity of Dr. Fangman and that he indeed practiced medicine in the Seneca area between 1932 and 1955. At this point, all we have is negative evidence.

• The history of the Seneca hospital does not list a Dr. Fangman
• No record of a Dr. Fangman could be found in other historical society holdings
• No reference to a Dr. Fangman could be found in the newly digitized Courier Tribune
• The 1940 census contained several Fangman families in Nemaha County but none were identified as a doctor
• None of the former board members for the historical society knew anything about a Dr. Fangman

Since the provenance of the journal is in question, I would classify the quality of the birth information as indeterminable (at this time).

Whether the information in this journal is direct evidence or indirect evidence would depend on the question being asked. 

• If asking whether Mrs. Clifford Jerome had a son on Dec. 26, 1933, then it would be direct evidence 
• If asking whether a specific Jerome son was born on Dec. 26, 1933, then it would be indirect evidence since the record does not contain the name of the baby.

Writing a citation for this source is actually more difficult than determining the quality of the source. Based on how the journal is entered in the historical society's collection and following he guidelines for archived material in Evidence Explained, the following would be the citation:

Fangman. "Dr. Fangman's Journal of Baby Deliveries." Doctor's Collection, Nemaha County Historical Society, Seneca, Kansas.

Because this journal contains a lot of valuable information regarding local families, I am still trying to figure out the provenance of the journal. I have appealed to the community thru a blog post and thru Facebook.

My husband talked to someone born in 1951 and believed to be in the journal. There was an entry indicating his parents had a son in July 1951 -- but he was born in early August of 1951. The July entry is the last entry for July in 1951 so it might be the same person. Since this person was delivered by Dr. Hash, we believe the journal may be a listing of the babies delivered by Dr. Hash.

Thru a Facebook contact, another individual was born in Feb. 1953 and delivered by Dr. Hash. Her parents aren't listed in the journal -- but there are two lines indicating Feb. 1953 and no parents listed.

Thru another Facebook contact, we have located a set of twins in the journal. The birth date in the journal is one day off of the celebrated day. We are hoping the birth certificate will identify the doctor.


More evidence needs collected connecting the individuals in the journal to Dr. Hash before we could conclude that the journal is actually a listing of Dr, Hash's deliveries. In addition, some genealogical research on the donor's family needs conducted to try and figure out the provenance of the journal.

Even though the provenance of the journal is in question, I would love to have this type of information as a source on one of my relatives. The info in this journal could easily lead to a newspaper entry for the birth -- thus working toward that goal of a preponderance of evidence.