Taking a breather and Sullivans!

It surely has been awhile since I posted.I have been managing 5 genetic genealogy DNA accounts which is very very time consuming.This will be a brief return and I will try to do better.

Two of the biggest mysteries I wanted to solve with autosomal DNA was first to ascertain my Grandfather's identity and that has been done. This week 23andme introduced an "Ancestry Finder" program that is both exciting and informative. It shows the 23 chromosomes and our matches, even those who decline to contact. l It is a bit like a crystal ball and shows my ethnic background in a nutshell as # 1 Ireland and #2 Norway. (well it varies a bit but I said a nutshell)
Very wonderful experience for me.

The number two mystery I wanted to unravel was the family of my mitoDNA ancestor Margaret Lynch of Cork who is born in 1841 and marries Charles Rementer most likely in 1860 in Rhode Island. I have known of her existence for almost 30 years and have gotten no further than that.

Enter DNA and I have a very close match with a full sequence Mitochondrial test which shows 2 of us as being almost 2 peas in a pod with J2b1a1 mutations. Our ancestors both hailed from Cork around 1840. We have hung in THAT spot for almost 2 years..

My buddy and I have tested first our own autosomal DNA and then a host of cousins and siblings ( I have but one).My sister Carol, bless her, spit for the family cause and with that we miraculously got two matches on her DNA.My DNA apparently did not take this excursion.

Having been recently told by a cousin that our Lynch family was said to be cousins with the noted John L.Sullivan, I pounced on both a Lynch and a Sullivan cousin match when they "came in". Apparently my Margaret was born to a Jeremiah Lynch and a Mary or Margaret Sullivan from the Beara peninsula near Bantry Bay.

I definitely have a general location and also know that THIS generation at least came to Newport Rhode Island and stayed in New England for keeps. Later generations of Sullivans may not have done so.

I am content.

Mother's Day for Elizabeth Faunt Carrow

Your mother is always with you... She's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street. Your mother lives inside your laughter. She's the place you came from, your first home...She's the map you follow with every step that you take and nothing on earth can separate you. Not time, Not space...Not even death will ever separate you from your mother... love going out to my Mom who I now understand so much better..

Thanks of course to my genealogy efforts and the genetic genealogy which has lately been consuming my time, I do now know so much more about Mom's childhood and her own mother.

I know more most probably than she ever did about Swansons, Faunts and Dugans those folks whose lives made us all what we are.

Madness Monday - How many Duggans?

Tory Island

Close to St.Patrick's Day it makes sense that the number of Dugan families living in Falcarragh Donegal in 1850 is at least a sense of puzzlement, if not actual madness.

A clue came a year or so ago when my male cousin of this line matched no others in his Y line DNA not even the 'other' Paddy Dugan from that area.

A larger clue came last week when I got a "cousin match" at 23andMe's Relative Finder, another woman and I share a segment on a chromosome. She and I both descend from a Patrick Dugan from Falcarragh Donegal.

So why is this maddening in any way?Well remember the Y DNA? We don't match these Dugans.

New cousin has a Duggan/Doogan marriage, so surely that is where we come in?No, those names and locations do not identity our family either.They are called the 'Bartley' Duggans from the Rosses, still not us!!

Pictured above is Bernard 'Barney' Dugan, my Great Grandma's brother. We have lots of Bernards (aka Bryan) and Denises in our family.Ours are farmers and not the owners of 'The Rosses" a historical pub.

New cousin and I suspect a McFadden or a McClafferty is in fact our common ancestor who passed down our segment of chromosome #12. We are on it and each have another cousin testing.

How about those Dugans? Well my cousins and I are looking into the possibility that we are in fact, 'Tory Island Doohans'. This family was known to marry into the somewhat unrelated Duggan and Doogan families from Falcarragh also. Many records spell it Doohan I have found and we are surely working on it.

Éirinn go Brách

Wordless Wednesday (sort of) - Autosomal DNA,cousins and me

In addition to testing my autosomal DNA at 23andme in their 'Relative Finder' and finding out my unknown paternal ethnic background I have had two REMARKABLE cousin matches.We each share a segment of a chromosome, part of a larger segment passed on by our Carrow ancestors all three of whom were siblings born between 1814 and 1830 in Duck Creek Delaware.

Family Tree DNA will also begin a similar testing program called 'Family Finder'. I have been a surname group administrator there for a few years.Instead of words today I will include links to what I am talking about. Carrows please join the Ancestry.com group! Also there is a Faunt, Rementer, Swanson and Norwegian group.

http://groups.ancestry.com/signup/respond.aspx?invid=AHgfBfwdUVd484DebDOSiQ

https://www.familytreedna.com/landing/family-finder.aspx

https://www.23andme.com/

A Treasure from Troms Norway

Bleak and bare in this woodcut, this view of Bjarkoy Troms Norway is from about 1000 AD. It represents a "Peasant Revolution" against the King of Norway King Olaf by the citizenry and in particular one Tore Hund.

Olaf ( also called St.Olaf ) was killed by Hund a native of Bjarkoy on July 29, 1030.I have not yet found Tore in my ancestor file, thank goodness, he looks a bit grumpy.

I am struck by the stark scenery although of course it is stylized.

Tombstone Tuesday - Sadie Kirwan Carrow

My father, mother and I spent hours one Saturday afternoon carrying a pot of geraniums looking for his Grandmother's grave at Old St.Joseph's in Swedesboro NJ.


Sadie adopted and raised my father her grandson and only grandchild after my Grandmother Elizabeth sent him back to Penns Grove from Baltimore MD when he was about 3.

She died during WWII and all Dad knew is that she was buried next to her mother and 'near the fence'. We were told the graves had 'sunk'. Dad always wanted to get her a headstone.

I was able to find Sadie's grave as well as her mother Lizzie Sweeney Kirwan who died when Sadie was about 3. I purchased her a headstone, poor dear soul. A Boy Scouts Eagle project had righted the graves leaving Lizzie's stone after 100 + years.She died in 1890.

Requiescat in pace et lux perpetua luceat, Sadie, Lizzie and baby Maggie

Norwegian Bygdebok, my cousins and Neil

I was able to determine through 23andME that my previously unknown grandfather was in fact my stepgrandfather Sigurd Boe a Norwegian sailor from Bjarkoy Troms Norway.

Norwegian records being astonishingly wonderful I was able to find his family of origin and later his extended paternal family in another Norwegian county. My closest Scandinavian matches at 23and me are both Norwegian but both have an adoption. They both have names and locations.

A wonderful man whose passion is the Bygdebok for Laerdal Sogn og Fjordane Norway sent me his work of art..5 books for Laerdal in a genealogical database that goes back to the 1600s. In that I was able to find the families of my 23andMe cousins and it indicates I am related to their family although distantly. A small miracle.

A definition: " Bygdebøker are basically local history books that contain a wealth of genealogy information. A bygdebok will generally cover a small community, perhaps one or two parishes".

I am amazed, thankful. and grateful. My heartfelt thanks to Neil and whatever ancestors guided our efforts to find one another.

Wordless Wednesday - Faces of America

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/facesofamerica/

Join me in front of your TV on this date. I discovered so much of my heritage via DNA that it almost is unbelievable.

Sentimental Surname Sunday - Keys of Delmarva

In preparation for my Carrow and allied families compilation, I wrote this and decided it was both a surname and sentimental. I decided to post it here as my week-end endeavor.

I first became aware of the Keys family when I became acquainted with Mary Keys Carrow as an ancestor. I had hoped in 2005 to establish John Carrow as a Revolutionary War ancestor but his geographic location during that time was in question. Vernon Skinner who has researched large parts of my Delmarva lines for me presented me with William Keys as a Revolutionary War Patriot and I was very happy to have found him.He (William not Vern) and I were easily established into the Daughters of the American Revolution database.

William Keys may have served in the French and Indian Wars as a young man We do know he is born in Queen County Maryland March 23, 1738 and is baptized at St.Luke’s Parish there. His parents were John Keys (Key, Kees) and Anne Sewell daughter of Rev. Richard Sewell of Cecil County. He first appears in our sights in Kent County Delaware when he returns from his Revolutionary War service. He is not found in Kent Co. prior to 1782.

William serves in the Continental Army as a Private 1st Company, 2nd Battalion under, Col. Otho Holland Williams Regiment, Southern Army of the United States. He served in the Delaware Regiment until very late in 1782. He was at or near Yorktown at the surrender surely as his unit served under Gen. Nathaniel Greene.

They then marched to near Charleston SC where at Camp Ashley River they kept the British under surveillance with nightly skirmishes for 2 more years. Records show they (Delaware and Maryland regiments) were extremely poorly clothed and underfed.

Did William return to Queen Anne Maryland and marry? This is a possibility as although he had property in Murderkill Hundred Delaware in 1782 we find him not living there and either unfound or delinquent until 1786. In 1786 he is head of household and we find him there until 1794 occasionally as William Kus and Kees. He marries Mary who may be a connection of Nathaniel Wilds wife Mary so is possibly an Ebtharp, Numbers, Tilton or Alleband from Queen Anne Maryland.

Did William have a prior wife or children? This is unknown although there are two William Keys’ mentioned in Maryland in prior years in Dorchester. It is surely possible although we do know there is at least one other William Keys living in Maryland.

We do know that our William with his growing family is in Dover Hundred in 1793. In 1792 a Bounty Land grant was applied for by William although it is not obvious whether it was used for this or sold for cash. Did William sicken at this time due to his years in the swamps near Camp Ashley River SC? He is not found in tax lists until his Probate accounts in 1796.

Children born to William and Mary during those years are Mary, Elizabeth, Ann ,Priscilla and lastly his only son William in 1795. Timothy Lister who marries Mary Keys present accounts in 1796. He is stepfather to the children and Mary Keys Carrow names her first son Timothy surely in his honor. Elizabeth Keys who marries John Cook names her first son William Keys Cook after her departed father.

John Keye is the first man bearing the name that I can link with a paper trial through the generations. In 1665 he is listed as a Headright and by 1669 he is a servant on the plantation of William Parrott on the Choptank River Talbot County at “Seventh Heaven”.
He must have been successful during this time as he next comes into view in 1696 as John Keye, witness to the will of John Pennington. He has two sons John and Richard born between 1688 and 1696.

He is a member of St. Stephen’s Parish, Cecil Co where in 1696, a John Keye he witnessed the will of John Pennington. He is widowed at some point and makes the acquaintance of Henry Pennington who dies 1702 Sassafrass Neck MD.It is possible that his first wife could have been a relative of John Pennington but what we know for sure is that Elizabeth as wife of John Keys, filed administration accounts as widow of Henry Pennington in 1702. Another witness to Henry’s will is Thomas Ebtharp and this family that will follow us into Kent County.

Elizabeth Boyer Pennington Keys as widow of Cecil Co., deposed her age as 57 in 1721. She dies 25 April,1738 and is buried at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, in Cecil County. Elizabeth and John Keys have a son Thomas who is born about 1706 who signed inventory of Richard Keys as next of kin in 1748 and with wife Esther, filed administration accounts on estate of John Irons the same year.

Many of the Keys family either precede William into Kent County Delaware and Dorchester County Maryland around the pre- and post Revolutionary years.

Reverend Richard Sewell grandfather of William Keyes is a player in all of this as he was sent by the Bishop of London, and appointed by Governor Nicholson to serve as the rector of both North and South Sassafrass parishes of St.Stephens' Church in Cecil County Maryland.He married Jane Ellis there in 1699 and was the father-in-law of John Keys the younger.

Treasure Chest Thursday

John Swanson and Rebecca Spencer

John Carrow and Mary Keys

Two sides of my family in records.Without these marriages and these people who came before me and lived simple and honest lives, I would not exist.

Without these records handed down sometimes absentmindedly, my family history would be nowhere.

I am grateful for everyone who came before me and everyone who has helped in my search.

(Belated) Wordless Wednesday

Probable birthplace of Sigurd Ole Boe and home of his grandfather Ole Larson Boe.

Bjarkoy Troms Norway

Sentimental Sunday - Line Street in Penns Grove

A sentimental journey back in time to the first house I remember, 35 East Line Street Penns Grove NJ. In addition to the house ( which I actually dream about sometimes ) I want to visit in my mind's eye my first real playmates who were not family. Joey Vanderslice lived next door to me and his cousin Jerry Howard lived down the street.

In recent times I have come across genealogy records for their families also and realize they and others in their lines were very "Old Salem County" families. Of course we did not talk about those things being children with more immediate issues. Joey and Jerry came to my first birthday party in this new house built by my parents in the Post WWII era, I am sure.

Jerry being somewhat older than I was was my escort for a first outing, to movie at the Grove a few streets away.My mother wrote this is my baby book in May 1950.Why then, I wonder was Mom surprised that I dropped her hand and went into kindergarten myself 3 months later?

Joey V. tried to teach me to shoot marbles but I had definite fine motor issues. I tried to interest him in my Bobbsey Twin books which I began to read at 5 and 6 but Joey was not a big reader.I am not sure what we had in common except the neighborhood.I called his mother "Aunt Mae" and liked to hang in her kitchen where she was quite the cook.

East Line Street was on the boundary line between Penns Grove and Carneys Point, then called Upper Penns Neck. An old sewage ditch ran along the back property lines and behind that was a woods.Joey was allowed to explore, I was not but am unsure I would have ventured there anyway. None of that exists now.

Joey's parents had chickens in a coop as did Jerry's. Jerry's family also did a bit of farming, I remember corn growing so surely they had more than the two acres we did. Others on the street had truck gardens and we were the last block in town before actual farms started.

Several years after that my mother went to work as school nurse and we moved to a big house on the river, their dream house.They never looked back,but in my minds eye and sometimes in my dreams I revisit that house and climb the steps and Joey calls me "Yo Kath-ee" and off we run.

Tombstone Tuesday - The Sweeneys from Ireland

James Sweeney and his wife Mary Jane Huey rest at St. Mary's RC Cemetery Salem NJ. Mary Jane was from County Tyrone daughter of James and Letitia who were farmers. James and Mary Jane were also farmers in the Quinton/Alloway area in Salem County NJ. They were among and early group of Catholics farming in South Jersey and James was a founding member perhaps of the Grange.

Their children moved into Gloucester County near Swedesboro and attended St.Joseph's.Their daughter Elizabeth married Patrick Kirwan also from Ireland. Lizzie dies young and tragically leaving young children and a newborn who lived one month.

Lizzie Sweeney Kirwans' daughter Sadie Kirwan Carrow raised and adopted as her own my father William Charles Carrow. Sadie was only 2 when her mother died and she was interred with her in Old St.Joseph's in Swedesboro.

Follow Friday - Whatever gets you there

I have been really immersed in my Norwegian DNA and have concluded that my step grandfather Sigurd Boe is actually my biological grandfather which he indicated at least twice to me. Norwegian records are awesome and free and I now have several generations of my paternal ancestors in and around Bjarkoy Troms Norway. A cousin, son of my father's half brother has been located thanks to a wonderful native of that small island, and I have exchanged pictures with him.

I tried to do the same for our Swansons but it is very difficult.I paid for a trial subscription on Genline but so far it is an uphill struggle without knowing the parish.Norwegian records have something called ' bygddebok' which are family pedigrees for certain lines. Bless them!

The Genline US specialist tells me ( as I knew ) that very likely our Swanson men were Anders and Carl son of Swen and from Gothenberg which can mean the city or the county. She sent some other possible places to check but our men came too early for them.

One new thing was said however: "While they would not be part of the original Colonial Swedes or included in what is defined as the Colonial Swedes, they may have become active in the Swedish community at the time and joining some Swedish organizations. However, they may have known someone or been related to someone and that is why they emigrated to Philadelphia "

So possibly we are actually some kin to the Colonial Swedes or were known to them. That could be a clue and I will follow it.

Wordless Wednesday

Oh My Gosh! Happy 101 Award!

Oh My Gosh! Here I am doing my genealogy and DNA intensely and not even Blogging and to my surprise I get an award. Linda McCauley, thank you! I sure did not get it for promptness.





Now 10 things that make me happy and 10 Bloggers who get an award.



1. My four adult children. ( 3 sons and a daughter)
2. My six grandchildren. ( 3 girls and 3 boys)
3. Jim who shares my life.
4. Finding Family ( if you read my blog, you know!)
5. Genetic Genealogy ( includes all those I have met doing it)
6. Reading ( Mysteries both historical and foreign)
7. Our Beach House ( Outer Banks 4 wheel drive)
8. Retirement ( always and every day I marvel at it.)
9. My New Jersey roots ( small town girl)
10. Blogging and sharing genealogy

Now for 10 awardees, and this is hard (and late)therefore I absolve them of some of the second ten requirements (Waving my Magic Wand about). Some new ones who are very exciting and also my old favorites and some who have recently inspired me.

Gone But Not Forgotten
Ancestor Tracking
Of Trolls and Lemons
Nordic Blue
My Genealogy Blog
A Light That Shines Again
Small-Leaved Shamrock
The Genetic Genealogist
The Spittoon
Be Not Forgot

Wordless Wednesday

Surname Saturday - Boe and Olsen

Several new ancestral surnames have bubbled to the surface for me in December.Most important for me I believe is what I have now deduced to be my paternal surname.
In November I wrote about my "Search for My Grandfather" an event which actually had propelled me into both genealogy and DNA in retirement. 'Holes' in a pedigree is what many of my genetic genealogy compatriots have in common and surely understand and I have written about that already.

With 209 current cousin matches on "Relative Finder" at 23andme, my closest matches are turning out to be from Norway. On this, the second exploration of my autosomal profile, but the first of the full genome ( all 23 chromosomes) a Baltic area native element like Saami continues to be evident.

Dad's stepfather Sigurd Boe twice alluded to being Dad's father in my hearing.My Dad, although he referred to his mother and stepfather as "my parents" was less sure of this fact and he legally was named Carrow after his Grandparents adopted him. Four years ago for the first time I received Dad's birth certificate naming "Louis Saybold" as the father but the document was stamped "illegitimate" and also gave his name as William Charles Carrow.

Yesterday I found a link from another Blogger of the Digital Archives of Norway. Grandpop Boe's death certificate as reported to the Norwegian consulate called him "Olaf Boe.His given name was Sigurd Boe and sure enough I find Ove Sigurd's birth and his confirmation as Ove Sigurd Boe in Bjarkoy Troms Norway.Thrilling to me of course!

His father is indicated as Oskar Ludvig Bremer {Oleson} and his mother Lorentse Sofie Kristiansdotr. His paternal grandfather is listed as both Lars Oleson Boe and Peder Oleson Boe which I suppose points to the patronymic of Olesen or 'son of Ole' and a place or origin name of Bo/Boe? I am not at all sure of that but I am sure it is him as he is born in Bjarkoy Troms as found in his first visa to the US in 1920.He seems to have retained his Norwegian citizenship although I know he received Social Security and a pension from a Philadelphia bank building where he was their operating engineer.

Rounding out this found information in 2010 is the place of residence of my Great grandparents
of Slagstad Troms Norway which is either part of or near to Bjarkoy. My paternal GGrandmother ( can you believe this!!) is Elisabeth Martinsdatr also of Slagstad Troms Norway.

Follow Friday 2010

A new decade has arrived and with it my determination to continue discovering what I can about my ancestors. I use a multi-disciplinary approach for most things and genealogy is no exception; a favorite expression is "when the tide rises all the boats will float".

Who do I follow and what are my tools? A thoroughly modern 'baby boomer' I believe in shortcuts which include: genetic genealogy aka "DNA", the use of experienced and trusted researchers and my own anthropology education which highlights customs and traditions of each culture.In addition, I am grateful that I live in an age where I can find a birth record in the old country which will link me with another cousin.

The end of the past decade allowed me to find cousins in New Zealand and Donegal Ireland who are now friends using all of the tools I just described. I also know the path of my family in this country from 1643 forward to the present day.

Susan Carrow and Don Carrow whose ancestors left Accomac Virginia and went to Bath North Carolina, David Font in New Zealand and Manus McClafferty from Falcarragh Donegal as well as my Quinn/Doogan cousins are folks I now communicate with routinely thanks to this great age I live in.

In the coming decade I am vowing to illuminate my ancestors paths in even more detail. Online records some for free and some for a nominal amount of money will make that possible.

As my cousin Manus says "Le grá agus beannacht " for 2010.