Along the way, I had to give up on matching any Thompsons. I just don't. Not within 500 or more years. So I won't be finding any relatives this way. So I moved on to finding a place. Where do I fit then in the grand scheme? Ancestry.com left me at R1b which could be anywhere from Afghanistan to Ireland. How can I go further. Well the quick answer is...I can't really go much further with Ancestry.com; they don't offer any further testing. Most people I've run into use Family Tree DNA. They give you a bit more information and have many avenues for testing. Including SNP testing, which would help me find a narrower list of places. That all costs money. So I've been all over trying to figure out some sort of system for finding people like me...as you can see from my maps. Here is a breakdown of what different sites and people have categorized me as:
Ancestry.com 46 markers says R1b (super helpful) no further testing available through them.
Genetree guesses R1b1b2* - s128 (a safe bet, well above any defining)
OGAP19 (comforting but outdated) Highest in the highlands but also present in North England, Borders, East Anglia and Wales
McEwan R1bstr10 or R1bstr21...yes there are two of them. 46 markers is so frustrating 10 is popular in scotland and scandinavia 21 in Wales.
Campbell (also here) R1b-11 (R1b1c9*) - It's everywhere there are sheep- Cornwall, Cumbria, Western Isles, Orkney, Shetland, Wales and Norway?
A nice haplogroup predictor gives me two results:
Haplogroups and probabilities are as follows:
R1b =>51% R1b-S21-Scottish =>11% R1b-Frisian =>10% R1b-S.Irish =>6% R1b-Frisian3 =>5% R1b-S28 =>4% R1b-North/South 2 =>3% R1b-E.Europe =>2% R1b-Leinster =>2% R1b-N.Irish =>1% R1b-M222 (NW Irish) =>1% R1b-North/South 1 =>1% R1b-S21-Scottish2 =>1%
The s21 Scottish seems pretty explanatory and McEwan suggests that S21 is a broad group. S21-Scottish is spoken of in the context of the Scots modal Haplotype which I have quite a few markers in common with...but also some very telling markers are missing.
The same tester with a slightly different group of panels..probably listing all my numbers gives me this:
Haplogroups and probabilities are as follows:
R1b =>52% R1b-S28 =>11% R1b-S29-Frisian2 =>10% R1b-North/South 1 =>8% R1b-N.Irish =>4% R1b-M222 (NW Irish) =>4% R1b-S.Irish =>3% R1b-North/South 2 =>2% R1b-Frisian3 =>2% R1b-Frisian =>2% R1b-Ub =>2%
R1b-s28 is a bit more enigmatic..Here is what McEwan says:
"One of the principals of Ethnoancestry, David Faux, is S28+ and has been also undertaking considerable research genotyping as well. They have also found it in Southern Norway and in Wales. His full summary and hypotheses can be read at http://www.davidkfaux.org/dnaprofile2.html . In brief he ascribes S28+ to have appeared sometime during the LGM and was located in the Balkan Refugia. After the retreat of the ice, S28+ individuals traveled north to Germany via the Danube and into Poland. At a much later date they were associated with the La Tene culture and later still the Cimbri celts. Further work is required to clarify its exact origin and movement."
Reading that and taking a look at my maps...it seems to fit. Here is what David Faux says:
"In order to determine the S28 who is ancestral to the Faux family it has been necessary to delve into the history of the Celts and Germanic peoples and ferret out what makes the most sense. The evidence is very much in favor for the intermediary (between the first settler in England and pre - history) as being a member of the Cimbri Nation, a Celtic people from the uppermost reaches of the Danish Jutland Penninsula."
Unfortunately not much is really known about the Cimbri, including whether they spoke Celtic or Germanic. Some consider them Celts others Germans. What is great about this for me is the weird nature of my matches. I don't have any in Denmark, but I do in Germany and Poland and it's nice that someone else is looking for these "edge tribes" between the Celtic and German world.
Interestingly Capelli's listing for me is pretty widespread in Britain with most in Llangefni which is in North Wales on Anglesey . Another name caught my eye though. Morpeth. I'm not sure why anymore, but I associate that with this Campbell/Capelli/Oppenheimer group of clustering. For some reason it's stuck in my head. Morpeth. It comes up in a tie for 4th place for people like me. It's in Northumberland and it happens to be really close to the epicenter of Thompsons in 1881 (Belford UK just up the coast). It's definitely part of the Scottish English borders area where the Thom(p)sons are so plentiful. It's on the side of Hadrian's wall associated with the Votadini or Otadini (a tribe someone I contacted from my maps turned me on to).
Wikipedia: The name is recorded as Votadini in classical sources. Their descendants were the early medieval kingdom known in Old Welsh as Guotodin, and in later Welsh as Gododdin.
Why is it Described in Old Welsh? Because some of the Gododdin leave the Old North; Hen Ogledd and form a kingdom in Wales called Gwynedd...which includes..yup.. Anglesey.
So what does it all mean?
The odds are that the other paper trails I've followed are correct for our Thompsons as well. We're probably British/Scottish/Welsh and we probably moved to Northern Ireland before crossing over to the U.S. with the other Thompsons. We seem to be kind of different than the other Thompsons. We're from some odd scattered group. Odd ducks with some sort of Germano-Celtic-Belgic heritage that seems to stem from the east moving to Britain before the Romans..possibly...maybe.
Sorting out the Puzzle Pieces in My Big Messy Family
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
16 slow markers map
After I made my 9 slow markers map, I decided to push it out to 16 FTDNA slow markers to see what pattern would emerge.
This map takes the person's word for it unless they didn't know, then I used house of names, or surnamedb. Also it's fair to note that there are repeated names in this map which may add weight to certain areas. I put a Dameron in Belgium (where HON wants them) I put one in Ipswitch and one in Suffolk (where they place themselves). I have a Campbell in Argyllshire (their listing) and one in Strathclyde (HON). I have a Knowlton in Kent (their listing) and one in Dorset (Surnamedb and world names profiler puts Knowlton in the Cornwall/Dorset area). I put Steiner in Somerset (HON says Austria which makes sense, Surnamedb says Somerset..either would match my maps). I put Norton in Kent, although it's also supposedly from Argyllshire and world names profiler has it as most popular in Southern Ireland.
Here is a closeup on Britain:
Here is a closeup on Britain:
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Thom(p)son
Recently I visited the World Name profiler from publicprofiler.com: http://worldnames.publicprofiler.org
It's a very quick look at name distribution today. When talking about Thomsons and Thompsons the common knowledge is that the intrusive P is an english name and without is Scottish. I've even seen in other searches Thomson listed as a Celtic Scottish name while Thompson is listed as Western European/Other. Somehow, people are more willing to accept that MacTavish and MacTaus are Thompson but not that Thomson is likely Thompson.
It's the P! What do we do!? There's a P!
If you speak English...or probably even lowland Scots..try to say Thomson without the p sound sneaking out. The best I can do is Thomzun. It's hard because moving from the m to another consonant sound puts your mouth in the P position and it just slips out. Lets take an accepted clan name like Cam Biel..or Campbell. Now try to say Cambell. Say bell. Notice it's a nice B sound. now say cambell..feel the P sneaking in there? If you're me it also comes out more like Campbull.
So I decided to look at the profiler and see where these Thom(p)sons actually fall.
Here is Thomson:
Wow it really does decline at the border of Scotland...but it doesn't disappear.
Keep your eye on that Scottish Border...here is the Thompson map.
Holy Cow! right across the border is the Thompson homeland!
It seemed like the two names were really just variations of each other, so I made my own combined map with darker colors because of the two names overlapping.
I'm calling this one the Thom(p)son map. The near black parts are where the two names overlapped the most. Colors are adjusted out from there. Britain is pretty awful with Thom(p)sons. Ireland appears to be fairly well infected with them too.
When looking at this map it will help to realize that not all Thom(p)sons are related. The last name is more popular in the north..generally, but it doesn't mean they are a single family or ethnicity...just that Thomas's and their sons were more likely to pick a patrilineal name rather than an occupational name like Baker or Smith.
Once you put these two names back together the political border between England and Scotland becomes irrelevant and you can see that there is a cultural epicenter in the borders area for Thom(p)sons and it seems to push out from there.
It's a very quick look at name distribution today. When talking about Thomsons and Thompsons the common knowledge is that the intrusive P is an english name and without is Scottish. I've even seen in other searches Thomson listed as a Celtic Scottish name while Thompson is listed as Western European/Other. Somehow, people are more willing to accept that MacTavish and MacTaus are Thompson but not that Thomson is likely Thompson.
It's the P! What do we do!? There's a P!
If you speak English...or probably even lowland Scots..try to say Thomson without the p sound sneaking out. The best I can do is Thomzun. It's hard because moving from the m to another consonant sound puts your mouth in the P position and it just slips out. Lets take an accepted clan name like Cam Biel..or Campbell. Now try to say Cambell. Say bell. Notice it's a nice B sound. now say cambell..feel the P sneaking in there? If you're me it also comes out more like Campbull.
So I decided to look at the profiler and see where these Thom(p)sons actually fall.
Here is Thomson:
Wow it really does decline at the border of Scotland...but it doesn't disappear.
Keep your eye on that Scottish Border...here is the Thompson map.
Holy Cow! right across the border is the Thompson homeland!
It seemed like the two names were really just variations of each other, so I made my own combined map with darker colors because of the two names overlapping.
I'm calling this one the Thom(p)son map. The near black parts are where the two names overlapped the most. Colors are adjusted out from there. Britain is pretty awful with Thom(p)sons. Ireland appears to be fairly well infected with them too.
When looking at this map it will help to realize that not all Thom(p)sons are related. The last name is more popular in the north..generally, but it doesn't mean they are a single family or ethnicity...just that Thomas's and their sons were more likely to pick a patrilineal name rather than an occupational name like Baker or Smith.
Once you put these two names back together the political border between England and Scotland becomes irrelevant and you can see that there is a cultural epicenter in the borders area for Thom(p)sons and it seems to push out from there.
Levi Thompson Civil War Vet.
Here are some collected Notes I've attached to Levi Thompson (b circa 1835) father of Albert, who served in the 34th Indiana Infantry Volunteers:
Name: Levi Thompson
Residence: Alexandria, Indiana
Enlistment Date: 21 Sep 1861
Side Served: Union
State Served: Indiana
Service Record: Promoted to Full Corporal.
Enlisted as a Private on 21 September 1861.
Enlisted in Company D, 34th Infantry Regiment Indiana on 21 Sep 1861.
Mustered Out Company D, 34th Infantry Regiment Indiana on 3 Feb 1866.
Levi applied for his pension in 1869. I've read that early pension requests were the norm because soldiers often had terrible arthritis from being out in the elements for years.
Here is a general record of the movements of the 34th:
UNION INDIANA VOLUNTEERS
34th Regiment, Indiana Infantry
Organized at Anderson, Ind., and mustered in September 16, 1861. Moved to Jeffersonville, Ind., October 10, thence to New Haven, Ky., November 15, and duty there till December 14. Moved to Camp Wickliffe, Ky., December 14, and duty there till February 7, 1862. Attached to 10th Brigade, Army of the Ohio, November-December, 1861. 10th Brigade, 4th Division, Army of the Ohio, to February, 1862. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Army of Mississippi, to April, 1862. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, Army Mississippi. Garrison at New Madrid, Mo., to July, 1862. Helena, Ark., District of Eastern Arkansas, Dept. of Missouri, to November, 1862. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, District of Eastern Arkansas, Dept. of the Tennessee, to January, 1863. 3rd Brigade, 12th Division, 13th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to February, 1863. 1st Brigade, 12th Division, 13th Army Corps, to July, 1863. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 13th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to August, 1863, and Dept. of the Gulf to March, 1864. Defences of New Orleans, La., to December, 1864. Brazos, Santiago, Texas, U. S. Forces, Texas, to June, 1865. Dept. of Texas to February, 1866.
SERVICE.-Moved to Green River, Ky., February 7, 1862, thence to the Ohio River February 14, and to Cairo, Ill., with Nelson's Division, Army of the Ohio, February 17-20. Detached from Division and moved to Commerce, Mo., February 27-March 3. Siege of New Madrid, Mo., March 5-14. Siege and capture of Island No. 10, Mississippi River, March 15-April 8. Riddell's Point March 17. Garrison duty at New Madrid, Mo., April 7 to June 14. Expedition down Mississippi River to Fort Pillow, Tenn., May 19-23 (Detachment). Capture of Fort Pillow June 5 (Detachment). Moved to Memphis, Tenn., June 14-15. Expedition up White River, Ark. June 26-July 14. Action at Grand Prairie July 6-7. Near Duvall's Bluff July 7. Aberdeen July 9. Arrived at Helena July 14, and duty there till April, 1863. Expedition to Arkansas Post November 16-22, 1862. Ordered to Milliken's Bend, La., April 14. Movement on Bruinsburg and turning Grand Gulf April 25-30. Battle of Port Gibson May 1. Fourteen-Mile Creek May 12-13. Battle of Champion's Hill May 16. Siege of Vicksburg, Miss., May 18-July 4. Assaults on Vicksburg May 19 and 22. Advance on Jackson, Miss., July 4-10. Siege of Jackson July 10-17. Ordered to New Orleans, La., August 4, thence to Brashear City September 12. Western Louisiana Campaign October 3-November 30. Grand Coteau October 19. Carrion Crow Bayou November 3. At New Iberia till December 19. Regiment re-enlisted at New Iberia December 15. Moved to Pass Cavallo, Texas, December 23, 1863-January 8, 1864, and duty there till February 21. Moved to New Orleans, La., February 21, and duty there till March 20. Veterans on furlough till May. Garrison duty at New Orleans till December 18. Ordered to Brazos, Santiago, Texas, December 18, and duty there till June 16, 1865. Expedition from Brazos, Santiago, May 11-14, 1865. Action at Palmetto Ranch May 12-13, 1865 (last action of the war). White's Ranch May 13. March to Ringgold Barracks, 260 miles up the Rio Grande June 16-28. Duty at Ringgold Barracks till July 24, and at Brownsville till February, 1866. Mustered out February 3, 1866.
Regiment lost during service 2 Officers and 32 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 5 Officers and 204 Enlisted men by disease. Total, 243.
Here is a link to the Park Service Listing for their Marker in Vicksburg: http://www.nps.gov/vick/historyculture/34th-indiana-infantry.htm
Once I find Levi's grave site, I'll be able to add a record to the Database of the Sons of Union Veterans grave registry: http://www.suvcwdb.org/home/
Name: Levi Thompson
Residence: Alexandria, Indiana
Enlistment Date: 21 Sep 1861
Side Served: Union
State Served: Indiana
Service Record: Promoted to Full Corporal.
Enlisted as a Private on 21 September 1861.
Enlisted in Company D, 34th Infantry Regiment Indiana on 21 Sep 1861.
Mustered Out Company D, 34th Infantry Regiment Indiana on 3 Feb 1866.
Levi applied for his pension in 1869. I've read that early pension requests were the norm because soldiers often had terrible arthritis from being out in the elements for years.
Here is a general record of the movements of the 34th:
UNION INDIANA VOLUNTEERS
34th Regiment, Indiana Infantry
Organized at Anderson, Ind., and mustered in September 16, 1861. Moved to Jeffersonville, Ind., October 10, thence to New Haven, Ky., November 15, and duty there till December 14. Moved to Camp Wickliffe, Ky., December 14, and duty there till February 7, 1862. Attached to 10th Brigade, Army of the Ohio, November-December, 1861. 10th Brigade, 4th Division, Army of the Ohio, to February, 1862. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Army of Mississippi, to April, 1862. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, Army Mississippi. Garrison at New Madrid, Mo., to July, 1862. Helena, Ark., District of Eastern Arkansas, Dept. of Missouri, to November, 1862. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, District of Eastern Arkansas, Dept. of the Tennessee, to January, 1863. 3rd Brigade, 12th Division, 13th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to February, 1863. 1st Brigade, 12th Division, 13th Army Corps, to July, 1863. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 13th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to August, 1863, and Dept. of the Gulf to March, 1864. Defences of New Orleans, La., to December, 1864. Brazos, Santiago, Texas, U. S. Forces, Texas, to June, 1865. Dept. of Texas to February, 1866.
SERVICE.-Moved to Green River, Ky., February 7, 1862, thence to the Ohio River February 14, and to Cairo, Ill., with Nelson's Division, Army of the Ohio, February 17-20. Detached from Division and moved to Commerce, Mo., February 27-March 3. Siege of New Madrid, Mo., March 5-14. Siege and capture of Island No. 10, Mississippi River, March 15-April 8. Riddell's Point March 17. Garrison duty at New Madrid, Mo., April 7 to June 14. Expedition down Mississippi River to Fort Pillow, Tenn., May 19-23 (Detachment). Capture of Fort Pillow June 5 (Detachment). Moved to Memphis, Tenn., June 14-15. Expedition up White River, Ark. June 26-July 14. Action at Grand Prairie July 6-7. Near Duvall's Bluff July 7. Aberdeen July 9. Arrived at Helena July 14, and duty there till April, 1863. Expedition to Arkansas Post November 16-22, 1862. Ordered to Milliken's Bend, La., April 14. Movement on Bruinsburg and turning Grand Gulf April 25-30. Battle of Port Gibson May 1. Fourteen-Mile Creek May 12-13. Battle of Champion's Hill May 16. Siege of Vicksburg, Miss., May 18-July 4. Assaults on Vicksburg May 19 and 22. Advance on Jackson, Miss., July 4-10. Siege of Jackson July 10-17. Ordered to New Orleans, La., August 4, thence to Brashear City September 12. Western Louisiana Campaign October 3-November 30. Grand Coteau October 19. Carrion Crow Bayou November 3. At New Iberia till December 19. Regiment re-enlisted at New Iberia December 15. Moved to Pass Cavallo, Texas, December 23, 1863-January 8, 1864, and duty there till February 21. Moved to New Orleans, La., February 21, and duty there till March 20. Veterans on furlough till May. Garrison duty at New Orleans till December 18. Ordered to Brazos, Santiago, Texas, December 18, and duty there till June 16, 1865. Expedition from Brazos, Santiago, May 11-14, 1865. Action at Palmetto Ranch May 12-13, 1865 (last action of the war). White's Ranch May 13. March to Ringgold Barracks, 260 miles up the Rio Grande June 16-28. Duty at Ringgold Barracks till July 24, and at Brownsville till February, 1866. Mustered out February 3, 1866.
Regiment lost during service 2 Officers and 32 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 5 Officers and 204 Enlisted men by disease. Total, 243.
Here is a link to the Park Service Listing for their Marker in Vicksburg: http://www.nps.gov/vick/historyculture/34th-indiana-infantry.htm
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Google Maps 9 slow markers
Working from the other end...the DNA end, I decided to change things up. I noticed that a lot of people are not like me. I have no matches on more than 36 or so markers. I don't match any of the other Thompsons within hundreds of years. I match a lot of different kinds of people a little bit, but no one in particular.
So I decided to look at it the way most other people did when they first started with only 12 markers several years ago. I decided that EVERYONE IS LOST BUT ME. Indiana Jones style.
So instead of worrying about not fitting any of the other modals out there. I decided to make my own and see where it lead. I took the basic test my "basic" 12 markers (the same everyone tests) and I decided to only look at the slow changing markers...of which there are 9. Ysearch allows you to have a listing with only 9 markers so I did that and then searched to see who matched.
Now with other people's 9 markers there are hundreds to thousands of matches on this basic test. Too many people to sort through and these would be really ancient matches well before surnames were invented. So keeping in mind that people only need to match me on 9 markers out of 67 or so that come in standard tests and that these are basic slow markers, it was amazing to me that I only matched 250 records.
I tacked on another 20 from different ethnic group DNA projects I thought might fit like the border reivers project and the Scotish projects. The Campbell project and the British Isles projects. I even ran some I didn't think would fit like Finland. The only big group I'm missing is Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg). The Brabant (Benelux) project requires participation to view results.
So with 250 tests in the world matching my most basic numbers, it was much easier to get a handle on the data. I copied it into Excel and began sorting and using house of names to figure out where different names were from...if they didn't know themselves.
Still it was hard to discern a pattern so I made a google map. Now, of course most of these people do not match me except in the oldest sense and WAY before last names were invented and AGES before the current boundaries for differing nations were thought up. But I thought it would help me get a handle on the geography of my "group".
These are the maps that display where people say they are from in Ysearch and a handful of other DNA projects.
My next steps will be to take my base of tests and begin adding more of my slow markers which should tighten up the maps a bit.
So I decided to look at it the way most other people did when they first started with only 12 markers several years ago. I decided that EVERYONE IS LOST BUT ME. Indiana Jones style.
So instead of worrying about not fitting any of the other modals out there. I decided to make my own and see where it lead. I took the basic test my "basic" 12 markers (the same everyone tests) and I decided to only look at the slow changing markers...of which there are 9. Ysearch allows you to have a listing with only 9 markers so I did that and then searched to see who matched.
Now with other people's 9 markers there are hundreds to thousands of matches on this basic test. Too many people to sort through and these would be really ancient matches well before surnames were invented. So keeping in mind that people only need to match me on 9 markers out of 67 or so that come in standard tests and that these are basic slow markers, it was amazing to me that I only matched 250 records.
I tacked on another 20 from different ethnic group DNA projects I thought might fit like the border reivers project and the Scotish projects. The Campbell project and the British Isles projects. I even ran some I didn't think would fit like Finland. The only big group I'm missing is Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg). The Brabant (Benelux) project requires participation to view results.
So with 250 tests in the world matching my most basic numbers, it was much easier to get a handle on the data. I copied it into Excel and began sorting and using house of names to figure out where different names were from...if they didn't know themselves.
These are the maps that display where people say they are from in Ysearch and a handful of other DNA projects.
Fair disclosure: If someone just said Ireland or Scotland or England in their listing. I used House of Names to figure out where in those countries they may have come from. The many people from the East coast of the U.S. and Carolinas don't appear on the map above although they also have perfectly good Scotch, Irish or English names. Northern Ireland appears more populous than it otherwise would be because of the Ulster Scots...and one Welsh man who lived there. Also I've cut off a few markers in Caithness in Scotland on the British map.
Below are maps using only House of Names to get a geographic location..unless I couldn't find it and had to take the families word for it.
I think here the distrobution on the continent is a bit more westward although there was still a hit in the far north and a few spaniards and italians. The distribution in England is much more even using House of Names and Ireland seems a bit more coastal and less populous without the Ulster Scots. The issue with House of Names can be that names have multiple homes.
For instance. I match a number of Knowltons very closely. They say they are from Kent. House of Names says they are from Kent. Chances are they got their location from House of Names. Knowlton is a place name like Sutherland. There is also a Knowlton in Dorset England which could also be the Home of that family name, but you'll only find that at Surname Database. I also match a family of Damerons. Dameron is a Belgian name according to HON, but the family hails from Ipswitch England and there are also a number of Damerons from lowland Scotland.
But if you're not too picky about exact placement, these maps are good for a broad overview. Most of these people are from the British Isles, but there is a big enough showing in Germany and (probably the low countries if the benelux project was freely available) to give a decent idea of an origin.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Corrected Family Tree
So now my tree look something like this:
Levi Thompson 1835/6 - bef 1880 b: Pennsylvania or Indiana
Married abt 1855 to Rosa or Rosanna (unknown) 1837 - bef 1910 b: Indiana
Levi Thompson 1835/6 - bef 1880 b: Pennsylvania or Indiana
Married abt 1855 to Rosa or Rosanna (unknown) 1837 - bef 1910 b: Indiana
- Mary Thompson 1856
- James Thompson 1857
- Emily J Thompson Silcott 1859
- Nina Silcott.
- Rena Frances Thompson 1868
- Albert Thompson 1870 - 1909 b: Indiana Married Ida Williamson.
- Eva Thompson Hetzel McCann 1893 - 1968
- Vivian Leo Thompson 1896
- Ray Bishop Thompson 1898 - 1970 married? Orvetta Finks
- Charles Thompson 1925
- Cuba Thompson 1902 - 1978
- Francis Thompson - 1904 - 1973
- Marjorie M Thompson Sturm 1907 - 1997
- Harry Thompson 1910
- Mattie Thompson 1872
Both my old Family trees are WRONG!
GASP!
Well. That's always a possibility when you're playing the odds. My problem has always been the shoddy work surrounding Albert. In one census (1900) he's listed as being born in 1878 (married at 15!) and in another census (1910) they give him a birth in 1874 with a status of widowed. I've never really trusted that one fully because his wife is definitely not dead and That's her birthday. Almost as if they were listing Mrs. Albert Thompson.
Anyway all my family trees are based on 1878 because that was the only known good record. I was okay with that, but something hasn't been sitting right.
So I went back to ancestry.com and took a really good look at that 1900 census again.
See it? Okay the whole thing is pretty messed up. Here...
Okay. The year is pretty clear (although Ida's got some correcting). Look at the birthday though. It's all garbled. It's been corrected and if you look really close someone wrote two BIG LOOPY 2's right over top of what looks like a 30. Also you'll notice from the 2 below in 25 that someone other than the original person wrote those 2's.
So some dolt put the year in wrong and someone back at headquarters adjusted the age to match!
So now things start to fall into place. I'm not looking for Albert born in 1878 and died somewhere around 1920! I'm looking for Albert born in 1870 and what do you know, there is an Albert born in 1870 in Alexandria (where the rest of the family is) and he dies around 1909 (right before the screwed up 1910 census!
All of my trees are wrong.
All of the sudden I found Albert's actual family. Things just started to fall into place.
I'll lay out a detailed list of this tree in the next post.
Well. That's always a possibility when you're playing the odds. My problem has always been the shoddy work surrounding Albert. In one census (1900) he's listed as being born in 1878 (married at 15!) and in another census (1910) they give him a birth in 1874 with a status of widowed. I've never really trusted that one fully because his wife is definitely not dead and That's her birthday. Almost as if they were listing Mrs. Albert Thompson.
Anyway all my family trees are based on 1878 because that was the only known good record. I was okay with that, but something hasn't been sitting right.
So I went back to ancestry.com and took a really good look at that 1900 census again.
See it? Okay the whole thing is pretty messed up. Here...
Okay. The year is pretty clear (although Ida's got some correcting). Look at the birthday though. It's all garbled. It's been corrected and if you look really close someone wrote two BIG LOOPY 2's right over top of what looks like a 30. Also you'll notice from the 2 below in 25 that someone other than the original person wrote those 2's.
So some dolt put the year in wrong and someone back at headquarters adjusted the age to match!
So now things start to fall into place. I'm not looking for Albert born in 1878 and died somewhere around 1920! I'm looking for Albert born in 1870 and what do you know, there is an Albert born in 1870 in Alexandria (where the rest of the family is) and he dies around 1909 (right before the screwed up 1910 census!
All of my trees are wrong.
All of the sudden I found Albert's actual family. Things just started to fall into place.
I'll lay out a detailed list of this tree in the next post.
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