| Notes |
- From: John Wetzel
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2018 1:54 PM
To: 'Jim Merrell'
Subject: RE: ancestry DNA MW not jcw for Marcia Mitchell
Hi Jim!
Sorry for not responding sooner, but I only came across your note this morning as I was doing some purging. [Sadly, email used to be my preferred communication while actively working, but anymore, a text message gets my immediate attention, while emails can get lost in the volume. I end up missing some important communications that way.]
This is really interesting; I’m impressed with your degree of knowledge and your approach.
I looked for the Keegan tree on Marcia’s contact, but only two trees are showing, Denham and Shelton.
My brother was conceived about 20 July 1951.
None of the matches you mention for Marcia are close matches for Mike (I mean, I don’t recognize any of the names) save one, chasvergason, who sticks out because I have a Charles Vergason in (a branch on) my tree, 1833-1924, in Sweden township, Potter County, Penna- one township over from where we grew up and where many of our Potter County relatives live(d)… like the ones Mike’s birthfather is descended from, John & Hannah TURNER DINGMAN, my 4th grgrandparents and the parents of my 4th great aunt, Margaret P. Dingman Strong, whose daughter Cynthia married Chas Vergason in 1867.
Chasvergason is a 3rd-4th cousin to Mike, 5th to 8th to me (descended from same DINGMAN line, complicating my quest a little, since, in addition to being half-brothers, we are also distantly related at this juncture as well.) I obviously need to bring more of the Vergason line to current! I’m sure there is a contemporary Charles Vergason named after his gr…grandpap.
So, Thank you! You’ve given me a little more to chew on and steered me back to this path. More recently, I’ve been downloading old photos from various area FB groups and doing the genealogy on them, to get a picture of the relationships of Potter County; I usually ultimately tie in somewhere, in this huge ‘picture puzzle.’
Let’s compare notes on Charles Vergason some time!
Again, I apologize for not getting back to you earlier. Thanks for your help!
john wetzel
Richmond, VA
From: Jim Merrell
Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2018 12:11 PM
To: 'John Wetzel'
Subject: RE: ancestry DNA MW not jcw for Marcia Mitchell
Hi John, thank you for responding. It’s people like you, who are willing to work together, that makes this quest worthwhile.
First of all, let me tell you who I am, then on to Marcia. I was born in Buffalo in 1944 (will be 74 next Tuesday), and adopted while in the hospital thru a family physician arrangement). Grew up in a happy family, married in 1968 (50 years next month), raised two daughters (living nearby), moved to Jacksonville, FL in 1994. I am a lifelong IT guy (still have a PC business), and I enjoy problem solving. Started looking for birthparents in 2001, but hit it hard over the last three years. DNA submissions at Ancestry, Family Tree, and 23andme, and upload to MyHeritage. I use GEDmatch heavily, Genome Mate Pro (for chromo marching) and the Ancestry Worldwide Searching subscription . With very few close cousin matches to work with, I did a lot of research and constructed Ancestry trees with 4th and 5th cousins. I ended up with around 15 families in my tree and was only able to connect a few of them with the required marriages. Then in 2016, I got a maternal 1st cousin match on Ancestry which identified my mother. In 2017, my wife and I went on two cross-country motorhome trips to meet my eight new Serbian 1st cousins (my mother was the daughter of a Serbian priest). They all welcomed me into the family (and I looked like many of them).
Last May, I got a paternal 2nd cousin match on Ancestry, a 21-year-old in Orlando. It turns out that she is the grand-daughter of my half-brother who lives in DeLand, FL. I had lunch with him last month and we shared family photos. My birthfather and his family lived in Buffalo in 1940-1947, and apparently he sowed some wild oats.
So now, I am helping Marcia. I have analyzed her 2nd and 3rd cousins and their shared matches and found some groupings that I put into three Ancestry trees (now public). I originally made them private because I have done a lot of Ancestry mirroring over the years. Her Keegan tree would be of most interest to you. Based on her 2nd cousin matches with Jean Johns and Judith Schloegel, I believe that she descends from Frank O’Boyle of Belfast, NY. Frank’s parents were Peter O’Boyle and Anna Durnein (as best as I can tell), and Frank had three siblings (James, Catherine, and Rose) but I found other cousins descending from them.
I wrote up a few letters for Marcia to send to Jean Johns and her two daughters (Judith and Jennifer), asking for help, but I don’t know if Marcia sent them out yet.
I zeroed in on M.W. in Marcia’s cousin list because you have quite a sizable tree and I figured that I could find some connection in there.
Here is a list of M.W’s Shared Matches with Marcia:
3rd cousin - Chasvergason - 152 cms, 7 seg
4th cousins
Cindy Herbert - 55 cms, 3 seg
G.C. (Jennifer Clinton) - 52 cms, 4seg
J.E. (karenwindsor44 - 43 cms, 5 seg
R.M. (Cecelia McCann) - 39 cms, 3 seg
T.M. (Cecelia McCann) - 39 cms, 3 seg (probably sibling of R.M.)
Michelle Hallman - 39 cms, 3 seg
Terry Price - 37 cms, 2 seg
FDSMITH - 32 cms, 2 seg
Paula Hammelman - 30 cms, 3 seg
And several more
I think I’ll start researching Chasvergason and some of these other cousins.
Please keep in touch,
Jim
From: John Wetzel [mailto:wetzupdoc@me.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2018 7:45 AM
To: jmerrell@bellsouth.net
Subject: ancestry DNA MW not jcw for Marcia Mitchell
Hi jmerrell- My mother was from Allegany, NY, which is also where I was born. We moved to Coudersport, PA when I was 1 yr old. Mom died in 2001 but dad still lives there [He turns 90 on Monday; I'm on my way there now- from Richmond, VA- to celebrate.] I have 4 siblings, all born in Coudersport and I've done most of their DNA testing, as well as my dad's, 3 of his siblings and two of my mom's, so it is a little strange that you don't see more matches from 'my administration'. OTOH, that could prove useful...
My mother had 8 siblings, of whom only two survive- one still lives in Allegany, the other near Buffalo- and each of them had up to four kids.
Both of mom's siblings, as well as 4 of the 5 remaining of my dad's- two live in Olean- will be in Coudersport on Sunday.
… Well, that's about me, but I just looked at our match and for Marcia's tree. The reason for the 'short match' is that she does not match me but rather my (surprisingly) half brother, whose biological father has been my DNA quest for the past year!
My email is wetzupdoc@me.com . I am responding here on ancestry, because I get so much email, I may miss something so I thought best to start here. Would you mind sharing the tree you've constructed for her? You can see my tree here on ancestry, but that doesn't actually help you, does it. I can give you a little more about what I've learned over several platforms: ancestryDNA, FTDNA, and 23andMe.
Time to go to email. I will also send this by email.
Thank you for writing; this could help us both- we may be looking for at least the same father!
john wetzel
John C. Wetzel, chemist
International Fine Chemicals
3013 Hawthorne Avenue, Richmond, VA 23222 iPhone: +1 (803)414-8743 wetzupdoc@me.com
Including your original ancestryDNA note for reference:
Marcia Mitchell
Sep 01, 2018
Dear Wetzupdoc1, you will find this to be a curious story. My name is Jim Merrell, adopted in 1944, and I found my birthparents over the last 2 years via Ancestry.com 1st and 2nd cousin matches.
Now, I am helping my cousin, Marcia Mitchell, also adopted in 1944.
I am currently logged in on her Ancestry account.
Marcia matches you (i.e. Mike) with 66 cms in 5 segments.
She has two 2nd cousin matches and nine 3rd cousins.
I have been able to construct a tree for her and I have connected several cousins. A sizable group is in the Olean, NY area, stretching over to NW PA. I noticed that you have relatives there as well. Your Shared Matches are not matching up with any of Marcia's closer cousins.
Would you be willing to correspond with me on this matter? I am at jmerrell@bellsouth.net. I hope you will help me.
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