The average number of matches for a submitter on AncestryDNA is about 50,000!
About 90% of those will be “distant” (meaning greater than 4 generations away) or about 45,000.
Of those 45,000, about 25% will be total mysteries. Most of the matches will have no surnames in common with you in the last five generations. Who are these people?
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I will come back to that question, but first let me tell you about Andrew Campbell. Andrew was born in 1747. At the age of 28 he enlisted in the Minutemen of Hanover, Ulster, New York. In 1776 he enlisted in one of the New York Regiments of the Continental Army and served until the end of the war in 1783. He married Catharine Rumfield and had a child, John Rumfield Campbell, in 1785 in Marbletown, Ulster, New York. He lived most of his later days near Burlington, New Jersey, and fathered several other children. I have written a little about his military history (Journal of the Clan Campbell Society of NA) including his discharge at New Windsor.
More importantly, I have bumped into a couple descendants and active researchers of Andrew Campbell. Unfortunately, the ancestry of Andrew is still unknown. Because of his proximity to the Newark Mountain, New Jersey Campbells who were living in Hanover, NY where Andrew enlisted, and because he was in the same militia companies as they were, it seems that this connection is one to disprove. That could be done easily with YDNA (see this blog on my 8th cousin 1x removed), but Andrew has no living paternal descendant.
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If Andrew was related to the Newark Mountain Campbells....say a cousin of Joel Campbell....that would make a living decendant about an 8th cousin to me (and you?). Theoretically, each of us have about a half million living 8th cousins (see https://isogg.org/wiki/Cousin_statistics). Some of my 10,000 "mystery matches" at AncestryDNA are 8th cousins. Could a descendant of Andrew be one of them?
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More about DNA... When DNA is passed from parents to child, half is from the mother and half is from the father. But what half? [It is possible (although extremely unlikely) that your sibling could have a totally different DNA signature. This could happen if you get the exact opposite half of your parents' DNA as your sibling. This is as likely as flipping a coin 3 billion times and getting heads all 3 billion times.] This reshuffling over many generations causes many “DNA signatures” of ancestors to be "lost." AncestryDNA claims that the chances of two 8th cousins appearing as a match are about 1%.
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THE PROJECT! If I could find 10 descendants of Andrew and 10 descendants of Samuel (father of Joel) and got them to compare their DNA, that would give me 100 "match possibilities." If about 1% of 8th cousin-pairs are flagged as a match, then it would appear that I have decent odds of finding the match (if the two lines are related). Unfortunately, the 1% odds assume that the pairs of 8th cousins are chosen randomly. The "Project" as described is hardly random as the same cousin is used for ten different match attempts and I am forcing one of the comparators to descend from a specific 2nd cousin 6x removed. I may need to recruit many more than ten descendants. Not a perfect plan, but worth a shot.
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If you would like to be part of this project, contact me through this post.
Sunday, October 20, 2019
Thursday, September 12, 2019
Demolition of Milliken House on Coleman Road, Montgomery, NY
I wrote previously of the historic home on Coleman Road whose location seemed to coincide with my early estimates of the location of the ancestral farm of Samuel Campbell from about 1770-1793.
Further research showed that the Campbell farm actually sat to the South of of this location. The Coleman Road parcel to the north was referred to in the 1793 deed (Campbell siblings to Thomas Barkley) as "land belonging to the heirs of Alexander Millikin deceased."
This agrees with the writings of Mildred Parker Seese, who stated that Coleman Road parcel was the pioneer farmstead of Alexander Milliken, an early settler in the area. Three of his sons died in the Revolutionary war on the day the British took Fort Montgomery.
Sadly, this home was razed in the past few weeks. Evidence obtained during the demolition confirm that parts of the structure dated to the 1760s.
Thanks to Bob Williams for photos of demolition.
Further research showed that the Campbell farm actually sat to the South of of this location. The Coleman Road parcel to the north was referred to in the 1793 deed (Campbell siblings to Thomas Barkley) as "land belonging to the heirs of Alexander Millikin deceased."
This agrees with the writings of Mildred Parker Seese, who stated that Coleman Road parcel was the pioneer farmstead of Alexander Milliken, an early settler in the area. Three of his sons died in the Revolutionary war on the day the British took Fort Montgomery.
Sadly, this home was razed in the past few weeks. Evidence obtained during the demolition confirm that parts of the structure dated to the 1760s.
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| Prior to demo in 2019. |
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| Milliken Home after "newer" adddition demolished. |
Thanks to Bob Williams for photos of demolition.
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Mastodons near Campbell Farm in Hanover
During the summer of 1801, the first scientific expedition financed by the fledgling United States, arrived in Montgomery, New York in search of mammoth bones. The expedition, led by Charles Willson Peale of Philadephia, exhumed bones from three marl pits. One marl pit was located at the Joseph Barber Farm, less than a mile from the old Campbell farm.
By 1801, most of the Campbells had left Montgomery for Deerpark, New York. Nathan and Levi (brothers of Joel) still farmed the original Campbell farm that was on St Andrews Road. Perhaps they witnessed the spectacle.
Prior to their relocation, the Campbells almost certainly had seen some of the large bones unearthed by their neighbors. The reverend of the Goodwill Church, Robert Annan, had found bones on his property in 1780. Just west of the village in 1794, bones were found near the house of Archibald Crawford. In 1793, the same year the Campbell siblings gathered to sell the 100 acre parcel shown above, Joseph Barber found several rib bones while digging marl. Did they see Barber's find on what may have been their final visit to Montgomery?
The bones were of such general interest that General Washington and other officers stationed at Newburgh in 1780 made a special trip to view them. (Robert Annan, “Account of a Skeleton of a Large Animal, Found Near Hudson’s River, Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2, pt. 1 (1793): 160-4.)
Two complete skeletons were assembled from the Montgomery expedition. One is exhibited in the Hessisches Landemuseum in Darmstadt, Germany. The other was destroyed by fire in Baltimore, Maryland in 1850. (National Register of Historic Places, Section 8, p1)
However, there are literally hundreds of places to see mastodon fossils or skeletons. Including one unearthed in 1845 in nearby Newburgh, New York. It is displayed in the American Natural History Museum in New York.
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| Map giving location of Mastodon Pit and Campbell farm.The Marl Pit is just north of 17K, NW of Dollar General (black arrow). The outline of the Campbell Farm (sold to Barkley in 1793) is in purple |
By 1801, most of the Campbells had left Montgomery for Deerpark, New York. Nathan and Levi (brothers of Joel) still farmed the original Campbell farm that was on St Andrews Road. Perhaps they witnessed the spectacle.
 |
| Peale Painting of excavation/draining of the marl pits. |
Prior to their relocation, the Campbells almost certainly had seen some of the large bones unearthed by their neighbors. The reverend of the Goodwill Church, Robert Annan, had found bones on his property in 1780. Just west of the village in 1794, bones were found near the house of Archibald Crawford. In 1793, the same year the Campbell siblings gathered to sell the 100 acre parcel shown above, Joseph Barber found several rib bones while digging marl. Did they see Barber's find on what may have been their final visit to Montgomery?
The bones were of such general interest that General Washington and other officers stationed at Newburgh in 1780 made a special trip to view them. (Robert Annan, “Account of a Skeleton of a Large Animal, Found Near Hudson’s River, Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2, pt. 1 (1793): 160-4.)
Two complete skeletons were assembled from the Montgomery expedition. One is exhibited in the Hessisches Landemuseum in Darmstadt, Germany. The other was destroyed by fire in Baltimore, Maryland in 1850. (National Register of Historic Places, Section 8, p1)
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| Mastodon at Hessisches Landemuseum in Darmstadt, Germany. Courtesy of nonfictionminute.org |
However, there are literally hundreds of places to see mastodon fossils or skeletons. Including one unearthed in 1845 in nearby Newburgh, New York. It is displayed in the American Natural History Museum in New York.
Sunday, January 27, 2019
Maps of Hanover Precinct, Ulster County, New York
This page contains links to maps that are very useful in researching the 1770-1820 period in Hanover, Ulster (later Montgomery, Orange).
1862 Montgomery Farm Map
This map shows outlines of farms and names their owners. Many of these farms are unchanged from their original layout and are often occupied by descendants of the original settler. One original copy of this map hangs in the Montgomery Town Hall. Others copies exist, but none are known to be digitized. The linked image is from the Montgomery Town Hall map and is four i-phone images stitched together. Stay tune to this site for more professional images of this map.
1798 Montgomery Map
This map shows major roads, homes of notable residents, and churches in the newly named Town of Montgomery. It can be downloaded as a very large tiff file from the New York State Archives. This link is to a lower resolution map (which is still very high resolution by most standards) and is much more usable in jpeg format. The map has also been rotated with north pointing up.
Parcel Map of NE Town of Montgomery with boundaries of early patents
Orange County maintains a very useful on-line Geographic Information System map which includes boundaries of current land parcels in the county. As would be expected, historic patent lines are preserved over time as large patents are subdivided. The linked map is a composite of the area of Montgomery that contains the Wileman, Brasier, Alexander, Nicholls, and Kennedy patents. The patent lines are plotted based on early surveys and existing parcel lines. The map is very useful in plotting surveys in early deeds. The lands of the Campbells, Barkleys, Haines, Hill, Milliken, and other have been successfully matched to existing parcel lines using this map. If you desire a copy of this map without all of the explanatory text, please contact the author.
1862 Montgomery Farm Map
This map shows outlines of farms and names their owners. Many of these farms are unchanged from their original layout and are often occupied by descendants of the original settler. One original copy of this map hangs in the Montgomery Town Hall. Others copies exist, but none are known to be digitized. The linked image is from the Montgomery Town Hall map and is four i-phone images stitched together. Stay tune to this site for more professional images of this map.
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| 1862 Montgomery Farm Map. Link to higher resolution image |
1798 Montgomery Map
This map shows major roads, homes of notable residents, and churches in the newly named Town of Montgomery. It can be downloaded as a very large tiff file from the New York State Archives. This link is to a lower resolution map (which is still very high resolution by most standards) and is much more usable in jpeg format. The map has also been rotated with north pointing up.
 |
| 1798 Montgomery Map. Link to high resolution version. |
Parcel Map of NE Town of Montgomery with boundaries of early patents
Orange County maintains a very useful on-line Geographic Information System map which includes boundaries of current land parcels in the county. As would be expected, historic patent lines are preserved over time as large patents are subdivided. The linked map is a composite of the area of Montgomery that contains the Wileman, Brasier, Alexander, Nicholls, and Kennedy patents. The patent lines are plotted based on early surveys and existing parcel lines. The map is very useful in plotting surveys in early deeds. The lands of the Campbells, Barkleys, Haines, Hill, Milliken, and other have been successfully matched to existing parcel lines using this map. If you desire a copy of this map without all of the explanatory text, please contact the author.
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| Boundary Lines for Wileman, Brasier, Alexander, Nicholls, and Kennedy Patents |
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