Wednesday, March 9, 2011

23andme DNA update

I am slowly sifting through the relative matches at 23andme.com.  Most of the relations are predicted to be quite distant.  In spite of some extensive documentation on some lines, I have not established a common ancestor for any of these genetic matches.  Some matches also have extensive paper-based genealogies, but most do not, which makes this process more challenging.

One hundred of my distant genetic relatives with no contact exchanged.
You can click on an icon to reveal limited information about a genetic match.
You may contact up to five people a day in this way.
This profile looks a little more promising.  This person has updated her profile to include genealogical information, which could indicate that she is interested in trying to establish a common ancestor.
The results of my parents are not processed yet.  I hope that their results will add a new dimension to this matching game.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Changing landscapes

I research Bishop and variant spellings in Morris County and Newark, New Jersey.  I came across this article about Frederick and Henry Bischof eating poisonous plants in woods by Woodland Cemetery in Newark in 1895.  [Hence the name Woodland?]  Over 100 years later, I document graves at Woodland Cemetery.  Lewis Street was northeast of the cemetery and ran from West Kinney Street to 17th Avenue.  The area was redeveloped into housing and the current streets do not bear the name Lewis.  The woods are also gone.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Original immigrants, documents, and place names

Patrick Frances O'Donnell was born around 1856 in Ireland.  In the 1900 United States federal census, he is living with his wife, Delia Joyce, and six children in Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey, with an immigration date of 1880.  I was working under the theory that he was the original immigrant- the first in that family to come to the United States.

While playing around at the website familysearch.org, I came across the following record.

pilot.familysearch.org
According to the death certificate for Patrick O'Donnell, his parents were Peter O'Donnell and Margaret Gallagher.



This was a great find.  Rose O'Donnell could be the sister of Patrick O'Donnell, indicating that Patrick came over with family.  I neeeded to find the original marriage document, so I went to the archives in Trenton.


Rose O'Donnell married James Kenny in Bergen Point, New Jersey in 1883.  She was the daughter of Peter O'Donnell and Margaret Gallagher.  But, Patrick and his family lived in Bayonne.  What of the Bergen Point location?  I immediately thought of Bergen County, New Jersey.  I did some searching online and came up with an answer:  Bergen Point is a southern location within Bayonne.  Now it looks as if I have found a sister for the original O'Donnell immigrant.

Bergen Point, Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey
mapquest.com