DNA from Morris County, New Jersey: Family Tree DNA

At FamilyTreeDNA, my uncles share a segment on chromosome 1 with two individuals.

We need to know if these two DNA cousins match each other in the same spot.  FamilyTreeDNA does not allow you to make this comparison.  One of the cousins checked on his end, and sure enough, he matches this other cousin on the same segment.

Common ancestors of all of us were Richard/Dirk Vanderhoof (b 1745) and Catrina Young/Jong (b 1753).  My line descends from Dirk and Catrina's son, Jacob Vanderhoof (1774-1847) and then granddaughter, Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1799-1878).  The cousin in blue in the first graph is also descended from Jacob Vanderhoof, but through Jacob's son, Peter Vanderhoof (1797-1847).

The cousin in orange descends from Dirk and Catrina's daughter, Elizabeth Vanderhoof (b1775).  She married John Taylor.

But that's not all.

The cousin in orange also descends from Frederick DeMouth and Charlotte Muller/Miller.  For my line, they were the maternal grandparents of Ann Hopler (1772-1841) - wife of Jacob Vanderhoof (1774-1847).  If the other distant cousin on this segment (the "blue cousin") is not descended from DeMouth and Miller, then we can say that the DNA came from Vanderhoof and Young.  With the close geography and intermingling of these lines, we may not be able to sort out exactly whose DNA this is- just that it is from the Morris County lines.

DNA from Morris County, New Jersey: AncestryDNA/GedMatch

The next DNA cousins from Morris County, New Jersey appeared among my matches at AncestryDNA.  By comparing our attached family trees, Ancestry suggested that we share a set of ancestors, Jacob Vanderhoof (1772-1847) and Ann Hopler (1772-1841).  These cousins, like the ones in prior posts, are also descended from Jacob and Ann's son, Peter Vanderhoof (1797-1847), by his marriage to Rachel Peer (1800-1850).

The actual relationship, based on descent from Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler, is fourth cousins, once removed.

We can't see the shared segments at AncestryDNA, but these cousins fortunately uploaded to GedMatch.

My father shares five segments with one of the cousins, which is a great lead.

The amount and location of shared DNA among the other relatives varies.

We can triangulate the relation using the DNA of my father's brothers and their third cousin.  All three match this AncestryDNA cousin on chromosome 12.  (This segment immediately follows the segment shared by the DNA cousins from yesterday's post.)  The branch of my father's tree common to him and his third cousin holds Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler, the predicted Most Recent Common Ancestors.

We are presented with the same issue here as with the other cousins who are descendants of the couple Peter Vanderhoof and Rachel Peer:  Are we also related through the Peer line?  More research will hopefully produce the ancestry of Rachel Peer.

DNA from Morris County, New Jersey: 23andMe

From my Morris County, New Jersey ancestors, some cousins appear in the DNA databases.

My father's third cousin from this branch has tested his DNA.  We can see the shared segments of autosomal DNA shared with my father, his siblings, and this third cousin.  The common ancestors were Calvin Cook (1827 - 1889) and Mary Neal (1829 - 1898) of Morris County.

By viewing where the DNA is shared, we can find other, more distant cousins who also share DNA in these same spots.

For this discussion, we focus on the shared segments on chromosome 12 at 23andMe.  Two of my father's siblings share DNA on chromosome 12 with the third cousin.

A few people ("DNA cousins") also share these same segments with the relatives on my end- my uncle and our third cousin.  One of them has a family tree and responded to my inquiry.  She shares an identical segment of DNA with two of my uncles and third cousin.

We need to triangulate the match.  Two full siblings count as one point of the triangle, as their ancestors are identical.  We do not have to search our entire family tree to find the Most Recent Common Ancestor.  We look instead at the set of ancestors common to the third cousins:  Calvin Cook and Mary Neal.

Mary Neal is a tail end in my family tree.  Her ancestry is unknown to me at this time.  Only Calvin Cook's tree is available.  If the segment came from Mary Neal, we could possibly break through that brick wall.

One of two branches that may hold the Most Recent Common Ancestor
of the DNA cousin.

When asked for ancestors that were in northern New Jersey in the 1800s, the DNA cousin provided the couple Peter Vanderhoof (1797-1847) and Rachel Peer (1800-1850).  After time, research, and correspondence, the Most Recent Common Ancestors were identified as Jacob Vanderhoof (1772-1847) and Ann Hopler (1772-1841).  They were the parents of Peter Vanderhoof, the direct ancestor of the DNA match, and they were the parents of Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1799-1878), the mother of Calvin Cook, in my direct line.

This makes this DNA cousin a Fifth Cousin to my father, his siblings, and their third cousin.

Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1799-1878) is buried with her husband, Stephen Cook (1797-1843), in the Cook Cemetery in Denville, Morris County, New Jersey.  (Now enclosed by a golf course.)

Peter Vanderhoof and his wife, Rachel Peer, are buried in the DeMouth Family Burial Ground (front yard of a house) in Denville, along with Peter and Elizabeth's parents, Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler.  (Ann Hopler's mother was Elizabeth DeMouth.)

But there could be other ancestors in common.

Jane Peer was the 5th great grandmother of my father.  She married John Cook (1745-1821).  She was probably born around 1750 and died before her father, Samuel Peer, died in 1818.

Rachel Peer (1800-1850) was the 3rd great grandmother of the DNA cousin.  Rachel's place in the Peer family of Morris County has not been determined.  Rachel Peer and Jane Peer, like the other Morris County lines, were probably related.  The shared DNA could be from Peer and not Vanderhoof and Hopler.