More Morris County, New Jersey DNA

A connection was solved with a DNA cousin at 23andMe.

This match stood out because the shared DNA was 1.57% over a single segment.  This placed the match among my father's closest family, where it sat anonymously for over a year.

A name was finally revealed this week and I found the person on FaceBook.  She accepted my request to "share" on 23andMe and provided the names of her four grandparents so we could figure out the precise relation.

Her grandparents were from New Jersey, which is where we needed to be geographically.

The FindAGrave memorial for her grandfather, Charles Graner (1924-1985), included a note about the 1920 federal census in Denville, Morris County, New Jersey.  Her grandfather was living with Cooks.  My paternal grandmother was Beulah Cook (1921-2003), descended from Cooks in Morris County.

After reviewing the Cook branch, Charles Graner's mother was determined to be Lena Cook, a daughter of Charles Cook (1859-1921), granddaughter of Henry Cook (1828-1902), and a great granddaughter of Stephen H Cook- my ancestor.

Thus, our most recent common ancestors were Stephen H Cook (1797-1853) and Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1799-1878).  This DNA cousin is related to my father as a fourth cousin, once removed, and to me as a fifth cousin.

Below is the shared DNA reported at 23andMe between this Cook/Vanderhoof cousin and my father, his siblings, and a third cousin of theirs.  All five have the exact relation to the newly discovered cousin- fourth cousins, once removed.  Note that two of them share only one small segment.

Almost all of chromosome 10 remained intact for my father and one of his brothers.  Total length was 116 cM and 21,000 SNPs for my father.

For the next generation, comparing what my father passed on to my sister and me, I inherited the entire segment while my sister received half.  Amazing that this whole segment survived six generations down to me.  We do not know if the segment is from Stephen H Cook or Elizabeth Vanderhoof.

For fourth and fifth cousins to share such a long segment is an outlier in expected amount of shared DNA.

These are pictures of photographs housed in the Denville Historical Society and Museum.  Henry Cook (1828-1902) and Emiline Young (1834-1906) were the third great grandparents of this latest DNA cousin.

Digitized New York Newspapers Database

Thanks to Barbara over at Barb's Family Stories for alerting us to a great (and free) searchable resource for New York State newspapers, HRVH Historical Newspapers.  You can also edit the transcribed text, if you wish.

I found another mention of the deaths of Abraham Lent Brewer and Fannie Duryea, husband and wife, who died within hours of each other in 1901 in Ramapo, Rockland County, New York.

Abraham (1826-1901) was the brother of my 4th great grandmother, Rene Brewer (1824-1904).

Fannie (1830-1901) was the sister of my third great grandfather, Stephen C Duryea (1814-1887).

The Brewer Fire Engine Company in Monsey is named after Abraham.

Abraham and Fannie died without living descendants.  Abraham's estate passed to Fannie and then to Fannie's family a few hours later when she died.  Fannie's full sister and the children of Fannie's deceased full siblings inherited Abraham and Fannie's estate.  Abraham's side was cut off from any inheritance.  Fannie's nieces and nephews by her half-brothers also inherited nothing because whole-bloods inherited to the exclusion of half-bloods under New York law in 1901.  (That took years to figure out.)

New Jersey Unseals Birth Certificates of Adopted Persons

This is not another ordinary request for a vital record in New Jersey.

This envelope contains a request for a copy of a birth certificate that was sealed because the child was adopted.

THIS IS BIG NEWS for New Jersey.  If your birth certificate was sealed because you were adopted, you can now request your original birth certificate, containing the names of your biological parent(s).  The certificates will be mailed beginning January 1, 2017.

New Jersey Statues Annotated 26:8-40.1 has been amended to:

   c.  The State Registrar shall cause to be placed under seal the original certificate of birth and all papers pertaining to the new certificate of birth.  Such seal shall not be broken except:
     (1)  by order of a court of competent jurisdiction; or
     (2)  upon request for an uncertified, long-form copy of the adopted person's original certificate of birth by a person 18 years of age or older who can establish himself as one of the following:
        (a)  the adopted person;
        (b)  a direct descendant, sibling, or spouse of the adopted person;
        (c)  an adoptive parent, legal guardian, or other legal representative of the adopted person; or
        (d)  an agency of the State or federal government for official purposes.


The Department of Health has a link to the form (REG-41) with instructions.  (The links for the State change often, so if the link does not work, turn to Google.)

The certificate that I requested is for a birth from 1936.  The court records about the adoption were not sealed, so the name of the birth mother was known.  (New Jersey sealed adoption records in 1940.)  Several women carried this name, so the exact birth mother was not identified with certainty and most candidates were dead.  A few years ago, DNA testing linked several close cousins of one possible mother, prompting an elderly family member to identify the birth mother and explain some of the story.

The biological father was not named in the court records.  His name may or may not appear on the original birth certificate; however, he has been identified through DNA tests submitted by some of his descendants and close cousins.  His identity may have never been uncovered if not for DNA testing.

Both biological parents are long deceased.

DNA testing influences the debate when deciding to grant access to original birth certificates of adopted persons.  As more people test their DNA, chances increase for an adopted person to figure out their biological family without the help of viewing the original birth certificate.  If a relative as distant as a third cousin of a biological parent tests his/her DNA, the adopted child can possibly figure out the identity of the biological parent.  As the pool of DNA testers grows, finding biological parents becomes inevitable.  Other states should unseal the birth certificates of adopted people.  The child was not a party to the decision to seal the certificate.