Wright

Richard Wright (c 1726 – c 1784) – Where there’s a Will: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

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Transcription of probated will of Richard Wright, Sr., my 7th-great grandfather.

From the office of Clerk Superior Court, Rowan County, Salisbury, North Carolina, in Will Book C, page 207.  This particular copy is from “North Carolina Probate Records, 1735-1970,” digital images. FamilySearch (http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2015) > imgs 158-159; citing County courthouses, North Carolina.

(transcribed by Cathy Dempsey 12/29/2015; bolding, italicization and brackets are mine)

“In the name of God Amen.  I, Richard WRIGHT Senr. of the County of Rowan & State of North Carolina being through the abundant mercy and goodness of God tho weak in body Yet of a sound and perfect understanding & Memory do constitute this my last Will and Testament, and desire it may be Received by all as such as for my burial I desire it to be decent without pomp or State at the discretion of my dear Wife and as to my worldly Estate I will and positively order that all my debts be paid. I give and bequeath to my son Benjamin Two hundred Acres of land lying on the Waters of deep River in Randolph County, Including the plantation whereon he used to live & I give to my son Peter Twenty Shillings & I give to my Sons Richard & William an Entry of land containing 226 Acres lying in Randolph County on the Waters of Uary to be divided equally at their own discretion. I give to my son Amus One hundred Acres of land including the house wherein he now lives & the price of a new Saddle and Bridle & I likewise give to my son William a feather Bed and furniture & and I give to my son Evins a milch cow a feather bed and furniture and the price of a good saddle and Bridle. [This line bequeathing Evans is included in the copy existing at NC Archives, but NOT in the copy which Familysearch.org has.] I give to my son John  a cow and Calf or the Value thereof in Gold or Silver & I give to my son Philburd a Horse Bridle and Saddle and a Cow and feather Bed and furniture at the age of Twenty One or at his Mothers discretion and this plantation where I now live at his Mothers decease or Marriage and I give to my dear and loving Wife Two hundred Acres of land lying on deep River where I formerly used to live in Randolph County to sell at her discretion and likewise all my moveable property that I possess and if she Marrys two thirds of the Estate is to be divided equal amongst the Children and if she dies without marrying the prinsable [principal] Estate is to be divided equal amongst the all my Children. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this third day of September; Anno Dom: 1784

Witness present
 Wm X Wright His Mark                         Richard R WRIGHT (Seal)  His Mark
Evins X Wright His Mark 
Richard Wright
James MORGAN Junr.
Questions  12/29/2015

Benjamin is given 200 acres near Deep River in Randolph County – when does he sell or bequeath this land?  He dies in Marion County, Indiana, so there should be a deed transferring the land to a child, or a will, or a sale to someone else.

Why does Peter only get 20 shillings?
Note on 23 Sep 2019:  On 29 Jul 1783 Richard Wright assigned to “my son Peter” one of his own land grants for 200 acres.[1]

[1]“North Carolina, Land Grant Files, 1693–1960,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Sept 2019) > Randolph > 1-257 > image 1141 of 1343.

226 acres goes to Richard C Wright and his brother William.  What happens to this land?  Richard remains in the area to the end of his life, and Richard ends up living in Davidson County (formed from Rowan in 1822).  So to whom does he sell his share of the 226 acres? What about William?
Note on 23 Sep 2019:  226 acres of land in Randolph County is assigned to William Summers (a possible brother of Rebecca Summers, who married Evans Wright, one of Richard’s sons) by William Wright in 1787.  Could this be the same land as above? See:  https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/60621/44173_355605-00907/81611?

Amos is living on 100 acres at the time of the will, which is bequeathed him by his father.  Where is he living?  In Rowan?  Or in Randolph?

Richard’s wife gets 200 acres of Richard’s land in Randolph County where he used to live.  Which land is that?  Is it part of the 400 acres he used to have by Deep River?  When is it sold or transferred to other members of the family?  Does Richard’s wife have a will after he dies?

Richard’s son Philburd is given the land where Richard and his wife are currently living (in 1784) when Richard’s wife dies or remarries.  When does Philburd get this land, and what happens to it in the future?   [check Rowan County indexes for Philburd Wright grantee and grantor.  He would turn 21 in 1789.]

23andMe Ethnicity Update

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If you’ve tested at 23andMe, have you checked out your ethnicity results lately? 

In a recent post[1], Judy Russell mentioned 23andMe’s latest ethnicity update, which somehow I missed completely!

Naturally, I had to go check it out, fearing a bit that my ethnicity percentages might be “messed up”.  Even though I know they are estimates, 23andMe has for some time had the percentages closest to what would be expected by my family narrative.  My dad is “all Irish”; my mom is “half Italian” due to her father being from Italy.  Et cetera, et cetera.

23andme_ethnicity

Very little has changed in my ethnicity percentages.   Here, I’ve noted in an Excel spreadsheet my former ethnicities per 23andMe (as of November 2018) and my current ones as of today when I reviewed the changes.

What is interesting, though, is that they seems to have taken a page from Ancestry’s “genetic communities” playbook, and zeroed in on specific areas in Ireland, Britain and Italy where my ancestors possibly lived in the past 200 years.

Let’s take a look.  We’ll start with Ireland.  On my paper trail, both my dad’s parents have Irish roots.  My paternal grandfather’s family left Ireland, depending on the branch of his tree, around the time of the Famine and shortly after – say, the 1850 to 1865 range.  My great-great grandfather, Patrick Dempsey, reportedly came from Kings County (now Co. Offaly) – per his obituary.  I don’t have more details than that.  His wife Hanora Hurley (or is it Hanora Riordan) – whom he married in the U.S. — may have come from anywhere in southern Ireland.  Best guess is Co. Cork or Co. Limerick.  On my grandfather’s maternal line, her father’s Lamburth ancestors likely came from England, while her mother Eliza (Landrigan) Lamburth came from the town of Garryrickin, Windgap Parish, Co. Kilkenny.[2]

My paternal grandmother’s father came from Athea, Co. Limerick, as did his father, while his mother came from Cooraclare, Co. Clare.  My grandmother’s mother came from Athea, Co. Limerick, as did her father, with her mother coming from Beale, Co. Kerry.[3]

In sum, my Irish heritage on my Nana’s side is from the province of Munster, specifically southwest of Ireland, around the River Shannon, while my Grandpa’s Irish heritage is from the province of Leinster, specifically Co. Kilkenny and Co. Offaly.

And 23andMe’s ethnicity determination – for the moment at least – largely agrees.[4]

23andme_irishethnicity

County Kerry, County Clare, County Limerick and County Kilkenny are all in the top 10.

As far as Great Britain/the U.K. is concerned, I have no idea where my ancestors came from.  My paternal grandfather’s Lamburth line, here in the U.S. since at least 1800, likely came from England but none of us researching this line have yet “crossed the pond”.  My mother’s maternal grandmother’s Wright line has been here in the U.S. since at least 1730 or so; researchers on this line have not yet crossed the pond either.  Here is what 23andMe estimates[5]:

23andme_ukethnicityPerhaps these areas could be clues, but it would be silly to jump ahead of myself and start researching Wrights and Lamburth/Lamberts over in England without knowing more about the family here in the U.S. in the 18th century.  The references to Scotland surprise me a bit, but could be related to the Gaelic / Celtic heritage of my Irish side.

With respect to Italy, my grandfather’s parents came from the province of Marche.  My great-grandfather was from Fano, and my great-grandmother was from Sant’Elpidio a Mare[6].  Some of us in my family have even gone to Marche and met our living cousins – that’s a story for another blog post.

Here is what 23andMe estimates[7]. 

23andme_marche_ancestryPretty wild, huh?  Marche!!  Still have to take it with a grain of salt – my brother’s estimated places of origin in Italy are completely different from mine – but still, right now, today, it “fits”.

 

 

[1] Judy G. Russell, “And still not soup…,” The Legal Genealogist, posted 27 Jan 2019 (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : accessed 28 Jan 2019).

[2] For sources, see cathymd, “Dempsey Family Tree“, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/17377380/family : accessed 26 Dec 2018).

[3] Ibid.

[4] 23andMe, Inc., “Cathy, your DNA suggests that 56.8% of your ancestry is British & Irish”, 23andMe.com (https://you.23andme.com/reports/ancestry_composition_hd/british_irish/ : accessed 29 Jan 2019).

[5] 23andMe, Inc., “Cathy, your DNA suggests that 56.8% of your ancestry is British & Irish”, 23andMe.com (https://you.23andme.com/reports/ancestry_composition_hd/british_irish/ : accessed 29 Jan 2019).

[6] For sources, See cathymd, “Serafini_Diamantini1“ tree, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/19505554/family : accessed 29 Jan 2019).

[7] 23andMe, Inc., “Cathy, your DNA suggests that 12.6% of your ancestry is Italian”, 23andMe.com (https://you.23andme.com/reports/ancestry_composition_hd/italian/ : accessed 29 Jan 2019).

William Wright Estate Settlement — Monroe County, Indiana

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Some of my Wright collateral kin lived in Monroe County, Indiana in the early 19th century, but I haven’t yet figured out how all of them tie to my own direct line.  A case in point is the William Wright whose estate was settled in the early 1850s, administered by Pleasant Fossett.

I worked a bit on this problem late this past summer (Aug/Sep 2018) but had to put it aside as I was taking the online BU Certificate for Genealogical Research course.  There is a Philbert/Filbart Wright living in Monroe County in 1820, who would have been born ca 1751.  It is possible — but pure speculation at this point! — he is the father of William and William’s siblings named in William’s estate.  It is also possible — but again, there is nothing definitive — that the Filbart/Philbert born ca. 1751 was a son of Peter  Wright (1717 – bef. 1767) and uncle of Richard Wright (c 1726 – c 1784).

Philbert is not a name used everyday, even in this era (1720 – 1820) and it was used a lot in this particular Wright family.  Hence, the idea that these folks are related collaterally to my line (descending through Richard Wright 1726-1784).

Here is the document of the final settlement, retrieved from FamilySearch. 

wright william_monroe_in_fhl1295695_probateorderbookf p 473-74

Here is my transcription, and all my own comments and notes to it are in red.  Names of the deceased’s kin are in blue:

February Term M Probate Court 1852     6th day                                                    p 473-474

William Wrights Est.

Pleasant Fossett, Admn.

Of William Wrights Est.

Vs.                                                                      Petition to sell real estate to pay debts

William Wrights heirs

To the hour F. L. Butter Judge of the Probate Court of Monroe County in the State of Indiana

The Memorial of Pleasant Fossett Administrator of the Estate of William Wright deceased who died intestate, Respectfully showeth that the personal estate of the said intestate which has come into his hands accounts to the sum of $2.10 that the whole thereof is now remaining in the hands of your petitioner, and that the same is insufficient for the payment of the expenses of Administration and taxes, that have been accrued on the real estate of said intestate as appears by the account herewith produced & that the said intestate at the time of his death was the owner of Certain real estate, situate in the County of Monroe in the State of Indiana and known as the North East quarter of the South East quarter of Section Twenty Nine, in Township Seven North of Range Two West, containing forty acres be the same more or less, which land of the said intestate held by certificate from the land office held at Vincennes & in the state of Indiana.  The probable amount of said real estate is ($125) dollars.

[This land of William’s is in the same section as land purchased in 1827 by Peter Wright (b 1795) who is in the 1860 census living with Pleasant Fossett’s family.  Sec 29 of T7N R2W is also where Pleasant and his father John Smith Fossett bought land.  Not only is Mary Ann (Crum) Fossett Peter’s niece, but their property is adjacent.]

There was no debts due or owing by the decedent at the time of his death as far as your petitioner can ascertain but the costs of Administration and Taxes on said real estate as far as your petitioner can ascertain at this time are as follows to wit.

1st clerks fees including all of them up to this time         $3.00

2nd printers fees for advertising, taking out letters for administration & sale of

Personal property                                                                  $2.00

3rd Administrator’s fees including taxes on said real estate &

Other expenses necessarily incurred                                  $8.00

Making together                                                                       13.00

Amount of personal estate as per sale bill now on file is                                                                                                                                                                     2.10

Leaving a deficit to be paid out of the real estate of                                                                                                                                                                           10.90

That the said William Wright deceased left as his heirs and legal representatives,

Rachel Right and Peter Wright his sister or brother adult persons and both of the County of Monroe and State of Indiana [this Peter Wright is born ca 1795 in NC and is at Indian Creek, Monroe in 1850/1860/1870.  Rachel, born ca 1777 in NC, is in Peter’s household in 1850.  He bought land in Sec 29, above.]

And also Elijah Wright, Jacob Crum, John H Crum, Mary Ann Fossett and David Crum adult persons, and all of whom are brothers and sisters children of the said deceased, all of the before named heirs are of Monroe County and State of Indiana. [probably children of Sally Wright and John Crum.  Mary Ann Fossett is married to Pleasant Fossett, the Administrator.  Elijah may be a brother of William, b 1800 NC, living in Monroe Co.]  

Also Anna Rawley a sister of the said deceased an adult person who has a legal guardian to wit John Rawley

[Anna Wright married Evans Rawley.  She was living with son John Rawley in Lafayette Twp, Owen County, IN in 1850.]

& probably Andrew Fry, and Rawley Wright William Crum Mary Greenwood, Nancy Fry, Elizabeth Christ or Christy [Criss], and Sarah Clark Adult persons all of whom are brothers and sisters children, and all of them probably living in the County of Owen and State of Indiana.

[These are mostly siblings – William Crum may be a cousin – of a brother of William, name unknown.]

Also Philbert Wright and Peter Wright adult persons who are brothers children of the deceased and are living in the county of Green and State of Indiana

[These 2 men are in Greene County in 1850.  Philbert born ca 1802, Peter born ca 1811.  The document reads as though they are the children of one of the decedent’s brothers.  Peter married Elizabeth Fossett in 1832 in Monroe County (?)]

 Eliza Cooper [nee Crum, apparently daughter of John and Sally (Wright) Crum] an adult persons whom are a sisters child of the deceased and are probaby living in the County of Wayne.

And Sarah Sinks Christena Sares, Mary Inyard, Nicy Fine, Lavina Flood, Rachel Starr, and Matilda her husband’s name not known, all adult persons who are sisters children of the deceased whom are probably living in the State of Illinois the county not known.

[all siblings, likely children of unknown Sears and wife Mary Wright]

The foregoing named persons as your petitioner believes are all the heirs and legal representatives of said decedent.  Your memorialist therefore prays your honor to grant him an order of the aforesaid real estate, or so much thereof as will be sufficient to discharge the said taxes that have accrued on said real estate and the expense of Administration, and other legal demands that may be made against said real estate, and such expenses as may hereafter accrue, Also your memorialist prays your honor to appoint suitable men to appraise the foregoing real estate.

June the 2nd day 1851.                                                 Pleasant Fossett, Admnr.

Order of Appraisement

State of Indiana                February Term 1852

Monroe County, SS

On the application of Pleasant Fossett administrator of the estate of William Wright deceased late of the county aforesaid.  It is ordered that Joseph Pennington & William Ragain be appointed appraisers to appraise the N.E. qr of the S.E. qr of Section 29 T7 R2 West with its improvements lying in the County aforesaid, it being the real estate of said decedent, and make report of such appraisement to this court at this term.

And said appraisers being duly sworn returned into Court the following appraisement to wit.

We the undersigned appointed by the within order to appraise the premises therein described having been sworn according to law, do report that on our Consideration of the premises we are of opinion that the said land with its improvements is worth One hundred and twenty five dollars, and do appraise the same accordingly.

Joseph Pennington                                                                                                                                 William Ragain

Allowed one dollar each $200 for both

 

Transcribed by Cathy Dempsey on 9/22/18; all comments in red are mine. – cd

Monroe County, Indiana, Circuit Court, Probate Order Book Volume F:473-474, William Wright estate settlement; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/007663444?cat=213753 : accessed 17 September 2018), image 646.

Clustering your Ancestry DNA matches with Excel (and DNAGedcom)

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There are more and more good visualization tools available for clustering your DNA matches with the intent of discovering a new ancestor.  Recently I’ve been using a clustering tool created by Evert-Jan Blom at Genetic Affairs (more on that tool in an upcoming post). 

The DNA Color Clustering method used by Dana Leeds clustering methodology is straightforward, and especially effective for those persons who have many 2nd and 3rd cousin matches on Ancestry — which I don’t.  (Although it actually works quite well for more distant cousins, in my opinion, especially if you’ve been working on clustering your matches for several years!)  You can find out more about Dana’s method here.

Despite these cool clustering methods — and others — in the end, I keep returning to my trusty Excel spreadsheet and my list of “ICW” (In Common With) matches from Ancestry.com which I download using the DNAGedCom client tool (available here via a yearly subscription).

I’m sharing my way of clustering my matches — or, more specifically, my mother’s matches and my father’s matches — because the “best” method is the one that makes the most sense to you, or seems the most “intuitive”.

Mom_RitaShared

Some of Mom’s shared matches with “Cousin B”, on Ancestry

Let’s say I’m working with my mother’s DNA matches from Ancestry.com.  Using the DNAGedcom Client tool, I will download a list of all her matches, and then download a list of all her “ICW” matches into CSV format. 

Default ICW file

This is a sample of the default ICW file, before I combine it with the default Match file.

Default Match file

This is an abbreviated sample of the default match file.  The columns of interest are “Range” and “SharedCM”.

Once I have the two files, I use the VLOOKUP tool in Excel to associate (Cousin) Range and SharedCM to the primary match, and then to the In Common With matches.  The result is a combined file like that below.  The combined columns are highlighted in green.

Combined File

The “Mtch cM” and “Mtch Cousin” columns associate to Cousin B; the “icw cM” and “icw Cousin” associate to the ICW match: me, my brother, and cousins C, D, E, F, G, and H.  Shared cM (centiMorgans) = shared DNA; see my previous post here for more on centiMorgans. 

For purposes of clustering, though, all we really care about is that in general, the more DNA you share, the closer you are related — at least in the case of 2nd cousins or closer.  You can see that to some extent with Ancestry’s predicted ranges in the green highlighted columns.

The In-Common-With (ICW) list is basically a subset of your matches list.  My mom’s paternal first cousin — let’s call her “B” — has also tested at Ancestry.  So, Mom’s ICW list for “B” would include me, my brother, and six other cousins: C, D, E, F, G, H.  (Mom’s father was a first generation American, and “B”‘s father was born in Italy — not a lot of our Italian side, many still residing in Italy, have tested their DNA on Ancestry.  Hence, we don’t have a lot of matches.)  The critical point is that C, D, E, F, and G as well as my brother and I would show up on Mom’s match list AND on B’s match list — we are the “in common” matches.

So, if Mom and cousin “B” are first cousins, their Most Recent Common Ancestor(s) (MRCA) would be their shared set of (Italian) grandparents: Guiseppe Diamantini and Maria Bolognesi.  Obviously that same couple would be the great-grandparents of my brother and me.  But my brother and I are not the interesting cousins in the ICW cluster.  Cousins C, D, E, F, G and H are the key here. 

Mom_DNAGedCom_Example2

Let’s look at the example above.  I “cluster” my mom’s DNA matches by adding two columns (shown here highlighted in red).  Because I know my mom and Cousin B share the same set of grandparents, I put the MRCA couple’s name in the “Mtch MRCA” column for each row where there is an In Common With cousin.  (Note that, despite Ancestry’s prediction that my mom and Cousin B are 2nd cousins, they are in fact 1st cousins.)

The amounts of DNA shared, shown in the “Match cM” column and the “icw cM” column are the amounts Mom shares with these cousins.  We cannot determine from the information shown here how much, if any, “B” shares with “F”, or “C” shares with “D”.   We only know C, D, E, F, G, H not only share DNA with Mom, but MUST also share some amount with Cousin B because Ancestry has given us that information.

I then look at each of the ICW cousins: that is, my brother and I, plus cousins C through H.  I note that my brother and I are children, which means our DNA amounts won’t have any new information to determine cousin clustering — because whatever we share, we inherited from Mom.  (You can always exclude known children of a DNA match when you’re working with clustering, because they will always be a subset of their parents — if you have your parents or grandparents tested.)

Cousins C and D are two people whose place in my mother’s family tree I already know — therefore I include their MRCA information (Fortunato Camillucci and Maddelena Serafini).  They are my mother’s cousins on her Diamantini line.  Since the Diamantini line is my mother’s paternal line, I shade it blue for male.

Cousins E, F, G and H are unknown to me.  In this case, none of them have trees on Ancestry which might give me more detailed information as to how they relate to my mother.  The amount of DNA shared is fairly small, so it is possible the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) with Mom is quite a few generations back.  So I note them as “Diamantini or Bolognesi” (as I don’t yet know whether they share on the Diamantini line or the Bolognesi line) and also shade the cell in blue.  I leave those notes unbolded, since I’m not certain of how the cousin actually fits into our tree.

I then do the same thing with each of the other cousins listed here.  Below is a screen shot of the In-Common-With listing for Mom and Cousin C.  Note that there is some overlap with the In-Common-With listing for Mom and Cousin B, but there is one person who shares DNA with Mom and Cousin C, but who does not share with Cousin B.  I labeled that person Cousin J (highlighted in bright yellow.)

Bree_DNAGedCom_Example1Because the Most Recent Common Ancestor between Mom and Cousin C is the Camillucci & Serafini couple, I then use those names to populate the cell in the icw MRCA column, as shown below.

Bree_DNAGedCom_Example2

Mom doesn’t have that many matches on Ancestry.com to her paternal side, in part because her father was a 1st generation American.  A better example of the clustering is shown below, with one of her 4th cousins.  The shared Most Recent Common Ancestor between Mom and cousin “K D” is Jacob Copple and Margaret Blalock.

Cousin KD

I have hidden the names of the In-Common-With cousins, but you can see the amount of DNA they share with my mother.   What this screenprint shows is how the different In-Common-With cousins have different Most Recent Common Ancestors with Mom.  But all of them are related in some way to either Jacob Copple or Margaret Blalock.  Philip Copple and Patsy Wright, for instance, are the presumed parents of Jacob Copple.  Patsy Wright’s presumed grandparents are Richard Wright & Ann.  Ben Copple is the son of Jacob Copple & Margaret Blalock, while Nicholas Copple & wife are the likely paternal grandparents of Jacob’s father Philip.

A different cousin of Mom’s who also descends from Jacob Copple & Margaret Blalock possibly inherited some of Margaret (Blalock) Copple’s DNA.  You can see that in the ICW MRCA column below, where some of the In-Common-With cousins (names are whited-out) appear to have Blalock / Blaylock lineage.  One of the cousins who shares DNA with both Mom and “M M” is fairly closely related to Mom; you can tell that by the amount of DNA shared (140.4 cM) and the MRCA = Sam Englehart and Libby Copple.  Libby Copple is the granddaughter of Jacob Copple & Margaret Blalock.

Cousin MM

All in all, this is just one more method of using color coding and Most Recent Common Ancestor information to figure out how your unknown matches may be related to you.  It’s not an absolute — it’s just a hint.  But it gives you something to work with.

Mapping your DNA segments to your ancestors

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Chr2_Wright

What is this picture telling us?  It is from a tool called DNA Painter (https://dnapainter.com/)  I am focusing on a specific set of segments on chromosome 2 on my mother’s side (hence the wide bar for chromosome 2 and the pink color for the chromosomes shown.)

Before using this tool, I had already gotten my DNA tested, as had both my parents, 2 of my siblings, and numerous known 1st, 2nd and 3rd cousins.  (Second cousins share a pair of great-grandparents; third cousins share a pair of great-great grandparents.)  In addition, I’ve already worked on determining who is the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) between my DNA match and me, using census records, vital records (marriage, birth, death), land deeds, and so on.

Based on my “paper” research and my DNA matches, each cousin (represented by a single color bar, except for cousin K in purple who has two bars) matches me, matches my mom, and matches each other.  This is known as triangulation (if A = B and B = C, then A = C) and is indicative of a shared ancestor (or ancestors) at some point back in time.  The paper research points to Richard Wright and his wife Ann (maiden name unknown) being the MRCA for all of us.

For some of the cousins above, the MRCA couple for them and me is Anna Patsy Wright and her husband Philip Copple (key = turquoise).  For other cousins, the MRCA couple is Richard Wright and his wife Ann (maiden name unknown) (key = orange).  Anna is the granddaughter of Richard and Ann, so in actuality, the segments assigned to her are segments she inherited from Richard or Ann.  (Thus, all the turquoise segments could in fact be colored orange.)

The point of using both turquoise and orange is to show that some of the people who match me are also descendants of Anna Wright, and other cousins (whose MRCA with me is Richard and Ann, rather than Anna and Philip) are descendants of someone other than Anna – specifically, from one of her paternal uncles or aunts.  (If they had descended from one of Anna’s own siblings, then the MRCA would not have been Anna’s grandfather but instead her father Amos Wright.)

Cousin K is being highlighted in purple to emphasize K’s two segments shared with me.  (If I were keeping to the color coding, one segment of K’s would be chartreuse, and one would be turquoise.)

Notice how the segments seem to be staggered; their starting ends line up.  These represent crossover points, here indicated by the vertical dark lines.  Since I inherited the entire segment from my maternal grandmother, it’s more likely these crossovers occurred sometime in the past, and represent segments inherited by her from different ancestors on the Wright line.

Chr2_CrossoverMarkings

The teal segments, representing matches who have a Wright ancestor from Buncombe County, North Carolina, are unexpected matches.  Meaning, my maternal Wright line has no (apparent) tie to Buncombe County, NC –that’s too far west of where “my” Wright line lived.  That being said, because they match me and match the other cousins who are known to be Patsy Wright’s descendants and/or Richard Wright descendants, they must be relatives.  Our common ancestor likely goes back further than Richard – the fact that the segments are shorter than the others would seem to confirm that assumption.  (That being said, due to the randomness of DNA inheritance, there is not always a correlation between length of segment and distance of relationship.)

Chr2_SegmentAssignment

The as-yet-unknown ancestor segment is in chartreuse, and represents the segment of chromosome 2 from the first crossover (vertical line) to the second crossover.  I’ve labeled it “Waymire or Wright” in the legend, as it likely relates to my Wright line, and cousins who share this segment have Waymire/Wehmeyer ancestors in their tree.  And that matters because the Waymire and Wright families lived right next door to each other in Randolph County, NC circa 1770’s.  It’s the tiniest of clues to go on, and may not be accurate; more research, and more cousins tested, is needed to solve the puzzle.

The red arrow points to the “Richard Wright and Ann” segment.  What’s important to mention here is that I call it the “Richard Wright and Ann” segment because that’s as far back as I can determine.  Therefore, it’s a convenient label.  However, it may not actually have been inherited through the Wright line.  If the segment was passed down through Richard, but he inherited it from his mother, then it would technically be a “Becraft” segment, as Richard’s mother was Esther Becraft.  If the segment was passed down through Richard’s wife Ann, it wouldn’t be a Wright segment at all – but we don’t have a surname for Ann, so it’s easier to label this segment on chromosome 2 as a “Wright” segment.

The fun of mapping segments, though, is that it assists you in quickly figuring out how your DNA match may be related to you.  If I get a new match tomorrow, say, on MyHeritage, and they match me maternally on one of the segments shown above, I know they are related to me through my Wright line, and how far back is really the only question.  I don’t need to consider any of my other maternal ancestors.

Mapping can be done at a much closer level – assigning your 4 grandparents to segments of each of your chromosomes (1 – 22, and the X). You’ll need your siblings to test with you.   I will cover that in a later post.