Tag Archives: genealogy

The brick wall that won’t break

So last I posted I had a lead on a possible Burchett (in this case, Birchett) line that showed potential of tying in with Benjamin Burchett. Alas, so far no such luck. If the connection is there it is rather far back (pre-1650’s), so while I am not giving up on that line, I have not been able to ascertain if my Benjamin fit’s into that line at all. It has been presented that Burwell Burchett may be a possibility, however, almost all that line, once gone from Virginia, ended up in Kentucky, which makes that a very unlikely scenario since my DNA results conclusively have a North Carolina connection and my Benjamin was born in North Carolina, not Kentucky. But, I haven’t discounted that possibility completely.

I have gathered enough documents that, while not 100% conclusive, leaves little room for me to doubt that the 1850 Benjamin Bucket(although after looking at the spelling it looks a lot like “Birchet” as opposed to “Bucket.” One thing I am sure of, however, is that my Benjamin is not the Benjamin Burchett of Adair, MO.  Family members, dates, locations, none of them add up or provide any link to Joseph Burchett. There is a Benjamin Burchett that shows up in Illinois that has a lot of similarities, but I believe this to also be a different Benjamin Burchett than my ancestor.

Again, dates, locations and family just don’t line up. Unfortunately, there is a lot of trees on ancestry tying all these Benjamin’s into one person, which is a shame, because it just leads to confusion and lack of proper research. So if you are one of those on Ancestry or FamilySearch, you really should correct your charts and not make assumptions based on other trees out there that equally make assumptions without any source material to back it up.

On a side note, while I was taking  breather from this stubborn 3rd great-grandfather, I discovered that I am related through various branches of the paternal line to Sir William Wade/Waad who was the Lieutenant at the Tower of London during the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 and actually questioned Guy Fawkes.

In addition to learning that, I discovered that his father, Armagil Wade/Waad was married to an unknown woman with the last name Comyn from Scotland, who it turns out the records state she was the sister of Alured Comyn, Prior of St Oswald. Of course, the last name Comyn is not stranger to anyone who has researched Scottish history or has watched “Braveheart”! I have about 28% Scottish in my DNA results, so this seems to be valid conclusion. Time will tell!

 

A renewed focus on 1850 Benjamin Bucket

I am still wrapping my head around how to interpret my Y-DNA results from FamilyTreeDNA. I think I am starting to understand it a little better, but it’s more like knowing a few words and phrases in a foreign language rather than being able to carry a conversation in that language.

The good part is I have made a contact with another Burchett (well, in this case Birchett) through the YDNA testing that looks extremely promising. I have renewed my research mostly centered around Joseph (1843), his connection with the 1850 Cape Girardeau census Benjamin Bucket, and the potential that he is descended from Joseph Burchett (1725) or his father Robert Burchett (1673). Right now, I’m not finding any sons of either of these Burchett’s that line up with the dates and locations of my 1850 Benjamin. But hopefully with more research one pop’s up in this line.

What I do know, so far…

There is a Benjamin Burchett from Adair, Missouri, however, I does not appear to be the same Benjamin as the one in the 1850 Cape Girardeau Census. There is a will available for the Adair Benjamin, however, the children’s names do not match with the 1850 Census Benjamin, leading me to believe he is a different person.
The following artifacts seem to line up with the Benjamin Bucket (Burchett) listed in the 1850 Census in Cape Girardeau, MO.
  • There is a Benjamin Burket listed in the Arkansas, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1819-1870 as being in Arkansas Territory, Monroe County, AR. in 1839. This coincides with the possible birth of son Joseph in Arkansas around the 1840 time frame.
  • There is a marriage to Miss Elizabeth Wooly on 1 MAY 1856 in Mississippi County Missouri, which is close to Cape Girardeau, for a Benjamin Burchett. If this is the same Benjamin, this would be his second wife and assumes his first wife (also Elizabeth) died some time after birth of daughter Perneicia in 1846 and prior to 1856.
  • There is a U.S. IRS Tax Assessment Lists, 1862-1918 for a Benjamin J Burchett in 1864 in Jonesboro, Illinois. This is also fairly close to the SEMO area that Benjamin Burchett resided in. The assessment is for 14 head of cattle, possibly meaning he moved there to farm or herd cattle. Nothing so far to tie this record to 1850 Benjamin – yet.

I also have made other observations and continue to document the following:

  • It appears a lot of people are mixing Benjamin Burchett records together, including marriages.  The Adair, MO Benjamin was married to Eliza (not Elizabeth) DEROD (1 Jul 1877) and the SEMO Benjamin married Elizabeth (not Eliza) WOOLY (1 MAY 1856).
  • While I do not have a record yet, Benjamin was married to another Elizabeth from Tennessee who was the father of his children Eliza Jane, George, Susan, Sally, Joseph, Elizabeth and Perneicia. Many list this as Elizabeth MOBELY, but again, no citation to prove that as of yet.
  • Also, Civil War records for the Benjamin Burchett serving in CO B 39th INF RGT is for the Adair, MO Benjamin Burchett.  This also validates that the date of  22 AUG 1891 is NOT the death date for our Benjamin Burchett but IS the death date for the Adair, MO Benjamin.

So, still nothing conclusive, but some good leads. The real break through would be if I can conclusively tie the 1850 Benjamin to the North Carolina Burchett/Birchett line through my DNA results with them. BUT, all of this is very promising and could finally be the break through I have been looking for all these years!!

Y-DNA Results came in today as well as updated Ancestry results

I was expecting an extremely long wait time (the FamilyTreeDNA site told me 6-8 weeks before I would get results) for my Y-DNA test results, however, they surprisingly came today just shy of four weeks after they received them.

After a quick look at the results all I really know so far is that it is predicted I belong to Haplogroup I-M253 with the explanation that,

Haplogroup I dates to 23,000 years ago, or older. The I-M253 lineage likely has its roots in northern France. Today it is found most frequently within Viking/Scandinavian populations in northwest Europe and has since spread down into Central and Eastern Europe, where it is found at low frequencies. Haplogroup I represents one of the first peoples in Europe.

Unfortunately, a quick look at the matches has done nothing to break through my paternal brick wall. It appears the matches I do have are many, many generations past Joseph Burchett and leaves a very large gap in between them and Joseph.

The plan now is to learn more in-depth what the results tell me and how I can use them to break down the brick wall. This will require more education on my part into the DNA realm and I suspect the involvement of a professional.

I’ll be sure to update.

On another front, Ancestry had updated results and wow, did my DNA results alter themselves. Both interesting and a bit disconcerting at the same time.

 

Sweden disappears altogether and Scotland takes a huge leap forward. The Germanic is expected and well-known to me. Another interesting observation is how my English roots dropped a good bit as well.

So, the disconcerting part is trying to make sense of this. I’m concerned that the results are less scientific and more based on, as a friend who also had her DNA analyzed, “crowdsourcing”. Ancestry provides a variety of surveys on your DNA account and I’m wondering how much my results are based on the updates of people with similar markers taking the surveys are as, again, opposed to scientific data.

Lot’s of what if’s and the brick wall that is Joseph Burchett remains… to be continued…

Ordered my FTDNA Y37 test

I ordered my FamilyTreeDNA Y37 test kit this morning. I was on the fence initially when trying to decide to order it or not.

My first concern is that it would only lead me to Joseph Burchett again and no further. I didn’t want to spend $120 if that was going to happen. I posted my concern on the DNAAncestry subreddit, and the responses were that it helped some of them overcome their brick walls, so I decided to go ahead and spring for it.

Now, once again, the wait. Waiting for it to be shipped, then waiting for it to be shipped back, and then waiting on results! (Can you tell I have an impatient side?)

But seriously, I am looking forward to seeing what the results are and really hope they open things up on my paternal side.