Sunday, October 29, 2023

Lailhengue: DNA the New Frontier

 "I have called you by name: you are mine." - Isaiah 43:1 from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/43

While I realize that a person’s name can reflect family, geographical, and historical connections, I can’t help but think about how often a name can change throughout a person’s lifetime: christenings, adoptions, marriages, and additional marriages. The name I was born with, Brannon Kay Laird, is nothing like my name today! I’ve had three first names and five last names. Name changes make hunting down ancestors difficult, but thanks to DNA testing, some doors can open up new possibilities.

Let me introduce BAC’s family line from Lailhengue back to Dean:

1) BAC, my son-in-law (living - information withheld)

2) Private (information withheld) and Private (information withheld)

3) Private (information withheld) and Private (information withheld)

4) Virginia Iris Botkin b. 1924 OH d. 1983 LA m. Andrew Charles Lailhengue b. 1926 LA d. 2004 LA

5) Florence Buela Dean b. 1896 OH d. 1968 m. Sgt. Stephen Roy Botkin b. 1893 IN d. 1946 AZ

6) William Lincoln Dean b. 1863 IN d. 1937 OH m. Emma Jeanette Sherard b. 1877 OH d. 1941 OH

7) William Allison Dean b. 1838 VA d. 1915 OH m. Susanna Minerva Smeltzer b. 1845 IN d. 1936 OH

:::sound of crickets:::  No father for W. A. Dean could be found. The death certificate and the census trail all show him as an adult with the surname Dean. The marriage records show his name as simply William Allison. Enter DNA testing technology. At FamilySearch.org under the page for William Allison Dean, there is an important research note posted by Deep Roots at the top of the page that reads in part: “William Allison Honaker is listed on the 1850 Census as a son of John Honaker and not using the surname Dean, which he later changed to. AutoTree DNA triangulation confirms this Honaker lineage. Please note: William Allison (Honaker) Dean is connected as a Honaker descendant through both manual DNA triangulation and the new automated AutoTree DNA analysis…”


Contributed by Deep Roots on 23 Apr 2023 at FamilySearch.org regarding William Allison Honaker aka Dean.

Honestly, this is way over my head! But the conclusion is that William Allison Dean was actually William Allison Honaker. At some point after leaving home, he decided to start using the last name Dean. So, to continue his line:

8) John B. Honaker b. 1816 VA d. 1879 OH m. Julian Ann Carter b. 1815 VA d. 1900 OH

9) Abraham J. Honaker b. 1774 VA d. 1869 VA m. Sarah Ann Cline b. 1785 VA d. 1872 VA

10) D.A.R. Patriot Hans Jacob Honaker b. 1718 Switzerland d. 1796 VA m. Anna Maria Goetz b. 1738 Switzerland d. 1807 VA

At this point I checked to see if anyone at the D.A.R. website had submitted application papers using their lineage through William Allison Dean to Jacob Honaker, and it doesn’t look like anyone has tried this yet and been approved.

So, if anyone is trying to get in the D.A.R. using the Dean line, it would be easier to go through his wife and just by-pass the whole Honaker aka Dean thing:

7)  Susanna Minerva Smeltzer b. 1845 IN d. 1936 OH m. William Allison Dean b. 1838 VA d. 1915 OH

8) Elizabeth Hancock b. 1815 OH d. bef 1860 IN m. John Smeltzer b. 1800 MD d. 1866 IN

9) Joseph Hancock b. 1787 KY d. 1820 IN m. Susanah Millman b. abt 1790 OH d. 1820 IN

10) Pvt. Joseph Hancock b. 1758 PA d. 1834 IN m. Katherine Baltimore b. 1759 MD d. 1816 IN

Science is usually way ahead of society. It will be interesting to see how genetic genealogy continues to develop and change our perceptions of ourselves now as well as in the past.

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