Genealogy Websites & DNA Testing

 

“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.” –George Burns

With so many people taking DNA tests and then being encouraged to enter their family trees online, you can end up with some really good “pointers” that need to be researched OR you can end up with a hot mess!

While I’m glad that so much genealogy information (in the form of sources) is online, I get tired of correcting and/or emailing people who oversee family history lineages on sites that are trying to build One Big Family Tree. Control Freaks abound in these places, and, if they’re still active, it’s their way or the highway.

I remember now why I stopped doing online genealogy several years ago. I spent almost all of my time policing websites. I also had someone literally copy and paste my personal writing on my blog homepage to their blog page without referencing me or even including a link. This morning, I started a review of current, popular genealogy websites, but, by this afternoon, it looks like Ancestry.com has bought most of them! So, I guess my warning is to be careful of subscribing to multiple sites.

For Genealogists, Thank God for the Mormons!

While I am not Mormon, it is my understanding that Mormons conduct sealings (or rituals) for baptizing and binding the souls of couples and families not only living but also after their deaths. I think that’s how Family Group Sheets entered the mainstream along with the popularity of Family History Libraries at local Mormon churches (called stakes). In order to seal as many ancestors as possible, they needed records. So, along came the International Genealogical Index (IGI) published in 1973. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) has since created FamilySearch.org, which is a free website still owned by the LDS. Ancestry broke from the LDS in 2007. So, what started out small and free has branched out into huge and profitable.

Barb’s Review!	Pros	Cons	Subscription
FamilySearch.org (Offered by the Church of Latter-day Saints)	Some lines are well-sourced. Good selection of sources that differs from Ancestry. They have a mobile app.	Prefers merges with existing trees but not mandatory. Anyone can change or delete your tree.	Free
WikiTree.com (Owned by Interesting.com)	Some lines are well-sourced. They have some great projects that volunteer members work on like the Palatine Migration Project, etc. Shows your DNA test results as a percentage of relationship to an ancestor.	One Big Family Tree. May or may not be sourced. I’m noticing fewer pages being sourced, which is disappointing to me. They have a WikiTree Sourcer app for Apple and Mac products but not Androids.	Free
Ancestry.com (Bought in 2020 by Blackstone, an international investment firm)	No one can change your tree. Looks for possible sources “hints” for each person entered. They have a mobile app. Offers top-rated DNA tests.	Discount w/6-month subscription but $25 fee if you cancel early. You can’t view detailed info unless you’re a subscriber.	U.S. Records $22/mos U.S. & International Records $33/mos
MyHeritage.com (Started out in Israel, bought in 2021 by Francisco Partners an equity firm with an office in Utah)	Good collection of French sources. They purchased Legacy Family Tree software. Offers DNA tests $89.	You can’t view detailed info unless you’re a subscriber. All the research hints I’ve noticed in Legacy Family Tree are from MyHeritage.	Basic - Free. 4 plans ranging from $129/year to $299/year
Geni.com (owned by MyHeritage since 2012)	Some lines are well-sourced. Has many lines going back hundreds of years.	One Big Family Tree. May or may not be sourced. I’m noticing fewer pages being sourced, which is disappointing to me.	Basic - Free Pro - $119/year
Geneanet en.geneanet.org Purchased by Ancestry in 2021.	Focus on Continental Europe.	You can’t view detailed info unless you’re a subscriber. Not sure what the future holds since it was bought by Ancestry.	Basic - Free Premium - from $4.13/mos
FindAGrave.com Purchased by Ancestry in 2013.	Focus on cemetery records. Some include well-written biographies.	Information may or may not be accurate.	Free
FindMyPast.com (Owned by Scottish media firm DC Thomson)	Focus is on British and Irish records. Can create your own tree.	You can’t view detailed info unless you’re a subscriber.	British and Irish Records $60 All Records $90

Of course, there are other sites that are linked to Ancestry like Newspapers.com and Fold3.com that are also subscription-based.

So, why are equity and investment firms investing in your family history? They’re not. They are buying data. You supply the data; they sell the data for profit. Data benefits businesses through insights and analytics.

DNA Testing

According to the NYTimes.com/Wirecutter review updated 16 Nov 2023, here are the top 3 DNA test picks:

1. Ancestry - best overall; largest DNA database; cannot track maternal and paternal heritage independently or trace your ancient migration path out of Africa. $119 deeply discounted around holidays.

2. 23andMe - came in second; for male testers, the tests can provide the ancient migration paths of maternal and paternal lines independently; additional paid service for potential health indicators. $160 deeply discounted around holidays.

3. FamilyTreeDNA - runner up; offers a lot of add-on tests that can quickly add up; voluntarily provides access to its customer data to law enforcement. $89

For genealogy purposes, DNA testing works best alongside of traditional research techniques. While DNA might tell you that you have a Western European heritage, it won’t tell you who your great-great-grandmother is in Holmes County, Mississippi!

Common DNA terms:

Haplogroup - it’s a group that shares a common ancestor. While all humans started out as one original haplogroup in Africa, they have since migrated out and reproduced into separate groups. The four largest haplogroups today are European, African, Native American, and Asian.

Autosomal DNA - this is you in all your glory! This is what you get from your mom and dad (or scientifically, the 23 pairs of chromosomes: 22 from mom and 22 from dad). It tells you what your ethnic makeup is and can match you with living relatives within the past 5 generations.

Mitochondrial DNA - M is for Mom! Often called mtDNA or mDNA, this is what mom contributed to your genetic code. It can tell you about ancient migration routes of ancestors on your mom’s side. It doesn’t play well with others: your mDNA is exactly the same as your mom’s mDNA. It is exactly the same!

Y-chromosome DNA - Just for the guys! Often called Y-DNA, in males it makes up half of the 23^rd chromosome pair that determines your gender: males are XY and females are XX. Poor women all these thousands of years being blamed for not giving birth to a son when we now know it was the dad’s “fault” (Do you hear me Henry VIII?). This test is for biological males only and can show ancient migration routes of ancestors on your dad’s side.

While I don’t understand everything about how DNA is used in genealogy, I am certain that big business and insurance will eventually profit by, and misuse, the information.

Researchers: Thank You!

 

“If at first you don’t succeed, search, search again. That is why we call it re-search.” GenealogyBank.com

I remember back in the early 1990s, personal computers allowed genealogists and family history enthusiasts to communicate by email. You still had to physically go to an archives or family history library, but you could come home and let others know what you had found by typing out long emails. Getting an email from someone at Prodigy.com or AOL.com could open up a whole new family line you never knew about! To see what was in a will, you actually had to write to the state archives and pay money requesting a will that you had to wait to arrive in the mail and hope that it was a will for someone in your family tree (and not a brother or cousin)!

As PC use expanded, websites like RootsWeb devoted to nothing but posts about surname inquiries or people listing everything they knew about a surname became popular. It was about 1996, the year my daughter was born, that online genealogy really began to make its presence felt in my family. My mother, Kay Rockett, was using WEBTV and learned hotmail so she could post her family history findings at www.oocities.org/~kayrockett/ (that was GeoCities, sort of a precursor to social media).

Turns out, my mother printed out every single email she got. She put it in a folder with the surname written on it, but she never went through the papers at a later date. So, now I’ve got these folders in a trunk, and I think it’s time to go through them!

So, move over Ancestry, FamilySearch, WikiTree, Geni, MyHeritage, etc. Here’s to all of the “early pioneers” who spent many, many tireless hours researching family histories through reading, writing, using typewriters, talking on landline phones, driving to archives and cemeteries and family history libraries, and spending money for postage and copies and hotel rooms (overnight travel) just to bring you 2 or 3 lines of accurate information about 1 ancestor!

 This is a work in progress that will be updated as I go through each of the above surname folders!

Littler

Bev Barnes

Mr. And Mrs. Don Day

Daniel Rose

Ross

Kathleen R. Edwards

Dwaine Stoddard 

Sharp

Francie L. Lane - in 2014 published a four-volume set on her Martin family history

Greg Sharp

Whitsett

Debra Slater Garner

Karolyn Jones

Francie L. Lane - in 2014 published a four-volume set on her Martin family history

Will Moneymaker

Sharon Neill

Larry Noah

Louise Tillman Overton (1934-2020)

Kathy Whitsett

Debbie Wilson

Cutrer: West Florida Revolt (Louisiana)

In 1803 the United States purchased France’s territory west of the Mississippi River including New Orleans. Along with coastal counties in Mississippi, Alabama and the panhandle of Florida, the Louisiana parishes pictured in red below were not part of the Louisiana Purchase and remained under Spanish rule. This area stretched from the Mississippi River east to the Pearl River.

The Florida Parishes by JW1805 at Wikipedia.org

About this same time, Joseph Cutrer and his wife Mary Ann Pendarvis* were moving from Orangeburg, SC, to Spanish West Florida in the red shaded area just south of the Mississippi line. They arrived in 1804.

 Joseph Cutrer (1772-1829)

“Things were peaceful until 1808, when Spain appointed Col. Charles Delassus as governor. The inefficiency and corruption of officials under him threatened the prosperity of American colonists in West Florida, who presented demands for political reform. Delassus pretended to go along, while secretly plotting to arrest the ringleaders.” (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-history-of-the-short-lived-independent-republic-of-florida-28056078/)

The Law Library of Louisiana presents a nice timeline of events (https://lasc.libguides.com/c.php?g=683636&p=4847561#:~:text=In%20the%20early%20hours%20of,star%20on%20a%20blue%20field.):

West Florida Revolt

June through September 1810 - groups of men dissatisfied with Spanish rule met both secretly and openly.

September 23, 1810 - during the early hours, rebels under the command of Philemon Thomas attacked Fort San Carlos in Baton Rouge. After a brief firefight, the rebels controlled the fort. They then raised the flag of the new Republic of West Florida, a white star on a blue field.

The Republic of West Florida (Lone Star) Flag made by Melissa Johnson in 1810. Picture by Wolfmaster2 at Wikipedia.org

October 27, 1810 - President Madison issued a proclamation declaring his intent to take possession of the territory. Soon afterward, the governor of the Orleans Territory, William C.C. Claiborne, and the governor of the Mississippi Territory, David Holmes, prepared to annex the new republic.

November 7, 1810 - the citizens of the new republic elected a bicameral legislature, and a governor, Fulwar Skipwith. His inauguration took place November 29. Governor Holmes went to their new capital, St. Francisville, and persuaded most leaders to surrender. Skipwith and others left for the stronghold in Baton Rouge.

December 7, 1810 - Governor Claiborne issued an ordinance designating the land comprising the Republic of West Florida as the county of Feliciana.

December 10, 1810 - that afternoon the last defenders of the Republic of West Florida marched out of Fort San Carlos and laid down their arms. The takeover was complete.

However, the U.S. was slow to officially annex the region. On November 20, 1811, Joseph Cutrer was one of 411 signers of a petition sent to both houses of Congress asking that the area be attached to the Mississippi Territory. Their reasons were based on the “difference of people, language, manners, customs, and politics.”  (Sources: 1. Cadastral Patterns in Louisiana: A Colonial Legacy, Carolyn Oliver French, 1978, https://repository.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4200&context=gradschool_disstheses, Appendix I, page 198; 2. Chapter 8 - West Florida Republic at https://www.hancockcountyhistoricalsociety.com/history/early-history-hancock-county--ms)

Looks like their petition was ignored, but thanks to the tireless efforts of the “rebels” in the West Florida Revolt, Louisiana was finally admitted as a state in 1812. There are no U.S. Censuses until 1820. However, tax lists compiled from the property owners in Washington, St. Tammany and eastern Tangipahoa Parishes for the years 1811-1812 show Joseph Cutrer and his brothers: Henry Cutrer, Isaac Cutrer, and John Cutrer. (From https://sites.rootsweb.com/~lawashin/history.html)

Louisiana parishes once part of the Republic of West Florida are:

East Baton Rouge Parish

East Feliciana Parish

Livingston Parish

St. Helena Parish

St. Tammany Parish

Tangipahoa Parish

Washington Parish

West Feliciana Parish

Today, these are still referred to as the “Florida Parishes”.

Here’s the lineage back to “rebel” Joseph Cutrer:

9) Joseph Cutrer b. 29 Sep 1772 Orangeburg Co., SC d. 28 Oct 1829 Washington Par., LA m. Mary Anna Pendarvis b. 11 Sep 1778 Orangeburg Co., SC d. 5 Mar 1844 Spring Creek, Tangipahoa, LA

8) Joseph Cutrer b. 4 Jul 1806 St. Tammany (now Washington) Par., LA d. aft. 1880 Washington Par., LA m. Rachel Jane Varnado b. 1812 Pike Co., MS d. 1880 Pike Co., MS

7) Hiram Harper Cutrer b. 5 Aug 1847 Osyka, Pike, MS d. 2 Sep 1929 Pike Co., MS m. Sarah Jane Fortenberry b. 21 Jun 1846 Marion Co., MS d. 15 Dec 1886 Pike Co., MS

6) Isaac Omer Cutrer b. 8 Sep 1871 St. Helena Par., LA d. 31 Jan 1941 Washington Par., LA m. Fannie Rebecca Smith b. 16 Sep 1881 LA d. 21 Jan 1923 Progress, Pike, MS

5) Ollie Lee Cutrer b. 11 Oct 1903 Osyka, Pike, MS d. 6 Oct 1996 St. Francisville, West Feliciana, LA m. Laura Mae Robertson b. 18 Oct 1911 AR d. 28 Mar 1955 New Orleans, Orleans, LA

4) Robert Lee Cutrer b. 8 Nov 1927 New Orleans, Orleans, LA d. 26 Apr 2002 Lacombe, St. Tammany, LA m. Mary Elaine Healy b. abt. 1929 New Orleans, Orleans, LA d. 31 May 2008 Lacombe, St. Tammany, LA

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

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

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

*For more on Mary Ann Pendarvis, see Across the Pond: Cutrer > Zanin aka Jennings - Switzerland.