A Birthday NPE Surprise

Michelle received an AncestryDNA for her birthday.  She did this to find out her ethnicity percentages.  She promptly sent it off and received her results in less than 3 weeks.  The results were not what she expected.   She knew the first match was her maternal first cousin @ 817 cMs.  She didn't know who the other close match, BD, was coming in at 518 cMs (1-2 cousin range).  She searched her maiden name and could not find one match with it nor one with it in their tree.  This was off.  She called me.  We talked about the potential of a NPE (Not Parent Expected). 

Michelle reached out to a paternal cousin to see which platform they tested on.  Turns out they also tested on AncetryDNA.  We did a user name search and confirmed that they were on the same platform and did not match her at all.

I got to work analyzing her matches. There were matches in the 2-3nd cousins range with no trees to work with on their profiles.  Back to the BD match to take a deeper look at his aunts and uncles.  If this was her first cousin, an aunt or uncle and their spouse could be her grandparents.  There were several aunts that I looked into.  I came up with 4 possible male cousins that could be her biological father.

I  was reviewing the possibilities when I noticed his Aunt Mildred's mother-in-law's maiden name was Wagner.  I saw that name somewhere in the distant cousin matches.  This was a clue that told me to keep working this family.  I worked it back another generation to what would turn out to be Michelle's 2x great grandparents, Julius Reinhold Wagner and Theresa Schilling. They had 12 children. Long story short, plugged in two 3rd cousins to this couple.  SK at 59 cMs and NJ at 49 cMs.    

 

When I work an adoption or NPE case, I like to have 4 matches that fit into the chart before I come to a final conclusion.  So I worked the tree back one more generation to Theresa Schillings parents, William G. Shilling and Ottilie "Elsie" Greiner.  From this couple, I was able to pug in JA at 21 cMs who would be her 4C as they share a set of 3x great grand parents.  

You can see,  Ancestry gives them a 22% chance at being 3rd cousins.  21 cMs is not a lot to work with but when the paper trail comes to the same conclusion it is confirmation. The lower the cMs, the lower the chances of finding the correct relationship, this is why it is important to follow and connect the paper trail.  If the matches come in higher, that is more definitive and ancestry is usually pretty good at guessing the relationship at 84% the odds are way higher that it's correct. 

BM turns out to be her biological father's maternal first cousin.  Making BM and Michelle 1C1R. Exactly where AncestryDNA first predicted their relationship to be. 

 

I come to the conclusion that Michelle's biological father is JRS.  This conclusion is made by finding 2 third cousins and 1 fourth cousin match on his paternal line for Michelle and 1 first cousin once removed match on his maternal line.  This was her birthday surprise.

Jeff Side B - Unveiling a Paternal Grandmother

When I first looked at Jeff's DNA, I separated matches on his paternal side into two categories, side A and Side B.  Side A easily came together as his father's paternal line. Side B's highest match was 367cMs to MC with all their common matches under 50 cMs.  MC had a partial tree with no  maternal line listed. Taking the information from the paternal side, I was able to determine his parents.  A marriage record lead to names of maternal grandparents. No further information was available.  The maiden name for the grandmother was Nicholls.  This was a surname I had seen with a few other matches.  It was time to order the marriage license from the NYC Municipal Archives as 1949 was not available online.  The wait time was about 3-4 weeks.

While waiting for that, I continued to analyze the 4-6th cousin matches.  There were 4 matches that all tied into one couple, John Coates & Mary Mills.  These matches all fell between 21 -39 cMs and for reference are, DH, DO, HC, & TH.  I started connecting these matches in the tree. There were so many children! John & Mary had 10 children between 1844-1868.   I was quite surprised when the realization came that all 4 matches had the same relationship to John & Mary.  John & Mary are their 3x great grandparents.  They are true 4th cousins to each other. Including Jeff and MC too!

Here is the couple in the 1860 census living in Lower Merion, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania with several of their children.  

There was one last match to look at.  It was JM matching at 48 cMs.  This match had both Coates and Nicholls surnames in their tree and I was able to determine that this match's 2x great grandmother was also a child of John & Mary Coates.  She too is a 4th cousin to the other matches.  JM turned out to be Jeff's 3rd  cousin as they share the same 2x great grandparents.  Charles C. Nicholls Sr. & Sarah Ann Coates. 

 Here is their family in the 1910 Census living in Atlantic City, NJ.

I set this all aside and waited for the document to come USPS.  When the 1949 NYC census record comes for MC's grandparents, things start to click.  Grandmother's parents are Charles C. Nicholls Jr. & Lucy Harrison.  

After a little sleuthing, I found Charles Nicholls & Lucy Harrison's Marriage Certificate and all starts to make perfect sense - 

MC's great grandfather is Charles C. Nicholls Jr., son of Charles C. Nicholls and Sarah Coates.  He married 3 times.  The first wife is unknown at this time, the second was Lucy Harrison and the third is Elsie whom he is buried with. This document along with her grave marker, make it clear that Lucille Nicholls fibbed about her year of birth on her marriage certificate.  She was born in 1931, not 1927.  She was actually 17 when she married her first husband.

 Since MC matches Jeff at 367 cMs.  These are the possible relationships:

MC is Jeff's 1/2 first cousin.  Making their common ancestor, their grandmother, Lucille C. Nicholls.  Lucille has living children and grandchildren. If one of them test, this would further validate this conclusion.  

I was unable to connect a match to the Harrison line as Lucy was the first generation born in the United States.  Both her parents were born in England and she was an only child.  Jeff has several 4-6 cousin matches who reside in England with the Harrison surname in their tree and many, many 5th - 8th cousins that also have Harrisons from England in their tree.  Their matches go back well over 150 years ago. 

This is how I come to the conclusion that Lucille Charlotte (Nicholls) (Runde) Kline is Jeff's maternal grandmother.

A Biological Grandfather for Jeff

A few days ago, I went to have coffee with an old friend. Sitting in her kitchen, I see this beautiful photo that I can't take my eyes off of. I picked it up and said who is this? I love this picture.

It was Jeff's father, Gary, as a young boy in the 1950's.  Unfortunately, Jeff's father had passed a few years ago.  She went on to tell me how Jeff took an Ancestry DNA test.  He wanted to find out his ethnicity and maybe find out who his father's biological parents were as Dad was adopted.  It was hard to contain my excitement.  I live for this kind of genealogy mystery.  She then gave me access to Jeff's DNA matches.  We built a tree with his parents and connected the tree to his DNA settings.  Jeff's mom also took a test and this helped tremendously to sort Jeff's maternal and paternal matches.  Once the tree was connected, the matches indicated which was his mother's side (thanks mom that saved so much time).

Then started looking at his matches and started building out a tree for just matches to see if I could find the commonality and connect them to one family tree.  I knew I needed to connect 3 or more matches to make my theory work.  I had to go in blind because I didn't know if I was working on the grandmother or grandfather's line.  This one fell into place quickly for his paternal side.

His closest paternal match was DS.  They matched at 1,003 cM's.  Ancestry automatically assumes the first relationship from their list of possible relationships and it was labeled as first cousins.  I looked at DS's tree and noticed the grandparents were Joseph Sperber and Anna Josepher.  These two surnames came up with several of their shared matches.  So I went on to research Joseph & Anna.  They had both been married before they married each other.  Each had children from their first marriages, Joe had 2 living children and Anna had 1. They were married in 1920 and went on to have 6 children together.  This is the list of relationships that ancestry shows it could be between Jeff and DS:

The next match was K9 who matched at 558 cMs.  This person had an unattached tree with little info.  After a little digging, I determined that he was also a grandchild of both Joseph & Anna. This is DS's first cousin.  This confirms that Jeff is somehow connected to Joseph & Anna.  

The higher the cM match, the higher the percentages are of relationships.  As they lower, the possibilities widen. 

AW matched at 105.  She is a descendant from Anna's first marriage.  Their only common ancestor is Anna Josepher.

The last match I looked at was LG.  They match at 153 cMs. She had Josepher in her tree, but no Sperber....  This is a descendant of Anna's brother Louis.  The common ancestors would be her great grandparents (Anna's parents), Joseph Josepher & Clara Felder. 

After the tree was built out and I was able to connect these 4 matches, it was time to determine where Jeff fit into this tree.  All the relationships needed to align with an Autosomal Statistic Chart.  This is the one I like to use.

 

When I plug all these connections into the tree, it all falls into place. I keep going back to the match with DS.  That is high for a first cousin match because this only ties into one of his father's parents.  The relationship is higher than first cousin.  With that in mind, I proceeded with considering her a 1/2 aunt and not a first cousin.  When I did this, the 3 other matches fell quickly into place on the green chart.  Also keep in mind that Jeff's father would match these people in a group higher than Jeff (a relationship closer than Jeff's).  Here is a breakdown of the groups they fall into and the relationship they share with each Jeff and his dad.

Here is another chart to help figure relationships.

This is how I come to the conclusion that Gary is a half sibling to DS who share the same father, Milton Sperber. Milton Sperber is therefor Jeff's biological grandfather.

For the rest of Jeff's story: Jeff Side B - Unveiling a Paternal Grandmother

Nancy's Zucchini Bread

 

                                   Nancy's Zucchini Bread

3 eggs beaten till almost frothy..then add

2 cups sugar slowly followed by

1 cup vegetable oil slowly

1 tsp vanilla then

2 cups shredded zucchini

 

Add dry ingredients:

 

2 cups flour

1 tsp---baking soda

1 tsp----salt

1/4 tsp--baking powder

1 tsp  cinnamon

Mix well.

Original recipe calls for 1/2 cup nuts.  Since I am allergic to nuts, I substitute mini chocolate chips or blueberries. My son uses raisins for the restaurant he works at.

 

After that is done I stir in the mini chocolate chips or blueberries that have been dusted with a little flour (Keeps them from sinking to the bottom). 

 

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray pan with baking spray and bake for 50 - 60 minutes.  The time range is to accommodate the wetness of the zucchini.  I have used loaf pans, mini loaf pans, Bundt pan, mini Bundt pans and cupcake pans.  Cooking time varies with the pan used.  I find my nose is also a good indicator of when to check it.

 

Ellingham Photo

My mom recently gave me some photos that she thought that I would like (she knows me so well).  My favorite in the bunch is this one.  I believe it to be my maternal 2x great grandmother, Charlotte Biot Ellingham (Cenie's mom) and this is why I think that.

The first clue is the name "Ellingham" across the top rear of the photo.  Charlotte married John Ellingham in 1896 in Brooklyn.  In the 1900 census, she is listed as the wife of John Ellingham living at 426 Herkimer Street, Brooklyn, NY.

The second clue is c/o Ms. Wilson 872 Herkimer Street.  If I look at Charlotte's mother, Julia Biot, in the 1900 census.  Mrs. Mary Wilson is her neighbor as she lives at 883.

 So based on this, I've come to the conclusion that this is Charlotte Biot Ellingham in her 20's.

What do you think?

 

UPDATE: Aunt El confirmed this is Charlotte Biot Ellingham, Cenie's mother. Thanks Aunt El!

First DNA Match to a Probable Kane Connection

In the last year, I had an ah-ha moment when I realized one of my DNA matches, GB,  might actually connect to Bridget Kane's line.  Most of our common matches could connect to Patrick McQuaid and Bridget Kane and/or the Kane surname.  I noticed his line had settled in Jersey City, New Jersey.  This was great because I can research NJ!

Still trying to make the final connection but here are some things I learned along the way. I started with GB's tree. 

Doing a little digging uncovered a transcribed marriage record for Patrick Kane and Mary Quinn that lists their parents.  What a coincidence, Bridget's father's name is Patrick also.

Here is Patrick and Mary in the 1900 census.  They are living with their 4 children.  Patrick Kane is a  freight handler. They are living at 167 8th Street in Jersey City, NJ.

Sometime between the 1900 US Federal Census and the publishing of the 1902 Jersey City Directory's the family moves to 199 Fourteenth Street. There are many Patrick Kanes but none listed for 8th Street in 1902.

1905 NJ State Census, this family has several changes.  Patrick dies, Catherine Kane and Edward Turner marry and Edward is now considered the head of household.

1905 NJ State Census

The transcription for Mary Kane's entry is:

She is listed as widowed, her address is 199 Fourteenth Street.

Based on that census record,  I was able to come to the conclusion that Patrick Kane passed in June of 1903.  Here is his death certificate:

Further investigating lead me to the cemetery records from the Archdioceses of Newark.  Patrick was buried at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City on July 3, 1903 which happens to align with the date at the top of his death certificate.  He died sometime in June 1903 as he was found in the water on June 30, 1903.  He is buried in the same plot that his wife and two of his sons are buried.

My recent obsession with digitized newspapers lead me to this article:

July 3, 1903 Jersey Journal

The names do not 100% align.  The daughter's name was Catherine and the wife is Mary. Easy to confuse, the address however is spot on and aligns with the 1905 Census.

Looking at my match to GB, we share 24 cm's across 3 segments.  Ancestry puts us in a range of 4th - 6th cousins.  If I plug his Patrick Kane in as Bridget's brother, he comes in at a 4th Cousin once removed.  I think this to be probable as each have shown their father's to be named Patrick Kane.  I have not found a record for Bridget with her mother listed.  Further evidence will be needed to come to that conclusion.  I will be looking for further evidence to solidify this connection.  Maybe another DNA match down the road will lead us to their hometown in Ireland.

More on Arthur E. Tutela

After reading so many articles about Arthur E. Tutela, I had to look him up.  This is what I found.

 Arthur E. Tutela was born in Newark, NJ in August 1898.  He was the 6th child born to Elezario Tutela and Rose Romano.

In the 1915 NJ Census, he is living on Bruce Street in Newark, NJ with his family.

Things apparently change for Arthur E. Tutela as he is an inmate at the NJ Eastern State Prison in the 1920 US Federal Census. He is listed as 21 years old and married.

1920 US Federal Census, NJ Reformatory, Woodbridge, NJ

 Further inspection of his timeline reveals that he was in prison in 1918 as his WWI draft card dated Sept 12, 1918 lists him as an inmate. He lists his mother as his nearest relative.

Found him in the 1930 US Federal Census as a prisoner in the NJ State Prison in Trenton.

He stays out of the newspapers for over a decade (at least the ones that are digitized at this point).  As of today, I have not been able to locate him in the 1940 census.  Further investigating is needed to see how the 30's and 40's are for Arthur.He may have been incarcerated all of the 30's. Most likely, he is an inmate in 1940 as well.


In 1942, he is in NJ State Prison when he fills out his WWII Draft Registration Card.  He lists his sister Anna as his next of kin.

1942 Transcription of  WWII Draft Registration Card

 
He died in 1955 due to complications of a bleeding ulcer. It is quite obvious that his family was not happy with him.  I could not find an obituary for him in any of the Newark, NJ newspapers available on microfilm.  I did find his death certificate and know that he is buried in the family plot with his parents and a few siblings.

Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Newark, NJ - Tutela Family Plot

I was really surprised that he did not die in prison.  His brother Americus Tutela was the informant.  In the 60's and 70's the remainder of his siblings passed.  Non of which mentioned Arthur as predeceased in their obituaries.

In another article I found, it says his first arrest was in 1912.  I will be looking into prison records in the future.  You never know what you will find until you look.

Arthur E. Tutela and his many Headlines

I have been having a lot of fun finding untold stories in digitized newspapers. The most shocking so far were the ones I found on Arthur E. Tutela a brother of my husband's great grandfather.  The articles start in 1923 but I'm sure there are earlier ones that have not been digitized yet.

1923:

The Central New Jersey Home News, Wednesday, November 4, 1923

1928

The Daily Record, Wednesday, January 11, 1928

The Daily Record, Tuesday, April 10, 1928 Front Page

The Daily Record, Tuesday, April 10, 1928 Page 3

1947

The Courier News, Monday, Nov 17, 1947

The Courier News, Friday, Nov 28, 1947

1948

The Central Jersey Home News, Friday, March 19, 1948

1953

The Morning Call, Thursday, February 19, 1953

The Morning Call, Saturday, April 18, 1953

Finding all of these newspaper articles made me want to find out more about him....more on him soon.

The life of Amedeo "Matthew" Alfano

Amedeo "Matthew" Alfano was Bob's great grandfather.  He was born Amedeo Alfano in Monte, Marano, Avelino, Italy in 1892 and immigrated to the US about 1909.

Amedeo married Bianca Todino in NJ in 1915.  Shortly later, he Americanized his first name to Matthew and her to Blanche.  They had 4 children that I know of: Constantine, Anthony, George (Bob's grandfather) and Matthew.  In the 1930 US Federal Census, they are living next door to Blanche's parents, Denis and Caroline Todino.  They resided at 85 Westminster Place in Garfield, NJ. 

There were several articles posted to different newspapers in NJ in April 1935. Matthew Alfano was arrested for Bootlegging and sentenced to 18 months in prison and a $700 fine.  

The Herald News April 24, 1935

He was very lucky he was not caught during prohibition as that ended two years earlier.  In the middle of the great depression, you do what you have to do to survive.

Shortly after he was incarcerated, his wife and family moved to Lodi, NJ.  On October 9, 1935, his son Matthew age 7 died of Diphtheria.  Something in this day and age that is 100% preventable by vaccination. 

 

 

The Herald News October 11, 1935

Young Matthew Alfano's NJ Death Certificate

Matthew Sr. served a total of  18 months in prison and was released in October 1936.

The Herald News October 9, 1936

In the 1940 US Federal Census, the family is living in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ.  In column 17, the answer to "residence in 1935" the answer for each of the members of the household is Lodi. This is the first census that Bob's mom, Marjorie Alfano, is alive for.  She is 11 months old.

Things turn around for Matthew.  He resides in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ for the 1940's.  He stays out of the newspaper until 1947, he and his son Anthony open a home appliance business.

The Herald News June 4, 1947

In 1950, he and his wife are in the process of moving to a brand new home that they had built when tragedy strikes.  During the move, his wife Blanche passes away.  They hadn't even slept in their new home in Wayne.

The Herald News October 23, 1950

 Matthew was a widower for 20 years.  He died on May 19, 1970 in Prospect Park, NJ.

He is buried in St. Nicholas Cemetery in Lodi, NJ with his wife and three sons.