Maternal/Paternal Connections

Sometimes, when dancing with the ancestors, you find connections between your maternal and paternal lines. Oh, not the obvious connection of your parents, but rather a far distant connection.

This isn't a simple connection that both your maternal/paternal lines all lived in the same town for generations. Multiple connections between both lines are certain to be found in those instances. No, the connections I'm talking about are when the lines were in the same place, at the same time, generations past.

In my parents case, my father's ancestors, for the most part, settled in Warren County, Tennessee, while my mother's ancestors settled in Nelson County, Kentucky. As Fate would have it, mom and dad both ended up in Louisville, Kentucky working for the same company. They met, dated for many years, married, had children and grandchildren. Our normal vacations were Kentucky to visit mom's family and then on to Tennessee to visit dad's family. And they lived happily ever after.

Before all that happened, my maternal lines lived in two places: Maryland and Massachusetts (and New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, etc.). The Maryland lines, in the late 1700s, migrated to central Kentucky (Nelson County) so they could practice their Catholic faith free from the persecution they were experiencing in Maryland. My many times Great Grandpappy William Boarman actually spent 30 days in jail for being a Catholic. He was dang proud of that jail time. Meanwhile, an ancestor from Massachusetts ended up in Indiana, then Kentucky, and well, one day my mother was born.

At the same time, my paternal lines had settled in Virginia and, as I was to later learn, Maryland as well. In fact, many of my maternal ancestors went to court against my immigrant Mitchell ancestor. Who knew? But, at some point, the Virginia ancestors moved to Warren County, Tennessee. The various lines married, produced children, and eventually my dad was born.

But, in doing the family research on both lines, I sometimes run across a familiar name. One of those times was the name McPherson. My 6 x Paternal Great Grandfather was Daniel McPherson. He married Elizabeth Nevitt. Well, when researching my maternal line, I discovered that my 6 x Maternal Grandmother Susannah, who married William Nalley, was a McPherson. Well, some more digging and I realized that both Daniel and Susannah were both from Charles County, Maryland. Then, was the discovery of Daniel's last will and testament with one of the witnesses being . . . Mrs. Susannah Nalley. 

Yes, Susannah was either a sister or cousin to Daniel. I have not been able to determine the exact relationship. But, what was obvious to me was that suddenly, beyond a casual living in the same town connection, there was actually a distant blood/dna connection between my maternal and paternal lines. Wow!

Then, this morning, came another connection when I received an email from Ancestry DNA regarding a distant cousin with the common ancestor being 7 x Great Grandfather Richard Nevitt, father of 6 x Great Grandmother Elizabeth Nevitt who married Daniel McPherson.

The interesting fact about this particular distant cousin is, prior to this recent match to Richard Nevitt, that we were already related on my maternal line. In fact, we share a number of common ancestors: 6 x Greats Thomas and Mary (Aisquith) Hagan, 7 x Greats James and Mary (Goodrick) Semmes, 7 x Great Charles Beaven and 6 x Greats Thomas James and Jane (Edelen) Boarman. All of those are my maternal lines, and now, descending down to this cousin, is one of my paternal lines. 

So, when dancing with the ancestors, it is possible that your maternal and paternal lines will intersect far beyond the common connection of your parents.