About this blog

In this blog I  share stories on using DNA analysis together with traditional research to solve brick walls in my family history. As the stories have not been written in any specific order, below is a summary in alphabetical order of the primary families involved, which I hope will make it easier for you to navigate the blog:

How DNA helped me find...all the Brimble children (Brimble and Forward families)

Using DNA tools to solve a genealogical mystery (Cooper and Martin families)

Finding the Forrest family - using chromosome analysis (Forrest and Anderson families)

Stewart and McLellan family - joining the dots with DNA 

How ThruLines and Enhanced Shared Matches helped identify the correct Smith family (Smith, Plimmer and Williams families)

I have two other blogs, Roll of Honour, where I have documented some case studies about how I've used DNA techniques together with traditional research to solve some family history dilemmas and My Ancestors Stories where I share general family history stories. 

How ThruLines and Enhanced Shared Matches helped identify the correct Smith family

Smith has long been the most common surname in the English speaking world. So how do we correctly identify which Smith family is ours?  Can I use some of Ancestry’s tools to help confirm the correct family in a fairly populated area like the Midlands in the UK in the late 1700s? I think I have!

Midlands area c1806 [A Vision of Britain Through Time ©British Library]

In June 2024, Ancestry released Pro Tools, an add-on membership that gives you access to advanced DNA and family history tools.  Pro Tools requires an additional subscription of approximately A$15 per month (although there have been occasional sales). For the keen genetic genealogist it is a “must have” feature. 

The key DNA feature Enhanced Shared Matches lets you see how much DNA your matches share and their predicted relationships to each other. This feature is already available at MyHeritage and 23andMe, however the sheer size of the Ancestry database makes it a much more powerful tool. 

How many times have you looked at a DNA match only to see that they don’t have a tree or that their tree is only small and only lists private people.  However, if they have a close family member who has tested and who does have a reasonable tree, it can help to determine how this match might connect as well. It can also be helpful if you are working on an unknown cluster to determine who their shared common ancestor is. 

Another Ancestry tool is ThruLines, which illustrate how you may be connected to a particular DNA match through a common ancestor. You and your DNA matches must have public or private searchable trees that are linked to AncestryDNA tests, ideally at least 3–4 generations deep.

Thrulines for Mary Bratt - matches for Colin Hails

ThruLines don’t validate your relationships with your DNA matches, but it does make it easier to view any source information, such as public or private searchable family trees, historical records and shared DNA, to help you reach your own conclusions about how you might be connected to your DNA matches.

 Family Tree showing my connection back to my paternal 5x great grandmother, Hannah Smith

My 5xgreat grandmother was Hannah Smith and she was born c1792 in Tipton, Staffordshire. She married John Plimmer on 29 September 1813 in St. Bartholomew's Wednesbury, Staffordshire. Unfortunately, as this is prior to civil registration, details of their fathers names and occupations are not provided. 

Hannah's Timeline

Hannah and her husband, John, an Edge Tool Maker (and later a Retail Brewer), had seven known children who were all born in Wednesbury between 1816 and 1830. By 1841, the family were living in the parish of Aston in Birmingham, Warwickshire and Hannah died there on 7 February 1871.  

Census records gave Hannah’s birthplace as Tipton and there were two potential baptisms there, one in 1791, daughter of David and Phebe, the other in 1795 daughter of Joseph and Hannah.  Did either of these relate to Hannah? Prior to DNA testing, I felt it most likely that her parents were David and Phebe. 

Census records confirming Hannah's birthplace

Possible baptism for Hannah from
Dudley St. Thomas Bishop's Transcripts

When Ancestry’s ThruLines were introduced in 2019, we didn’t have any hints on Hannah Smith's line, however, over time hints started to appear suggesting Henry Smith and Mary Bratt as potential parents for Hannah - neither of the couples I had previously considered!  

A baptism for Hannah daughter of Henry and Mary Smith dated 22 July 1792, has been located in the neighbouring town of Dudley in the parish of St. Thomas could relate to Hannah.  

I started to explore the ThruLine matches, build their trees and use Enhanced Shared Matches for each of the kits I had access to.  

Besides myself, I have also tested my dad and his maternal cousin, Marilyn and I also have access to the AncestryDNA results of my paternal cousin, Sandie, two 3rd cousins, Dallas and Brad and a 3rd cousin twice removed, Victor. All share Hannah’s daughter, Mary Plimmer, as their Most Recent Common Ancestor.  

DNA Testers

In addition to being able to view their matches, I am able to view ThruLine hints for Dad and Marilyn, back to Henry Smith and Mary Bratt, being their potential 5x great grandparents, which is the furthest back that ThruLines will work. I can also view Victor’s ThruLine hints as they are his 4x great grandparents. 

Summary of potential ThruLines matches for Colin, Marilyn and Victor 

This table provides a summary of the number of DNA matches ThruLines suggests for each of the three kits, through six of Henry and Mary's children.

As Henry and Mary are 6x great grandparents for Sandie, Dallas, Brad and myself our Thrulines don’t go back that far, but I was able to see DNA matches in common with some of the matches identified in the above analysis.

I will focus now on my review of Dad’s matches through Mary’s son, Henry.

ThruLines for Mary Bratt through son Henry Smith - potential matches to Colin

While exploring each of these matches individually, I started to see that amongst their shared matches many were also in common with other Smith/Bratt descendants or with other descendants of Hannah Smith and John Plimmer or their daughter, Mary Plimmer and her husband, Henry Williams. 

Enhanced Shared Matches Example

The table below summarises the number of shared matches and the range of centimorgans they shared with Colin and the match. It also shows how many known or confirmed matches each has and how many of these also had Common Ancestor hints. Of the known matches I've then broken down which generation the shared match comes through. 

Having analysed all the matches, I put together this matrix depicting 34 shared matches through five of Henry Smith and Mary Bratt’s children. 

DNA Matrix - Descendants of Henry Smith and Mary Bratt

Obviously there are more matches through Hannah being our direct line, but it’s encouraging to see there are multiple shared matches across several branches of the family and this provides some additional support in lieu of segment data. 

This McGuire Chart also demonstrates the shared matches across the different branches of the family. 

McGuire Chart of Smith/Bratt Matches with ThruLine hints

Having built out the trees for all of the ThruLine matches, I was able to identify several additional matches who only had small trees or unlinked trees so they had not appeared as Common Ancestor hints. As a result I have now identified 84 known matches. 

Confirmed matches through children of Henry Smith and Mary Bratt

During the analysis,  several “unknown” shared matches were identified who triangulate on Chromosome 8. While I’ve built out their trees - I haven’t been able to connect them directly to this family. That said, their trees all included Smith families from the Midlands. 

Chromosome 8 - Triangulated Group

Stephen is a known 4th cousin match who descends from Henry Williams and Mary Plimmer. He tested on MyHeritage so cannot be compared directly with most of these kits.  Kimberly, Susan and V.M. are "unknown" shared matches for Phillip and Carole, supporting that this shared segment may go back to the Smith/Bratt couple.

As a nice surprise during my research I came across some additional documentary evidence. I discovered that my ancestors, John and Hannah Plimmer were the witnesses at the marriage of two of Hannah’s sisters. 

Firstly, at the marriage of Mary Smith to John Wesley in 1825 - unfortunately I’ve only been able to locate a transcript for this marriage on FreeReg at this time. 

Secondly, at the marriage of Phoebe Holmes (nee Smith) to George Sillitoe in 1834 - and I managed to locate a very poor copy verifying John and Hannah listed as the witnesses.

Marriage of George Sillitoe and Phoebe Holmes (nee Smith)

I also noted on the 1861 Census that Phoebe Sillitoe and her daughter, Hannah were living with Phoebe's sister, Elizabeth Hobbins in West Bromwich, along with two of Elizabeth’s granddaughters - a great example of the FAN Club principle - a research technique that involves identifying people associated with an ancestor.

Another observation was the repetition of certain given names, particularly Syndonia, which I came across on 16 occasions and Phoebe, on 12 occasions. 

On the balance of probabilities I am confident that the genetic and documentary evidence supports my research and the many connections between the various families. During this process I have identified an additional three children, for whom we don’t appear to have any genetic evidence at this time, but I hope by sharing this research it will encourage others to share their results and hopefully find further genetic evidence. 

I would encourage those who have taken an AncestryDNA test to consider uploading their results to any of the databases with a chromosome browser, such as:

• MyHeritage
• FamilyTreeDNA
• Gedmatch
• LivingDNA

All the sites offer free uploads and you only need to pay a nominal fee if you'd like to access their more advanced tools.  At the time of writing MyHeritage is offering Free Uploads. 

Click here for instructions on how to download your Ancestry data and upload to other databases.  

Finding the Forrest family - using chromosome analysis

A DNA match alone doesn't prove a relationship to a particular ancestral couple, but they can provide further evidence to support a theory. In this case, a collection of DNA matches who also shared the same segment of DNA helped to identify further children of the ancestral couple and provided further evidence to confirm their relationships. 

This is my mum's chromosome map - what is a chromosome map and how did some of this information help me find the Forrest family? 

Mum's Chromosome Map from DNA Painter

Chromosome mapping is a technique used in genetic genealogy using autosomal DNA results. The goal is to identify which ancestors were the source of various segments of your DNA.  Once you discover how you’re related to someone, you can figure out which ancestor is likely to have been the source the DNA you share with them. It's an ongoing process and to date, I've mapped or assigned about 46% of mum's genome to known ancestors. It's just like a jigsaw puzzle! Each colour represents confirmed DNA matches to a specific ancestor or ancestral couple. 

Legend - Mum's Chromosome Map

Below is the pedigree chart for my maternal grandmother, Helen Forrest McDougall, using the Ancestral Trees tool from DNA Painter website. I’ve also used the DNA Filters feature to indicate those ancestors that I’ve been able to confirm through DNA analysis. 

Pedigree Chart for Helen Forrest McDougall showing DNA confirmed ancestors

Prior to DNA testing I had been unable to research my tree beyond my grandmother's great grandmother and namesake, Helena Annie Forrest. I've recently identified over 25 DNA matches back to Helena’s parents - my 4th-Great-Grandparents, David Forrest and Margaret Anderson and a further 12 DNA matches back through Margaret’s parents, James Anderson and Cockburn Smith, my 5th-Great-Grandparents, enabling me to take my research back a further two generations. 

Helena married Alexander Dougal (later McDougall), a weaver,  in Girvan, Ayrshire, Scotland in 1835. She can’t be identified on the 1841 census, but is on the 1851 census in Girvan with her husband and children. The census indicated that she was born about 1819 in Edinburgh. Her son, George, my 2nd-Great-Grandfather, was born in 1855 and his birth certificate also states that his mother was born in Edinburgh. Unfortunately, while Helena is listed on all the later census, they indicate that she was born in Girvan, which was not helpful!

Death Certificate - Eleanor Annie McDougall - 16 October 1886

Helena's death certificate in 1886 provided details of her parents, David Forrest, a shoemaker and Margaret Anderson, and confirmed that they were both deceased. 

I tested my mum at Ancestry in 2018 and also have access to two of my aunts kits, I have also tested Mum at 23andMe. Mum and her sisters results have since been uploaded to other sites including MyHeritage, Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) and Gedmatch. These sites provide access to their shared segment data with their matches, which is required to undertake chromosome analysis, and also identifies matches who may have tested and/or uploaded to the other sites. I’ve confirmed DNA matches back to Helena and her husband Alexander through 3 of their children at Ancestry and more recently at 23andMe. 

Confirmed DNA matches back to Helena Forrest and Alexander McDougall

No baptism for Helena can be found in the Old Parish Registers, but I have located baptisms for five children born to a David Forrest and Margaret Anderson between 1800 and 1807 in Livingston, Midlothian, which is about 25 km west of Edinburgh. There is a gap between the last recorded baptism for David in 1807 and Helena’s possible birth, but could they also be her parents?  

Baptisms at Scotlands People for children of David Forrest and Margaret Anderson

I decided to add the family to my Ancestry tree, also adding the Research Status tree tags Hypothesis and Unverified to warn anyone else that they were still speculative.

Using Tree Tags at Ancestry 

ThruLines™ is an Ancestry feature that groups your DNA matches under potential common ancestors, so I was excited to see soon after updating my tree, that ThruLines™ had generated a couple of potential matches, through a son named Peter Forrest. 

ThruLines™ showing potential DNA matches through descendants of David Forrest 

Like my ancestor, Helena, there was no baptism record for Peter either, however, census records indicated he was born about 1817 in Blackburn which is also near Livingston in Midlothian. His death certificate gave his parents as David Forrest, a master shoemaker and Margaret Anderson, so could he be another child of this same couple? 

Peter and his wife, Isabella Wilkie had 9 children and we now had DNA matches through three of those lines.  As a result, I added Peter and his children to my tree using the Hypothesis and Unverified tree tags while I continued searching and gathered more evidence.

Fast forward a few months and I received a message from Cathy in Canada, a 3rd cousin DNA match, who I’d contacted a few years earlier, asking me how confident I was that David Forrest and Margaret Anderson were Helena’s parents. 

I was reasonably confident as mum and her sisters shared many of the same matches with Peter’s descendants, which had provided us with tree triangulation and the family names also supported the connection. However, given the matches were beyond 3rd cousins, we really needed to be able to compare segment data. 

Although Cathy and mum shared 29 centimorgans (cM) at Ancestry - they had no shared matches, other than myself and one of my aunts. Although they both matched Cathy, neither of my aunts had any additional shared matches with Cathy either, so I was curious to know if Cathy matched with any of Peter Forrest descendants, or the matches from 23andMe. 

Mum's match with Cathy in Canada and their shared matches
Sharing preferences 

Cathy agreed to share her match list with me as a collaborator as I had offered to start grouping her matches for her. Cathy had also uploaded to MyHeritage where she and mum shared 42 centimorgans, which was consistent with Ancestry’s unweighted results.  

Comparison of Mum and Cathy's matches grouped into the McDougall and Forrest lines

Once I had access to Cathy’s match list I was able to confirm that she too shared several of the matches from the Peter Forrest line. As these were mostly below 20 centimorgans, they had not appeared in the shared match tab for any of Ancestry kits I had access to.   

I could also see we shared many other potential matches and added them to our groups for further analysis. 

I continued to build out my tree and Ancestry’s ThruLines™ updated again, identifying more matches through another two possible children of David and Margaret - Margaret and Jessie. 

ThruLines™ showing suggested matches through descendants of Margaret Anderson

Once again, no baptism records for Margaret or Jessie could be found, however both gave their father’s name as David Forrest, a cordwainer or shoemaker at the time of their marriages, and their parents were recorded as David Forrest and Margaret Anderson at their deaths, so I'm confident they are all descended from the same couple. 

Analysis of Cathy’s shared matches with mum and her sisters at MyHeritage revealed that some of the Ancestry matches had also tested or uploaded to MyHeritage. I was able to compare the shared segments for these matches and confirmed that they triangulated - meaning they shared some of the same segments.  MyHeritage add a symbol to the right of the match indicating they share triangulated segments. 

Mum's match with John at My Heritage showing triangulated matches with David and Robina

Some of these new matches, like David and Robina, take us back yet another generation, to Margaret’s parents - James Anderson and Cockburn Smith, and are descendants of Margaret’s sister, Susan.

Comparison of kits at Gedmatch between Mum, John, David and Alan 

David and John were good bridging matches between the sites, as they had also uploaded to Gedmatch, where I was able to compare the various kits with each other. 

Both David and Robina also shared their Ancestry results with me as well, which was helpful in confirming where many of the other shared matches connected in our trees. 

Mum also had known matches at 23andMe that I had already identified and painted into mum’s chromosome map. 

Mum's known matches back to Helena Forrest and Alexander McDougall from 23andMe

The chromosome map at DNA Painter allowed me to paint our shared segments from all of the sites and visually compare the overlapping segments. Below is a snapshot showing all available segment data between each of the matches with mum and her sisters back to their most recent common ancestral couple. 

Mum's chromosome map showing matches back to the McDougal/Forrest/Anderson/Smith lines

I have zoomed in on those chromosomes where we have triangulated segments. Primarily Chromosomes 4, 6 and 7.

Chromosome Map focus on David's shared segments

You may see slightly different results for the same match at different testing sites as they do test at different locations. For example, David has uploaded his Ancestry results to both MyHeritage and Gedmatch. Gedmatch reports that he shares two small segments on chromosome 4, while MyHeritage uses imputation to add to the results of people who upload results from different vendors, and in this case appear to have joined these segments together.

Chromosome Map - Chromosome 4

In relation to the shared segments on Chromosome 4, you can see that I have currently mapped them to the three sets of Common Ancestors, based on the relationship of the match to mum:

• Graeme, a 3rd cousin, once removed (3C1R), is mapped to the 2nd-Great-Grandparents, Alexander McDougall and Helena Forrest 
• John, a 4th cousin, is mapped to the 3rd-Great-Grandparents, James Forrest and Margaret Anderson 
• Alan, David and Robina, all 5th cousins, are mapped to the 4th-Great-Grandparents, James Anderson and Cockburn Smith 

However, all these segments can actually be attributed and painted to the 4th-Great-Grandparents, James Anderson and Cockburn Smith.

Chromosome Map - Chromosome 6

While, Chromosome 6 can be attributed to the 3rd-Great-Grandparents, James Forrest and Margret Anderson. 

I have also asked Robina if she would consider uploading to Gedmatch, as I am sure my mum shares this segment with her and that there is an anomaly at MyHeritage, as Robina shares this segment with my aunt, my sister and my niece. 

Thrulines™ showing suggested matches through descendants of James Anderson

Through collaboration with David and Robina and sharing our Ancestry results with each other we've now also been able to build and confirm our trees back further. Mum's Thrulines™ has identified a further 9 matches back to the next generation - James Anderson and Cockburn Smith, through their daughters, Susan and Isobel. 

While Thrulines™  are great for providing hints as to how we connect with some of our matches, I use a spreadsheet for tracking all our known matches and also use a programme called GDAT (Genealogical DNA Analysis Tool) to analyse matches further. 

The What Are The Odds tool (WATO) at DNA Painter a simple way of visualising matches across the different platforms and it’s also an easy way to share information with others working on the same families. I'm also now adding a link to the privatised WATO tree to the profiles for the Common Ancestors in my Ancestry tree.  

WATO tool used to track confirmed matches

I would love for more of our shared matches to upload to sites with a chromosome browser. I know we have inherited additional DNA through other segments from these couples. My Auntie Irene doesn’t share these segments on Chromosome 4 or 6 with any of these matches that I've used in this analysis, but she is a match with several other matches on these lines at Ancestry - so it must be on a different chromosome/s! 

Many thanks to Cathy, David, Anne, Robina and Nicolette for sharing their Ancestry results with me.

Stewart and McLellan family - joining the dots with DNA

The focus of this story is in relation to my maternal 3 x great grandparents, Shaw Stewart and Mary McLellan and how DNA analysis combined with traditional family history research, helped join the dots to confirm the link between several families and ultimately identify subsequent generations of the McLellan family.

On the pedigree chart below for my mum, Caroline, you can see that to date, I’d been able to confirm a genetic connection through to ten of her 16 great-great grandparents. 

 

The Stewart/McLellan line has been one of my brick walls for many years and while I’ve been able to locate some details on Shaw and Mary, I hadn't been able to take either of their lines back further - until now. 

I hope you will enjoy following me down a few rabbit holes as I not only evaluate our DNA matches, but delve into a variety of records to tell more of the story of this family!  

What did we already know?

Mary and Shaw are likely the ones who married on 29 June, 1834 in Barony, Glasgow. 

I’ve identified  six known children, but sadly, I don’t think many survived to adulthood, Rose Ann and Martha are the only ones, I've been able to locate in later records. 

Shaw and Mary were living in Stoneykirk, Wigtownshire near Stranraer at the time of the 1851 Census. My 2 x great grandmother, their daughter, Martha was born on 22 August in Stranraer, a few months after the census was taken.   

Shaw was described as a tailor (incorrectly transcribed at Ancestry as a sailor) and the census states that both he and Mary were born in Ireland. They had two daughters living with them at the time, Rosannah and Jean, both born in Barony, Glasgow. 

I have also identified Shaw in the Criminal Register Indexes which you can search at the Scottish Indexes website. He was charged with theft in 1850 and assault in 1851. He was convicted on both occasions and spent a total of 89 days in Stranraer Prison. 

Castle of St John, Stranraer
© Scotland Starts Here

The Castle of St John sits in a prominent position in the centre of Stranraer and was built around 1500 by the Adairs of Kilhilt, one of the most powerful families in Wigtownshire. In the late 1670s it was used as a military garrison for the government troops commanded by John Graham of Claverhouse. In the Victorian period it was used as a jail. Today it houses a museum.

The Registers give a good descriptive image of Shaw. He was of average height for the time at 5 foot 6 and half inches tall and weighed between 140-146 pounds. He had brown hair and grey eyes. 

Transcripts from Criminal Register Indexes for Shaw Stewart

On the 1850 charge he could read and write with difficulty, and was not in good health, however, in 1851 he could read and write well and was recorded as being in good health! 

The other interesting information is that although he was born in Ireland, both records stated that Shaw had spent most of his life in the parish of Inch. 

The assault charge was also reported in the local paper the Dumfries and Galloway Standard on 19 November 1851. His daughter Martha was just 4 months old at the time. 

Stranraer is where you get the ferry from Scotland to Belfast in Northern Ireland and I took this photo from the ferry in 2010.

I have no record of Shaw and Mary as a family group after this and believe Shaw is the one who died of typhus in Glasgow in 1853 and was buried in common ground at St Mungo Burial Ground.  

Burial record for Shaw Stewart and map of Glasgow showing St Mungo Burial Ground, the Royal Infirmary and Barony Church
OS Six Inch 1843-1882 © maps.nls.uk     

My next record of Martha was not until the 1871 census, where she was living at 11 Tennant St, Glasgow with her sister, Rose Ann who by now had married Samuel Cochrane and had three children of her own. Martha is described as a power loom weaver. I suspected that their mother, Mary had died by this time, but had been unable to locate a death record for her.  

Martha was still living with Rose Ann and her family 10 years later at the time of the 1881 census at 133 Springburn Road, her occupation Thread Mill worker. 

Three days after the census was taken, on 6 April, Martha married Albert Garrett. The certificate confirms that both her parents were deceased. Martha and Albert went on to have a family of 7 children, including my great grandmother, Caroline Anstey Garrett.  

DNA Analysis 

A few months ago, several members of our extended family in the USA took DNA tests with Ancestry - including two of mum’s second cousins, providing solid genetic evidence back to their shared great grandparents, Martha and her husband, Albert Garrett. 

Thrulines from Ancestry for Shaw Stewart through daughter, Martha Stewart

I asked cousin Martha if she would share her results with me, as this allows you to view matches through a different lens. Mum and Martha’s highest unknown shared matches were a mother and daughter, Doreen and Linda. They shared between 25 and 65 centimorgans with mum, her two sisters and their second cousin, Martha. A centimorgan is a unit used to measure genetic distance and is used to describe how much DNA you share with your match. Generally it is abbreviated at testing sites to cM.

DNA comparisons at Ancestry between Carol, June, Irene and Martha with their matches, Doreen and Linda

I looked at the possible relationships for mum and her sisters with Doreen and based on the amount of shared DNA, there was no stand out relationship, but it suggested between 2nd to 4th cousins.  

Possible DNA Relationships for June, Caroline and Irene with Doreen from Ancestry based on shared DNA

Fortunately, Linda had a linked tree and using the Ancestor Birth Locations map view, which looks for birth locations that appear in both trees, Ancestry identified Agnes/Ann McClaren and William Watson from Linda’s tree as also being born in Glasgow. Linda’s tree showed that this couple had married in Barony, Glasgow in 1846 and that they had 3 children. They had lived in Bathgate near Edinburgh for a time, returned to Glasgow, before finally settling in Castleton, Lancashire by 1881. 

The name McLellan in our records had also been recorded as McLaren at different times, so I wondered if this might be our connection and sent off a message to Linda who managed both their kits. 

Looking at mum’s shared matches with Doreen were two further unknown matches, Sue and L.T. Interestingly, Sue also has McLellan’s in her tree - but I’ll come back to Sue later.  L.T. who has no tree, still remains a bit of a mystery match. 

Shared matches at Ancestry for Caroline and Martha with Doreen

Martha and Doreen also had a shared match with Glenda - whose tree revealed that she was also a descendant of Agnes McLaren and William Watson, a known second cousin to Linda and a 1st cousin, once removed to Doreen. 

Glenda does actually a match mum and both her sisters, but as she only shared 9 centimorgans with mum and even less with her sisters she had not appeared in the shared match lists with Doreen or Linda. While Ancestry reports your shared matches down to 8 centimorgans, they only display shared matches that are above 20 centimorgans in the shared match tab. 

So a message was sent off to Glenda as well. 

Back to traditional research

In the meantime, as the name Watson had also rung a bell, I did a little more research. I’m very fortunate that my 2 x great grandfather, Albert Garrett - Martha Stewart’s husband recorded events that impacted upon his family and friends. 

There on page 2 of Albert's papers, was an entry for an Agnes Watson who had died on 12 March 1880 in Parliamentary Rd.  

Page 2 from Albert Garrett's family papers

Many of the entries state their relationship to Albert, but unfortunately, nothing was included alongside this entry. 

I checked the indexes at Scotland’s People, located the entry and noted that Agnes was aged 25 giving her a birth year c1855 and that her mother’s maiden name was McLaren. 

Could she be a daughter of our matches ancestors - Agnes McLaren and William Watson?

Scotlands People - Statutory Registers - Death Index - Search Results

Curiosity got the better of me and I purchased the certificate which confirmed that Agnes's parents were William Watson and Agnes McLaren as I’d expected. Agnes had died of bronchitis at 142 Parliamentary Rd and the informant was an aunt, Jane McLaren.

I subsequently found a McLellan family living in Main St, Barony on the 1841 census which included a Jane and an Agnes and three more possible sisters, Margaret, Sarah and Martha along with a likely mother, Nancy. All were born in Ireland with the exception of the youngest, 10 year old, Martha. 

I then came across this entry below in the Commissioners' Report of Children's Employment and believe it relates to the same Agnes McLaren. The census indicated that she was employed at Printfield and I expect that is was why there was a cross next to her name on the census entry. 

You can also see in this map how close Main Street, where the family lived, was to North Street, where young Agnes worked. 

The Royal Commission of Inquiry was conducted in 1842 and investigated the condition and treatment of child workers. 

The first report focused on the working conditions within the mines and led to reform through the 1842 Coal Mines Act. The second report covered a variety of trades: textiles, printing, tobacco production, and more. The report shed light on the harsh reality faced by child labourers. It documented the hours they worked, their ages, and the dangerous nature of some of their work.

Sub-commissioners travelled across Great Britain and Ireland interviewing children and young adults, as well as parents, adult employees, educators, medical professionals, and clergymen.

The report caused a shift in public opinion and led to the Factory Act of 1844, which reduced the number of hours children worked in a day from up to thirteen hours to six and a half hours. After reading the report, Charles Dickens was inspired to write A Christmas Carol.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - First Edition Cover (1843)
Public Domain

I had previously found a Jane McLaren on the 1891 census living at 169 Dobbies Loan - a familiar address that I recognised from Albert’s notes. Living with Jane at the time, was a Jane Drummond, recorded as her niece. Jane is a daughter of Peter Drummond and his wife, Agnes McDonald.   As Peter was a cousin to Albert Garrett - Martha Stewart’s husband - why did Jane McLaren refer to Jane Drummond as her niece? 

I remembered that I had a copy of Peter Drummond’s marriage certificate that had been kindly shared by another DNA match at MyHeritage. A match I had believed to be connected through our Garrett/Anstey line! 

When I re-examined this certificate I noticed that Agnes Drummond’s mother’s maiden name was Martha McLaren! Could she be the 10 year old from the 1841 census? 

I found the baptism for Martha McClelland which confirmed it was - her parents were James McClelland and Agnes Ross and the entry also indicated that she was their 7th child. 

I had previously tried to locate the death of my ancestor, Mary Stewart nee McLellan between 1851-1871, but with such a common name and the results spanning both the Old Parish Registers and Statutory Registers timeframes there were over 60 entries to suit her approximate age, just in Glasgow City. Too many to be able to identify the correct entry.

However, by this time, I was feeling quietly confident that this was all the same family, so I narrowed my search results significantly by including those whose mother’s maiden name was Ross. As you can see it took two attempts to download the correct entry, which was the one in 1856. 

Like her husband, Mary also died of typhus at the Glasgow Infirmary. She was described as the wife of a tailor and her parents' names were confirmed as James McLellan and Agnes Ross. The informant was once again, Jane McLellan, her sister.  

This also confirmed that Jane Drummond from the 1891 census, had a double relationship - her father Peter Drummond was Albert Garrett’s cousin, their mother’s Jane and Caroline Anstey being sisters. Jane’s mother Agnes McDonald and Martha Stewart were also cousins, their mothers, Martha and Mary McLellan were sisters. 

Pedigree charts for Jane Drummond and Caroline Garrett - double relationship

This also meant our DNA match at MyHeritage may well be through the McLaren/McLellan line, not the Anstey line as previously believed!

I also noted that on Mary’s death certificate, that her mother was not recorded as deceased, which prompted me to look again for Agnes McLaren/McLellan on the 1851 and 1861 census.

While I am still unable to locate Agnes on the 1851 census, she has been identified on the 1861 census at 34 Duke St with her daughter, Jane. Also living with them were two grandchildren, James Stewart and Agnes Watson, both aged 7 years.  

Young Agnes is the one who died in 1880 that was mentioned in Albert’s notes and I believe James is likely to be a previously unknown younger brother to my ancestor, Martha.

Agnes McLellan nee Ross, died in November, later that year at the same address of pneumonia.  The wonderful Scottish certificates providing the names of her parents - James Ross and Margaret Smillie, allowing me to take my tree back yet a further generation.  The informant was her granddaughter, Rose Ann Stewart, sister of my ancestor Martha.  

Below is Agnes' family tree showing her parents, known children and grandchildren. I've highlighted those whose records helped join the dots and connect these families. You might recall Martha’s baptism indicated that she was the couple’s 7th child, but as you can see, I have only identified six children! Who is the 7th child? 

More DNA Analysis

I have exchanged messages and emails with Linda and Glenda. Linda has also given me collaborator access to hers and Doreen’s DNA results. This has been a huge benefit and after much analysis of their kits I can now place 15 matches in our tree back to our 3 x great grandparents - James McLellan and Agnes Ross through three of their daughters, Mary, Agnes and Martha. Brian is a match at 23andMe and Isobel at MyHeritage. 

I’m a big fan of Ancestry’s coloured dots and group our matches to the sixteen 2 x great grandparents for each kit I manage. I also have a number of other “project related” groups that will vary from kit to kit.

It’s an iterative process - comparing each of the matches with each other and doing this for each of the kits I had access to. 

I mentioned earlier that both mum and Doreen had a shared match with Sue. Reviewing Sue’s shared matches with mum, her sisters, Martha’s and Doreen’s kits revealed many more shared matches. 

This resulted in not only the Stewart/McLellan cluster - but I have also identified another two sub clusters of shared matches within this group, which I’ve labelled the NZ and US clusters. 

Many of those in the New Zealand cluster including Sue, did have trees and the patriarch in their tree is a James McLellan born c1816 who married Janet Morris in Barony, Glasgow in 1838. They immigrated to New Zealand in 1842 and had 9 children. 

I have been able to identify nearly 40 of these shared matches as being descendants of James and Janet through 6 of their children. I’ve added this family as a floating branch in my tree and have also added a comment seeking contact with descendants of this couple. I have messaged all the matches but sadly response rates have been low. 

However, two of those who have replied, Karen and Sandra, have also kindly shared their results with me and you can see their groupings here. Interestingly, neither appear to share any of the US Cluster matches, which is obviously another clue I need to explore further!  

I'm pretty certain that James is the 7th child to James McLellan and Agnes Ross, but further research at the chromosome level is required to provide further evidence to support this theory. 

The great majority of our shared matches have only tested at Ancestry and while I have encouraged others to upload to other sites with a chromosome browser, I only have segment data for a small number of matches, so identifying triangulated groups is an ongoing project.  

I am hoping that some more of our NZ matches will read this blog and upload to some of the sites with a chromosome browser in the near future - so stay tuned for part 2!

Updated Family Tree

Below is an updated pedigree for mum, showing a further two generations on the McLellan line. 

Note

You can click on any image to enlarge it.

Further reading

The Glasgow Story - Barony Church

Scotland Starts Here - Castle of St. John Stranraer 

Lost Graveyards - St. Mungo's

National Library of Scotland - Map Images