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DNA Updates

  • A DNA match on my mother’s side (Catt line) that I was able to add fairly easily. This branch is fairly easy to document at this time. She is a 3rd cousin 2x removed.
  • A second DNA match was revealed this week on my mom’s side. He descends from both the Catt line and Thompson line which explains why there are a few more centimorgans than normal for a 5th cousin. This one took a little effort since he is about the same age as my daughter and his tree isn’t very well built out. Most individuals are still living, but a great-grandfather on his mother’s side had an obituary available. It also helped that I went to school with his mother’s sister and I just happened to have purchased my high school’s alumni directory back in 2000. Quite the puzzle if you must know.

Rodericks in Kansas

One of my errors to fix this week was for Catera Roderick (see below). She could be found at age 4 months in the 1870 Census in the household of John Roderick in Kansas. John was born in 1790 so the idea that she was John’s daughter might seem far-fetched, although not an impossibility. John married a much younger woman, Almira Julian in 1865. A newspaper article about assistance for the poor briefly mentioned John, his wife, and four children.1 He died later that year.2

Hints for Almira or Catera do not readily populate. The Roderick Genealogy written by David Paul Roderick in 1999 listed an incorrect date of birth for Almira and made the assumption that Catera was John’s grandchild, not the daughter of Almira and John.

From the 1870 census, it would seem that Catera has a brother William who is two years her senior. The Roderick Genealogy mentions that William married a Viola Parrett. I was able to find their marriage record in Jefferson County, Kansas which would mean John’s family remained in the Valley Falls area until at least 1890. The 1880 Census for Almira, William or Catera is not populating in the hints so a manual search of the 1880 census is warranted.

A survey of the 1880 census for Deleware, Jefferson, Osawkie, Norton, and Rock Creek Townships in Jefferson County did not turn up any Rodericks. It’s possible that

  • Almira remarried between 1875 and 1880 and the children were enumerated under the new husband’s surname.
  • Almira died and the children were orphans.
  • The family relocated to another part of the county or another county for a period of time.
  • They were missed in the 1880 enumeration.

Continuing Research on Benjamin Cox descendants from Montgomery County, Ohio

I am continuing my research on William Taylor’s descendants. This week’s research starts with Emma Taylor. Emma died in 1910 before the census was taken and her family “disappeared” in Oklahoma. Emma’s headstone is in Afton, OK. Their son George was a military transport back from Europe in 1919. His father’s address was listed as Gore, OK. I’ll concentrate my search there to find Emma’s daughters.

  • Jesse Cox + Mary Waugh > John Cox + Mary Parks > Louisa Cox + David Taylor > William F Taylor + Mary Lucy Pearson
    • Taylor
    • Thomas
      • Kentucky: Estill
      • Oklahoma: Sequoyah, Wagoner
      • Arizona: Maricopa
      • California: Stanislaus
      • Texas: Wharton
    • Starkey
      • California: Stansilaus

Error Resolution

The last available update via Ancestry ProTools: I have 5023 errors in the tree–502 possible duplicates, 4066 with no documents, 455 other errors.

My Ancestry error resolutions this week included:

  • A stepson of a distant cousin is identified as a potential duplicate. This record falls under the criteria I have for pruning.
  • A mother in law of a distant cousin has no records. Another candidate for pruning.
  • a distant cousin who has two errors–no records and born more than 75 years after her father. Catera/Kittura/Katurah Roderick is listed in the 1870 Census with John P Roderick who was born ca 1790. John’s wife was of childbearing age so there is no reason why Catera could not be John’s daughter. Unfortunately, this type of error cannot be cleared or ignored.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,534 people
End of Week: 27,684 people
Change = +150 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
  • Review Coxes of Cox Creek
  • Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
  • Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
  • Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
  1. The Valley Falls New Era, February 13, 1875, page 2. ↩︎
  2. The Valley Falls New Era, August 7, 1875, page 3. ↩︎