This article explores the current status of research for the three family lines that I most actively researched in 2025 and a look back at the articles I wrote during the year.
The Family Tree Evolves
Currently, my tree on Ancestry contains 45,344 people and my off-line, official tree contains 42,547 people. That is an increase of 833 on ancestry.com and an increase of 64 in my official tree. The reason for the discrepancy is that I am adding people to the McCracken and Peppard lines that I know are related. However, I haven’t added them to my official tree as the exact connection (e.g. Lemuel’s parents) is not known.
Rod’s family trees are much smaller mostly due to the fact that his family immigrated to the United States much later than most of my family. His trees contain 3,744 people and 5,263 people on Ancestry and in our official database, respectively. That is an increase of 54 on ancestry.com and 43 in the official tree.
People in both trees are proven in to varying degrees. In recent years, I have gone back and double-checked people in my direct line and noted in my official tree if they are verified. So, for instance, information seems to point to Lucy Ann Storms’ father being Conrad Storms and we are definitely related to many Sturm/Storm/Storm(s)(es). However, no record has been found that I can use to confirm that relationship. Thus, in the official tree, Lucy Ann is marked verified and Conrad is included in the tree, but is not marked verified. This capability now exists in ancestry.com. However, I have used it only on a limited basis, mostly to identify someone who is definitely in question.
Projects
Although I am always working toward generally growing and improving the family tree, I usually have at least one special project in the works for our families. Those are projects that typically involve using DNA, doing local research, and traditional research online, to try to find information on a person who has been difficult to track down.
Three special projects are currently most active. Let’s take a look.
Lemuel McCracken’s Parents
Nothing has been found to disprove or alter the assumptions about Lemuel’s parents. Y-DNA showed that his father was a Peppard. Thus, his mother is a McCracken. I still believe that his mother was most likely a daughter or granddaughter of James and Rachel (Kelly) McCracken. Likewise, I still believe that his father was likely one of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Gilmore) Peppard’s sons.
These families lived close to each other in Wayne County, Ohio in the early 1800s.
DNA Research
Matches Identified
Below is an update on the number of McCracken and Peppard DNA matches that have been identified as fitting into each of the categories listed.
| DNA Matches that are | Begin 2025 | End 2025 | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Descendants of Lemuel and his first wife | 23 | 30 | |
| Descendants of Lemuel and Louisiana | 62 | 67 | Includes those that tested for me |
| Descendants of Louisiana and her first husband | 11 | 13 | |
| Total | 96 | 110 | |
| Descendants of James and Rachel (Kelly) McCracken | 83 | 131 | Includes some branches that have strong evidence that they belong to this family, but have not been 100% proven. |
| Descendants of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Gilmore) Peppard | 121 | 188 | |
| Bonus Peppard matches through the Bailey family | 18 | 26 | This family did not believe they had any ties to the Peppard family. However, both autosomal DNA and Y-DNA say that they do. |
DNA Analysis
In addition to looking at new DNA matches as seeing how they align with the families involved, I also spent quite a bit of time looking at the strongest matches to see if any pattern appeared. I started by looking at the older generation. I have 4 samples for that generation.
McCracken
Among my samples. there are only 4 matches to descendants of James and Rachel (Kelly) McCracken at over 100 centimorgans. Two of these are descendants of Nathaniel McCracken, and two are descendants of Thomas McCracken. Nathaniel had one daughter who would have been old enough to be Lemuel’s mother. It is important to note that Nathaniel’s descendants may be doubly connected to us. This isn’t clear. However, DNA matches to both us and Nathaniel’s descendants seem to match in a different way.
Thomas’ family has been more difficult to connect as Thomas died young and his wife died only a few years later. However, I have DNA matches that appear to possibly be descendants of his daughters. Unfortunately, he only mentioned his two young sons in his will. Thus, I haven’t been able to prove the relationship.
When I look at total number of DNA matches in the range I am considering (>30 centimorgans), Thomas and Nathaniel show up with the largest numbers. That is not, however, meaningful since it relies on the number of descendants that have tested.
Peppard
Among the same samples, there are only two matches to descendants of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Gilmore) Peppard. They both descend from his son John. When looking at total number of DNA matches, John also leads his siblings. In addition, it seems most likely based primarily on circumstances that the Bailey matches are descendants of John. This would increase the number of DNA matches to John significantly.
Rebecca also has a number of descendants. However, being female, she is out of contention as a parent. She has no known children old enough to be Lemuel’s father. It is,, however, possible that she had a child when she was young who would be old enough to be Lemuel’s father. Still, it seems more likely that Rebecca’s descendants have a double connection that increase the strength of the match.
I have now expanded this analysis to include people in my generation as part of the sample. I am now working with a much larger data set and it will take some time to see if patterns emerge. In addition, I am also looking for connections to various women. For instance, if one of Thomas McCracken’s assumed daughters is Lemuel’s mother, descendants of his wife’s family should show up in DNA matches. Unfortunately, it is a common name and we have multiple possible connections to that name.
Read about Lemuel and Louisiana: A Journey of Discoveries.
Read research notes. Follow the links on the pages to different pieces of data regarding this research. Not all research has been added to this series of webpages.
Arthur Reid Thomson’s Parents
According to Arthur Reid Thomson, he was an orphan. He had lived with his grandfather in Scotland before making his way across the ocean. It is unknown if his grandfather was his mother’s father or his father’s father.
He was supposedly sent to live with an uncle in New York, but went to Canada with “friends” instead. He later came to the United States. It is believed his father was also named Arthur and that he had a brother Alexander and sister, Gennia, who remained in Scotland. Supposedly, he lost contact with his family for many years, but did make contact later in life.
Read about Arthur’s Long Road to a Homestead.
DNA Research
Y-DNA
Rod did a Y-DNA test. The results included four men – all with different last names. One of the men did have the name “Thompson.” That could be a variation of Thomson or it could be a totally unrelated surname. I am currently searching ancestry data (autosomal DNA) for the surnames. I have found a good-sized group that have ties to Scotland and North Ireland. However, they are very distantly related to Rod’s branch and most are distantly related to each other. Only a very small number show the name Thomson in their tree. However, it isn’t clear that Rod connects to them on that specific branch.
In Addition, I have found a group with strong Canada ties. However, it isn’t clear how they are related to Rod. I found a couple of pieces of data that indicate they might be distant relatives in the Van Allen family line, but there is more work to do.
Autosomal DNA
We have not been able to identify any matches that are definitely Thomson matches beyond direct descendants of Arthur. It would seem that if his uncle was in New York, that matches to some descendants would be found. However, it is possible that the uncle was a maternal uncle.
We recently tested three additional members of the family – two in Rod’s generation and one in his dad’s generation. Since everyone in a family inherits different pieces of DNA, we are hoping that the additional testing will result in new matches that help determine the names of Arthur Reid Thomson’s parents.
Roger Ellis’ Parents
This year I started systematically researching Roger Ellis’ parents. He is my 4th great-grandfather and our earliest known Ellis ancestor. There are theories about his parents, but it doesn’t appear that any of them are based on anything other than other Ellis families in the general area. It may, or may not, be important that this family often spelled their name Elless or Elles. Additionally, the family Bible spells the name of the original owner as David Alles. Although, the entries apparently are with the name Elless.
Read research notes. Follow the links on the pages to different pieces of data regarding this research. Not all research has been added to this series of webpages.
DNA Research
| DNA Matches that are | Begin 2025 | End 2025 | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Descendants of Roger Ellis and his wife Susannah Lewis | 176 | Includes people that tested for me. |
All the DNA matches that I have been able to definitively tie to our Ellis family line are descendants of Roger and Susannah (Lewis) Ellis. I do have a couple of groups of interest that I have identified.
One group contains descendants of Enos Ellis, who was born in 1786, which would make him a contemporary of Roger. However, the name Enos Ellis does not appear in the family Bible, which lists Roger and what appear to likely be some or all of his siblings. The name Ellis is super common and it is possible that this group connects to us in a different way.
The second group is clearly associated with the Ellis family or one of the allied families. People cluster under several different names and some of the clusters are in West Virginia. Since George Nicholson, another ancestor, was from West Virginia, it is possible that this group ties into his family line instead of the Ellis family. However, I am in the middle researching them, so I have no definitive answer yet. If they are related to George Nicholson instead of Roger Ellis that could help solve the mystery of George’s parents. Some people have identified who they believe are George’s parents. However, I have not found enough evidence to date to add those people as his parents.
2025 Articles
This year I didn’t keep up with an article each week. However, some of the articles were quite in-depth. They required extensive research. I have one that I started about my 3rd great-grandfather Henry Thomas in the Seminole Indian Wars. It was one of those that required a lot of research. I hope to finish it in 2026.
Below are the articles I wrote this year.
Anderson (Van Allen)
Ashby
Brooks (Klinefelter)
Life at the Home for Aged Protestant Women
Ellis
Buried in the cemetery or not?
South Dakota’s Grand Old Man of Aviation
Hanson (Van Allen)
Accidents, Deaths, and Other Challenges
Hurrie
Matteer
McCracken
McGinley (Klinefelter)
Peelle
Did a Family Name Start as a Nickname?
Pellett
Peppard
Stackhouse (Klinefelter)
Thomas
Thomson
Multiple
All Roads Lead to Bourbon County
DNA Ethnicity Meets Traditional Genealogy
My Ancestral Religious History
2026 Research
It is very likely that George Nicholson’s parents will end up getting worked with the Ellis research since possible DNA matches to that line are popping up when looking at distant Ellis matches.
Future Projects
Future projects under consideration:
- Was Elizabeth Brown Donaldson really kin to Chief Justice John Marshall? I have worked on this one quite a bit with traditional research. Additionally, I contributed to a project looking at this with DNA. Read about the John Marshall research.
- Was Tabitha Dunigan really a daughter of President John Adams who was born out of wedlock? To date, I have not found anything that proves or disproves her parentage. Read Creative Genealogy – The Story of John Adams and our Family.
- Am I related to women who were persecuted during the Salem Witch Trials? It is thought that my Thomas family might be related, but that we are not a direct descendant. At least one other family needs to be researched as they had ties to the area.
- Who were George Nicholson’s parents?
- Who were Martha (Johnson) Peelle’s 5 missing siblings and what happened to them? I have worked on this question on and off, but have never undertaken a special project to find them.
- The German ancestry of Helm, Kutzner, Schmidt, Ackermann, Stetler etc.
- Identifying descendants of William Hurrie, who rang the Liberty Bell.
- A woman who was buried at the same cemetery as William Hurrie’s granddaughter claimed to be related to William Hurrie. Basic research shows she was German and he was said to be from Scotland. Not sure if she was related to his granddaughter’s husband, William’s wife or if there was really no connection despite her claim.
- Is Matthias Matteer’s ancestors who they appear to be?
- Who was Mary Rogers/Rodgers’ parents?
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