Timeline

McCracken Families

Bates, Co, Missouri

Lee County, Iowa

 Ohio

Illinois

Clues From Children’s Names

Sometimes the names of children provide clues as to the grandparents or aunts and uncles of the children.  Names that can be explained are in blue.

His child with Sarah:

Delarma  Lawrence: No origin has been found for the name Delarma (several spellings) in either the Dufer or McCracken records.  Lawrence is from Lemuel’s middle name.

His children with Louisiana:

Lemuel Franklin:  Lemuel is named after Lemuel.  Franklin could possibly be after Louisiana’s brother Francis.

William Thomas:  William possibly was named after Louisiana’s brother William who died in the Civil War.

Andrew Johnson:  Given the time of Andrew’s birth, he was likely named for President Andrew Johnson.

Ida Belle: Louisiana had a sister with the middle initial B.  It is possible that Belle came from that sister’s name.

Joseph (Henry):  Of note is the 1875 Kansas Census that lists Henry as R.H. or B.H.  It is clearly not J.H.  One thing that was investigated is whether it could have been R.H. with the R standing for Robert since they lived near a Robert McCracken in Bates Co, Missouri.  However, nothing was found to support it as anything other than an error.

Francis E./Minnie Alameda:  Francis was Minnie’s original name.  It changed for unknown reasons after 1880.  Louisiana had a brother Francis.

None of the boys were named after Louisiana’s father, who lived in Lee County, Iowa and who she must have went west to be near.   There are also very few ties to her sisters.  Her daughter from her first marriage does appear, however, to have been named after her mother.

This leaves us with Delarma as possibly a tie to Lemuel or his wife Sarah and the names Franklin, Thomas, Ida, Belle, Joseph, and Henry as ties to Lemuel or possibly grandparents of Louisiana.  I am excluding Minnie Alameda as that was a name change and it is not known when or how it came about.

DNA Analysis

Y-DNA

The Y-DNA test (taken by a male in the McCracken line) did not yield any positive matches with the other McCracken males that have done that test with ftDNA.  Additionally, it was compared to two other projects related to Scotland and Ireland without a match.

It is possible that no one has taken this particular test that matches our genetic line.  It also remains a consideration that Lemuel perhaps was not a McCracken.  However, we do have DNA matches to McCrackens in Ohio.

Ancestry.com General

An analysis of DNA matches between multiple family members that have taken the ancestry.com DNA test  have been searched for the name McCracken in the family trees.  Those matches have been analyzed for patterns and potential matches to Lemuel. Some of these matches are clearly related to Louisiana.  Others have little data.  Others are possible matches, but no specific information has been found to indicate that the link to these DNA matches is through the McCracken family.

Additionally, the stronger matches to people with McCracken in their tree were also analyzed for those people whose DNA matches I have direct access.  Again, there is no specific information to indicate that the match is through the McCracken family.

From the analysis of these sets of data, I have created several McCracken families that might possibly be related to us.  Attention was placed on McCracken families that showed up in multiple family trees (not just multiple DNA matches).I focused on those with ties to Ohio and Pennsylvania since Lemuel’s records state he was born in one of those two states.  Note was also taken of McCrackens in Kansas and Lee County, Iowa.    There were multiple matches to McCrackens in Tennesse, Georgia, Kentucky, and North Carolina, but those were not included in the analysis to date.  Others removed from the analysis were families where they were known to not be Y-DNA matches, there were many errors in the tree, or where identifying the specific person was very complicated (e.g. too many people in the area with the same name). The top candidate families are included in the next several sections.

It is unclear if any of the McCracken families identified by the DNA analysis are actually Lemuel’s ancestors.  If not, the following possibilities exist:

• DNA matches of related McCracken families have not yet identified their McCracken ancestors in their family tree. (Perhaps their McCracken family line is as hard to trace as ours.)
• People related to our McCracken family line have not taken this DNA test.
• McCracken is not Lemuel’s  actual surname
  • Lemuel or an ancestor was adopted.
  • Lemuel or an ancestor took the name of a family with whom he lived.  (We know multiple of Lemuel’s children lived with other people)
  • The name was changed to protect someone’s identity (e.g. they were running from the law)
• Lemuel was an only child or had a history of small families, limiting the number of potential descendants.
• Lemuel’s family died out from disease or for other reasons.

Rachel McCracken

Chautauqua County, Kansas

Multiple DNA matches have a Rachel McCracken, who lived in Chautauqua County, Kansas in their family trees. Rachel is of interest primarily because she lived in Chautauqua County where Lemuel lived in his later years.

Rachel was born in Clay County, Illinois in 1833, which is only two years after Lemuel was born. Most of the Illinois records for Rachel are found in Wayne county, where she married her husband Bradford Cooper. About 1873, they moved to Howard County, Kansas (now defunct), which included what is now Chautauqua County. Lemuel was not in Chautauqua County at this time, but Louisiana’s brother Charles Matteer was there in 1872. She lived most of the remainder of her life in Chautauqua County.

In 1850, Rachel is found in Wayne County, Illinois living with Richard, who is presumed to be her brother, Mary her presumed mother, and another brother listed as Jer or Jes plus Richard’s wife and child. There is no father in the household complicating research as in 1840 the census records only listed the names of the head of the household.

In 1850, there is one other McCracken (spelled McCrackin in records) family in the county. They are listed about a page away from Rachel’s family in the census and it is assumed that they are likely related. That family only has a woman that is presumed to be the grandmother with young adults and children. No grandfather or parents of the children are listed.

A few very distant matches to this family have been found with a few family members. It appears those connections are through families other than the McCracken family.

This family is listed in my tree on ancestry with supporting records.

McCrackens in

Seneca and Henry Counties in Ohio

McCracken families in Seneca and Henry Counties in Ohio are listed in the family trees of several DNA matches that appear to be related to Lemuel or Louisiana.  The group for Henry Charles McCracken listed below is a DNA match.  Various members of our family match that family and with enough shared DNA to say with confidence that they are clearly related to us through Lemuel and/or Louisiana.  See more details in a section dedicated to Henry.

DNA matches where the family tree includes a McCracken tie to Seneca/Henry County, Ohio include:

• Luella Adeline McCracken m. Charles LeCrone.  Luella is the daughter of Henry’s son Jay Harvey and Sophia (Schaffer) McCracken.
• Marian Carmen McCracken m. Wilbert Briney. Marian is the daughter of Henry’s son Albertie and Olive (Klinepeter) McCracken.
• Mariah (alt. Maria) m. Jacob Leitner. Mariah/Maria is the daughter of David McCracken.
• Henry County is where Nancy Ann (McCracken) Hanna lived.  See Nathaniel McCracken for details on Nancy.

1840 Census (Seneca County)

• David McCracken: His household contained a female of the age to be a wife, two males under age 5, one male 10-14, one female 5-9, one female 10-14, one female 15-19, and himself.

1850 Census (Seneca County)

• David age 50 with Walter Merchant family.
• William age 25 at a hotel (printer)
• Henry C age 22  with wife Lavina  [DNA match; See section for Henry Charles McCracken]
• Sarah age 19 with the Yoder family
• Mariah age 17 with the Yoder family [DNA match; See section for Mariah McCracken]
• Syhae (?) age 14 with the Shedenhelm family (Maybe Elihu, Elisha)
• Thomas age 11 with the Shawl family

It definitely appears that David’s wife died and the family went to live with different families.  When compared to the 1840 census, only William does not fit with the data.  Later information implies that he is not a member of the family although it still remains possible that he was but lived with someone else in 1840.

The two oldest females (daughters) found in the 1840 census are not found in the county with the name McCracken.  Possible matches for the two oldest daughters are:

• Naomi McCracken (b. Aug 28 1822) that married Jacob Feasel in 1846.
• Mary Elizabeth McCracken that married Elias Schaull in 1843.

A biography of Mariah’s son states that she is the daughter of David and that she had a half-sister Mary that married Jacob Leitner (Mariah’s husband) after Mariah died.  It may be that this is the same Mary as married Elias Schaull.

• Additionally, Elizabeth (McCracken) wife of Thomas Hughes (b. 1808) was living in Seneca County.

1860 Census

    Seneca County

• James age 35 of Ireland at a hotel (printer). Despite the discrepancy in the name, this seems to match William of 1850. Since it is a hotel, it is very possible there was confusion on the name. A William McCracken married in the county in 1864.

• Additionally, Elizabeth (McCracken) wife of Thomas Hughes (b. 1808) was living in Seneca County.

    Henry County

• [Household: David, Rachel, David]
• David
• Rachel, David’s 3rd? wife.   She was previously Rachel Leitner and it seems likely Rachel was his son-in-law Jacob Leitner’s mother.
• David age 17 is living with David and Rachel.    It is unclear if he is a son.  If he is, where was he in 1850?

• [Household: Elizabeth, Sarah J]
• Elizabeth age 25
• Sarah J age 17.  Note:  This Sarah is NOT the same as the Sarah in the 1850 census.
•  
• John age 23 is living with the Babcock family. It says he is from New York, but the family is all from New York, so it may be that they just repeated the location.