McCracken Antics

Posted on November 25, 2024 by FHadmin

With the holiday weekend coming up, it seems like a good time to share some fun short stories of Joe and Nellie (Peelle) McCracken’s kids.

On The Roof

The younger McCracken kids liked to tell stories about their older siblings. One of them involved the time some of the older kids along with some of their friends decided to have some fun by putting a buggy up on someone’s roof. We aren’t sure whose roof that they put it on or exactly how they got it up there. However, knowing the people in the neighborhood, the culprits were likely found out and required to remove the buggy.

This was just one of the goings on in the Rocky Vale and surrounding neighborhoods. Ester said that none of them ever got arrested, but they might have been shot at a few times.

Switching with the Baileys

Another story about the older McCracken kids is the time that they snuck out of the house during the night and went to the Bailey’s home. Meanwhile, the Bailey kids around their age snuck out and came to the McCracken home. The Bailey kids slid into bed and went to sleep. In the morning, the Bailey kids came tromping down the stairs at the McCracken home.

Joe and Nellie didn’t skip a beat. They put them to work doing their own kids’ chores. I don’t know for sure, but I assume that the same thing occurred at the Bailey home.

Ball Bearings

When they were moving highway 7 to its current location, the workmen often parked equipment at the McCracken farm since it was just off the highway. One day, one of the pieces of machinery broke down and the workmen pulled it into the McCracken yard to be repaired. The work on the machine resulted in a lot of ball bearings of various sizes being spilled all over the ground. After the machine was fixed, Don went around collecting the ball bearings and they became great play toys.

One night, O’Ella had some ladies visiting at the house (perhaps school teachers). According to Don, he fell down the stairs and many of the ball bearings fell out as he took a nasty tumble. Dad told the story a different way. According to him, Don had the ball bearings in a can and (intentionally or unintentionally) spilled them down the steep stairs. In either case, the result was the same. . . a major racket that would wake up the neighborhood.

Old Maids

Another night when one of the older girls was out on a date, some of the kids rigged it so that a bucket of “old maids” (popcorn kernels that didn’t pop) were hung above the front door (yes, they actually used the front door in those days). When the sister came home from her date and opened the door, down came the old maids.

This wasn’t the only night that a sister got pranked when she arrived home from a date. One night while Ester was on a date with one of the Baileys, Ruby and Bobbi (Peelle) Pryor (step-daughter of Grandma Nellie (Peelle) McCracken’s brother Passco “Patt” Peelle) cooked up a scheme to surprise Ester when she returned home. On this occasion, they filled a dishpan with tin cans and placed it at the top of the stairs. When Ester opened the front door, the dishpan spilled all the cans and they thunderously tumbled down the stairs. Ester’s date bolted. Ester fumed. The rest of the family woke up to see what caused the racket. But, Ruby and Bobbi slept right through the event. Source: Life with Father . . . And Mother . . . and Ten Kids compiled by Don McCracken.

Up We Go

One or both of the younger brothers raised Kay’s bed during the night while she was sleeping in it. Neither of them would admit to the prank. Dad claimed he didn’t do it, but some pointed a finger towards him. Not sure if Kay threw their small Will Rogers brass statue at her brothers for doing it, but I wouldn’t be surprised. As the youngest and smallest, it seemed to be her weapon of choice.

April Fools

On April 1^st, 1935 (or there about), Dad’s sisters dressed him up like a girl. They curled his hair and found one of his sisters’ dresses that he could wear. He went to school looking like a girl. One of the neighbors saw him walk by their house and inquired as to who the new girl was. April Fools!

It wasn’t the only time he wore his sister’s clothes as he was a model for his mother when he was home sick from school one year. She was working on dresses, likely for his middle sisters, and she needed someone to put them on so she could get the hem straight. Since he was there, he became her model.

Dog’s Day Out

They say that you have to be careful of the quiet ones. They can stir up the most trouble. Well, that was the case at Rocky Vale one day. One of the dogs followed the kids to school. So, Dewey, who all animals loved, coaxed the dog up into the one of the school desks. Then he sat a book up on the desk in front of the dog so that it wasn’t easily seen from the front of the room.

As expected, the kids started to giggle. Meanwhile, the teacher looked around trying to find out what everyone was giggling about. I am sure that no one had any idea who had done it.

Another School Story

One of the teachers at Rocky Vale had sandy-colored hair. The teacher had a very strict rule that no students were to call him Sandy. Anyone who dared would receive punishment. So, when Ruby was 7. She and a neighborhood friend (and possibly Dee) misbehaved one day. Before leaving for the day, they received a spanking or more likely a switching using a switch from the tree next to the school, which was often used for this purpose.

Anyway, as they walked away from the school, Ruby looked back and said, “Goodbye, Sandy!” All the kids took off running. Ruby had a head start and outrun the teacher.

Oh, Goodness!

This isn’t a funny story of something the McCracken kids intentionally did. Instead, it is about something that occurred and the reaction that turned out to be a bit funny. O’Ella, the oldest, was about twelve when this story occurred.

Grandma and Grandpa (her parents), had a rare serious argument related to discipline of one of her siblings. She said that she had never seen them so upset as they were that evening. Flash forward to the middle of the night and O’Ella wakes up hearing the baby crying. The baby, whose bed was in her parents’ bedroom continued to cry and cry. So, she got up and went down to see what was needed. To her surprise. Her parents were nowhere to be found.

She changed the baby’s diaper and sat down to rock the baby back to sleep. As she did, she wondered where her parents were. She thought about the argument of the night before and began to wonder if they had left for good. She started to cry as she wondered how she was going to care for a house full of kids.

Pretty soon, her mom and dad came back in the house, laughing. Some cows had gotten out and they had gone to get them back in. By the time they were done, the argument was long past and they were happy again. Only O’Ella was upset. But, not for long. Now, that her parents were back, she knew her worst nightmare wasn’t coming true – she wasn’t going to be a mother of bunch of kids at age 12!

Statistically Speaking

Posted on November 18, 2024 by FHadmin

Family history is about facts and stories. However, it is also interesting to look at it from a statistical perspective. Statistics about a family can include number of direct ancestors, size of family tree, immigration years, longevity, causes of death, military service branches, occupations, political leanings, religious beliefs, and more. This article takes a look at a few set of statistics using both numerical and visual methods.

Family Tree Size

The chart shows the size of my official trees compared to the size of the same tree on Ancestry.com. It might seem odd that they are different sizes. Many people synchronize their trees on ancestry.com with their local tree. However, I have chosen not to do that. In part, I use the tree on ancestry when researching people or entire family lines (e.g. Lemuel McCracken’s ancestry). In that case, I have added many people to my tree online that I haven’t yet attached to the family or where I have created a temporary attachment that allows me to do additional searching. (And, yes, I make notes on them that they are not confirmed relationships.)

You will notice that in the case of Rod’s family that the online tree is actually smaller. This comes from data that we learned in places other than ancestry.com. In the case of my family, much of the information I had from other sources was already in my tree before I did an initial upload.

You will also notice a huge difference in the size of Rod’s family tree and my family tree. The primary reason, besides the fact that I have been researching my family tree for a longer period of time, is that three of his family lines immigrated to the United States in the mid-1850s while most of my family lines immigrated prior to that time. See the Immigration section for more details.

Military

The chart shows the relatives in our families that served in the Revolutionary War by surname with the surnames grouped by color into the various family lines. It demonstrates that the Klinefelter family line had the most participants followed by the Ellis family line. See Soldiers and Fireworks for more charts about military service.

Immigration

McCracken-Pellett

The chart shows the earliest year that I can confirm each family line was in the United States. In some cases, it is when the family immigrated to the United States. However, often it is the earliest record for someone in that family line. For example, if I show someone was born in the United States in 1780 and I have no records that show the specific date that the family came to the country (or Colonies), it would be included in the 1751-1800 range.

Of the families identified back as far as my 5th great grandparents, a vast majority of them were in the United States prior to 1800. Five of those identified never immigrated to the United States. It is very likely that with additional research that some of the families where I do not know a firm immigration date will be found to have been in the country at an earlier time period than their current category.

The forty that are yet to be determined are in that category either because I hit a brick wall in research or more likely simply because I haven’t had time to research those families in depth. I suspect that they will split with a smaller percentage having early arrival dates and the larger percentage never having immigrated.

Immigration

Thomson – Helm

The Thomson-Helm chart looks very different than the McCracken-Pellett chart. You will notice that the number of families with known dates in the United States or Colonies is much smaller. This is because three of Rod’s four main family lines did not immigrated to the United States until the mid-1800s.

Of the 103 family lines that are not yet determined, a vast majority are expected to fall into the category of “Never Immigrated.” With additional research many of these can be verified. However, a portion of them are from Eastern Europe likely in or near Poland and Ukraine. These family lines may be impossible to trace with any accuracy.

Name Infographic

Helm

Phillip & Mary, their children, grandchildren, and the spouses

This image shows the prevalence of given names in Phillip and Mary Helm’s family. I created it for a post about the confusion around the Helm family due to so many people having the same or similar names. This type of graphic does not include the numerical values. Instead, it demonstrates the values using the size of the text. Clearly, the variations of the name Wilhelm/Wilhelmena are the most common name in the family. The actual numbers aren’t always important when looking at trends or prevalence of certain pieces of data. This type of chart can also be useful in looking at locations of birth/death, causes of death, or any other piece of data or characteristic with repetitive values.

The blog Helm Confusion further discusses information about this graphic.

Age at Time of Death

Pellett

The chart shows the age of death of members of the Pellett family. My mom is the person in the center semi-circle. This provides a visual that shows not only age of death of ancestors, but also trends (or lack there of) by generation and by family line.

One thing that is obvious from this chart is that the further back the generation the younger people tended to die on average. That said, you will see examples of people living longer back many generations. So, the fact that the average lifespan today is greater than it was generations ago seems to be based a lot on eradicating and minimizing childhood diseases and the availability of more advanced medical assistance rather than any changes that make humans naturally live longer.

In the chart, the ones that died very young often are women who died in childbirth. When all the charts are completed (Okay, created. With genealogy, nothing is ever complete), this chart will have a companion chart that shows cause of death when known. This will give a bit of insight into the correlation between age of death and cause of death.

It is also interesting to look at the age of death compared to location, time period, and cause of death. One of my observations, which is not proven, is that early settlers in cities often lived longer than their descendants who moved westward.

I have a section on the website for Statistics. The Earliest Ancestor sections have data in them. However, most other sections are blank right now. Expect this section of the website to start to take shape in 2025.

DNA

Lemuel & Louisiana

Descendants of Lemuel and Louisiana

This chart is focused specifically on DNA matches related to my research of Lemuel L. and Louisiana (Matteer) McCracken. The first three entries show that 95 total descendants of Lemuel and/or Louisiana have taken DNA tests with one of the companies that members of our closer family have tested. A considerable majority of them are descendants of the children that they had together. However, it is possible that additional descendants have tested with other companies or simply do not match as third cousins and beyond are not guaranteed to match.

McCracken DNA Matches

The 80 DNA matches who have been identified as descendants of James & Rachel (Kelly) McCracken show why this couple appears to be Lemuel’s maternal grandparents or great-grandparents (Y-DNA indicates Peppard is likely our paternal line). It does include descendants of a couple of people that are not proven by records to be their grandchildren, but where DNA and available data indicate that it is very likely that they are members of this family.

Peppard DNA Matches

Similarly, the 119 matches to descendants of Johnathan and Elizabeth (Gilmore) Peppard indicate why they are believed to be Lemuel’s grandparents. In this case, there are another 18 matches that are in the Bailey family. However, this specific Bailey family has a Y-DNA match to the Peppard family along with many autosomal matches to the Peppard family. Thus, it is believed that this specific Bailey family descends from the Peppard family despite a different paper trail.

The graphic also shows a group of matches through Louisiana to the Matteer family. We do have a paper trail on Louisiana back to her parents. However, the DNA matches help prove in her family line.

Additionally, several hundred DNA matches to Louisiana have been identified that are believed to fit into several earlier generations of her family. This information will be shared when it is finalized.

I have worked more on Lemuel’s ancestors since I have been working to identify his parents. In his case, an additional 1200 matches have been identified that are believed to most likely be related to Lemuel. However, it is possible that some of them are not actually connected the way they appear.

Soldiers And Fireworks

Posted on November 10, 2024November 10, 2024 by FHadmin

My family has been supporting our country since before it was a country. Therefore, when I think of cultural traditions, I think of soldiers and fireworks to celebrate the birth of this great nation.

Soldiers

With Veteran’s Day being this week, it is a good time to honor all that have served. Reviewing my Military Honor Wall, over 200 of Rod’s and my direct ancestors and relatives (including spouses of relatives), who served in the military, have been identified and documented. The number continues to grow. If certain family lines can be confirmed, the total will increase significantly.

These ancestors have served in every major conflict starting in the Revolutionary War and relatives continue to serve today. The chart below shows the number of relatives identified as serving and when they served.

Members of the family served in various branches of the military, plus various early militia groups. The early days of the military looked very different than it does today. Thus, looking at the service branches over the entire 250 year period isn’t practical. So, I decided to look at the breakdown of service by branch during World War II, since it has the greatest number of people who served.

To read about family members that served, view my Military Honor Wall.

4th of July celebrations

I can’t speak for all the families, but the McCracken family had big gatherings to celebrate the birth of our country. The 4^th of July celebrations were usually held at one of the family farms. Everyone gathered before the noon meal. A hay rack served as a table. Chairs, the hay rack, and blankets served as seating.

The Food

Food was always abundant, as it wouldn’t be a McCracken gathering without plenty of food. We didn’t grill or have a wiener roast. Sometimes people brought fried chicken, but I am not sure what other meats we had. We did have numerous salads with potato salad being a favorite. Often, we had at least two potato salads. Of course, baked beans and chips were also on the menu. And, if the corn cooperated and was ready at the right time, we would have corn on the cob.

In those days, people didn’t drink pop as often as today, so that was a special treat on the 4^th of July. However, it was even better than as a regular treat as it would have been soaking in a big tub of ice, which became ice water over time. The longer you waited to drink one, the better it was. It was so icy cold and on a hot day, which it usually was, it was amazing.

Of course, the watermelon, straight out of the garden, soaked in the same tub of icy water. By mid-afternoon it was delicious. If you have never tasted watermelon fresh from the garden soaked for hours in an icy cold water, you haven’t really tasted how good watermelon can be.

The highlight of the food had to be the homemade ice cream. Usually there were several flavors and I never tasted any of it that wasn’t delightful.

Family visiting at the 2006 Fourth of July celebration. In the back Stan, Dad (hiding behind Dee), Steve, Dallas, Cindy (back turned), Sky (back turned), Jo, Dee, Beth (Uncle Ray’s daughter).

Now Energized

The visiting, conversation, and fun started from the moment people started arriving. However, it kicked into high gear after everyone ate. The fire crackers started popping left and right. Meanwhile, the more senior members of the family split their time between visiting and keeping and eye on the action. I would say adults, but at least some of the younger adults were right in the middle of the action.

Often a baseball game or game of catch sparked the interest of people of all ages. The old guys (Dad and his brothers) took it easy on us young ones. I think it may have been a way to simmer down the fireworks a bit, but we all had fun.

Noise & Sparkles

Nearly everyone brought fireworks to the celebration. And, when you have nine living siblings and their families, that adds up to a lot of fireworks. Of course, it seems that somebody would always run low on some type of fireworks, leading to one or more fireworks runs during the day. I remember cousins going to the fireworks stand at the Farlington Lake corner one year. And, of course, runs to Fort Scott.

Jared and Josh appear to be at work on some major firecracker event. Meanwhile, Jake is standing by to collect evidence.

The Famous Fireworks Run

The most famous fireworks run occurred when Josh Davis was a around twenty. He, along with my sons, ran to town for more fireworks. Josh parked the car and they proceeded to shop and purchase fireworks. When they walked back to the car, it wasn’t there. Josh thought it had been stolen. However, it wasn’t. Josh had apparently parked on a hill and neglected to set the emergency break and the car had rolled down the hill. Fortunately, no one or nothing was harmed. Still, he was afraid to tell his dad what happened.

In the evening, night works would be set off. And, usually there were quite a lot of them. When the gathering was held at the home place, which was just off the highway, people were known to stop along the highway and watch. It was probably as good a display as any of the nearby small town displays.

No 4^th of July celebration ended in a significant fire or a major injury. Of course, a sprayer of water was kept nearby to combat any small fire that started. If it was very dry, extra rules were put in place by the older generation to limit the possibility of fire. Usually, however, a minor injury or two occurred during the day. Fortunately, and miraculously, no one ever was seriously hurt and nothing ever burnt down despite the fact that safety was not the number one concern of everybody.

The Day After

For kids, fun from fireworks doesn’t necessarily end on the 4^th of July even if all of them have been set off. When I was probably 8 or so, we had the 4^th of July at our house. The next day, sis and I went around the property and down the road collecting the cardboard that housed the fountains, cones, roman candles, and any other leftover debris. I am sure Mom and Dad appreciated us picking up the trash. However, it wasn’t trash to sis and me. They were great objects to add to our collection when we played house in the outbuildings. It is amazing what a little creativity could do with 4^th of July trash.

Mom loved to watch the fireworks, especially night works. However, she didn’t get around very well, so she always got a seat for supper and the nightworks.

As Time Went By

The Last Big Family 4th Of July

As time went by all of us cousins got older and the big family gatherings on the 4^th of July occurred less often. The last one I remember was in 2006 at Cindy and Lee’s house. It wasn’t as big as the ones of days gone by, but it still had characteristics of a McCracken 4^th of July. It even had a roman candle being pointed backwards and the thought of putting saturn missiles on their side. Fortunately, the latter was quickly decided to not be a good idea.

Celebrations At The Farm

During many of the years that my boys were growing up, we visited Mom and Dad around the 4^th of July. Our celebrations were smaller, but were great fun. Dad would take the boys on a hay rack ride. It wasn’t always on the 4^th, but definitely a tradition that almost always happened unless there was lots of rain. On the 4th we would often have a wiener roast complete with brats, hotdogs, and marshmallows cooked over an open fire. That is unless it was too dry and too risky. Like at the big family celebrations, firecrackers went off all day long and nightworks started as soon as it was dark enough.

One year, however, it was the opposite of too dry. Dad pulled the vehicle out to the typical picnic spot north of the barn where the pig pen had once been. He rolled down the windows and it was so humid that the inside of the windows steamed over. The air had so much moisture in it that it was nearly impossible to get the fireworks to light, but it was quite safe as it would have been very difficult for anything to catch fire. The boys had a huge pack of fireworks and with Ann’s help they finally shot them all off. Then, they ran to the house drenched in sweat.

Just Enough House

Posted on October 15, 2024 by FHadmin

Three Generations

In 1906, three generations of the Peelle family moved to the Fish farm southeast of Hiatville, Kansas. The two-story house was nestled amongst elm, pear, maple, and catalpa trees atop a hill a mile north of the Bourbon-Crawford county line. The 190-acre property included a garden, an orchard, fields, a root cellar, an outhouse, and some out buildings.

Early Photo of the home place. It is clear that one of the early families had a green thumb given so many plants were growing in the yard. The Peelle family added a cutting from a rose bush that they had brought from Indiana.

The House

Initially, the house consisted of a living area, kitchen, three bedrooms and a small loft space. The kitchen was a nook area between the living area and the bedroom on the main floor. The space was heated by two fireplaces or stoves. One chimney was between the living space and the kitchen and another was in the main floor bedroom. Heat going up the chimneys would have helped warm, even if ever so slightly, the upstairs.

It is assumed that Passco, who was in his eighties and his wife Martha (Johnson) Peelle, who turned 80 that year, slept in the main floor bedroom, which contained the only closet in the entire house. It would have been difficult, if not impossible, for them to sleep upstairs, as the upstairs could only be reached via a ladder to the loft from the kitchen area.

The upstairs bedrooms were likely occupied by William Johnson Peelle and his wife Matilda (Jury) Peelle in one and their daughters Lydia and Nellie in the other. It is likely that their son Passco “Pat,” who was 7, slept in the loft.

It was tight, but everyone had a place to lay their head.

Windows & Doors

A door existed on the front of the house between the two primary rooms. A door must have also existed on the back of the house to allow access to the well, which initially was east of the house before a different one was dug out west of the house. Additionally, the wood or coal used to heat the house and the cook stove would likely have also been stored out back.

As can be seen in the photograph, only the top portion of some of the windows had glass. It was not uncommon in those days to put in openings for windows before the windows could be purchased and that appears to be what was done on this house. It is likely that they couldn’t afford glass for all the windows at once or could not get enough glass for all the windows.

Expansion

It wasn’t long; however, before William J., who was a carpenter by trade, began building a proper kitchen onto the back of the house. It was the length of the living room and the old kitchen. An additional chimney was added at the northeast corner of the kitchen for the cook stove and the wall between the kitchen and the living room was opened up. Opening the space helped with heating and made the space more usable.

The kitchen also doubled as a room for bathing. The water was brought into the house and heated on the stove. When the bathing was complete, they could simply pour out the tub of water and use it to scrub the floor as William J. had sloped the floor and built a drain in the northwest corner of the kitchen.

A new stairway was built in the space vacated by moving the kitchen. The new stairway was extremely steep, but it was better than climbing a ladder.

Even after the expansion, the house was less than 1300 square feet.

Changes Over Time

In the fall of 1911, William J. died. His father Passco had already died in 1908 and his mother Martha died in 1912. Since William j. was the primary breadwinner for the family, it is amazing that Matilda was able to keep the farm. Lydia started working at the local grocery and other businesses to help out with expenses. And, Matilda’s brother Walter, who lived nearby, likely helped out. In the spring of 1914, Nellie married Joseph Andrew “Joe” McCracken. It wasn’t long before, The Home Place, as it came to be known, would take on a new life.

A Growing Family

After they first married, Joe and Nellie rented property. However, with a growing family and a house that was empty except for Matilda, a move to The Home Place seemed like an obvious choice. Thus, about 1920, Joe, Nellie, and their four oldest children moved to The Home Place.

The family grew and grew. Eventually, Joe, Nellie, and ten children were all living in the three-bedroom home. Joe and Nellie shared the downstairs bedroom, with the youngest one or two usually sleeping in the same room. The remaining girls shared the upstairs bedroom over the living area, and the boys shared the other bedroom.

Guests

The house, however, was never too full for one more. It was not uncommon for one, two, or more to join the family for Sunday dinner. Dad remembered one time that for some reason Fred and Florence (McCracken) Barton were gone and their kids, his second cousins, stayed with his family. Assuming all the kids stayed, that would have been 3 extra boys and 3 extra girls. Dad said that they slept crosswise in the bed to fit in more kids.

More Changes

The family almost lost part of the house in the late 1930s or early 1940s when a tornado came barrelling through. Fortunately, the family made it to the root cellar and the damage was limited. Trees were all down along the road, but the house escaped with only some damage to the roof.

It was about the time that the oldest kids started going away to work or study that the house started to feel empty. It was still quite full, but Dad said that every time one of the kids left home, it felt more empty. Eventually, the house had only a few inhabitants.

The Next Generation

When electricity came through west of what is now Highway 7, Joe, Nellie, and the kids that remained at home moved to the property that Joe and Nellie had purchased during the war. Ed, probably with some help with his dad, wired up the new property and the family had electric lights for the first time.

Within the year, Dewey married and moved with his bride to The Home Place. Eventually, the Home Place had running water and electricity. Wood would heat the home for years, but eventually it would be converted to propane.

Additions

Joe, Dewey, and Dad added out buildings to the property while Joe and Nellie lived there. Dewey continued to update the property after he moved to The Home Place.

The only major addition to the house prior to the 1970s was enclosing the area behind the first-floor bedroom into a “back porch.” A shower was added to this area just off the bedroom, however, it would have been mighty cold in the winter as the area was not heated.

An Indoor Bathroom

It wasn’t until the mid-1970s that the house got indoor bathroom facilities. At that time, improvements were made to a portion of the back porch and a proper bathroom was added into the space just off the kitchen. The bathroom was small, but was far better than going to the outhouse on a cold winter night. And, you didn’t have to worry about what was lurking in the shadows. I can only remember one time that I went to the outhouse in the middle of the night. It was plenty creepy!

Cabinets

About the same time that the bathroom was added, Ed added custom built-in cabinets in the kitchen. They had to be custom built because nothing in the kitchen was straight. The floor and ceiling were both sloped by design and the walls and windows just weren’t quite straight.

The Fire

In March 1993, the family came close to losing the house. Dewey, Jackie, and Ruthe were living in the house when they realized that there was fire in the chimney. Their first reaction was to call Dad – even before the fire department.

Dad grabbed the fire extinguishers. Then he jumped in the old white pickup and took off for The Home Place not knowing anything other than that they had a fire. Reports have it that he was driving so fast that the took the corner south of our house on two wheels. Let’s just say that his driving alerted the neighbors that something was wrong.

When Dad arrived they directed him to the chimney on the main floor where they were fighting fire. He responded that they needed to fight the fire from up above, as he could see smoke coming out under the eaves as he drove in. So, he grabbed a water sprayer and raced up those steep stairs and got up into the attic.

He had the fire out and was moving into control mode of watching for hot spots before the fire department arrived. No structural damage resulted. However, smoke and water cleanup was required. Had they not called Dad first or if he missed seeing the smoke under the eaves, the damage likely would have been much greater.

Family Gatherings

Many family gatherings occurred at this house over the years. Some were just a couple of families and others had lots of attendees. Summer gatherings worked well as people could spread out under the many shade trees in the yard.

However, in the winter it could be mighty cozy if the weather drove everyone inside. Fortunately, the family usually found a way to get out for a football game or just to wander around even when it was cold and snowy. No matter what, there always was room for one more!

Afterward

The property remained in the family for 90 years. The house has now been torn down as have some of the out buildings. However, a new house has been added to the property and someone else is now making new memories. One can only hope they look upon the property as fondly as our family looked upon The Home Place.

The Double Helix & Genealogy

Posted on September 17, 2024 by FHadmin

What if DNA hadn’t been discovered ? Similarly, what if the United States was like some other countries that prohibited or severely limited DNA testing ? The lack of DNA evidence would definitely change my research. There are relatives that I likely would not have found and stories that would be lost.

DNA & Genetic Genealogy

We take the knowledge of DNA for granted as it was discovered more than 150 years ago. DNA testing for paternity was developed in the 1980s. By comparison, genetic genealogy is a relatively new field. As such, many misconceptions exist about DNA, DNA testing, and genetic genealogy. Before I jump into what I have found using genetic genealogy, I thought I would address the top seven common misconceptions I regularly see expressed.

Misconception: Testing Anywhere Automatically Matches Anybody

>Complaint: “I tested and I don’t see a match to X.”

>Response: “Did they test with the same company?”

>Answer: “No.”

A DNA match will not show up to someone that hasn’t tested with the same company. So, if you are looking for a specific person (e.g. someone’s child that was adopted), you may not find them. This is why it is recommended that people looking for someone specific test on multiple sites and upload to any that allow it.

Misconception: DNA Results Should Tell Me Who My parent/grandparent is

>Complaint: “The results don’t tell me . . . “

>Related Question: “How can it tell me I am related to an ancestor as they never took a DNA test?”

You can determine your parent or grandparent without them testing IF their descendants or other relatives have tested. However, in most cases, it requires research. The more distant the match; the more work that will be required to find the answer (and this includes a lot of traditional research).

Misconception: You Will Have Many Matches With Your Surname

Because you don’t see your surname among your top matches does NOT mean that you were adopted or the product of an affair. It is not uncommon to find few if any people in your top matches that have your surname.

Misconception: Gender Matters With Autosomal DNA

Question: “Should I have my male cousin test? Will that give me a better match to my dad’s family?”

When using autosomal DNA (E.g. Ancestry.com) it does not matter if you are male or female. In other words, two males will not necessarily match better than a male and a female. However, having multiple people test is very useful, particularly if you are looking for someone several generations back.

Misconception: Testing Company Labels Are Gospel

The labels assigned by the companies are not always how you relate to the person. With the exception of self, parent/child, and sibling labels, which are generally accurate, the other labels are a guess of the relationship. It is important to use dnapainter.com or other reliable source to determine the possible relationships to the match.

Misconception: Ethnicities are 100% Accurate and DNA Inherits Evenly

DNA is not this cut and dried. Each person matches approximately 50% of each parent, but not exactly 50-50. When they have children, there is no guarantee what portion of their DNA the child will get. Hence, the smaller the amount of DNA shared is, the wider the range of potential relationships. In addition, companies are still evolving their data sets and algorithms for these computations. Additionally, each company has different data sets and different algorithms. It is far from settled technology. So, look for it to continue to change.

Misconception: DNA Results Can Be Flawed

The most important rule is that DNA does not lie. Tests may be inadvertently switched by the user or the results may be misinterpreted, but the companies don’t just “get it wrong.” The chances of a test getting switched in the company’s lab is extremely small. And, no, matching mom’s side and not dad’s side is not an error by the company.

My Research

A majority of my personal DNA research has been focused on solving the question of “Who were Lemuel McCracken’s parents?” Lemuel is my great-great grandfather. Thus, this is a complex problem to solve. And, given the genetic distance, proving who his parents are even with extensive genetic and traditional genealogy may not be possible. However, a lot has been learned and many new relatives identified along the way.

Close Relatives Identified

I have determined that 18 DNA matches are descendants of Lemuel and his first wife Sarah Dufer. 59 matches (including myself) descend from Lemuel and our great-great grandmother Louisiana (Mateer) (Badgley) McCracken. And, I have identified 11 DNA matches that descend from Louisiana (Matteer) (Badgley) McCracken through her first marriage. This is a total of 88 cousins this branch of the family that have done DNA testing.

Most are fourth cousins or closer with a few with relationships beyond that. However, it is important to remember that those through other marriages are half relationships. Thus, they generally share a smaller amount of DNA with us.

In identifying these relatives, I found numerous that I did not know existed. Some of them I would have eventually found via the paper trail although research of living people can be challenging. However, others might have been extremely difficult or impossible without genetic genealogy. Some have been placed at the appropriate location in my tree.

Others are still under investigation and are not included in the numbers listed. One example is a sister and brother that have ties to Girard, Kansas. I have been able to determine that they are descendants of Andrew Johnson and Rosa Isabella (Ellis) McCracken. Also, using DNA, I have been able to eliminate certain sons of Andrew and Rosa as their potential grandfather.

Confirming Louisiana’s Name

DNA matches have also provided evidence confirming Louisiana’s maiden name as Matteer. This is important as her name was shown as several different names on different documents. We have matches to 18 direct descendants of her father Mathias Matteer. Additionally, many others have been identified to the Matteer family in general.

Search For Lemuel’s Parents

The search for Lemuel’s parents has consumed hundreds (ok, thousands) of hours. Like most cases, it is a mix of genetic genealogy and traditional genealogy. So little was known about him prior to his marriage to my great-great grandmother Louisiana (Matteer) (Badgley) McCracken that I began to think a space ship just dropped him off in Iowa one day in the early 1850s.

I didn’t even have a specific place to look for records as his location of birth was listed as both Ohio and Pennsylvania. And, nothing more specific was given anywhere. So, I asked as many people as possible to test. It was very useful having results for a lot of people, as some of them matched one family a lot more than another did.

As, a result of efforts to date, Lemuel appears to be the son of a Ms. McCracken and a Mr. Peppard. These two families were first identified with autosomal DNA using primarily ancestry.com, but also on other sites.

McCracken

In the McCracken family, I have been able to determine that Lemuel is likely the son or grandson of James McCracken and Rachel Kelly. To determine this I have found 35 DNA matches that trace directly to James and Rachel. I have also found 20 matches that go back to Julia Ann (McCracken) Byers and 9 to Rachel (McCracken) Lytle . Both women lived in the same county where James lived at the time Lemuel was born. My hypothesis is that they are daughters of his son Thomas, who was deceased prior to Lemuel’s birth.

Additionally, I have found 9 matches to Henry McCracken who raised his family several counties away (referred to as “Henry of Ohio” so as not to be confused with Lemuel’s son Henry). I have also been of the belief that he was also a son of Thomas as it was specified in James’ will that Thomas had sons Henry and William that were underage. A William was also found living in the area where Henry lived.

Assuming Lemuel’s mother was a McCracken, she is the daughter of one of James and Rachel’s daughters or granddaughters. Some of them can be eliminated because they were married and they had children at intervals that would make it impossible or unlikely that they are his mother. A more detailed analysis will be included in a later article.

Peppard

Autosomal data shows a large group of DNA matches to descendants of Jonathan Peppard and his wife Elizabeth Gilmore. To break it down, we match 43 descendants of their son John, 6 of their son William, 21 of their daughter Rebecca, 10 of their son Francis, 26 of their daughter Phoebe, and 14 descendants of their son David. This is a total of 120 DNA matches that have been directly connected to this couple using traditional genealogy.

One of their sons (John, William, Francis, David, and Isaac) would seem to be Lemuel’s father unless there is an unknown son of John. The latter cannot be ruled out yet.

The greatest number of matches are to John. However, numbers of matches alone isn’t meaningful as it depends on the size of families how people many tested, how much shared DNA they have with the tests that I use for research, and whether I can connect them to the tree. It is very possible that if I am able to connect the many outstanding matches that the numbers will shift significantly. In addition, some members of John’s family came to Kansas. Thus, some of these descendants may be the result of mixing with other families that relate to us. That is yet to be determined.

I determined that our surname likely should be Peppard by adding the results of Y-DNA to autosomal DNA research. Without the autosomal DNA, I might think the Peppard was an anomaly and McCracken was the actual surname. However, since the autosomal DNA shows a strong match to both family names and Peppard shows up as a Y-DNA match, it is seems highly likely that Lemuel’s father was a Peppard. Now, it is possible that a McCracken is the parent of a Peppard, but I will explain in the next section how new data shows that to be extremely unlikely.

Throw In a Monkey Wrench

New Y-DNA Match

A recent new Y-DNA match led to new questions. This new match has the last name of Bailey. Talking with a member of the family, I learned that the family was in Vermont and one man served in the Union Army during the Civil War. During that interval, he was stationed at Ft. Riley. There he married and had a son. After the war, the family moved to Oregon and then Canada.

The new match made me wonder how the Bailey family fit into the picture. I questioned if we were all part of the Bailey family. Or, were they both McCrackens? What exactly was going on?

The first thing I did was dig into autosomal DNA looking for matches to descendants of the Bailey family in question. To date, I have identified 18 Bailey DNA matches that I have been able to trace. All of them trace to the son that was born in Kansas. Whether this means anything specific or not is still to be determined.

The Bailey DNA matches also match many of our Peppard DNA matches, but not to McCracken DNA matches in James and Rachel (Kelly) McCracken’s known family. Many of them matched through John Peppard’s sons Thomas and Samuel. Of interest is the fact that those two were both in Kansas by 1859. Given that we have DNA matches across several of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Gilmore) Peppard’s children, it appears that the Baileys are a subset of the Peppards and not the other way around. For the Peppards that we match to be Bailey’s, the connection would have had to had occurred prior to 1744 and likely even earlier. Given the localization of the Bailey DNA matches and the amount of DNA shared, it seems a Peppard must have fathered a Bailey sometime in the 1800s.

Heny of Ohio And The Peppard Family

During this investigation, I discovered that Henry of Ohio’s descendants are similar to us in that they match Bailey DNA matches, Peppard DNA matches, and McCracken DNA matches. This led me to again examine if the Peppard family had a stronger connection to the McCracken family than I realized. To date, none has been found. And, Henry of Ohio’s descendants do not appear to be closer DNA matches to Lemuel’s descendants than James and Rachel (Kelly) McCracken’s descendants. Thus, I am currently scratching my head on this topic.

McCracken-Peppard Relationships As Of September 2024

The above diagram attempts to give a visual of what I believe I am seeing in the DNA relationships between the various McCracken and Peppard lines. All groups have DNA matches not related to the other groups. However, it was not possible to demonstrate that in the diagram. Thus, this diagram simply shows groups that share DNA matches with other groups.

Also, I included Rachel and Julia Ann as a part of James and Rachel’s family. This is not proven; however, it seems highly likely based on DNA matches. Note that so far I have not identified matches between Henry and Rachel or Julia Ann.

Future DNA Research

Who Were Arthur Reid Thomson’s parents?

Arthur Thomson arrived in Canada from Scotland as a teenage orphan. He then immigrated to the United States. We have bits and pieces of stories about his life in Scotland. However, no one has been able to confirm his parents’ names or that of the grandfather with whom he supposedly lived. He is Rod’s great-great grandfather. Thus, the same generationally as Lemuel is to me. However, additional complications may be encountered since he was born in Scotland and his parents died some time before he left Scotland.

Who Were Roger Ellis’ Parents?

Many Ellis families lived in the areas of Kentucky and Indiana where Roger Ellis, my 4^th great grandfather lived. However, he claimed to be born in Pennsylvania while many of the others claimed to have been born in Virginia. I have done some research into Washington County, Pennsylvania as various pieces of data lend to that area being a possible location for his family. Some people have identified a man that they believe is his father. However, this appears to be based on them living in a similar area – not on a paper trail.

I have started some basic genetic genealogy work on this project. However, the Lemuel project keeps pulling me away from this one. Additionally, given the number of generations and the fact that Ellis is a common name, it is unclear how fruitful this project will be.

Which Thomas Marshall is the grandfather of Elizabeth Brown Donaldson?

Elizabeth Brown Donaldson claimed to be relation to Chief Justice John Marshall. The paper trail is a bit broken. One researcher who focuses on the Marshall family, connected what he believes to be the family line. However, there was one specific relationship that he could not prove. Additionally, a woman has been in touch with me who is using DNA to solve this question. However, it is a big question that will require a lot of work. Again, this is challenging as it is looking for the parent of a 4^th great grandparent and there were at least 3 different family lines, including that of John Marshall, in the same county in the early 1800s.

Did any of Martha (Johnson) Peelle’s siblings have children?

This project is looking for descendants of siblings of my great-great grandmother. The scenario is that there were supposedly eight children in the family. The parents died a couple years apart. Martha’s oldest brother and her youngest sister are known. Both lived in Iowa and visited her in their later years. Both of them married, however, neither of them had any known biological children. The fate of the other five children is unknown.

Can DNA Solve These Problems?

DNA can help find evidence and point us toward a solution. However, the Lemuel project and the other future projects are huge problems. I have already made great progress on Lemuel’s story with families, locations, and more. I fully believe that I can narrow down the answers to any of these projects using a combination of DNA results, traditional genealogy, lots of hard work, and a bit of luck. Proving that the answers are correct is a whole other animal.

DNA image by Sinousxl via pixabay.com