Blessings From Another Researcher ~ Putting the Pieces Together

I have made a mistake in my research on my biological paternal grandmother's line. I can only chalk it up to excitement in adding another generation to my biological tree. I also think that this is a blessing in disguise!

Fortunately, this week a biological cousin sent me information she received from another Bessinger family researcher. This researcher had forwarded a copy of her own grandfather's research into the Bessinger family of Bamberg County, South Carolina.
There were more than 100 pages to this gentleman's research and it was very detailed, however, it seems that there were two Josephine Bessinger's born in the mid 1890's Bamberg County, South Carolina. How did I miss this?

My biological paternal grandmother is Josephine Bessinger. Josephine was born on 12 August 1896 in Bamberg County, South Carolina. Josephine married Postell Samuel Carter, my grandfather about 1915. Josephine died 29 November 1974 in Charleston County, South Carolina. She is the daughter of George W and Eugenia Judy (MNU) Bessinger.

The other Josephine Bessinger was born 28 June 1896 in Bamberg County, South Carolina. She married Charles Frank Fail about 1917. She died 28 December 1959 in Charleston County, South Carolina. She is the daughter of
John Quincy Adam Bessinger and Elizabeth "Hapsy" Fail.

Now for more than a year my research led me to believe that my Josephine was the daughter of John Q.A. Bessinger and Elizabeth "Hapsy" Fail. I found Josephine's obituary on 7 June 2016 according to my research notes. I downloaded a copy for my records and did an image capture too. I then uploaded both of these to her profile in my database and on Ancestry. I even noted the difference in the parents names. I also added the "new" parents as alternate parents to both my database and Ancestry.

Fortunately this error of mine won't lead to a lot of "cleaning up" because I had not gone any further than the parents of John Q. A. Bessinger or the parents of his wife, Elizabeth "Hapsy" Fail. I will add my research notes to my Josephine with the new notes on the mix up and adding the email and additional research pages I received this week. 

I am waiting on my grandmother's death certificate to arrive by snail mail. I also have Josephine Bessinger Fail's death certificate as well. I believe that both Josephine's are related to each other. My DNA results back this up at Ancestry, FamilyTree DNA and 23 and Me. I have my work cut out for me. 

Thank you Jane, Debbie and Amber!

Think we might be related?

You can check your AncestryDNA results with mine at Gedmatch, my kit #A435226.  

You can also check your 23 & Me results with mine at Gedmatch, my kit # M357583.

If you have tested with Family Tree DNA you can check your DNA with mine kit #B16054. Also my mtDNA kit at FamilyTree DNA is kit #401662.

My 23 and Me Results Are In!

During the June DNA sale at all of the testing companies I decided to take advantage of the discount offered at 23 & Me and take their DNA test. I am still processing all of the information from the reports received but I have uploaded the results to Gedmatch so I am letting that percolate for now.

About a year ago I did the mid-level mitochondria test with FamilyTree DNA but that test only said that my maternal haplogroup was H and to explore that further I would need to go up to the next test. However with the test from 23 & Me I now have my maternal haplogroup as H2a2b1.  

According to 23 and Me, my DNA Ancestry composition is broken down as follows:

• European 99.4%
• Northwest European 91.4%
• British & Irish 44.3%
• French & German 11.9%
• Scandinavian 4.6%
• Finnish 1.7%
• Southern European 5.2%
• Sardinian 1.6%
• Iberian 0.5%
• Italian 0.5%
• East Asia & Native American 0.4%
• Native American 0.4%
• Sub-Saharan Africa 0.2%
• West Africa 0.2%

I find the last two results interesting because it is the first time I am seeing any results in Native American and African ancestry. Neither Ancestry or DNA Land show any results in these two categories. You can see my post about my Ancestry DNA results here.

With 23 and Me you also get all of kinds of reports for different things. I was surprised to find my Neanderthal Ancestry variants was so high, 291 to be exact! I am not entirely sure how I should proceed with these results because it is way above what I currently I understand about DNA. However, I am continuing my reading on DNA and hopefully I can put these results in perspective soon. I guess I am as old or older than dirt! 

I was also surprised to learn that I have one variant for the CFTR gene (Cystic Fibrosis). This would have been nice to know before I had children! Thankfully, I can only presume to think that my children's father was not a carrier otherwise at least one of children could have had Cystic Fibrosis.

I definitely need a genetic tutor but until I can find one reading and taking online DNA classes whenever possible will have to do! I am going to be comparing results from Gedmatch, Ancestry, FamilyTree DNA and 23 & Me in future posts once I get everything pulled together and I am confident in my findings. Stay tuned!

Think we might be related?

You can check your AncestryDNA results with mine at Gedmatch, my kit #A435226.  

You can also check your 23 & Me results with mine at Gedmatch, my kit # M357583.

If you have tested with Family Tree DNA you can check your DNA with mine kit #B16054. Also my mtDNA kit at FamilyTree DNA is kit #401662.
 

Sources:

"23 and Me personal results for Dawn Kogutkiewicz", database, 23 and Me (www.23andme.com : accessed 6 August 2016).