I have previously written about a huge group of DNA matches that I am struggling to link back to anyone in my family tree (So many descendants), a so-called 'Unlinked Family Cluster'. I have spent so, so many hours on trying to solve what I term my 'Mormon' puzzle and getting nowhere.
I have identified many of these individuals as descendants of a Scottish couple living in Lanarkshire, Scotland, Elizabeth Russell and Thomas Archibald, who became Mormons. After Thomas died, Elizabeth set out for America with her children, arriving in Utah in 1862. By the time of her death, Elizabeth had 118 grandchildren and 277 great grandchildren. It is no wonder that I have such a huge number of DNA matches whose paper trail lead back to her.
Identifying Elizabeth and her her husband as the common ancestral couple for a lot of these DNA matches was a step in the right direction, but only the first, and a small, step. For many of these DNA matches, Elizabeth and Thomas were their 3 x or 4 x great grandparents. Most of these matches share between 15-40 cM with me, again suggesting that the connection isn't recent. That, coupled with the locations of their descendants also indicates that the connection is back in Scotland. I have quite a detailed, well researched tree and yet this couple were not there!
Elizabeth Russell was born in Shotts Parish, Lanarkshire in 1817, her husband hailing from Inveresk in Mid-Lothian. Now I do have strong family connections to Shotts Parish and I do have Russells in my tree. In fact one of my 2 x great grandmothers was a Russell. But Russell is a common name and I also have a 3 x great grandmother who is a Russell on another family line. So I tried to figure out which if any of these could be connected.
This unlinked cluster of DNA matches match me on my maternal line. Checking their shared matches and mapping their DNA where possible, I can see that the connection lies on one of my maternal great grandmother's lines. Her maiden name was Young and this unknown group matches in to my 'Young' group. Unfortunately, neither of my Russells are on this line! More investigation was necessary.
I returned to Thomas Archibald and Elizabeth Russell and traced their lines backwards. Again, and I hope correctly, I've ended up concentrating on Elizabeth's ancestors, as my initial quick research into the Archibalds suggested no connection, in as far as surnames and location were concerned. Elizabeth's lines, on the other hand, match up locations where my Young family lines are, and, more importantly include another surname which is on the correct line - Somerville. That surname in its many forms - Sommerville, Somervil, Somervel... is also a recurring name in my tree! Among family trees of matches in the unknown group who do not have Elizabeth or Thomas as ancestors, there are also Somervilles! And these Somervilles hail from the Carstairs/Carnwath area of Lanarkshire.
It would therefore be so easy if my Somerville line also came from there - and it might, as my 4 x great grandfather, James Somerville, may - records exist that have a James Somerville being born in Carnwath at the right time, but I have no proof as yet that this is the same person. I have my James having his children in Cambusnethan, Lanarkshire with his wife Janet Telfer - but no record of his their marriage anywhere. Telfer too is a common surname in Carnwath - as I saw for myself when I visited and photographed the graveyards there recently. But all in all, no joy with a connection there so far.
To say that finding the connection is a proving a challenge is an understatement!
I can only hope that a new DNA match will turn up that acts as a link between the Russell-Archibald descendants and myself, possibly on my other maternal Anderson line. I've read that the next thing I could try is building their tree forward to find a branch of the family among their descendants that ties into my tree. But I am put off by the great amount of children, grandchildren etc that this couple had. I could labour for years and not find anything, only to conclude that there has been a 'misattributed parentage event' somewhere along the line!! However, I think part of my future research will be into the Anderson line (where there are Russells) to see if I can find any of my more recent 'cousins' marrying a Mormon descendant in the USA.
There is a tiny possibility that has occurred to me recently that could be significant if it is logically possible. My great grandmother Helen Young had three illegitimate children before she married my great grandfather. Could it be that their father was somehow related to Thomas and Elizabeth???? Their descendants would be 1/2 cousins of some sort. I guess if I could find and test any of their living descendants I might get an answer. (If this scenario is totally impossible due a flaw in my thinking, please tell me!)
Otherwise I think my only other chance of solving the puzzle is by using the matches' DNA segment data and finding some segments that I can unequivocally say come from a direct ancestor of mine. Unfortunately, the great majority of these matches are on Ancestry, which does not provide the data I need.
I guess this challenge is not going away anywhere fast!
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