Aug 30

Brewster DNA Test

DNA testing is rather popular among genealogists these days. The possibility of discovering ancestral origins, unknown relatives and family connections is appealing to us. So I recently decided to explore this area of genealogy, too.

I am still learning about using DNA for genealogy research but I know a little more about interpreting the results after last week’s Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) 2013 conference in Fort Wayne.

DNA

There are three main DNA tests for genealogical purposes, Y-DNA, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), and autosomal DNA. When I first heard of using DNA in conjunction with genealogy I thought that a DNA test might provide answers to some questions in our Brewster line: Are we descended from the Mayflower Brewsters? Do we share a common ancestor with them?

My paternal grandmother was a Brewster. Gertrude Brewster was my dad’s mother and we can trace this line back as far as my third great-grandfather, Jackson Brewster (1816-1890).

I have always wondered (and hoped!) that my Brewster line was part of the Mayflower Brewsters. Some of our Brewster family histories have hinted at this and since we have not as yet been able to trace any further back than Jackson Brewster we have had no way of knowing for sure if this line did indeed descend from the Mayflower Brewsters. That is until now.

Researchers stress using genealogy research in conjunction with DNA testing. Thus far in my research I have found no link to the Mayflower clan and I decided the next step would be to test our Brewster line with a Y-DNA test. I would compare the DNA results to those of confirmed Mayflower descendants.

The Y-DNA is a test for males only and shows the DNA markers of the direct paternal line of a specific surname. It will show the DNA of the donor’s father, his father’s father, and so on. My uncles would not qualify for this test because they are Millers. Their father was a Miller and their mother was a Brewster. I needed a DNA sample from a male Brewster that descended directly from Jackson. My second cousin Brian fits that description and agreed to give a DNA sample. His grandfather was a brother to my grandmother, a direct male Brewster descendant.

I purchased a Y-DNA37 kit from FamilyTree DNA, got a sample from Brian and sent it back to FamilyTree DNA. This test shows 37 markers, but their Y-DNA tests can show 12, 37, 67 or 111 markers. I received the results a couple months ago.

I immediately joined the Brewster DNA Surname Project on FamilyTree DNA. By joining a surname project I could see the DNA results of several known Mayflower Brewster descendants as well as other Brewsters that have submitted DNA samples. FamilyTree DNA database has 7,659 surname projects and 482,854 Y-DNA records.

The DNA markers of all those in the Brewster Surname Project are shown and it is easy to compare the results. The Brewster Project has the DNA results from at least 13 known descendants of the Mayflower Pilgrim William Brewster.

DNA

Our Brewsters have the same haplogroup as the Mayflower Brewsters, haplogroup I1. According to FamilyTree DNA, a haplogroup is a major branch on either the maternal or paternal tree of humankind, associated with early human migrations. Migrations of this group date way back to the Vikings and early invasions by ancient Germanic people, about 4,000-5,000 years ago.  Today a haplogroup is associated with a geographic region and haplogroup I1 is the original paternal lineage of Nordic Europe. Its greatest frequency is in Northern Europe, in particular Finland, Denmark and Sweden. Our Brewster SNP is M253. SNP is a change in the DNA code at a specific point.

I then compared our genetic markers to those of the Mayflower Brewsters and saw that not all the markers were an exact match. To be exact, 13 of 37 of the numbered markers did not match. That seemed like quite a few miss-matches, although most were only off one number. There can be a few genetic mutations on an occasional marker, but I did not know how many there could be and still be considered “part of the family.”

To confirm my suspicious I spoke directly with Robert D. McLaren of FamilyTree DNA at last week’s conference. I showed him our DNA results and he compared the markers with those of the known Mayflower Brewsters. Unfortunately, he said there is “no way” we descend from William Brewster of Mayflower fame.

Now we know. On the bright side, more and more people are submitting DNA samples for comparison. I will remain in the FamilyTree DNA Brewster Surname Group and there may eventually be a match to another Brewster member. Some day we may get a clue to our Brewster origins as well as discover some new distant cousins.

And we may even discover who Jackson’s father was.

 

Further reading:

http://www.abroadintheyard.com/modern-faces-ancient-migration/ [Great article!]

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/yDNA_I1

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/HaplogroupIYDNA/

http://www.eupedia.com/europe/Haplogroup_I1_Y-DNA.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_I1_%28Y-DNA%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup

Aug 27

Tombstone Tuesday–Martin V. and Clara H. Stamm

Martin V. & Clara H. Stamm, Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Schumm, Van Wert County, Ohio. (2012 photo by Karen)

Martin V. & Clara H. Stamm, Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Schumm, Van Wert County, Ohio. (2012 photo by Karen)

This is the tombstone of Martin V. and Clara H. Stamm, located in row 7 of Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Schumm, Van Wert County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed:

STAMM
Martin V.
1882-1974
Clara H.
1889-1979

Martin Victor Stamm, born 1 March 1882, was the son of Peter and Mary A. (Breuninger) Stamm, of Harrison Township, Van Wert County. He died 30 March 1974 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Clara was the daughter of Christian and Margaretha (Haffner) Kessler, born in Chattanooga and from the Zion Chatt parish. Martin and Clara were married 7 April 1907 at Zion Schumm. The couple had three sons, Russell, Archie and Orval.

What is interesting is that I am related to both Martin and Clara. Read on to see how.

Obituary:

Martin V. Stamm

WILLSHIRE—Martin V. Stamm, 92, of Willshire, died at 11:55 a.m. Saturday in the Lutheran Home in Fort Wayne. He had been a resident at the home since Feb. 26 and had been in failing health for a week.

He was born March 1, 1882, in Harrison Township.

He married Clara Kessler on April 7, 1907. She survives.

A retired carpenter and farmer, Mr. Stamm was a member of the Zion Lutheran Church in Schumm.

Also surviving are three sons, Russell A. of Fort Wayne, Archie C. of Toledo and Orval P. of Atlanta, Ga.; a brother, Richard L., of San Diego, Calif., three grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

Funeral services will be held at Zwick Funeral Home in Decatur, Ind., at 2:25 p.m. EDT and at 3 p.m. EDT in Zion Lutheran Church, Schumm, with the Rev. Robert Schuler officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery.

Friends may call at the funeral home from 3-9 p.m. EDT Tuesday and Wednesday until the services.

Preferred memorials are to the church building fund. [1]

Martin’s birth and baptism were not recorded in Zion Schumm’s records.

According to the records of Zion Chatt, Clara Henrietta Kessler was born 16 February 1889 in Chattanooga to Christian and Margaretha (Haffner) Kessler. Clara was baptized 7 April 1889 there. Witnesses to her baptism were Jacob and Maria Kessler and her parents. The pastor was P.J. Oilkers. Clara died 20 February 1979 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Obituary:

Clara Stamm, 89, a resident of the Lutheran Home in Fort Wayne, Ind., and a resident of Willshire, for many years, died last Tuesday at her residence. She had lived there since 1974. Born in Ohio on February 16, 1889, she was the daughter of Christian and Marguerite Kessler, and was married on April 1907, to Martin V. Stamm, who died March 31, 1974.

Survivors include three children, Russell, A. Stamm, Fort Wayne, Archie C. Stamm, Palmer, Alaska, Orval P. Stamm, Atlanta, Georgia; one sister, Mrs. Marion (Frances) Watkins, Rockford, Illinois; three grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Funeral services were held Friday at 1:30 p.m. at the Zwick Funeral Home, Decatur. Burial was in the Zion Lutheran Cemetery at Schumm. [2]

So how am I related to both of these people? Martin’s mother, Mary A. Breuninger, was the daughter of my great-great-grandfather, Louis Breuninger, making Martin my first cousin twice removed. Clara’s grandfather, Christian Kessler, was a brother to my great-great-grandmother, Marie Kessler, the mother of my great-grandfather Jacob Miller. Clara was my second cousin twice removed.

This proves once again that it is a small world indeed.

 

[1] The Van Wert Times Bulletin, Van Wert, Ohio, 1 April 1974 p. 2.

[2] The Photo Star, Willshire, Ohio, 21 February 1979.

 

Aug 22

News From the 2013 FGS Conference

The time has finally arrived! This week I am attending the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) Conference in Fort Wayne. Fort Wayne’s Grand Wayne Center is a great facility for this conference. It is roomy and convenient, with the session rooms and the exhibit hall close to each other. Plus, it is right across the street from the Allen County Public Library. I am driving to and from the conference each day, which reminds me of when I attended IPFW and commuted to classes each day from Chatt.

Registration at the Grand Wayne Center, 2013 FGS.

Registration at the Grand Wayne Center, 2013 FGS. (2013 photo by Karen)

Wednesday’s sessions focused on ideas and issues for genealogy societies. One project I learned about was “Community Trees.” Presenter David Barss described the project as “a locality-based, lineage-linked, sourced, genealogy database” that “attempts to identify the genealogy of everyone in a community.” This would be an interesting project for Karen’s Chatt, using the church records of Zion Chatt and/or Zion Schumm. The project would consist of creating family pedigrees from the church records and a few other sources. Interesting, but would be quite an undertaking. We’ll see…

FGS 2013 Ambassador Badge

Of course I walked over to the Allen County Public Library to browse through some books on Wednesday. I was not surprised that it was very crowded over there.

Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana. (2013 photo by Karen)

Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana. (2013 photo by Karen)

Today (Thursday) was the actual beginning of the conference. The Keynote Session was about the history of Rock & Roll and presenter Richard Aquila explained how the music of that era reflected social issues of that time. Hearing those old songs brought back many memories.

After that I attended three excellent research methodology sessions by Tom Jones, Elizabeth Shown Mills and Patricia Moseley Van Skaik. Pat’s talk focused on a woman and her family who lived in an area of Cincinnati that was photographed in the Cincinnati Panoramic daguerreotype of 1848. In the fourth session I learned a little about interpreting DNA test results, but I still have questions and I am going to try to talk with someone at the FamilyTree DNA table tomorrow.

2013 FGS Conference Exhibit Hall.

2013 FGS Conference Exhibit Hall.

Some news from the conference: FGS will hold its 2015 conference with the RootsTech conference in Salt Lake City on 12-14 February 2015. They will have separate sessions and some shared events. That should be one great conference! FGS announced that they will hold a small conference in late summer of 2015.

In other news, Bruce Buzbee, of Roots Magic, said that a Roots Magic android app should be available in a couple months. It will be available for free from the Google Play Store. There is already a Roots Magic app for the iPhone.

And last but not least, PBS will begin a new series, Genealogy Roadshow with Josh Taylor and Kenyatta D. Berry. The show will air on 23 September and looks to be very interesting. We got to view a 5 minute segment from the show this morning.

2013 Conference Ambassador Bloggers Karen & Candy with their DeBrand candy bars.

2013 Conference Ambassador boggers Karen & Candy with their DeBrand candy bars.

The 2013 FGS Conference Ambassadors met today for a group photo and for a prize drawing. I won one of the gift bags. The bright green Allen County Public Library bag was filled with a variety of Fort Wayne goodies: a coffee mug, pens and pencils, a note pad and little notebooks, 2 key chains, a soft ACPL stress ball, and 2 delicious DeBrand chocolate bars. DeBrand chocolate is made right in Fort Wayne and is wonderful chocolate. I would like to take their factory tour some day.

Saturday will be the last day of the conference. A big THANK YOU to the conference planners, volunteers, speakers, exhibitors and everyone else who made this conference a success.

 

Aug 20

Tombstone Tuesday–Peter Stamm

Peter Stamm, Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Schumm, Van Wert County, Ohio. (2012 photo by Karen)

Peter Stamm, Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Schumm, Van Wert County, Ohio. (2012 photo by Karen)

This is the tombstone of Peter Stamm, located in row 6 of Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Schumm, Van Wert County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed:

Peter Stamm
Born
30 January 1850
Died 7 October 1895
45y, 9m, 23d
Text Psalm 90:12

According to the church records of Zion Lutheran, Schumm, Peter Stamm was born 30 January 1850 in Harrison Township, Van Wert County, Ohio. He married Maria “Mary” Breuninger 30 October 1879 at her parents’ home near Schumm. Peter Stamm died near Schumm of a brain stroke on 7 October 1895. He was 45 years, 9 months and 23 days old and was buried on 9 October. His funeral text was Psalm 90:12.

In 1880 Peter and Mary Stamm were living in Harrison Township, Van Wert County. Peter was born in Ohio and was a farmer. His father was born in Pennsylvania and his mother was born in Prussia. [1]

Peter and Mary had the following children, according to the church records,: Richard L. (1880-1977, m. Catherine M. Schuster), Martin V. (1882-1974, m. Clara Kessler), Alwine/Alvina Eleanor (1883-1973, m. William Muntzinger Jr.); Ida C. (1885-1967, m. Martin C. Hollenberg); Anna Bertha (1887-1974, m. John Smith).

Peter Stamm, Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Schumm. (2012 photo by Karen)

Peter Stamm, Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Schumm. (2012 photo by Karen)

Peter’s widow Mary remarried to Oscar Koehler in 1919 and Mary died in 1930. Mary was my great-grandaunt, the daughter of Louis Breuninger.

 

[1] 1880 U.S. Census, Harrison Township, Van Wert County, Ohio, ED 148, p.16, line 31, dwelling 137, family 140, Peter Stamm; digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Aug 2013); from National Archives microfilm T9, roll 1073.

 

Aug 16

Metal Cemetery Monuments

If you enjoy walking through older cemeteries as much as I do, you might have noticed some beautiful, but different looking grave markers. These markers have a blue-gray color and even though most of these monuments date back to the last half of the 19th century, they have not weathered at all. Their lines and edges are still sharp and the inscriptions remain very legible.

Henry C. Miller marker, Union Cemetery, Darke County, Ohio. (2006 photo by Karen)

Henry C. Miller marker, Union Cemetery, Darke County, Ohio. (2006 photo by Karen)

What is so special about the markers? They are made of metal. They are sometimes referred to as “white bronze” markers, but they are actually made of cast zinc. They get their blue-gray color from exposure to the elements, which forms a layer of zinc carbonate. Otherwise they withstand the weather because zinc does not corrode or rust. If fact many of the metal markers hold up much better than their concrete bases. If you are not sure if a marker is iron or zinc, try using a magnet. Zinc is not magnetic and will not attract the magnet.

Ault monument, Union Cemetery, Darke County, Ohio. (2006 photo by Karen)

Ault monument, Union Cemetery, Darke County, Ohio. (2006 photo by Karen)

Zinc grave markers were first made in 1873 and a year later The Monumental Bronze Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut, was formed and produced them for sale. The company had subsidiaries in Chicago, Detroit, Des Moines, Philadelphia, New Orleans and St. Thomas in Ontario, Canada.

Company mark, Liber Cemetery, Jay County, Indiana. (2012 photo by Karen)

American White Bronze Co. mark, Liber Cemetery, Jay County, Indiana. (2012 photo by Karen)

The zinc markers were ordered through the company’s catalog and sold by company sales agents. The casting was done in Bridgeport while some of the assembly was done in other areas. These metal markers were made to order, made to the customer’s specifications. The customer chose a basic design and size from the catalog and plaster molds were created from wax models. Panels and individual pieces were cast from the plaster molds. The individual panels were then assembled to make a custom monument. Molten zinc was poured into the joints between the sides and panels, which fused the pieces securely together.

The photo below shows a decorative panel insert.

St. Joseph Cemetery, Auglaize County, Ohio. (2013 photo by Karen)

St. Joseph Cemetery, Auglaize County, Ohio. (2013 photo by Karen)

The customer could also order specific decorations and embellishments from the company’s catalog. Some of these zinc markers are very elaborate, while others quite simple.

Brown plot, St. Joseph Cemetery, Auglaize County, Ohio. (2013 photo by Karen)

Brown plot, St. Joseph Cemetery, Auglaize County, Ohio. (2013 photo by Karen)

Greenlawn Cemetery, Auglaize County, Ohio. (2013 photo by Karen)

Greenlawn Cemetery, Auglaize County, Ohio. (2013 photo by Karen)

The Monumental Bronze Co. Catalog, circa 1890, is on-line in PDF format. I recognize many of the markers, toppers and embellishments that we have seen in numerous cemeteries we have visited.

Greenlawn Cemetery, Auglaize County, Ohio. (2013 photo by Karen)

Greenlawn Cemetery, Auglaize County, Ohio. (2013 photo by Karen)

Liber Cemetery, Jay County, Indiana. (2012 photo by Karen)

Liber Cemetery, Jay County, Indiana. (2012 photo by Karen)

Zinc markers were relatively inexpensive and cost less than the carved marble and granite tombstones.

There are only a couple disadvantages to these markers. Zinc is brittle and can break if hit by something such as a tree branch. These monuments are hollow inside and unsupported weight at the top may cause the marker to “creep” down. For example, the weight of a statue may cause the lower part of the monument to buckle and the statue may begin to lean.

The Monumental Bronze Company ceased production of zinc grave markers in 1914 when they began manufacturing munitions for the government during WWI. They continued casting metal moldings until their bankruptcy in 1939.

Bye grave, Liber Cemetery, Jay County, Indiana. (2012 photo by Karen)

Bye grave marker, Liber Cemetery, Jay County, Indiana. (2012 photo by Karen)

They continued to make inscription plates after the company ceased monument production in 1914. So you may see a zinc marker with an inscription date after the factory closed.

I have noticed that these markers were used for many civil War veterans as well as many of the Civil War statues seen in cemeteries.

Union Cemetery, Darke County, Ohio. (2006 photo by Karen)

Union Cemetery, Darke County, Ohio. (2006 photo by Karen)

Civil War grave, Greenlawn Cemetery, Auglaize County, Ohio. (2013 photo by Karen)

Civil War grave, Greenlawn Cemetery, Auglaize County, Ohio. (2013 photo by Karen)

Sources of information:

Association for Gravestone Studies FAQ

http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/1pa/tscarvers/monumental-bronze/monumental-bronze.htm

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~artttp/benton/whitebronze.htm