I participated in a Research Like a Pro study group over the last nine weeks. I love these study groups because the structure motivates me to make progress on my own research. The first step in the Research Like a Pro process is to create a research objective.
I am seeking the father of William Munford Stubbs. I worked on this project in the Research Like a Pro with DNA study group last fall. You can read about my research to date here. Family lore states that William’s father was not a Stubbs – that he chose that surname later in life. Documentary evidence supports this story. William was known by his mother’s maiden name, Munford, or his stepfather’s surname, Gunn, on all documents until he was enumerated on a census record as William Stubbs shortly after his marriage.
To try to discover a possible biological surname for William, I found a descendant from the patrilineal line who agreed to take a Y-DNA test. The matches for my Y-DNA test taker have the surnames Dale and Brock. My hypothesis is that William’s father would have had one of these surnames. Unfortunately, these surnames don’t show up in the autosomal DNA match lists for three test takers. My next step with the DNA is to do some targeted testing of Dale and Brock family members, so I need to identify some test takers. I actually have three ways I could go about this, and I needed to decide which one to focus on for this study group.
Option One
In the last RLP with DNA study group, I worked to identify all Dale or Brock men living within 5 miles of the Munford family, who lived in Wymondham, Norfolk, England, when William Munford’s mother would have conceived William. No Brock men of the correct age were found to be living in this area. One of the closest Dale families was that of Robert Dale, a farmer who was born about 1802 in Bracon Ash. He had several sons who were of the correct age to have been William’s father. Further, one of them was in the Royal Navy. Family lore states that William’s parents fell in love but that his father was lost at sea. My first option would be to trace the descendants of this family to find living people to take autosomal DNA tests and hopefully, also find a Y-DNA test taker.
Option Two
I could also work on verifying the generational links from the closest Y-DNA match back to the earliest known ancestor, then tracing that ancestor’s descendants to see if I can find a family group that ended up in the correct location in Norfolk County, then study that family group for potential fathers for William Stubbs/seek descendants to test. The time predictor tool at FamilyTree DNA suggests that the common ancestor might have occurred in the early 1700s. Unfortunately, the Y-DNA test taker’s family immigrated to Virginia from England in the 1600s, so the common ancestor was likely much earlier than predicted. Tracing all descendants down to the 1820-1840 time period might result in a large number of people to explore, and record availability could hinder the task.
Option Three
Another avenue would be to trace Robert Dale’s paternal line backward in time to try to connect him to the Y-DNA test taker’s line. Verifying the test taker’s generational linkage would be a necessary first step prior to undertaking this work.
My Decision
I decided to go with Option One for this study group. Testing descendants of a hypothesized ancestral family to rule them in or out might be the most efficient strategy. Then I would know whether that Dale family is biologically connected to the research subject before spending hours tracing Y-DNA matches backward and then forward in time.
Creating My Research Objective
The purpose of a research objective is to focus your research. It needs to include information that uniquely identifies the person you want to research and states what missing information you will try to discover during the research session. My research subject is Robert Dale, and I crafted my research objective based on information I had discovered about him in census and church records. Here are the key elements:
- Name of the research subject: Robert Dale
- Birth: 30 August 1801 in Bracon Ash, Norfolk, England.
- Marriage: Dinah Dawson, 13 October 1823 in Wreningham, Norfolk, England.
- Occupation: Agricultural Laborer
- Death: April 1879 in Flordon, Norfolk, England.
- Missing Information: The names of his descendants.
- Purpose of the Research: To find living descendants who might be willing to take an autosomal or a Y-DNA test.
I used these elements to write the following objective:
The objective for this research session is to trace the descendants of Robert Dale in search of potential autosomal and Y-DNA test takers. Robert was an agricultural laborer born on 30 August 1801 in Bracon Ash, Norfolk, England. Robert married Dinah Dawson on 13 October 1823 in Wreningham, Norfolk, England. He died in April 1879 in Flordan, Norfolk, England.
With a focused research objective, I was ready for the next step in the Research Like a Pro process: the timeline analysis. I will discuss creating my timeline in my next post.
