I am trying to find the father of William Munford Stubbs, my second great-grandfather who was born to Ann Munford in Hethel, Norfolk, England in 1858. I am using DNA and traditional genealogy research to aid my quest. Over the last few weeks, I have been following my research plan, which includes building a FAN club (Friends, Associates, and Neighbors) for his mother Ann Munford. Clues to our ancestors’ lives can be found by studying their FANs. I listed people who were in the same households where she was a servant in 1851 and 1861, as well as neighbors in the area. I also listed neighbors of each of Ann’s siblings that appeared in census records those same years. I am trying to learn more about other records that might be available, as the FANs I would really like to identify are those who associated with Ann around 1857. As I continue building the FAN club, I can compare and search for surnames from the FAN club in DNA matches’ trees.
The next thing I spent time doing was identifying a shared match with one of my Dad’s DNA matches who I know descends from William Munford. I was looking for a shared match in the 3rd cousin range for whom I did not recognize any of the ancestors. I was able to identify this “Mystery Match” using methodology set forth by Diahan Southard in her book Your DNA Guide – The Book. The Mystery Match, who I will call Jane, shares 230 cM across 15 segments with my Dad, which Ancestry says puts them in the 2nd – 3rd cousin range. Jane has a tree associated with her DNA account that provided enough information to work with, and I was able to build quick trees to extend her ancestry back to the great-great grandparent level, which is one generation past where I calculated the common ancestor would be. I did not recognize the names of any of her ancestors, which is something I have been hoping for. I was also hoping to be able to see some pedigree triangulation between Jane and some of the matches she shares with my dad, but so far I haven’t been able to find any common ancestors with the shared matches either.
As I perused Jane’s tree looking for clues, I noted that her great-grandfather was born in Norfolk, England, and in 1851 he actually lived in the Wymondham area where Ann Munford’s family was living at the same time. Furthermore, both families seem to have joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints during that time period. A history of Ann at FamilySearch states that the Munford family were members of the Wymondham Branch. I have learned about some possible branch records at the Family History Library and will check them as soon as the Family History Library reopens.
With the close proximity of these two families as well as shared DNA, my next step was to determine the possible relationship between DNA match Jane and my Dad and determine whether the amount of DNA they share would fit with that relationship. I used Lucidchart to create this diagram:
If William’s father and Jane’s great-grandfather are the same person, it would make Jane and my father second cousins once removed. I consulted the Shared cM Project to determine if this relationship was possible with 230 cM shared DNA and that relationship does fit within the parameters with a 34% probability:
Jane’s great-grandfather and his two brothers would have all been in the age range of 20-27 in 1857, which is the year in question, making any of them a possible candidate for William’s father. I next looked to see what would happen if one of Jane’s great-uncles was William’s father. In this instance, Jane and my father would be third cousins once removed, a relationship that is not deemed possible according to the Shared cM project (see chart above).
Another possibility is that Jane’s 2x great-grandfather is William’s father. In this instance, Jane and my Dad would be 3rd cousins, a relationship that has only a 2% probability according to the Shared cM project.
While there are a couple of possible candidates here, there is one thing that makes me hesitant to believe that this is a valid hypothesis: Jane is also a DNA match with my mom. The reason this is important is that my mom is a descendant of Ann Munford’s sister Lucy Munford. This is actually helpful because theoretically, if a person matches both my mom and my dad, that person will likely be related through the Munford side and not William’s father’s side.
There is a chance that Jane and my dad could be related through both sides. I’ve noticed that my dad is related to many of his matches in more than one way. Being related through multiple ancestors might also result in Jane and my dad sharing more DNA than would be expected, which could mean that one of Jane’s great-uncles could be a potential father for William after all. I have contacted Jane through the Ancestry messaging service and I am waiting to see if she responds so we can work together to determine all possible relationships. In the meantime, I will be doing my own genealogical research to ensure that the quick trees I built for Jane’s ancestors are accurate and that there are no relatives shared between Jane and my mom or dad on other family lines. This will probably keep me busy for a while!
If you are interested in reading about my progress throughout this entire project, you can read all the posts leading up to this one here:
Finding William’s Father: Using DNA and Traditional Research to Solve a Family History Mystery
Finding William’s Father: Timeline Analysis in a DNA Project
Finding William’s Father: DNA Cluster Analysis
Finding William’s Father: New Leads
Finding William’s Father: DNA Ethnicity Estimates and Locality Research
