Jane Angeline Dunham 1823-1906, parents William F Dunham & Sarah Metcalf

Green Bay Press-Gazette. 10 August 1893. Newspapers.com

William F Dunham and Sarah Metcalf have been connected as the parents of Jane Angeline Dunham 1823-1906. WE now have a paper trail and DNA trail. The reason I choose “WE” is because it has taken many years and many “cousins.” This hunt started in about 1990 with several photos from a 1900 Christmas album gift to my grandmother, Nettie Couch, 1884-1965. The hunt never ends. Now, I am looking for more cousins and more information on Jane’s parents. Along the way, I have found the names of DNA matches with every one of the siblings, several other Dunham families and several Metcalf families.

Special thanks to:

• Dunham’s of Rome including Ann Eldred (1935-2003), Phyllis KItson, P.C. Alger, and Bill Wood, these people put my original question, “Dunham by birth or by marriage?” to rest with many photos and family group sheets
• Beth for sharing a family group sheet from her research, especially on the Hickok line
• Rich for all his DNA hours and for answering my basic DNA questions
• Christina for this wonderful newspaper clipping that finally joins OUR family, for meeting me in Wisconsin several years ago, for introducing me to her sister, for sharing their family stories
• Jane Wilcox, Forget-MeNot Ancestry, for guiding me in my searches
• MyHeritage and Ancestry for DNA match suggestions
• NGS research trips, especially a full packed week in Madison, Wisconsin
• Gratia for sharing her vast knowledge of the Dunham family and her hours of research
• Many, many friends and family who have listened to me whine for 20+ years because I could not find Jane’s parents 

Jane A Dunham Couch

Jane Angeline DUNHAM (1823 - 1906)
2nd great-grandmother

Eugene Deloss COUCH (1851 - 1925)
Son of Jane Angeline DUNHAM

Nettie Ethel COUCH (1884 - 1965)
Daughter of Eugene Deloss COUCH

Mildred Louise SCHULER (1919 - 2008)
Daughter of Nettie Ethel COUCH

Selma Ethel KAMPE
You are the daughter of Mildred Louise SCHULER

Now, more questions:

• How come family Bible and all censuses except 1900 census list New York or Rome, New York as birth?
• How come the 43 year lack of family contact?
• How come migrated to LaSalle County, Illinois instead of Wisconsin?
• Who are Jane’s grandparents?

View my Roots_Digger tree on Ancestry and Roots_Digger Related on MyHeritage. Join me in our search for more family members, stories, photos. Contact me a sbgenealogy@gmail.com

"Advanced Genealogy Research Techniques" by George G. Morgan and Drew Smith

Advanced Genealogy Research Techniques by George G. Morgan and Drew Smith offers "brick wall" techniques. The authors inform the readers in the introduction that this book is not for beginners. The authors assume that the reader already knows basic skills; the reader wants techniques and suggestions to help answer the tough questions or break down brick walls.

The brick wall metaphor and why it matters is explained in the introduction. The reader visualizes walking through the woods with a goal to arrive at the other side. The authors take the readers down the path which includes forks or choices. What happens when the reader/researcher reaches a brick wall? The analogies between a brick wall and research provide connectors to help the reader extend their knowledge. "What choices do you have to help you make further progress? That depends a great deal on the approach you take from there." Continuing on page xv, the reader is presented with eight ideas for getting past the brick wall. These eight ideas are developed into chapters of techniques to overcome the brick walls in our research.

Also in the introduction, the authors suggest that the researcher identify goals and objectives, identify questions, identify resources and consider what records were created. The introduction covers five pages. This review is to encourage the family historian to study the presented material and techniques, not copy the whole book.

Every chapter provides details, examples and sources on a specific connector. Example, chapter one, 38 pages long, reminds the reader to return to details. Examine each brick minutely. Return to records already collected. Reexamine every detail. Focus on the details. The chapter examples include census, birth records, marriage records, death records, obituary, cemetery and photographs. With each topic, the reader is reminded what you originally noticed and what you may have overlooked. Were multiple names on a tombstone noted? What is the significance of multiple names? How are multiple tombstones positioned? Wonderful, such needed attention to details!

Read for yourself to find out more about the FAN principle or DNA or putting all the techniques to work. On page 195, the authors write, "This book was written with the genealogist in mind who has already completed the easier parts of research and who want to move past the frustrations....think of this book as providing you with new ways to conduct that journey, even if you may never reach the destination."

What makes this book unique?

• analogy to connect techniques with research
• advanced research

Morgan, George G. and Drew Smith. Advanced Genealogy Research Techniques. New York: McGraw Hill. 2014.

Check area libraries, this book is available at the Gwinnett County Public Library, Georgia. Ask yourself, does this book help me advance towards my genealogy goals? Comments or questions, please contact Selma Blackmon, Thank you!

Can DNA Help Solve Two Dunham Brick Walls?

I hope to find the answer to this question, with the help of some cousins and some people I haven't met yet.

By way of background, my second cousin, Christina Streiff, and I have a brick wall ancestor named William F. Dunham, born in Pomfret, Vermont in 1799. Separately, Selma Blackmon has another brick wall named Jane A. Dunham Couch, born in Rome, New York in 1823.

Are Our Two Dunhams Related?

If so, it would provide a major clue regarding their ancestry. We have two documents suggesting they may be related.

First, Selma has a document showing an 1840s real estate transaction between her Jane Dunham and our William F. Dunham's son, Lindsey, when both families lived in Oneida County, New York.

Second, the death certificate for Jane's daughter, Carrie Sarah Couch, listed her mother (incorrectly) as Jane Hempton. The informant, Jane's granddaughter, got it wrong. But Hempton is the (uncommon) married name of William's daughter, Louisa. It suggests the two families knew each other.

We continue to look through records, though so far we have not cracked the case.

Along Comes DNA Testing

There are three kinds of DNA tests for genealogists (aka genetic genealogy):

• Y-DNA tests track a male's straight paternal (i.e. surname) line, which is not a fit in this case.
• Mitochondrial DNA (MtDNA) tests track everyone's straight maternal line - again not a fit.
• Autosomal DNA tests, though, might be useful.

First through fourth cousins generally share DNA with each other, and people also can share DNA with some more distant cousins. If William F. Dunham and Jane Dunham were first cousins, then Selma and I would be fifth cousins, so it was worth a try.

Selma and I had both taken autosomal DNA tests, and when we compared them, we found that we share one small segment of DNA on one chromosome. It might not sound like much, but we share enough (10cM) to know that we have common ancestors.

Finding Common Ancestors

If you've been down this path, you may know that two matches' common ancestors could go back hundreds of years. But there are ways to narrow the search for the common ancestors.

First, we can test our own first and second cousins.

Selma is not a DNA match to Christina, but she is a solid match to another cousin of ours, Elton, on the same segment, and he is on the 25% of my tree that includes William F. Dunham.  By definition then, Elton, Selma and I have common ancestors, and they are from this branch of my tree.

Second, we can look for DNA matches in the general population that can help.

Does anyone match Selma and me?

Nobody at Family Tree DNA matches both of us.

One person at 23andMe is a match to me on the same segment, but I can rule him out, since he matches a cousin on the other side of my family on that same segment.

AncestryDNA does not provide chromosome-level data, so I don't yet know if anyone matches on the same segment. If someone is a DNA match there, and has Dunhams in their tree, I ask them to upload their results to GEDmatch, a free service that can show two people which DNA segments they have in common.

The Search Continues

DNA has not solved our Dunham questions yet, but DNA analysis does indicate that Selma and I are related, and that our two Dunhams may be related. The next step will be to test more descendants of these two Dunhams to see if they match us on the same segment.

As more people test their DNA for genealogy, a match could come from the general population at any time that could provide a critical piece of information to help us solve our mysteries.

Thank you Rich Capen for this article explaining our DNA and how we match. Through FamilyTreeDNA, we are now three cousins with one in CA one in WI and the other in GA. What other cousins want to join us? Contact me at sbgenealogy@gmail.com.