Autosomal DNA Match

I have received notification of a very distant autosomal DNA match with a 6th great granddaughter of Henry the Immigrant. I am a 6th great grandson of Henry. She is descended from James, son of Henry the Immigrant. I am descended from Edney son of Henry the Immigrant. It is surprising that we show a match, albeit small, since she and I are 7th cousins. Usually autosomal testing will not show matches over this distance.

Refined yDNA

• I have my refined 111-marker y DNA test results back and find matches with three others having 111 marker tests I have a 5-step match with a Stone surname and 6- and 9-step matches with Bolling/Bolding surname. The problem is that these matches are too close to disregard, but too distant to make any claims when there is a different last name. I was hoping for results one way or the other. Thus my 111-marker test has not solved the problem of possible relationships with Bowlin/Bolding/Bolling or, for that matter, with Stone.

Roland I. Tapscott

Jane Butler of the African American History Association just let me know of the death of Roland I. Tapscott, one of the Fauquier County Tapscotts, Born 13 Dec 1922 to James and Roberta Tapscott, Roland, died 7 Jan 2014 at his home in Warrenton, Virginia. If my genealogy is correct (and there are many who argue with me), Roland was the great great grandson of Harriet Tapscott and the GGGG grandson of Ezekiel Tapscott. He was, I believe, a member of the Edney line and my sixth cousin. Roland served in the U.S. Marines during WW II and received a belated Congressional Gold Medal for his work towards social change in the service. Roland's funeral is scheduled for Tuesday, 14 Jan, at Faith Christian Church and International Outreach Center. Warrenton, Virginia. The church pastor is Decker Tapscott, Roland's nephew.

This is a good time to make another plea. We need some autosomal DNA testing to clarify the Fauquier County Tapscotts. I urge the Fauquier County (and other Tapscotts) to have autosomal and/or yDNA testing (as appropriate) done through either Ancestry.com (autosomal only) or through FamilyTree (both). Because of male/female descents only autosomal can show a Tapscott relationship for Fauquier County Tapscotts. I recently contracted for a second autosomal test through FamilyTree ("Family Finder") in hopes of connecting with more Tapscotts. 

More matter, less art

While writing the second edition of Henry the Immigrant I often find myself falling into the time-wasting trap of creating colorful prose to hide uninteresting facts and figures. To be honest, the data of family history and genealogy can be boring. My son Mike Tapscott, an author whose ability greatly exceeds mine (see his book Homeless Hero on Amazon), penned the following some years back, using a Shakespearean style, which he greatly admires:

The ship of my pen doth sail rough waters,

so to type of calmer waters sail I

But matter not, for vessels speak none to thy cargo

Great art, poorly framed, speaks as loudly to the soul as that in gilded trappings

Better yet that vessels be poor, so art not trapping soul, thus lauded into silence

Per the Father, letter’s art is most certainly lost at sea

So find I this treasure resurrected from the oceans deep,

to share with thee, as You with me

Simply stated, though deeply felt

“More matter, with less art.”

In hopes of decreasing the time to finally finish the Henry tome, I will try to avoid replacing matter with "gilded trappings,". I am, however, concerned with Mike's phrase "Per the Father, letter’s art is most certainly lost at sea." Is he saying, my writings are lost at sea?

Top Secret

I am still alive and working day and night on the second edition of Henry the Immigrant, which has become rather long. I'll let you know when interesting things arise.

In writing the second edition, I have become increasingly frustrated in efforts to collaborate with others, by two things. The proliferation of erroneous, may I say stupid, information on the web by copiers I have already discussed (see blog of Sunday, 3 Nov 2013). The second is the amount of information stored on Ancestry.com, FamilyTree, and other places marked "private." It becomes almost impossible to discuss possible relationships, connections, family stories, and data sources with others when the relations, connections, stories, and data are kept secret. I can see why someone might wish to keep information on still living people, particularly younger people, private (though I believe this is overdone), but why in the world should relationships, stories, DNA connections, etc. be kept private for people who have been dead for hundreds of years. Can someone tell me what the privacy concerns are? I personally would like to see genealogical websites refuse to accept trees, histories, etc. marked “private,” but of course, this will never be done.