Kidnapped: 52 Ancestors

The ship sat along the coast of England, awaiting high tide. It would set sail in a few hours on the long journey to the Virginia Colony. Ashore, the sailors enjoyed the last taste of freedom that they would have for perhaps two months. In addition to looking for fun, they were looking for something else -- children to kidnap. Two young boys playing near the waterfront were just right. They were old enough to work, perhaps 13, yet small enough to be easily snatched.

Evan Ragland and his friend found themselves aboard ship, torn from home and family. When the ship reached Virginia, they were sold into indentured servitude. Evan was well educated and became a secretary to his master, a planter of the middle class. Eventually he married one of the planter's daughters and inherited, with his wife, 500 acres of land. Together they were the progenitors of the Ragland family that today spreads throughout the United States.

Is this family legend truth or fiction? It has been repeated in the family for over 300 years. It has also been discussed and debated for many years. Thousands of children were kidnapped and brought to the American Colonies in the 17th century, so it is certainly possible.

If I could invite an ancestor to dinner, it would be Evan Ragland. His story is unique, engaging and horrifying. I'd love to hear his tale in his own words. Was he the Evan born in 1656, the son of Thomas Ragland and Jane Morgan of St. Decuman's Parish in Somerset? Was he kidnapped or did he sign on willingly? How was the voyage? What was his education? How did he transition from servitude to marriage?

Evan Ragland's death was recorded in the records of St. Peter's parish, New Kent County, Virginia. He died in 1717, just over 300 years ago. Only Y-DNA testing may eventually be able to prove his ancestry. Unfortunately we'll never know the truth about the family legend of his kidnapping.
                                 

Analyzing Ancestry DNA Matches on a Snowy Day in the South

What is the relationship between the number of matches at Ancestry DNA and the number of matches that are 4th-6th cousins or closer? It seems as if those numbers should correlate, but they don't. Rather the variation seems to be related to ethnicity.

I'm learning a new (sort of free) data analysis tool and, during today's snow holiday, I took the opportunity to experiment with my own data instead of my employer's. Here are my results and thoughts, gathered while ten inches of snow fell and interrupted by a two hour power outage.

A contact told me that a very large number of pages -- a large number of matches -- tend to belong to testers who have heritage from the American South. My heritage is about 30% American South. Of the 14 tests to which I have access, only two have that high a percentage. But others of the tests have higher page counts. One of my in-laws has a normal page count, yet an absurd number of close matches, as shown above.

I used Excel to collect all the statistics. I gathered the ethnicity percentages for each test. The number of close matches came from the main page. Then the fun part was estimating the number of pages, typing the page number into the page number box, hitting enter and seeing what happened. Then paging backward or forward to see the total number of pages. All page counts were rounded up.

In the graph you can see how the number of pages is a fairly close range, but the number of close cousins does not always move in the same direction. Not what you would expect, is it?

What is the ethnic breakdown for the person with so many close cousins? That person is of Hispanic descent, as are some others in the graph. Choosing Europe South, Iberian Peninsula and Native American hits the high points for that person. Now there is a clearer relationship between the number of close cousins and the ethnicity. It seems that this could be due to endogamy in the Hispanic population coupled with a high birth rate and a curiosity about ethnicity within that population.

Just to round out the exercise, here's a similar look at how European ethnicity relates to match counts. Notice that higher Scandinavian ethnicity (darker blue) results in fewer close matches and fewer pages.

It was a good day to spend some time thinking about the characteristics of Ancestry DNA matches and, in the process, to learn more about the tool.

A Long Life Well-Lived: 52 Ancestors

Longevity is the prompt for week three of the 52 Ancestors challenge. I'm dusting off an old scrapbook layout for this one. In 2007, this was my response to a scrapbook challenge that asked my thoughts on aging.

Whenever I think of long-lived family members, my great-aunt is the first to come to mind. Effie Arvilla Crispen, born in 1896, was named for two aunts: her maternal great-aunt Effie Lake and paternal aunt Mary Arvilla Crispen. Effie married three times and had two children and two grandchildren, via her son. Her 100th birthday was celebrated in her community. I never lived near Effie and saw her only occasionally and briefly; however, my Grandmother often spoke fondly of her older sister.

No original photos were harmed in the making of the page. All photos were copied so that lumpy embellishments could be included. The text over the bottom right photo is an excerpt from the song referenced in the journal block, which says:

Aunt Effie

Effie Arvilla Crispen Knapp [Tonkin] Scherrer

August 27, 1896 - December 26, 1997 

My great-aunt Effie was the longest-lived member of her family, living to 101. Until the end, she was sassy and stubborn and eccentric. She was a prolific letter writer and just loved to write about her family, her dogs and her home. She was the family’s oral historian, though we are not quite sure how true her stories really are. The country tune, “Don’t Blink” reminds me of her and of the stages of life we each walk through.

Life does pass so quickly and it amazes me how it speeds up each year until the days seem to fly by. It’s my hope to live each day, each year, to the fullest. To focus on what’s important. To age with dignity. To maintain my eccentricity and alertness. In short, to follow in Aunt Effie’s footsteps.

Elizabeth Richards
December, 2007 

In my files is a fuzzy photo of Effie, taken in about 1960, that always makes me smile.

 She was truly one of a kind!