Searching for my Lavelle roots in County Mayo

A few moths ago, I was trying to figure out the Lavelle family again.  It turns out that there were a whole lot of Lavelles in County Mayo back in the day and they only ever used the names Patrick, Thomas, John, James, Mary, and Bridget.  I don’t know if I found anything useful but there are a lot more data points now.

First, here is what I know. My great-great-grandfather was Edward Francis Levelle (his spelling)  (16 Apr 1838 County Mayo, Ireland - 19 Sep 1906 Baltimore, Maryland, USA).  My mother worked on the family tree with my grandfather and my grandfather knew his grandfather well even though Edward passed away when my grandfather was only ten years old.  My mother had Edward's immigration papers and diary.  We are sure of him.  The problem was that we were told that Edward's parents were Thomas Lavelle and Ellen Burke but we knew nothing more about them except that they were from Co. Mayo.  I can find no proof or information about Edward's parents.  Baltimore newspapers seem to indicate that Ellen came to America as well but if she is the correct parent of Edward, her husband's name was Patrick, not Thomas.  

In trying to figure this all out, I turned to Ancestry.com  to look at my DNA relatives. I looked through my DNA relatives that Ancestry estimated to be 4^th to 6^th cousins, to see who had claimed a Lavelle ancestor.  I then also looked at that group and checked out who their shared DNA relatives were.  I looked for any commonalities of names, locations or ancestors. I tried to tie them together by their trees or what I could figure their trees to be.  I came up with a core group of 23 relatives in this category.  One of relatives was a second-cousin's daughter. Some of the relatives didn’t have searchable trees and I could not identify them beyond their DNA and their close relationship to the other people in the group. Several more, I could trace their ancestry back to a Lavelle but not back far enough to generations in Ireland.

The final seven DNA matches in this group of Lavelle descendants are mostly the Lavelle relatives who I share the most DNA with.  I can trace their families back to before my great-great-grandfather, Edward Francis Levelle, was born.  I have shown their Lavelle ancestry on the attached chart. 

The bottom person on each column is the Ancestry member that I share DNA with.  The underlined name is how they appear in Ancestry.  The amount of DNA shared with them is also shown.  Finally, at the very bottom, I show all the Ancestry members that are shared DNA relatives that I have with each of the people in that column.

The first group of three who are descendants of Patrick Lavelle are interesting but in a bad way for me.  Patrick can’t be a brother of the Patrick that I think is my great-great-great-grandfather.  He could be a first cousin of my Patrick but that would make me their 5^th cousin once removed.  31cM to 42cM is a lot of DNA for that distant of a relative.  This Patrick must be closer which means either I’m wrong about the name of my g-g-g-grandfather or, possibly, this Patrick may even also be my g-g-g-grandfather.  I don't know yet.

 The second group of DNA relatives are descendants of John Lavelle.  John could easily be an uncle of Edward, my g-g-grandfather.  This would make Tommy and Phillip my 5^th cousins and our shared DNA of 21cM-32cM in multiple segments supports that.  Shared DNA with Angela Dorian also supports her as a 4^th cousins, once removed.  There are two interesting things about this family.  Although I cannot find much about John & Rebecca, they appear to have made their home around Bellavary, County Mayo and several generations never moved far away.  Could that be where our family came from? 

The final column shows Thomas Gibbons’ line.  Unfortunately, I can only find three generations of ancestors for him and I am not entirely certain of his great-grandparents.  His strong shared DNA though makes him a likely a 3^rd or 4^th cousin once removed.  He is either a brother or 1^st cousin of our Edward.  Oughterard is a small village, now known as Caurans Upper, that is about 4 miles away from Bellavary.  Surely we must be from this area, right?

So what does all this mean?  I really don’t know but maybe it will lead to something.  I’m just posting this for posterity.

Was the Gentry’s Mary B Brown the wife of Charles V Mansfield?

My great-great-grandfather was Haden Gentry (1815-1890).  Haden had a brother named Curtis Gentry (1817-1868) who married Eleanor Burgin (1818-1884) in 1839 in Kentucky, before the family moved to Audrain County, Missouri. 

Curtis and Eleanor’s eldest daughter was Margaret Jane Gentry (1842-1877).  Margaret spent almost half of her brief life as the second wife of the widower Walter Turner Brown (27 January 1832 – 25 October 1904)  (whose first wife died at about 17 years old, leaving him to deal with their two young children!).  Walter and Margaret produced eight children of their own.  Due to the commonness of the names, the outcomes of several of the children do not appear to be discovered yet in Ancestry.com.

I believe though that I found what happened to one of the “gone missing” daughters of Margaret and Walter.  Using newspapers.com, I found an obituary for Walter Turner Brown.  This was found in the Centralia (Missouri) Fireside Guard printed on Friday, 28 October 1904.  Unfortunately, none of the children were named in this obituary.

 

I also stumbled on another article that appears to refer to the same Walter Brown but misspelled his name, thus making it difficult to be found.  This was published on Thursday, 27 October 1904 in the Mexico (Missouri) Weekly Ledger.  This article mentioned one of Walter’s daughter as “Mrs. Charles Mansfield, residing east of this [Mexico] city”.

According to records, there was a Mary B. Brown who was one of Walter and Margaret’s children.  She appeared on the family’s 1870 and 1880 census records and was reported to be born in 1869.

There is also a marriage license record from Audrain County, Missouri which shows Mary Brown marrying C V Mansfield.  Although it is from the same county as where Walter and Margaret’s daughter lived, it did not provide any proof that it was their daughter.

 

I searched through Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com for any other Charles Mansfield in the area of Audrain County and the only one I could find between 1880 and 1900 was this one Charles V. Mansfield, a farmer.  

It appears that just after his legal troubles ended in 1899, he moved with his wife, Mary, and four year old daughter, Ethel Lea, to El Reno, Oklahoma.  It was there that they appeared on the 1900 census.  Of greater interest though is the Mansfield’s next door neighbors:  Walter Brown and a daughter named Maggie.  Walter’s and Maggie’s details match those of Mary B. Brown’s father and sister.  Also note that Mary's parents were recorded as both being born in Missouri.  Charles' father was reported as being born in Virginia and his mother in Kentucky.  These details match with previous records of their parents, including that of Walter Turner Brown and Margaret Jane Gentry Brown.

 

Based on all of this, particularly the evidence from the 1900 census, I am quite certain that the “Mrs. Charles Mansfield” mentioned in the obituary of Walter Turner Brown, was the wife of Charles V. Mansfield and mother of Ethel Lea and Ruby Fern Mansfield.  She was born on 8 April 1869 and died on 9 July 1906 in Texas a few months after the birth of their second child.

 

 

 

 

 

Who is John E. Carson and how is he related to me?

I have four DNA relatives on Ancestry.com that also appear to share DNA with each other.  Ancestry predicted that three of them were 4th-6th cousins and one was predicted to be a 5th-8th cousins.  Tracing each of their lines, I was easily able to determine that they were all great-great-grandchildren of William G. Carson (1/11/1830 Ky. - 10/1/1898 Ks.) (middle name appears in trees / records as either Green or Greenberry). William married Russella Isabell Dustin (9/10/1833 Mo. - 12/7/1910 Ok.) on 9/12/1851 in Caldwell County, Mo.  My Carson ancestors were in Kentucky at that time but I was not able to place William in my tree anywhere.

In a search for William's parents, I found his obituary that clearly states he was living in Caldwell County, Mo. in 1850 but I searched all 2,400 names in that county's 1850 census record and he is not there.  There are about 100 Ancestry members that have William in their tree and they almost all say that William is the son of John E. Carson (1/8/1804 SC - ~1880 Tx.) and Elinor Stringham Cox (~1810 Va. - 3/15/1844) who were married on 8/15/1825 in Pulaski County, Kentucky.  None of these members show any proof of that parentage.  I have also found no record of John and Elinor other than their marriage record.  Some people show John as dying in 1835 which is more realistic as he would have otherwise appeared on the 1850, 1860, 1870 and/or the 1880 census records.

If both of William's parents did pass away by his 14th birthday, he may have just been placed with other relatives or friends and maybe not counted in the census or they were in another county and I have not found him.

Interestingly, most people with John E. Carson in their tree, they show that John and Elinor had three children who lived until adulthood:

• Cynthia Ann Carson (7/26/1827 Ky. - 8/29/1864 Mo.) who married Commodore Perry Armstrong (3/1/1822 Tn - 5/10/1889 Mo.) on 12/18/1845 in Platte County, Mo.
• William G. Carson (1/11/1830 Ky. - 10/1/1898 Ks.) (middle name appears in trees / records as either Green or Greenberry). William married Russella Isabell Dustin (9/10/1833 Mo. - 12/7/1910 Ok.) on 9/12/1851 in Caldwell County, Mo.
• Matilda Jane Carson (3/27/1832 Ky. - 7/30/1922 Ks.) who married Martin D. Brooks (3/7/1826 Ky. - 7/11/1851 Mo.) on 12/19/1848 in Platte County, Mo. and, after being widowed, she married John J. Scott (~1819 Ky. - ?, Mo.) on 7/13/1852 in Platte County, Mo.

I have been able to trace one other DNA relative who is the great-great-great-grandchild of Matilda Jane Carson.  I am still looking for others in Cynthia's line.

This post is here so that I can share information with the relatives in the Carson line but some information is masked or abbreviated for the sake of confidentiality.  I am trying to find the parents and grandparents of William, Cynthia and Matilda.  If confirmed Carson relatives find this post, feel free to contact me for additional information.

My DNA relatives:

• JA  - William G. Carson > Charles Christopher Carson > Carol Vera Carson Davis > 
• VSD - William G. Carson > Charles Christopher Carson > Carol Vera Carson Davis > 
• KQ  - William G. Carson > L. Docia Carson Ernsbarger > Alonzo Wadsworth Ernsbarger >
• CD  - William G. Carson > Clara Belle Jane Carson Clampitt > Russella I. Clampitt Cassel > Cecil Marvin Cassel
• LM  - Matilda Jane Carson > Margaret Luella Scott > Efton Lloyd McFee > 

Note: I see that VSD is also a granddaughter of a Gentry, as am I.  Almost all Gentrys in America supposedly descended either from Nicholas or Samuel Gentry who came to America in the late 1600's, settling in Albemarle, Va., or they were a descendant of a slave that worked for the extended family. (see https://archive.org/details/gentryfamilyinam1909gent/page/n7/mode/2up ).  While VSD and I are most likely related through the Gentry line as well, I am also sure that we are related through the Carson side since I am related to JA, her first cousin who does not have the Gentry connection.

I have included below some of the evidence of the lineage of these relatives:

The obituary of Alonzo W. "Lon" Ernsbarger appeared with the middle initial "V" but I am sure this is the correct person.  Alonzo married Mary Katthrine Henry in February, 1909 in Howell County, Mo.  The couple had two children (Lyndell and Edythe), moved to Oregon before divorcing sometime in the 1920's.  Alonzo then married again on 6/14/1945 in Eugene Oregon to Ida Christine Petersen Melby Klein.

Jacob and Frederick Gießenregen / Gisriel get a new big sister

 As I was growing up in Baltimore, we always had sauerkraut as a side dish at Thanksgiving.  It was normal for us and it turns out to be fairly normal for most families in Baltimore.  But only Baltimore.  It turns out this is because most people in Baltimore were either German-born (25%) or had German-born parents or grandparents who were alive when Abraham Lincoln first started the holiday.  In our family, this family was the Gisriels, my Grandma Smith's paternal line.

I was often told the story of two brothers named Gießenregen, Jacob and Frederick, who came to America in the 1840's from the Alsace region near Strasbourg.  This region was always a German-speaking area but it depended on who won the latest war as to whether it was in France or Germany / Prussia or some German principality.  The brothers suffered through several versions of anglicized names before settling on Gisriel.  As the name was completely fictional and unique, every Gisriel now in America is a descendant of one of the two brothers.  

Jacob sold vegetables in Baltimore's old markets.  Frederick was a baker.  Many descendants told me that the brothers were estranged due to religion.  I do see that many of Jacob's family were Catholic and many of Frederick's family were Protestant but that division was not complete at all.  Although I do not see any other proof of an estrangement, I also don't see any intermingling of the family in newspaper articles about funerals or weddings either.

But what about the family that Jacob and Frederick came from?  Who were their parents?  Were there other siblings?  Some people who looked into this family suggested that the parents were Georg Gießenregen and Sophia Jacobina Brechenmacher who lived and died near Strasbourg but I could not find evidence.  No one I could find seemed to know about any siblings.  That said, I found an 1850 census entry that interested me.  

As best I can read this, the family at the bottom of the census record included:

• J. Geisenrick, a 23 year old male (b. ~1827) who was a "paper stainer" from Germany
• Sophie Geisenrick, a 59 year old (b. ~1791) female that owned a $400 property and was also born in Germany
• Sarah Geisenrick, a 20 year old (b. ~1830) female from Germany
• Madelene Geisenrick, a 28 year old (b. ~1822) female from Germany
• Mary Geisenrick, a four or nine month old child (b. ~1849) born in Maryland

Could this entry include Jacob Gisriel (b. 11/11/1927), his wife Sarah (Berger, b. 2/8/1830 in Germany) and their first child, Mary (b. 3/1850)?  Was Geisenrick a version of the Gießenregen name or a misspelling or misunderstanding by the census clerk?  If so, was the Sophie who was listed Jacob's mother?  Could Madelene be a sister of Jacob?  I wasn't sure so I just put the details in my "keep in mind" book because, as I said, it looked interesting.

Quite some time later, I was looking at DNA relatives on Ancestry.com.  One particular woman named Dorothy was predicted to be a fourth cousin and six of our shared DNA relatives were known descendants of either Jacob or Frederick Gisriel.  Looking at the Dorothy's Ancestry tree, I did not recognize any names but she "only" had her great-grandparents names shown and most of these without vital dates or locations.  I say "only" in quotes because many people on Ancestry don't have nearly that much information listed.  I got in touch with Dorothy to see if she could tell from our shared relatives which side of her family I was related to.  She graciously replied saying that she could not tell but she suspected our connection was through her great-grandfather's family, William George Horn.  Without more information, at first, I was not hopeful of this lead but it turned out to be golden.

Dorothy knew that her grandfather was William George Horn Jr. (b. 1/6/1889 Md. - d. 9/3/1968 Ca).  I found another Ancestry member who recorded William Jr. as the son of William George Horn (b. 6/15/1859 Md. - d. 7/17/1928 Md).  This wasn't proof I had the right father but it was well worth looking into.  

I then found two other Ancestry members that said William Sr.'s parents were Carl Ferdinand Horn, b. 2/16/1820 Minden, Germany - d. 4/13/1870 Baltimore) and "Magdalen Griswold (b. 1820 France - d. 1/10/1888 Baltimore)".

Winner!  Winner!  Chicken dinner!!  I immediately recognized "Griswold" as one of the many misspellings of Gisriel that I had previously seen.  Magdalen was likely the same person on the 1850 census identified as "Madelene Geisenrick".  Assuming that Ferdinand and Magdalen married in Baltimore in the 1850's, I checked the Maryland State Archives to see if I could find the index card that gave the details of a wedding.  The Archive records are in alphabetical order by the groom's name so it was now possible to find Magdalen's documentation.  Here is what I found that shows a marriage license issued in Maryland on 27 April 1857:

That has to be our Magdalen!!  After that, I just had to work backwards to document Ferd and Magdalen's children and grandchildren, which should lead back to Dorothy's family.  Following are some of the documents that proved the line.

Magdalen's death notice

Ferd's death notice (although I need a German translator to confirm.  Note: in 1870 a quarter of Baltimore's residents were either German born or children of German natives.  It's little wonder that there were daily German language newspapers there until 1919 and weekly papers until 1976!)

The 1860 Census showing 40 year old Ferdinand Horn from Baden Westphalia, 30 year old "Magdaline" from France and young William G. Horn, only 1 months old. as well as two boarders.

The 1870 Census showing the recently widowed "Magdaline", 11 year old William and 5 year old Charles as well as a domestic servant.  Magdalen was working as a "dyer and scourer" to make ends meet.

The 1880 census showing "Magdelan" as a store keeper with her two sons, William and Charles, who appear to be working as store clerks for their mother.  More interesting though is the Disney family that is boarding with the Horns.  Seven years after this census was taken, Sarah Charlotte "Lottie" Disney married William George Horn!!

The 1900 census shows the family of William George Horn and Sarah Charlotte Disney, along with their son, William Jr.

The obituary for William George Horn, Sr. showing his wife as Lottie Disney.  The funeral was from the home of his daughter, Sarah Ann who was married to Karl Wilton Harman at the time.

The obituary for William George Horn, Jr. which appears to incorrectly identify him as "Sr." and his son as "Jr." instead of "III".

Finally, here are the first couple of generations of Magdalen's family:

A further review of my Ancestry DNA relatives shows one more descendant of Magdalen and Ferdinand whose lineage I can confirm (through the line of Muriel Kovalcheck mentioned in William Jr's obituary).  

In summary, I am confident that this Magdalen Gießenregen Horn was the sister of Jacob and Ferdinand Gisriel who I long suspected but never knew for sure.  Now, the only question left is: Was she Catholic or Protestant?

William Daniel Gentry's 1915 story of his early life and telegraphing exploits

 

The children and early descendants of Georg Gießenregen and Sophia Jacobina Brechenmacher