DNA confirms there is ONE Thomas Graham Melrose (1806, Scotland - 1888, Michigan)

Excitement is immense here. This week we have a MAJOR DNA confirmation on the Melrose line.

Thomas Graham Melrose, my 4th great grandfather, who married Mary Anne Irvine is the very same
Thomas Graham Melrose that married Anna O'Neil in 1848, Motréal, Québec. Research shows that Anna is also known as Horrigan, Harrigan, Wilson and Willston.

This is confirmed with a triangulated match of a great grandson of Thomas Graham Melrose and Anna O'Neil to a great great grandson and great great great granddaughter of Thomas Graham Melrose and Mary Ann Irvine.

A lesson in how 'Ancestry' and 'Shaky Leaves' can be very dangerous to the health of your family tree

Since Ancestry.com introduced the "Shaky Leaves" I have developed a love-hate relationship with them.  If you use it to look up other tree's you are bound to find a lot, and I mean a LOT of misinformation, however, on the plus side if you use it to comb the site for sources, genuine real sources from Immigration, Convict or BDM Indexes and find what you need, it's a bonus and will help you grow your tree in the right direction.

To give you an example, today whilst searching any new documents for my GGG Grandfather George Robert Miller's marriages I had forgot to untick the 'Family trees', being curious I had a look to see who had him/them in their tree.  I spotted one that had Mary Ann (Deliser) Miller with a place of birth as Kent, England, as far as I am aware no researcher to date has found her documented arrival to Australia or where she was born, if you have please reveal yourself!  I was excited, WOW, then I looked again, and again. This tree had her being born in 1822, convicted in 1815 at Middlesex and marrying George Miller in 1833 (unsourced), interesting.  Then I spot she has 2 George Miller's attached as her husband and some children are doubled up.  Even more interesting, Mary is living back in Kent in 1851 after her death in 1849.  Seriously scary misinformation, so I clicked on the "Member Connect" button to see that there are 11 other family tree's this person has gathered information from or is connected to.  Oh boy, what a mess.

George is already a difficult person to sort out, see a previous post laying out the children and the names used for their mothers http://www.dixie9.com/2009/05/george-robert-miller-debate.html.

My lesson to you, PLEASE stop and research the information before adding it to your tree, just because it's on Ancestry does not mean it is correct.  You can't just enter your name and have your family history revealed to you like the ads indicate, it's not that simple!  The tree's on ancestry are the work of individual people that have gathered information over the years, some correct, some incorrect, some speculative.  Make notes and source the information for yourself to prove in your own mind that the information is correct.  The thing is, I can also understand how it happens, the sheer excitement of connecting the dots and thinking wow! and having a whole family line unfold right in front of your eyes.  Just slow down, keep your tree private until you have sourced your information ie gathered the documents to prove the dates, and then when it's ready share your tree with the correct information.

Below is the family group sheet of Mary Ann (Deliser) Miller as mentioned above so you can see for yourself, the identity of the family tree has been removed.

Here is the family according to current research, as I have it recorded:

updated live from WikiTree

Henry Hilliard Miller (1854, Moruya, NSW - 1916, Bingara, NSW)

Henry Miller, son of George Robert Miller and Mary Ann Jones.  Profile now available on WikiTree, 'open' status, so if you are a descendant please feel free to add or embellish on the information there.

Family Finder DNA testers listed to compare DNA.

embeddable family tree updated live from WikiTree

Melrose DNA Project at FamilyTreeDNA

Newsflash:

The Melrose DNA Project is now live at Family Tree DNA (FTDNA), the link is http://www.familytreedna.com/public/melrose/

All FTDNA testers with an occurrence of the surname MELROSE or variants in their line are encouraged to join.

Accepting

• yDNA (Male lineage with the surname Melrose)
• mtDNA (Female lineage with a Melrose woman appearing)
• auDNA (Family Finder or autosomal) If it's in your tree ANYWHERE please join

If you need any help, please email me at dna at dixie9 dot com

Lastly, if you are considering having a DNA test by ordering it through the project you will get a special project price.

Emily May Davis (Scobie/Miller) 1895, Tamworth, NSW - 1967, Fremantle, NSW

Emily May Davis married James Warren Scobie then Charles Miller, her profile is now up on WikiTree.

Still have a brick wall on her paternal grandparents George Davis and Fanny Jones, hopefully the DNA will help knock it down.  Emily's line through these grandparents is on Peggy's X Chromosome.   See further down the page for this chart.

embeddable family tree updated live from WikiTree

X-Chromosome

Males inherit one X-chromosome from their mother. Females inherit one X-chromosome from their mother and one X-chromosome from their father. Here are seven generations of ancestors who could have contributed to Peggy's X-chromosome and their approximate average percentage of contribution. These are adapted from Blaine Bettinger's X-DNA charts.

  50% — Patrick John Cummins  (24 Jun 1908 - 07 Apr 1966) 
    50% — Ada Mary Hamilton  (17 Mar 1881 - 12 Dec 1952) 
      25% John Adam Hamilton  (abt 1844 - 01 Mar 1888) 
        25% — [G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
          12.5% — [G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
            12.5% — [G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
              6.25% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              6.25% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
          12.5% — [G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
            6.25% — [G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              6.25% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
            6.25% — [G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
              3.125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              3.125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
      25% — Matilda Fritchley  (29 Oct 1857 - 12 Jan 1935) 
        12.5% — Richard Fisher Fritchley  (01 May 1813 - 19 Jun 1897) 
          12.5% — Anne Newton  ( - ) 
            6.25% — [G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              6.25% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
            6.25% — [G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
              3.125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              3.125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
        12.5% — Winifred Burke  (abt 1823 - 17 Sep 1897) 
          6.25% — Patrick Burke  ( - ) 
            6.25% — [G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
              3.125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              3.125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
          6.25% — Mary Ward  ( - ) 
            3.125% — [G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              3.125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
            3.125% — [G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
              1.5625% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              1.5625% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
  50% — Cecilia Miller  (02 Feb 1920 - 01 Aug 1959) 
    25% — Charlie Miller  (27 Jul 1894 - 10 Oct 1949) 
      25% — Mary Jane Melrose  (22 Apr 1860 - 28 Apr 1935) 
        12.5% — George Melrose  (19 Dec 1829 - 18 Aug 1903) 
          12.5% — Mary Ann Irvine  (abt 1811 - 07 Aug 1866) 
            6.25% — [G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              6.25% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
            6.25% — [G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
              3.125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              3.125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
        12.5% — Jane Schofield  (14 Mar 1830 - 01 Apr 1885) 
          6.25% — William Schofield  ( - ) 
            6.25% — [G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
              3.125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              3.125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
          6.25% — Betty Wilkinson  ( - ) 
            3.125% — [G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              3.125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
            3.125% — [G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
              1.5625% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              1.5625% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
    25% — Emily May Davis  (14 Sep 1895 - 01 Jan 1967) 
      12.5% — John Charles Davis  (abt 1844 - 25 Dec 1913) 
        12.5% — Fanny Jones  ( - ) 
          6.25% — [G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
            6.25% — [G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
              3.125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              3.125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
          6.25% — [G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
            3.125% — [G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              3.125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
            3.125% — [G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
              1.5625% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              1.5625% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
      12.5% — Zenobia Mundy  (abt 29 Jun 1858 - 15 Mar 1912) 
        6.25% — Peter Mundy  (abt 1811 - 10 Dec 1887) 
          6.25% — Ann George  ( - ) 
            3.125% — [G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              3.125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
            3.125% — [G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
              1.5625% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              1.5625% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
        6.25% — Jane Prisk  (25 Jun 1823 - 20 Aug 1892) 
          3.125% — Thomas Prisk  (abt 1779 - ) 
            3.125% — Mary Johns  ( - ) 
              1.5625% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              1.5625% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
          3.125% — Mary Andrew  (abt 1789 - ) 
            1.5625% — [G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              1.5625% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown] 
            1.5625% — Mary Andrew  ( - ) 
              .78125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandfather Unknown] 
              .78125% — [G-G-G-G-G-Grandmother Unknown]