Frustration has Set In

Tonight I just wanted to stop by and make another post. I have been the worlds worst for blogging lately. I have hit somewhat of a rut. What with the recent death of our granddaughter and still having a very sick grandson in the hospital since birth I have just not had the time nor the energy to blog. I apologize for not posting much lately.
Along with that slump I must say my research efforts have hit a slump as well. Sometimes I just get so frustrated with all of my research efforts. Right when I think I am making headway it seems I take two steps back. Maybe this break will do me good. Within the next couple of months hubby and I are relocating about 4.5 hours away from where we currently live. We just need a change of pace, a new scenery and just to get away from it all for a little while. I am hoping in the coming weeks my zest for my research will return. In the meantime my posts here might be scarce as will my research efforts. No matter how much you love something, sometimes you just need to take a break from it for a while and come back with a new, more focused perspective. My mind has been cluttered with everything over the loss of our granddaughter and our grandson having so many issues as well. I am afraid my research has been suffering and rather than present you all with half hazard sloppy posts and research, I prefer to go at it again with a clear and focused mind. I will still be around and still check in from time to time. If you find my blog and think we might be related please by all means still contact me using the form on this site, I do want to hear from you. It might be a few days before I get around to responding but I will definitely get back with you.

I thought I would take the opportunity to update you on my grandson as well. If you have followed my prior blog before I changed names you will remember I had posted his birth and about him having been born with a Congenital Heart Defect. I would like to elaborate a bit more on his progress as we have had some new things come to light since the last time I blogged about his health.
Some of this may be a recap of earlier info but I felt it would give new readers a better insight into what all has been going on with the little guy.

His name is Skylar Damien. Skylar is a tough little guy. He was born on September 15th, 2013. The minute he was born the nurses were checking him over and the head nurse replied "I have got to go now, he has a very serious heart murmur!" She scooped him up and left for the nursery with him immediately. We were not prepared for what followed. Skylar was born with a Congenital Heart Defect called Tetraology of Fallot with Absent Pulmonary Valve. Skylar has a condition called 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome, sometimes called DiGeorge Syndrome. He underwent open heart surgery during the first few weeks of his life. He has a trachestomy in place in order to breathe. His system does not absorb proteins as it should. A recent MRI revealed that his brain is significantly smaller than it should be for his age. The way they explained that it means that he will likely be slow or developmentally delayed. He is 9 months old now and is a fiesty little fellow. He has such a strong will and determination. He has been in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit since his birth. It is highly unlikely that he will be released to come home anytime soon. We ask for continued prayers for him, he is already a miracle baby that has made great progress in spite of the odds that were seemingly stacked against him.

The Welch`s & The Wilkey`s Cherokee Georgia

1827 Finley Map of Georgia

In today`s post I wanted to share some of the progress I have been making towards unearthing my Native American connections. I have spoke on this blog in times past of my 3rd Great Grandfather Bennett Maxey "Maxwell" WILKEY who was born to the best account about 1793 in Cherokee Nation East in Georgia. His parents were one Henry WILKEY and Hester MAXEY.
Henry`s parents have remained unknown to me thus far. DNA is beginning to help me unravel some clues that affirm some of the suspicions I have had surrounding who Henry`s parents really were.

This DNA testing can be somewhat confusing at times. A lot of times I have found that I have more than one connection to some folks. I am going to use this post to share some of the things that have been confusing me about my WILKEY heritage for some time here in this post. I have created a page for my Native American Roots on this blog and have listed some of this information there as well so if you have read that page some of what you read here may seem like a repetition at this point.

Henry WILKEY and Hester MAXEY had six Children that I have been able to account for. Most of them were born in the late 1700`s in Cherokee Nation East, Georgia.  Below is an interview conducted with a gentleman who was from Jefferson County, Illinois where my WILKEY family relocated after leaving Georgia.

 Notice the very last paragraph of the article where the author states the following:

"I may add, though it dont have much to do with my story, that Dempsy Hood`s wife, Old Mrs. Wilkey, and Barton Atchison`s wife were sisters and their maiden name was Hill."

It is unclear to this author just who "Old Mrs. Wilkey" was. I had hoped he might be referencing my 5th Great Grandmother, Henry WILKEY`s Mother but the dates do not seem to correspond.

Henry WILKEY was born about 1762 in South Carolina, possibly York South Carolina.  I did some research on the three Hill sisters mentioned in the above article. The Old Mrs Wilkey he is referring to would have been one Hetty Esther HILL daughter of John HILL and Naomi CARTER. Hetty was born about 1777 in Georgia so she could not have been the Mother to Henry WILKEY as he was born in 1762 some 15 years prior to her birth. So, then I wondered if her husband whose first name is uknown and he is simply entered in my records with the surname WILKEY, could possibly have been a brother to my 4th Great Grandfather Henry WILKEY.  By all indications Unnamed WILKEY was born about 1773 in Georgia, certainly old enough to have been a brother to Henry and thus my Great, Grand Uncle.  Preliminary research on my part has yet to turn up any leads as to who Hetty`s husband was.

Understanding Autosomal DNA

Just when I think I have this thing figured out it seems that my DNA research throws me for a loop.  For a long time I have had my eye on a certain couple that lived in the same area around the same time period as my WILKEY family did. I suspected a connection between this couple and my family. I needed DNA to back up my suspicions. It appears as though I am somehow related to this family but at the present time I have been unable to pinpoint my exact relationship to them.

The couple in question are one John Manson WILKEY/WILKIE and wife Sidney Elizabeth WELCH. You can see some of the ancestors of this family in the tree snapshot I have posted above. I am showing DNA connections to the folllowing individuals from this line:

1. I have 1 Estimated 5th to remote cousin from David McSWAIN & Margaret SARGENT.
2. I have a 3rd-Distant Cousin match who descends from David McSWAIN & Margaret SARGENT
3. I have several matches who descend from the BUFFINGTON line that connects to Sidney WELCH.
4. I have several WELCH matches that lead back to this same exact WELCH family.
5.I have a match who descends from John Warner JONES & Mary Polly TULLOS

*Most of these matches are laid out in detail on the Native American page on this blog which you can find on the tabs across the top of this blog.

Left with Many Questions

If my ties to Sidney Elizabeth WELCH are through my WILKEY line and John Manson WILKEY is indeed somehow related to me then how in the world can you explain that I am sharing DNA with his wife Sidney Elizabeth WELCH and her ancestors? Am I missing something here? Could there have been a Non Paternal Event somewhere in this line? Many questions I have remain unanswered.  It was my understanding that every match I have listed in my DNA relatives list will share a Grandparent with me somewhere back in time. Would these matches then not indicate that I have possibly another connection with Sidney Elizabeth WELCH that I have yet to uncover? I am not certain that I will ever be able to figure this one out.  I do know that I am related to the McDANIEL/McDONALD family which also has connections to this line and quite possibly my connections to Sidney`s ancestors lies within my McDANIEL line verses this WILKEY line. Puzzling to say the least. I am not one to give up easily so I keep plugging on in hopes that I will somehow eventually be able to fit the pieces of this puzzle together, sooner rather than later.

Genealogy Scam Busting

It seems these days Scam Artists will stop at nothing to get what they want and that is to take advantage of Non Suspecting hardworking folks like myself.

I have news for them though, I refuse to be hooked and swindled by the likes of them. I am blasting the email message I received from this person wide open for the world to see! I take my family history research very seriously and it aggravates me to no end that someone would stoop this low!

The email arrived this morning and it looked like a normal message that someone would send me if they were a possible relative. It included a PDF file entitled: relatives Below are the contents of that letter just as it arrived. It was very easy for me to realize this was a scam after having read the first couple of lines. Be careful folks!