Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Research Ramblings

The atDNA kit for my Dad's only living sister arrived today and will go out in tomorrow's mail.  Also noticed that my brother's YDNA upgrade to 67 markers had a batch number.  My daughter should get her swab kit for the mtFull Sequence soon and then we can all hurry up and wait together.   I uploaded a tree to my Aunt's account so that is already in place.  Hopefully I will remember to add the processing times at TheDNAGeek.com's DNA Test processing times page.

I found a "vanity' bio for Roland J Cooke 1839-1913, a 2nd Great Grandson of Shem Cooke & Ann Rucker.  He was the grandson of Roland Cooke(West TN Primitive Baptist).  His family had moved from Gibson Co TN on to Yalobusha Co., Mississippi and then to Phillips Co. Arkansas.  Couldn't find a marriage record for his parents in the Mississippi county records but there was one that listed the marriage for the couple given as his parents about 10 years later than what it should have been considering Roland J was the oldest. I'm not sure if he was from an earlier marriage or if there is an error in the source only gave the year which doesn't sound like one from court records and I didn't care for the description of the source which is an Ancestry Database of compiled Mississippi Marriages(see source info below) with no digital images.

Source Information
Hunting For Bears, comp.. Mississippi Marriages, 1776-1935 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
Original data: Mississippi marriage information taken from county courthouse records. Many of these records were extracted from copies of the original records in microfilm, microfiche, or book format, located at the Family History Library.

So really still not sure and I'm taking this info with a boulder size grain of salt until I see original source info.  The bio continued the theme and also was 10 years off on his mother's year of death.  Still it gave me info on where descendants from this line may live and should help in identifying them should they show up among my DNA matches.





Tuesday, November 28, 2017

A mtDNA full sequence, upgrade to Y67 and atDNA test for my only remaining paternal aunt

Family Tree DNA has their Holiday sale on with a variety of test packages and upgrades available.  I took advantage of the sale over the Black Friday Weekend.  I purchased an upgrade of my brother's YDNA-37 test to 67 markers, a Family Finder(FTDNA's autosomal test) for my Dad's only living sibling and a mtDNA Full sequence for my daughter. For the tests that I manage,  I have more Promo codes than I can possibly use so I am posting the ones from this week here if anyone needs them feel free to see if they are still active.

FTDNA Coupon Codes Expires Dec. 3, 2017
R29G306PJY3Y $30 off Y-DNA67 ($229 before coupon)
R292SNRLTF2F $30 off Y-DNA67
R24NNLLESIQJ $30 off Y-DNA67
R24NPHFTQ29P $20 off Y-DNA111($299 before coupon)
R29I62CN9KJ4 $30 off Y-DNA111
R24MV668ZWLC $25 off Big Y
R243MEFJ3C4O $10 off Y37, Y67, or Y111($129--$229--$299 before coupon)
R29IQPH8SF6E $10 off Y37, Y67, or Y111  **
R290PL8LF5XQ $20 off Y37, Y67, or Y111  **
R29OVXD7IEE5 $30 off mtFull Sequence($169 before coupon)
R29RF52ROJOC $30 off mtFull Sequence
R298XY65U1OO $20 off any purchase of $150 or more
R29FEFEP6LGM $20 off any purchase of $150 or more

I will post the ones for this next week as soon as I get them.  I'm already really excited about seeing the results of the tests I purchased as well as seeing a bunch of new matches show up from all the sales at FTDNA and AncestryDNA.

If these coupons do not work they have probably been used by another one of my readers.  I offer them on a first come first serve basis.  

** Some people have reported that they were able to use the Y 37/67/111 coupons on upgrades.

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Rowland Cook, you had mail.


In my study of the lines of Shem Cooke (brought about by the results of my brother's YDNA test) I've noticed several names which are used frequently by his descendants.  Shem/Shemuel/Isham, Rowland and Claiborne are very common in his line so I've been collecting and studying each of those including all of the spelling variations of both the given and surname.   I found mention of a Rowland Cook in a listing of persons with letters remaining at PO in Cedar Bluff Alabama(Cherokee Co.)  This would be Rowland B Cook, son of Shem Cooke and Temperance Blackwell. Why was his mail not picked up?  Maybe he was away on business in 1841 or had just lapsed on picking up his mail.  He was enumerated in Cherokee Co Alabama in the 1840 AND 1850 Federal Census. This branch is covered in Many Cookes and their Broth (see Ancestry Message board post about book) published in 1967 by Charles G Cooke, which is a self described  "genealogical outline of the Cooke Family of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama."  The author mentioned that he had been unable to place where Rowland B. Cook was during the 1870 census. According to records within the churches where he attended and preached, he had removed to Giles Co TN and been there during that time.  Improved search and indexing in recent years has allowed us to see that he was enumerated  in Madison County Alabama with his wife(30 yrs his junior) and their children.  Amazingly in this entry he is only 5 years older than she. Given the names and ages of his children and wife I can tell this is him.




Sources:

Jacksonville Republican (Jacksonville, Alabama) 01 Dec 1841, Wed • Page 4  (https://www.newspapers.com)

Year: 1830; Census Place: Fayette, Georgia; Series: M19; Roll: 17; Page: 196; Family History Library Film: 0007037.  Search on Rowland B Cook (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8058)

Year: 1840; Census Place: Cherokee, Alabama; Roll: 3; Page: 132; Family History Library Film: 0002332.  Search on R. B. Cook (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8057)

Year: 1850; Census Place: District 26, Cherokee, Alabama; Roll: M432_3; Page: 53B; Image: 112.  Search on R. B. Cook (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8054)

Year: 1860; Census Place: Bowdon, Carroll, Georgia; Roll: M653_113; Page: 552; Family History Library Film: 803113. Search on R. B. Cook (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=7667)

Year: 1870; Census Place: Township 3 Range 1 Subdivision 53, Madison, Alabama; Roll: M593_27; Page: 102A; Family History Library Film: 545526.  Search on Bryant Cook (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=7163)