Watson Roots

My grandmothers:  Vennie and Vivian

My grandmother Vennie was always a bit of a mystery having been raised in foster care.  She was 14 when she married my grandfather and the marriage license says she was an orphan which wasn’t quite true.  Her father had died from a horse accident but her mother was living in Farmington in an insane asylum. 

She had no known family since her brother had died young.  In 1976, I started researching genealogy to find more information about Vennie.  But, it wasn’t until the past two years that I’ve discovered her heritage through DNA.

Her maiden name was Watson, a Scottish surname.  When I asked what Grandma’s heritage was, Mother just shrugged her shoulders and said, “Scottish and Indian”.  Knowing the family was from Appalachia, I assumed Cherokee.  I had unravelled the mystery of Grandma’s mother, but her father, G. W.,  remained a mystery until a year or two ago.  With DNA on Ancestry.com, I could search surnames but Watson was a name on Grandma’s AND Grandpa’s side. I had hundreds of people to contact and didn’t have much information about G. W.

Finally it occurred to me to consult those who shared the most DNA and had the Watson family name (Grandpa’s Watson was several generations further back).  I found a woman, Cheryl, whose ancestor was from Cape  Girardeau, Missouri which was promising.  Cheryl’s ancestor was Melvinia “Vinnie” Watson and her parents were Arthur and Manurva Watson. I’d known that Grandma’s name was originally Louvenia Minerva Watson or “Vennie”.   I had found Grandma’s grandparents since Cheryl’s ancestor was Grandma's aunt. 

That information allowed me to trace my ancestry back to David Solomon Collins and Thompsy Posen who lived in Virginia in the late 1700’s.  I decided to google them.   What I found answered a lot of questions my DNA had raised:  where did the Native American and African come in? My DNA showed that I descended from at least one slave but it was in such a small amount, it had to have been from Colonial America.

David Solomon Collins was Melungeon:  a derogatory name for people who were tri-racial (African, Native American and European) living in Virginia and North Carolina.  Often Melungeons lived in their own communities since they didn’t really “fit in”.  But, it’s important to emphasize they were not slaves although descended from slaves.  My family, early on, passed for white—I cannot find any reference to any of them being “mulatto”.

This is where some knowledge of Colonial American history is important. 

"Interracial relationships, common-law marriages and marriages occurred since the earliest colonial years, especially before slavery hardened as a racial caste associated with people of African descent in the British colonies. Virginia and other English colonies passed laws in the 17th century that gave children the social status of their mother, according to the principle of partus sequitur ventrem, regardless of the father's race or citizenship”.   

While the mixed race children of an African mother were slaves, the mixed race children of a European mother were free.  So, I descend from a European mother who was probably an Indentured Servant who lived with the household slaves.  I may never know who David Solomon Collins parents or grandparents were—records with names for indentured servants and slaves are not good.  And, some think that the family name Collins was adopted by David and his siblings.

I do know the names of some of my Native American ancestors from my grandmother Vivian's family because they were considered “royalty”, but I don’t know who the Watson-Collins Native Americans were.  With the label “Melungeon” I know they were partly Native American.  David Solomon Collins lived in eastern Virginia which is not Cherokee, but has several other Native tribes including Pamunkey.

One interesting side-note.  David Solomon Collins had 10 children.

Aaron William Collins d. 1855 Twin Bridges, Douglas County, Missouri

Elvira Collins Lawson d. 1855 Hawkins, Tennessee

Eleanor Collins Bull d. 1870, Douglas County, Missouri

Margaret Collins Dodson d. 1870, White County, Tennessee (my 4 great grandmother)

David Collins d. 1844 North Carolina

Nancy Collins Collins d.1850, Grainger Co. Tennessee

Levi Collins d. 1860 Falling Springs, Oregon County, Missouri

Isaiah Cuppy Collins d. 1888 Dora, Ozark County, Missouri

Solomon “old Sol” Collins d. 1882, Douglas Count , Missouri

Hiram John Collins d. 1857 Morgan County, Indiana

Five out of 10 settled in the Ozark area of Missouri with 50 children among them. Today, there are 60.000 people that live in the region (3 counties)  they settled in—I’m probably related to many  of them. . . .

G. W. Watson, Part 2

We know very little about my grandmother, Vennie’s father G. W. Watson.  We think his name was George. Knowing that he died from a horse accident, led me to search on Newspaper.com to see if I could find anything. I did find a G. W. Watson who was a harness racer up and down the Mississippi River.  Another clue is that he weighed about 106 lbs.  Although Vennie was normal sized, I am not.  I am smaller than all of my grandparents and parents. I know that my grandfather,Wes, Vennie’s husband also was a jockey at one time.  I know that Vennie and Wes were often “across the river” at the horse races.  I think it was in their blood.

I know that G.W. died before 1910.  The last entry for the harness racer G. W. was August 1909.  Sadly I still haven’t found a death notice for him.  Mother never knew either of her grandfathers.  They both died from horses.  She always told the story like they were just kids out racing horses.  But, G. W. was about 50 years old which sounds more like a work related accident not kids out joy riding. If the harness racer is my great grandfather, he appears to have been successful at winning races with Kitty and

G. W. is a hard man to trace for several reasons.  He was too young for a Civil War record, too poor to own land, not found in the census (1890 census  was destroyed), and he lived in small towns whose newspapers aren’t on Newspapers.com. I found him in the 1860 census living in White Co. Illinois and he is 3 years old. The only other official record I have is his marriage license from Dunklin County, Missouri.  He married Mattie Silas (sic) September 2, 1894.  They had 2 children:  John, who died as a baby and Vennie, my grandmother who was born January 1903.

DNA has finally solved the riddle of who his parents are: Arthur Watson (1830-1917) and Minerva Serilla Elizabeth Prince of Dyersburg, TN.  Through the descendant of one of G. W.’s siblings, I learned he had a sister named Vinnie Watson (almost the same name as my grandmother).  My Aunt Billie once told me Grandma’s name was originally Minerva LouveniaAnd, I was then able to find more about his genealogy—Arthur was a descendant of melungeons, a mixed race people living in TN, NC, VA.  DNA had told me I had African and Native American heritage dating back to the 1700’s and earlier.  Arthur’s great grandparents were David Solomon Collins and Thompsie Posey who were known to be melungeons.

David and Thompsie Collins who lived in Tennessee had 10 children including Arthur’s grandmother Margaret Peggy Collins Dodson.  One son was Aaron Collins who died in Douglas County, MO. (1855), Nellie Collins TurnBull died in Taney or Douglas Co. Missouri, Levi Collins died in Oregon Co, MO, Isaiah Cuppy Collins died in Ozark County Missouri, Solomon “Old Sol” Collins died in Douglas Co, MO  Although Arthur’s grandmother died in Tennessee, 5 of her siblings had gone to southern Missouri.

The only clues about G W Watson handed down were that he died from a horse accident and my grandmother remembered going to his funeral in Alton.  For all of these years, we thought he died near Alton IL which is across from St. Louis, but I think his funeral was in Alton, MO.  G. W.’s great uncle Levi died in Falling Springs, Oregon Co Missouri.  The county seat of Oregon county is Alton Mo.  G W’s father was still living and probably knew his grandmother’s family were all in southern Missouri also.

I have still not found where G W is buried but I believe it is with family.

G. W. Watson

Wes Wicker, Vennie Watson Wicker
Louise Wicker Long 1922

My mother never met her grandfathers:  one died before her father was born and one died when her mother was very young.  John Wicker left behind nieces and nephews who  told us a few stories, but with G.W. Watson we had nothing---no relatives that we knew of.  We only knew that he died from a horse accident (as did John Wicker), he was of Scottish descent, he was buried near Alton (Grandma remembered going to his funeral) and he had only one child who lived to maturity---my grandmother Vennie. We didn't even know when he died but it had to be between 1906-1910.  Oh, we also knew Grandma had Native American, but we didn't know if it was through her mother or her father.

From 1976 until 2018, all of my research only turned up a marriage certificate in Dunklin County, Missouri. September 2, 1894 G. W. Watson married Mattie Silas (sic) in Malden.  Mother thought his name was George. I had my DNA done but the task was complicated because my grandfather's great grandmother was also a Watson.  So, I had to weed out all of the Watson DNA matches in Kentucky and Tennessee.  I finally found a woman whose grandmother had also lived in Southeast Missouri and her name had been Malvina (Vinnie) Watson.  What really caught my eye was her mother's name was Manurva Prince.  My Aunt Billie had once told me that Grandma's name was originally "Minerva Lou".  I had found Grandma in the 1910 census (with a widowed mother) and her name was listed as "Louvinia".  So I had high hopes that I had found G. W.'s parents:  Arthur Watson and Manurva Prince in Dyersberg, Tennessee.

With that information, I was able to find the family in 1860 census in White County Illinois.  His name was George Watson and he was born in 1857.  So far, that is the only census I have been able to find him in.  I haven't found the family in the 1870 census, George would have been 23 in 1880 census and probably living in a boarding house.  The 1890 census was destroyed and I haven't found him in the 1900 census yet.  This was obviously a family that didn't have roots.  Arthur was born in North Carolina, lived in Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee and Missouri.

No Civil War records, and census records were not found.  The only story we had was he died riding a horse.  Mother told the story often that both of her grandfathers died riding horses "those were the automobile accidents of the day."  She implied that they were probably racing as young men like to do.  I decided to try to find G. W. / George in the newspaper---maybe there was a record of his death somewhere.  So I went to newspaper.com, entered "G.W. Watson" and "horse".  After some research I found a G. W. Watson who was a harness racer between New Orleans and St. Louis.  He raced in Kinloch and Delmar Tracks (both in St. Louis area) in 1903 and in New Orleans in 1909 with a horse named "Kitty".

New Orleans 1909

This was very interesting since I'd known my grandfather had been a jockey, but my grandmother's father has been a jockey, too?  I don't have any real proof that the jockey G. W. Watson was my great grandfather but I do know that I'm 5'1" and my grandparents often went to "the races" in Illinois.  Recently I did the math on G. W.  If he was born in 1857 and died in 1909,  he was 52 years old. If he died racing horses, he was a little old to be drag racing with his friends as mother implied.  But, a man earning a living by racing horses makes more sense.

My DNA and genealogy held more clues to G. W. Watson.  I've known since a child that I had Native American (doesn't everyone) and we naturally assumed it was Cherokee (doesn't everyone).  The first time we had DNA done we had mitochondrial, the maternal line, examined.  We wanted to know what Vennie's mother's line was.  My siblings and I placed bets on what we would find.  My sister thought Romany (gypsy) since Grandma Vennie read tea leaves.  My brother was rooting for Native American because he wanted to claim some casino money (just jokingly).  I, on the other hand, believed there was African.  The DNA results came back. . ..Irish.  We were all a little disappointed since we believed Grandma (who grew up in foster care) had more exotic roots.

The refinements in DNA over the years have given us more information. My brother and I have both had our DNA analyzed---they are a little different but we both have about 98% European.  We are a little different in what the 2% is.  His is more Native American and mine is more African.  The amount of African DNA puts it in Colonial America and Sub-Saharan----slave.

Working on G.W.Watson's genealogy, I came across the name David Solomon Collins, Arthur's great grandfather and G. W.'s great-great grandfather.  My 5th great grandfather was born in 1750.  For some reason, I decided to google him, not really expecting to find anything.  I was wrong.  I should not have been surprised, but he was Melungeon which explains a lot.

Prince Family

Dolly Cates and Vennie Watson (standing)

Searching for my grandmother's family has been my quest for 40 years---DNA has done more in the past few years than all of my years of microfilm reading, trips and research.  Her father died when she was small and her mother was in a mental institution so she was in foster care with the Cates family.

First, I found her mother's family (well, not  Mattie's  parents so much as her grandparents and further back).  We had been searching Silas but the name was Sollis.  At least I'd known Mattie's name and death date.  Her husband, Vennie's father, was more of a mystery.

G. W. Watson was all I knew of his name (mother thought it might have been George).  The only document I had was his marriage certificate to Mattie "Silas" in Malden Mo. He died when grandma was a baby from a horse riding accident. One of the problems was the name Watson---I was already a Watson on my grandfather's side.  Finally, through DNA,  I found a woman whose great grandmother was from the family of Arthur Watson and Minerva Prince.  It sounded very promising since her great grandmother's name was Vinnie which was similar to my grandmother Vennie.  Also, my aunt had told me that Grandma's name was Minerva Lou at one time.  So, Grandma maybe had a grandmother named Minerva and an aunt named Vinnie. They were from Dyersburg, TN which is where Mattie Sollis was also from. Sounded very promising.

From there, I decided to see if there were any Princes I was related to.  And, YES, I found a Prince family in Tennessee who had a Sirilda Minerva Prince!

While we believe Grandma's grandmother Minerva to be Sirilda Minerva's first cousin, we don't know who Minerva's parents were.  However we believe Thomas and Jonathan Prince to be uncles (based on DNA where we can tell what generation our common ancestors are)  This is from a book that Robert Layton wrote on the Prince family.  He has given me permission to re-print the stories and notes.

Thomas Prince and family moved to Pike Co., MO ca 1842 where he was  supposedly murdered ca 1847, after which Rebecca took the kids and went with her brother (J.C. Davis) and family to Oregon Terr. (1849). 

Thomas and JE’s  sister Eleanor Prince married Jonathon C. Davis (“C” for “Carson “), Rebecca’s brother.

Here are some notes from the book written in the ‘80’s :

• “...our Prince roots go well beyond the second decade  of nineteenth century Tennessee.  Research has, however, been  complicated  by recurring erroneous recording of "Prince"  as  "Price",  by early clerks and census takers,  and by the lack  of  marriage records and wills for pre-1840 Tennessee.   As a  result,  the extensive work by the author,  Ina Layton  Lane,  Ivy  Whited Koher,  and others has thus far failed to turn up  more than the following series of coincidences:
• ·  the PRINCE name does not appear on census or tax records for White County, Tennessee prior to 1835. both OUR Thomas Prince and a Jonathan E.  Prince turn up  in  the  same  year in the same tax  district  of  White County, Tennessee
• ·  this Jonathan E. Prince married the daughter of Augustus Davis's neighbor, William Irwin.
• ·  descendants  of  this Jonathan E.  Prince note that  his mother was born in Tennessee and his father in  Virginia ?? remember  that our Thomas and Eleanor Prince's mother was also born in Tennessee and their father also born in Tennessee.
• ·  descendants  of  this Jonathan E.  Prince note  that  he "...had a brother by the name of Thomas who headed  West and  was  never heard from again.   They thought he  had gone  to join the Mormons"  letter dated  November  2, 1982 from Mr. Ralph Prince of Gladewater, Texas. 
• His mother  was  born  in  TN,  father was born in VA according to  the  1850,  1860, 1870, and 1880 census for Ellis County, TX.
• Referring to Jonathan E. Prince, Miller Prince wrote that "My  grandfather,  I  am told,  was either Holland Dutch or German  and was named Prinz.   He came to the U.S.  as a boy, grew to  manhood  in Virginia,  migrated to North  Central  Tennessee,  married  a half breed Cherokee Indian girl and came to  Texas  in 1837 or 1838.”
• The following account by Amanda Prince was provided by Mrs. Marjorie Rogers. "Thomas was a cabinet builder, furniture maker and horse trader. About July 1846, when his daughter Rebecca Jane was two months old, he left home with a load of furniture and some horses. After he was gone for a while, two men came and told Rebecca, his wife that they had found Thomas Prince laying in a spring dying. He became conscious long enough to tell them who he was and to give them her address and sent her $75 for a horse he had sold. The money for the furniture was never heard of. They told her they had buried him and marked the grave so she could find it. She always thought he was murdered and the money and load of furniture taken. She never thought for one moment that these two men were guilty. They were explorers. She sent two men to investigate and the grave was found just as the strangers had told her. She knew it was true. This happened in Mexico." The Mexico referred to in this account was probably Mexico, Missouri  - - county seat of Audrain County, which borders Pike County on the southwest. It should also be noted that some historians claim that Thomas died while enroute to Oregon with his family in 1849.
• NOTE:  I have remained somewhat skeptical of the account of Thomas's death in light of the fact that in 1850, a Thomas Prince shows up in Howard County, Missouri (dwelling 7, family 7, p. 142/283), age 38 (born Virgina) with wife Mary A. age 27  (born Missouri) and have speculated that Thomas may have simply left Rebecca and his "first family" for another.  -  RWL.   
• "Thomas was a happy good natured man with blue eyes and brown hair."
• In another account written by Amanda Prince, we are told, "Thomas Prince was English, a very large man, blue eyes, brown hair and of a very jolly disposition. Rebecca Davis was half English and half Irish, more of a serious disposition..."

Edited in 2022:  Some have suggested the name was originally Prinz (a German name), but recent DNA shows my mother to have had no German.

Benjamin Williams and Mahala Watson

Genealogy can be pretty dry and reading legal documents can be tedious.  But every now and then we run across facts and can just imagine the emotions and conditions which led to the events.  But we will start at the very beginning.  May I introduce my great-great-great grandparents.  Sorry, there are no photos---those would be pretty rare for this class of people during the early 1800's.

Benjamin Williams and Mahala Watson were both born in Kentucky around 1810.  The first record we have is their marriage in 1827 in Hopkins, KY.

The 1830 census is more of a tally with only the "head of the household's" name.  There were 2 white adults between 20-29 (one male, one female) living in Benjamin's household.  I always like to see who else is on the page because there are often relatives.  William Williams was on the same page and in the same age range.  When we later found out his wife was Malinda Watson, we were pretty sure they were related through the husbands and/or the wives.  Carol Williams Huff found an obituary which showed that Malinda only had one daughter whose name was Mahala.  That is another indication that they were related---she might name her daughter for her sister.

The children started arriving by 1834 with Martha Williams (m. Matthew Harris), Polly Williams born in 1836 and Thomas Jefferson Williams in 1838. The next census in 1840 is still a tally with 1 boy under 5, 2 girls between 5-9 and 2 adults between 30-39 living in the household of Benjamin Williams.  Next door is living a Samuel Watson who was born around 1813, but we don't know if this was Mahala's brother, but he is likely a relative.

Unknown Photos--SE Mo or Arkansas

I found these photos in a box at Mom's I do know 3 of these people: my aunt Billie Wicker Curran is the child on the left, my mother Louise Wicker Long is in the middle and their mother Vennie Watson Wicker is behind them standing sideways. I believe the boy next to Mom is J.H.Cates (John Henry Cates) with his mother Dolly Cates behind him. but I don't know who that little child is or the woman in the middle. Based on my mother's size, I'm guessing this photo was made in 1929.
I am not even sure if this photo is around Hornersville Missouri or if it is in Arkansas where my family lived. I do know the man with the cane is my grandfather James Wesley Wicker or "Wes". He had a lifetime of leg problems stemming from a bad leg break while riding horses. We may even have one of his canes that we got from Mom's house after she died.
Although this one is labeled on the back, I'm still not sure who Sam and Hene are. Could it be Sam Williams and J.H.Cates' father whose name was also John Henry?

Louise's memories: her parents' early years

Dollie Cates and Vennie (Louvenia) Watson @1916

My mother started her memoirs any number of times. This version was begun in 1999---paragraphs would have been nice, but I'm so happy she decided to put her life into words. (Double click on the page to make it larger and use the back arrow to come back) This first page tells a little about her father (James Wesley "Wes" Wicker), his personality and his drinking.
The second page is mostly about her mother Vennie Marie Watson Wicker and the Cates Family. I've included some photos of the Cates Family and their farm. From what I understand, Vennie's mother (Martha Silas) was the housekeeper. When she was committed to a mental institution, my grandmother (around 12 or 13 years old) was taken in by the Cates family who lived in the Coldwater area near Hornersville, MO. The Cates family remained close to my grandparents even after they moved away.
Here are photos of my mother and Dollie's son J.H.Cates when they were toddlers and later when they were in their 20's. I even corresponded with J.H. several times trying to learn more about Vennie's family.

Here are photos of me visiting J.H. Cates---around 1947. I can see my grandfather on the right.For many years, my only memory was of the chickens. As you can see by my body language, I was a little afraid of them and remember them pecking my hands trying to get to the seed that I was "feeding" them with.

Memories about Vennie

Wes and Vennie Wicker, St. Louis, 1941

From my sister Jane:

What can I say.... I love her so much. I still get tears in my eyes because she was so special to me. She gave me great memories. Vennie Watson Wicker, 1935

We would always go to the park. She always wore a dress. I always climbed to the top of the jungle gym and would be afraid to climb down. She would have to climb up in her dress and help me down. When we took the bus shopping or to the church ladies circle meetings it was strictly white glove and hat for me. I better be a lady or I would hear about it later. When we walked to do shopping and run errands she still wore a dress, but I got to wear pants. I remember we would always stop at the cleaners for her to talk to a friend. I think about those days when I go into the cleaner and smell that odor.

Virginia and Vennie Wicker, 1939

She would rock me to sleep for my afternoon nap. (I still have this rocker) When I woke up, I got orange marshmallow circus peanut candies and a Dr. Pepper while I watched Art Linkletter. I remember Grandma making tea for dinner. To this day the smell of tea brewing or the fragrance green tea triggers a picture of Grandma in her flat cooking in the kitchen.

Vennie Wicker late 1920's

We would play hearts or old maid at the dining room table. It had a big window across the gangway from Marilyn's dining room window. We[Jane and her friend Marilyn] would talk and get in trouble just talking there. I went with Grandma to the basement and helped her on wash day. I liked the area for washing, but the part with the furnaces was scary.

Vennie Wicker, 1935

I always felt special that she made our clothes and doll clothes. The last dress I remember was a taffeta plaid magenta dress for Rose and Ron's wedding.
I think I am very much like my Grandmother. I am a homebody who just enjoys doing things around the house. In some of the pictures on the blog, I can see I had her smile and nose.
I loved her so much. She was a great influence on my life.

JaneFor more memories, click here

Happy Birthday Vennie Watson Wicker!

Today is my grandmother's birthday. Since I lived next door to her for my first 8 years (and she was only 43 years old when I was born), she was always like a second mother. I first started my genealogical hobby 32 years ago on her birthday because I wanted to know who she was. She is pictured above with her mother Martha Silas (Sollis) Watson Tuttleton in 1928.

She had a very difficult childhood---her brother died before she was born, her father died when she was a baby, her step-father was abusive, her mother was committed to an insane asylum and she lived with at least two families. First, she lived with the Cates family (photo above is Dollie Cates and my grandmother who I estimate to be 13 years old) whose farm she'd lived on when her mother was committed. Then, she lived with Luther Williams family where she met her husband James Wesley Wicker (Luther was his uncle). Vennie and Wes are pictured below with Jersey their cow---probably in 1930's.
I regret to say that 32 years later, I still don't know who my grandmother was. I've learned that her name was probably Louvenia (Vennie being more of a nickname). My aunt Billie said her name was Minerva Lou, though.  Since her parents were migrant workers, they had no family around that I know of. Mother recalled seeing photos of Vennie as a young child and photos of her brother when her grandmother Martha was still living, but they were buried with Martha when she died. My grandmother tried to find her father's family from "the Alton area," but never located them.
I even got a court order to see Vennie's mother's mental health records, but that didn't help much at all.  So, 32 years later, I still don't know who she was, but I'll never forget what she was---a beautiful, resilient woman whom I loved very much.

Genealogy-Diamond Shape

While most people think their family tree is going to look like the above, with the generations neatly fanning out, the truth is our family trees are very tangled. It doesn't take too many generations to find that you have one ancestor several times in your family history. For example, I have Maupin ancestors who married cousins, my husband has Morgan cousins that married and one cousin of mine is related to the same person THREE times (in about 150 years time).

Most of us aren't quite as bad as above, but back in the day, the communities were small and if you married within your religion, class and ethnic group, the possibilities were even more limited. So most genealogists will tell you that the family tree is more of a diamond shape. One genealogical mathematician said that everyone is no further apart than a 21st cousin of everyone else. Most of our family trees are more like the one below (not our family trees, just one I found on the internet, but you can see the diamond shape):

With that being said, it won't be terribly surprising if we discover that Dave and I are related---Appalachian, Virginian, English-Scottish-Welsh, Protestants. We already know of several names which are the same---they are very common family names like Brown, Davis, Carroll. For this reason, I have had to change some lables "Brown (Morgan)" means the Brown family on Dave's side "Brown (Long)" means Brown family on my side. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my double Watsons both on Mom's side, since it's unlikely they are cousins---they may be "Watson (Illinois)" and "Watson (Kentucky)". The Maupins and Morgans mentioned earlier are cousins so I won't make any distinction with them--they truly were related to each other and probably knew it.

It reminds me of an old country song I used to love as a child "I'm My Own Grandpa!" Click here for the lyrics.

Two Families, Two Traditions

[l-r Vennie Watson Wicker, LeRoy Long, Jane Long, Louise Wicker Long, James Long, James Wesley Wicker]
When Dave and I spent our first Christmas together, we realized that we came from two different cultures. Both of our families were starting Christmas at about the same time. We went to my parents, the Longs, first. As usual, it was a free-for-all, with a flurry of paper---it was all over in an hour! Pictured above (1959) was pretty typical---PJ's, wrapping paper everywhere, mom in her hairnet, grandpa in his undershirt.

After the "Long Christmas" (which was pretty short), we went to Dave's parents--the Morgans. They had just started Christmas---the gift unwrapping (one at a time!) lasted the ENTIRE DAY! Everyone was dressed up, acting all polite and adult---I was in shock!

These photos are from 1947---could the family look anymore perfect? Click here for some of Dave's memories which would NEVER have happened in my family! My dad was the biggest kid of all---he was the instigator---tossing presents right and left. I think Dave and I hit a happy medium, but I don't think Dad ever understood the concept of just two presents at a time!

Mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondrial DNA is different than the Y DNA used to trace the paternal line and different from the Nuclear DNA which makes up who we are. It traces the maternal line and technically is a parasite embedded in our DNA. But, it is more stable and is often used to identify victims of crime and to learn more about ancient bones. Men and women have mitochondrial DNA, whereas only men have the Y DNA. Again, we used my brother Jim's DNA to help us solve another family mystery.

My great-grandmother Martha Silas Watson is almost a complete unknown. She had a very difficult life plagued with mental illness and no relatives that we know of. Although I got a court order to have her records released from the mental institution, I still didn't learn very much about her family.

My sister Jane thought she might have been a Gypsy; my brother thought she might have been an American Indian. Although we knew the mitochondrial DNA would not help us with her immediate relatives, we would know if she was a Gypsy or an Indian.

I had first became interested in mitochondrial DNA when I heard about the book The Seven Daughters of Eve. Having the mitochondrial DNA would also tell us which of the Seven Daughters she came from.The map above shows the Seven Daughters and where they came from. By having our X DNA tested, we discovered we belonged to the halplogroup U5a which Bryan Sykes identifies as Ursula.

There are about 10 pages of a fictionalized account about Ursula in the book---below is a summary:

Ursula (Latin for she-bear)

Ursula lived about 45,000 years ago in what is now northern Greece. She was among the first arrivals of a new, modern human to set foot in Europe. She was slender and graceful, in marked contrast to the thickset Neanderthals with whom she and her clan shared the land for another 20,000 years. Her kind brought with them a new and more sophisticated type of stone tool with which to hunt and butcher the abundant game, animals that soon appeared on the walls of limestone caves as the first expression of human art. They spread right across Europe, west across France and north as far as the British Isles.

As the climate deteriorated 25,000 years ago, the clan began its long migration south; eventually reaching Spain and founding what became a refuge for all humans during the coldest millennia of the last Ice Age. As the climate warmed, the scattered clan led the march back to the North to reclaim the once frozen lands. They reached the British Isles and left an indelible record in the limestone caves of Cheddar Gorge. In 1998, DNA was recovered from the famous skeleton known as Cheddar Man and our analysis showed that it belonged to the clan of Ursula. In a dramatic demonstration of genetic continuity, we found that a teacher at the local school, only a few hundred yards from the cave entrance, was clearly a member of the same clan.

[Cheddar Man is below]

As you can tell above U was neither Gypsy nor American Indian. Corresponding with others whose DNA is similar to ours, we know that Martha's mother's mother's mother's. . .was probably Scotch-Irish with Viking roots.


Both The Seven Daughters of Eve and Trace Your Roots with DNA are pretty readable books. If you want a more general discussion about genetic roots, try Spencer Wells' book and video The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odessey.