Keys | Family History

From the City…

September 28, 2016 Van Leave a comment

1880s- Henry and Martha Cook Keys family

1880s- The Henry and Martha Cook Keys family lived in Hackney, Middlesex, England

This is one of the older photos that I have. But I don’t really ‘have’ it. All I have is this scan of a copy of a photo that was printed in a book from around 1980. It’s great to have that much because despite it being a copy of a copy (of a copy?), there are still some interesting details in it. It’s from Edith Keys Segraves’ book “Cook-Keys Family: Two Centuries in England and America.” One of these days I’m going to track down some of those old photos, get a good scan of them, retouch them, and share them with everyone. Til then, this is what you get!

The year is around 1880 or so. The country is England. The family is the the Cookie family. Not really. That’s the name I think of when I read the title of Edith Segraves’ book. But the Cook-Keys connection started here. At least for our family. When our ancestors Henry Keys married Martha Cook on Nov. 8, 1869, the Cook-Keys connection had already been started eight years earlier.

Martha’s sister Henrietta had married Henry’s brother William in 1861 and they had eight children together. Henry and Martha had five children by 1881 – Henry Alfred, Leonard, Daisy, Ruth, and Mabel. From the few examples I’ve seen, I would assume that these two families would have been close. All of their kids had the same grandparents, were double first cousins, and probably looked similar. And Martha and Henrietta were the only two children in the Cook family. Their father had died in 1840 when Martha was three years old and Henrietta was six months old, so that would likely have made them closer as well.

Yet that didn’t keep them together. When Martha’s husband Henry died in 1886, it wasn’t but a year later that she moved herself and her five young children to America. To be accurate, Martha didn’t break the families apart. One of Henrietta’s sons was already living in Delaware County, Iowa, at that time. (Funnily enough, the Bucklin family had lived in that same county earlier in the 1880s. A generation later, the Bucklin and Keys families connected as well.) And I’ve mentioned before that Martha’s uncle William Horsnell had recently moved from Iowa to the exotic locales of southern Louisiana.

Look at that photo again. It looks like a pretty nice place to live. Nice sturdy buildings and a charming little side patio enclosed with an iron fence. It was a civilized place to live. They had venetian blinds in the window! If that doesn’t say civilized, I don’t know what does! But Martha had heard of some criminal activities in nearby areas and decided it was time to move on. So in June of 1887, she brought her children to London during the week of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee and on the 27th boarded them onto the ship Aurania heading for the New World.

1887 – A page from the passenger list of arrivals in New York in July 1887. Top of the list starts with Martha A(nn) Keys, Henry A(lfred), Leonard J., Daisy H(enrietta), Rosetta R(uth), and Mabel O. Destination shown as Louisiana.

Mother’s Day Through the Years

May 4, 2016 Van Leave a comment

I found an assortment of information a few months ago and decided to group it together for a post for the week of Mother’s Day. The first item is an article from 31 years ago about a Mother’s Day 50 years earlier. So the Throwback is a Throwback. It’s a very interesting article, especially for me and my family. It mentions several family members from both sides of my mom’s family and even quotes them about family and motherhood.

The first family member mentioned is Mrs. H. C. Phenice, known to my family as Daisy Henrietta Martha Keys Phenice. I’ve posted a few photos of her in this series, most recently was at the beginning of last month. In 1935, she was the second oldest mother present. She was 59 years old at the time.

Mrs. Ruth (Bucklin) Bruchhaus is also mentioned as the youngest mother present. She was Fred Bucklin’s (my mom’s dad) sister and she had a young son Harley (father of Uvonne) who was born Feb. 5, 1933, just a few months before mom. Most notable to me is that in Ruth’s later years she preserved many old photos and labeled them for all of us to enjoy.

My favorite part of the article is the quote by my great grandmother Addie Mae Hine Bucklin (mother of Fred). She was the mother of twelve children, so I enjoyed reading that she spoke of the love and tenderness of a mother as she gazes upon her newborn baby as it lies in her arms planning its little life.

An interesting talk was given by Joseph Connors’ grandfather Herbert Bucklin (brother of Fred). It was questioning whether ‘modern’ mothers meet the needs of the family. I guess every generation compares themselves to the ones that came before. That was followed by a talk by Frieda (Rampmier) Bucklin (Fred’s sister-in-law) and Dora Koll (married Herbert Bucklin 2 years later). Then my grandmother Myrtle Sylvia Phenice Bucklin (wife of Fred) and her brother-in-law Roy Bucklin talked about how young people can show appreciation to their mothers.

The program concluded with my grandmother reading a poem she had written about Mother’s Day (I wish I had that!) and then the youth closed out the event with a song. So interesting to read an article with so many relatives mentioned from long ago. The older generation there were the last of the pioneers who settled that area in the late 1800s. I just realized that my two great grandmothers mentioned were both born in 1876. Daisy was five months older than Addie, so she was able to score the lovely bouquet of sweet pea intermingled with lace fern.

The photo of the group is from 1948. It has many of the same people that are mentioned in the article. Both are about the Adult Sunday School class of Raymond Methodist Church in Raymond, Louisiana.

The last photo is of my dear sweet Mama from around the same time as the other photo.

1947 - Betty Lou Bucklin2 Heal Betty Lou Bucklin

Happy Mother’s Day!

Hathaway Horse Sense

April 27, 2016 Van Leave a comment

A Little Bit of Horse Sense Goes a Long Way

I have recently been going through the book that Edith Keys Segraves put together and published in 1980. It is called “Cook-Keys Family: Two Centuries in England and America.” In it she lists the ancestors of Henry Keys and Martha Cook, my great great grandparents. I’m sure you know all about them because I have mentioned them before and recently posted a photo of their three daughters – Daisy, Mabel and Ruth. (See Dec. 13, 2015 post by clicking on thumbnail.) Those three daughters are the root of the discovery I recently was able to confirm.

In the book Cousin Edith not only lists the ancestors, but also spent a good bit of time and energy in finding and naming as many descendants as she could find. At that time it would have meant a lot of telephone calls (with real phones connected to the wall!) and letters (remember those? You would sit down and write on paper with a pen!) And she didn’t stop with just the descendants of Henry and Martha, she went back two generations further – namely to William Horsnell who was born in 1770. I posted a photo of Uncle Will Horsnell (son of William) a while back. (See Feb. 24, 2016 post by clicking on thumbnail.) He’s the uncle that moved from Iowa to Louisiana and Martha Cook Keys followed him there. He’s the first person buried at China cemetery.

But before Martha moved to Louisiana, some of her Horsnell and Cook relatives followed Unce Will and his brothers to Iowa in the 1850s. Cousin Edith tracked most of this information and listed their descendants at the end of her book. And me being the devoted (or deranged – you can choose your adjective!) genealogist that I am, I have been entering all of these people into my own family tree. Then I take it a bit further and try to bring it up to date. Using birth and death notices on Ancestry is the first thing I do. Then I look up obituaries online or on FindAGrave.com. Some of them will list all of the family members, which is really helpful. Once I get to people born in the 50s, I take to Facebook and see who I can find.

There is a lot of information that people share on Facebook. Has anyone noticed that? It can be helpful with my research. I even copy photos of relatives and add them to my tree. It’s interesting to see how some family lines kind of die out, while others spread like wildfire. In my quest, I came across some Hunters with a Horsnell mother. From time to time I’ll send a note to someone if it looks like they are interested in genealogy, but most of the time I find as much as I can then move on. That’s what I did with the Hunters.

But then on a genetic genealogy site a few days later, someone with the same last name as one of the Hunter sisters posted a note about being on a DNA site GEDmatch.com, which is where I do a lot of my research. So I went to the site and searched the name in Mama and aunt Loris’s match list. The guy’s name didn’t show up in their list, but a Cheryl Benham did come up. And the name sounded familiar from the Hunter sisters. So I looked her up, and sure enough Cheryl Hunter married a Benham. Could it be our Horsnell cousin Cheryl? She had matching DNA to aunt Loris and a smaller amount with Mama.

1770 William Horsnell Connection - 3

So I sent her a note, and she replied quickly. Yes, her mother was a Hornsell. Even though she matched mom and Loris, I still wanted to get more verification. She was a member of 23andMe where many Keys relatives have tested, so I invited her to share with me. She quickly agreed and yesterday I compared her with the other Keys cousins and “Eureka!” she matched Kay Bryan and Myra Miller (who are 2nd cousins to each other and 4th cousins with Cheryl) on the exact same spot.

Definitely some Horsnell DNA that has been passed down through the generations. (In case you were wondering about the title, this is what I was refering to. Mama always said that she had “Hathaway horse sense.” Come to find out, she inherited it!)

So that book by Edith Keys Segraves is a treasure. I wish I could thank her. I’m sure she would be excited to see the verification of the research with the matching DNA. Maybe even more excited than all of you are! But to see DNA from each of the Keys sisters – Daisy being represented by mom and Loris, Mabel being represented by Myra Miller, and Ruth being represented by Kay Bryan – that was passed down from even further back and being able to identify it is remarkable. Thanks again, Cousin Edith.

Way, Way Back

February 24, 2016 Van Leave a comment

1875 - William Horsnell and Rebecca in Iowa Rev. This is a photo from around 1875 of William Horsnell and his wife Rebecca in Delaware County, Iowa. He is the reason many of my relatives are here today, though most of us do not descend from him. For those of my generation, he is our great great great great uncle. But he was just Uncle William to my great great grandmother Martha Ann Cook Keys. Her mother Ruth was a Horsnell and the sister to this William Horsnell.

In 1886 William at age 79 moved to a new pioneer state of Louisiana with his new wife. He must have liked it here and wrote back to his family in England, because otherwise Martha would not have known about it. But heard about it she did, and decided to follow through with plans to move her family to the United States even though her husband had recently died. So she sold off most of their possessions and moved to a new country with five young children in tow.

They had intended to move on to Beaumont, but when they stopped to visit Uncle William in China, Louisiana, they liked what they saw and decided to stay. And the rest, they say, is history.

Bucklin Gathering 1949

January 3, 2016 Van Leave a comment

It’s kind of hard to beat that gold mine picture from last week, so I’m not going to try. Hopefully we’ll have some fun with names this week. I tried to identify as much as I could from other photos, but wasn’t able to name them all. With the help of the Bucklin community we have everyone named. This is a photo from about 1949, probably in Hathaway. #13 is my great grandmother Addie Mae Hine Bucklin.

And as a special treat because of all of the responses (and because I just found this photo today in all of the stuff I got out of the house in Jennings while cleaning it out with my brother and sisters and nieces and nephew) I am attaching another photo of the same group on the same day. I think they took this one because when they looked at the first one closely on their phones, they could see that Grandma Addie wasn’t smiling. So they took another one. See the smile? Look really close!

Joseph discovered some other photos of this scene with more people and posted them here.

The Keys Sisters – Part 1

December 3, 2015 Van Leave a comment

1890s -Ruth Mabel and Daisy Keys Clarity Portrait Drama

Ruth, Daisy, and Mabel Keys circa 1894

This is a photo of the Keys sisters. Ruth and Mabel standing in the back, and my great grandmother Daisy Keys Phenice sitting in the front. My aunt Loris sent me a scan of this photo after reading a comment on a photo I posted on Facebook. I like that. We can all share some of the great treasures we have and still be able to keep the ones we have. I’m thinking this photo is from around 1894. Their respective ages would be 15, 12, and 18. They had seventeen children among them and one of them, Martha Bryan Boose is still alive. There are many descendants of these three and their two brothers.

I am one of those descendants. The oldest daughter Daisy married Harry Clifton Phenice in 1900 and they had seven children together. Their second daughter was named Myrtle Sylvia and she married Fred D Bucklin in 1930. They had five children together, including my mom Betty Lou Bucklin Landry.

Keys Sisters – Part 2

Update: In this original post I stated that Martha Boose was still alive. She was the last living grandchild of Martha Cook Keys, but now Martha’s Grandkids Are Gone.

Keys

Phenice and Keys United

November 19, 2015 Van 2 comments

1900-Daisy Keys, Emma, May, HC and Ed Phenice

March 1906 – Daisy Keys, Lola Myrtle Phenice and Emma Orra Phenice in the back. In the front is Harry Clifton Phenice and James Edmund “Edd” Phenice. The four Phenice individuals are siblings.

These people would never have dreamed that their photo would be posted on an electronic device that would be available for all to see.

The photo includes the parents of my grandmother Myrtle Sylvia Phenice Bucklin. Daisy Keys Phenice is the one standing on the left. She was married to Harry Clifton Phenice who is sitting in front of her. The ages of the people suggest that the photo was taken sometime around 1905-1910. It was probably taken in March 1906 when Daisy and H. C. went up to Precept, Nebraska, for the wedding of his younger sister Myrtle. (See Visits in the Past)

The others in the photo are H. C.’s sisters Myrtle and Emma (a witness at the 1906 wedding) and their brother Edd. Some of this information was on the back of the photo. Myrtle Phenice was older than Emma Phenice, but in this picture the one in the middle looks younger. After comparing this photo to other photos that were personally labeled by Emma Phenice Quillen, I think the names are correct.

July 20, 2018 Update

When I originally posted this photo, I thought it was probably from around 1900. That would have been closer to Daisy and H. C.’s wedding date. That would have been too early, though. There’s no way that Emma was only 11 years old in this photo. When I found Myrtle’s wedding record from 1906 and it showed Daisy as a witness, I changed the date for the photo. It was likely taken just before the wedding.

I also had the names incorrect for the sisters. I had no name for the brother. My mom wrote the names on the back of the photo as Daisy, Emma, and May. (Though it looks more like my handwriting from years back. I probably asked her about it and that was her best guess.) Then I got in contact with Emma’s granddaughter Mona Quillen and she recognized her grandmother as the sister on the right.

If the name May was correct, then that meant that the girl in the middle was 20 years older than Emma. Anna May Phenice was born in 1869 and Emma was born in 1889. That couldn’t be right. Then Mona sent me copies of several photos of her grandmother and her siblings. And best of all, she had written names on the photos. What a treasure that is! After looking through them and editing them, I was able to recognize which sister was which. So now I think I’ve got them straightened out.

Hine Havenar Twentieth Annual Double Birthday Celebration

June 13, 2015 Joseph 3 comments

Susan G. Stanbrough Hine (75) and Mrs. W. E. Havenar (60)’s Twentieth Annual Double Birthday Celebration October 3, 1926. Taken at William E. Havenar’s home. If you are friends with any Hine, Stanbrough, Bucklin, Phenice, Keys, or Havenar descendants on please share this with them. If you can help with the names, leave a comment.

The first photo I found of this celebration was at Ruth Bucklin Bruchhaus’ home in a frame and had the date written on the back. Since then, we have found more shots from the get together as well as a newspaper article. You can click each photo and the article to make them bigger. If the newspaper isn’t large enough to read on your screen, it has been retyped in the first comment below. I posted negatives and another print from this celebration, here.

1. Walter (Mutt) Havenar [E] [S] [J]
2. Myrtle Phenice ?? [E] [J]
3. Jesse Havenar [S]
4.
5. Robert Bucklin [E] Robert Compton [J]
6. Mrs. Walter Havenar (deaf) [J] [E] [S]
7. Clarence Bucklin ?? [E]
8. Henry Phenice [E] [S]
9. Pewee, brother of #68 [J] Marvin Keys [ ]
10. Grm. Havenar/Taylor [E] Edessa Jane Havenar [S] Havenar [ ]
11. Leone Johnson Bucklin [E]
12. Helen Bucklin Taylor [J] [D]
13. Ralph Bucklin [J]
14. Herbert Bucklin [J] [E] [L] [S]
15.
16. Orville Phenice or Johnny Williams [J]
17. Marvin Keys [E] [S]
18.
19.
20. Seidel Keys [S]
21. Myfawny’s little brother ?? [ ]
22. Leonard Keys [S]
23. Methodist Preacher [S] Lloyds
24.
25.
26. Clarence Bucklin [E] [J] Clarence/Fred [ ]
27. Earl M. Brown [E] [J] [S] [D]
28.
29.
30.
31. Orville Phenice ?? [ ]
32. Elvin Walton or Seidel Keys (Marvin’s bro.) [E] Steve Havenar [E]
33. Warren Phenice [ ]
34.
35. Myrtle Phenice
36.
37.
38. Alta Hine [E] [S]
39.
40.
41.
42. Williams/Iva Brown [ ]
43. Audry Hine [E] [S]
44. Warren Phenice [E]
45. Harry Phenice [E] [S]
46.
47.
48. Daisy Keys Phenice (Sylvan’s mom) [E] Edessa Havenar Keys [S]
49. Edna Bucklin [E] [S]
50.
51. Edward Keys [S]
52. Sylvan Phenice (wore that style hat that year) [E]
53.
54. Mary Bucklin [E]
55. Kenneth Wayne Hine [E] Kenneth Ayclif Hine [D]
56.
57.
58. Leta Hine (Bert Hine’s daughter) [E] [S]
59.
60.
61. Wanda Hine (bro. #55) [E] not Wanda [D]
62.
63.
64. Bertha Koll [E]
65. Ruth Bucklin [E]
66. Marguerite Phenice [E]
67.
68. Myfanwy Williams [E]
69.
70. Wanda Hine [S]
71. Shirley Havenar [S]
72. Dorinda Thomas Hine [D] [E]
73.
74. Grandma Thomas [ ]
75. Phenice girl [E]
76. Grandma Havenar or Taylor [E]
77. Grandma Havenar or Taylor [E] Mrs. Taylor [S] Taylor [ ]
78. Edith Keys [S]
79.
80.
81.
82. Jim Hine [E] [S]
83. Darlene Hine [ ] [S]
84.
85. George Hine [E] [D]
86. Susan Stanbrough Hine [E] [S] [D]

Identification Key:

[D] = Darlene Hine Landry
[E] = Edna Bucklin Keys
[J] = John Compton
[S] = Edith Seagraves
[ ] = Don’t know

William E. and Edessa Jane Havenar were Edith Keys Seagraves’ grandparents. [S]

George O. Hine and Friends

June 4, 2015 Joseph Leave a comment

Taken around 1902.

Edessa Havenar, George O. Hine, Lucille Ritter, and Harry Harbert are then names of the subjects given on the photo.

Edessa was the daughter of Jennie (Mrs. W. E.) Havenar who was the subject of the Birthday Celebration from 1926. She married Leonard Keys in 1907 and they had five children, including Edith Keys Segraves, the famed family historian.

George O., better known as Ollie, was a bachelor for most of his life. I guess he waited until the right one came along.

Lois Lucille Ritter, who I like to call Lucy, married Edessa Havenar’s brother Don Elting Havenar in 1909. They had three children who were teenagers at the time of the birthday celebration. Lucy is labeled as “Lucille Havenar” in the birthday post.

Harry is part of a family that came from Illinois. If you looked at the newspaper clipping for the birthday post, you will see a few Harberts named. Harry is the brother to the J. Frank Harbert listed there. There is more information about the Harbert family here.

July 4, 2017 update by Van

I’ve recently come across more information about the people in this photo. Come to find out, Edessa and Ollie were an item at the time this photo was taken. I always thought they looked like two couples, but didn’t want to imply anything that wasn’t based on anything but a hunch.

1902 photo of Edessa Havenar, Ollie Hine, Lucy Ritter, and Harry Harbert.

I was corresponding with a 2nd cousin of my mom’s through the Keys family. I descend from Daisy Keys and she descends from Daisy’s older brother Leonard (she is the daughter of Edith Keys Segraves spoken about in the original posting). When I showed her this edited photo, she asked me if Ollie had married late in life or after his mother died.

This puzzled me. I asked her how she knew that. She said that her grandmother Edessa had dated a guy when she was younger but broke up with him because he was such a mama’s boy. She had to have been talking about Ollie who lived with his mom until she died. I think it was only after she died that he got married.

Raymond School in 1902 with teacher Mabel Keys

Then my cousin brought me some old photos to scan and she had one of the Raymond School that dated from 1902. The school was taught by Daisy’s younger sister Mabel and these four characters were her students. I believe Mabel is standing in the middle of the photo with a dark dress and a white collar. The tallest guy in the class is standing just behind her. See if you can make out the four from the other photo. If you want to try without the hint, look now. I recognized them, but then I noticed that they were wearing the same clothes and they were in front of the same building as in the original photo. So it looks like the photos were taken in 1902.

Hine
Keys

Keys in the DNA – Unlocking a Mystery

August 14, 2013 Van Leave a comment

This is a reworked page from the book by my grandmother’s cousin Edith Keys Segraves – “Cook – Keys Family: Two Centuries in England and America.” It shows the common ancestors that were discovered through matching DNA.

The story begins with a post by a DNA match at 23andMe.

“H1 looking for mother’s ancestors and relatives.”

By StillCurious on Jun 27, 2012
My beautiful blond mother was supposedly born in April 1927 under the name “Jane Hamilton”. As an infant she was adopted by a judge and his attorney wife in Lake Charles, LA. The adoption papers show Ft. Worth, TX as my mother’s place of birth/adoption but this info could be false or misleading. Because her adopted parents were global travelers who had the legal knowledge to obscure birth records, my mother could have been born anywhere in the U.S., or possibly Western Europe.

To this day, my mother and I have been unable to trace her ancestry. It would be wonderful to help my mother identify her ancestors before she passes. My mother’s health has been good most of her life and it would seem her maternal ancestors in particular would have also had generally good health.

Thank you for any information leading to the identity of my mother’s ancestors and relatives.
________________________________________

I joined 23andMe.com in April 2013 when a group of friends decided we’d get our DNA tested. I sent off for a kit, completed it appropriately, and then waited patiently to get my results. As I waited, I also completed surveys on the site and explored the forums to try to get educated about the DNA results so I’d know a little before I received them.

At last the results arrived. Besides finding out that I have the most Neanderthal DNA of anyone in my group of friends, 23andMe provided me with a list of other members who share common DNA with me. So I started sending out invitations to “share genomes” with my closest cousins on the list. This just means you can compare your chromosome information with theirs and see where the common genes are located.

23andMe also tells you what your maternal and paternal haplogroups are. They are not really all that helpful because it only tells you about your father’s father’s father’s…line and your mother’s mother’s mother’s…line. And there are many more lines as you go back through the generations. My maternal haplogroup happens to be H1, which is the same as StillCurious, who wrote the above posting a year ago on 23andMe (His one and only posting.). He also is a close cousin of mine according to 23andMe. When I read his posting, I thought, “Maybe I’ll be able to help him find out who his mother is.” My response to myself was, “Yeah, right.”

The following are 23andMe correspondences, starting with my invitation to share genomes (cousin messages are italicized):

_______________________________________

Jun 30, 2013 Van Landry wrote to Lizzie W. and StillCurious, suspected Cousins:

Hi,
Through our shared DNA, 23andMe has identified us as relatives. Our predicted relationship is 3rd Cousin, with a likely range of 2nd to 3rd Cousin. That would mean we share a great great grandparent. Here is a list of mine:

Narcisse Landry (b. 1796), Marie Hebert (b. 1802), Joseph Leveque (b. 1805), Marguerite Landry (b. 1821), Ferdinand Patureau (b. 1826), Marie Landry (b. 1829), Trasimond Landry (b 1839), Marie Bujol (b. 1843), James Bucklin (b. 1821), Mary McGrath (b. 1827), George Hines (b. 1846), Susan Stanbrough (b. 1851), Samuel Phenice (b. 1844), Katherine Foster (b. 1849), Henry Keys (b.1823) and Martha Cook (b. 1838).

Would you like to explore our relationship?

________________________________________

Jul 3, 2013 Lizzie W., a Cousin wrote to Van Landry:

That is so funny! My great grandparents are Martha Cook and Henry Keys!!! My grandparents are Inez Moreau and Lloyd Bryan, grandparents are Herbert Bryan and Rosetta Ruth Keys, her parents are Martha Cook and Henry Keys! So yes we do share great grandparents!

________________________________________

Jul 3, 2013 Van Landry wrote to Lizzie W., a 2nd Cousin once removed:

My great grandmother was Daisy Keys, who married Harry Clifton Phenice. My grandmother was Myrtle Phenice, who married Fred Bucklin. And my mother is Betty Lou Bucklin (grew up in Hathaway, LA), who married Bob Landry. This makes us 2nd cousins once removed. I finally found someone related to me through my mom’s side. Have you found any others related to you through the Keys? I’ve found several people on here related to me through my father, but none of them as closely related as you are. I’ll have to check with my mom to see if she remembers your family.

________________________________________

Jul 3, 2013 Lizzie W., a 2nd Cousin once removed wrote to Van Landry:

I haven’t found any others that I don’t already know besides first cousins… my mom and her parents grew up in Hathaway they all still live there except my mom and I!

I have a huge family tree book at home that dates back a few hundred years and most from England…. know my great grandfather (our haha) came from England.. i have to look into the rest this weekend and send you over what I have!

This is pretty amazing that you can find a second cousin through 23andme.
________________________________________

Jul 10, 2013 Bill (StillCurious) a mysterious cousin wrote to Van Landry:

Thanks for your 23andme sharing invite which I have accepted. Your family tree info could be helpful in determining my mother’s biological family.

My mother was apparently adopted in 1927 and to this day we have been unable to trace her biological parents. She was adopted by Judge Thomas F. Porter and Mary Gayle Porter from Lake Charles. Judge and Mrs. Porter (my adoptive grandparents) were both attorneys and were quite good at obscuring my mother’s true family in all adoption records. Judge and Mrs. Porter had a considerable no. of friends, relatives and business associates all over SW LA.

To exchange more info, please feel free to call me.

Cheers,
Bill

________________________________________

Jul 13, 2013 Van Landry wrote to Lizzie W., a 2nd Cousin once removed:

I was comparing genomes and came across an intriguing mystery. According to 23andMe, I’m related to a guy named Bill . The order of the relationship is somewhere around 3rd cousin. I contacted him and started sharing genomes with him. He said that his mother was adopted and they were still curious and wanted to find out where she came from. I checked to see if he was related to any of the many people that I’ve determined to be on my dad’s side of the family, and there were no common genomes. He told me that his father was not Cajun, so that would mean that we are related through our mothers. When I compared him to you, I was greatly surprised. It showed that you two shared twice as much DNA (compared to yours and mine) across 13 segments of your chromosomes.

I don’t really know you and don’t want to be intrusive, but I was interested in seeing if there was anything you might know about our common relatives of long ago. His mother was born in 1927 and given up for adoption as an infant with the name Jane Hamilton. Bill is not related to my Cajun side and is not related to your Ashkenazi Jewish side, so they are probably related through the same line that we’re related. (Bill’s and my common maternal haplogroup H1 would support this.) I could be completely wrong and missing something, but it is an interesting mystery nonetheless.

Any thoughts, any complaints, any questions? I can’t stop thinking about it.
________________________________________

Jul 15, 2013 Lizzie W., a 2nd Cousin once removed wrote to Van Landry:

You aren’t being intrusive! This is crazy… yes I see him as a 2nd cousin and the most closely related person I have on this site…. since he is related to us both it has to be through Henry Keys and Martha Cook…. My family tree shows….. Martha Cook and Henry Keys had a daughter Rosetta Ruth Keys…. she and Herbert Bryan had a son Lloyd Bryan (1916-1972) who married my grandmother Inez Moreau… they had two children my mother and uncle… So if his mother was born in 1927…. maybe it was from either my great grandparents or their siblings? not sure….

________________________________________

Jul 15, 2013 Van Landry wrote to Lizzie W., a 3rd Cousin:

Well that cleared up a problem I was having in figuring this out. I mistakenly thought you were the daughter of Lloyd Bryan. When you listed them earlier, you called them your grandparents, but also called Herbert Bryan your grandparents. And called Martha Cook your great grandparents. No mention of your mother, so I assumed you were related to Keys through your father, Lloyd Bryan. I assumed wrong. So it’s you to your mother to your grandfather Lloyd Bryan through your great grandmother Rosetta Ruth Keys to your great great grandparents Henry Keys and Martha Cook. So that means we are 3rd cousins.

When I was looking at this problem before, it seemed like the generations were off somehow! That explains the problem, or at least some of it. The question now is if Lloyd had any sisters that may have given up a child for adoption. That’s based on our assumptions being correct!
________________________________________

Jul 27, 2013 Van Landry wrote to Bill (StillCurious) a 3rd Cousin:

Ok, let me tell you what I have discovered so far.

I went to visit my parents this past weekend and looked over information on my ancestors. You and I are related through my Mom’s side of the family. I’m pretty sure it is through my (or our) great great grandparents Henry Keys and Martha Cook. They lived in England and had five children. When Henry died, Martha – a dressmaker – moved with her five children to Louisiana. The oldest daughter was my great grandmother Daisy Keys. The next child in line was a daughter named Rosetta Ruth Keys (b. Jan 13, 1879 & d. April 22, 1967 in Jennings), who I think was your great grandmother.

She married Herbert Maurice Bryan (b. March 4, 1880 & d. Nov. 5, 1932) on December 24, 1901. Their first son (fourth child) was Lloyd Bryan who was born in 1911. He is the father of Sandra “Kay” Bryan, who is the mother of Elizabeth Wermuth, who shows as your second cousin on 23andMe. (You both show as third cousins to me.) Lloyd was kind of young to father your mother in 1927, so the likely candidates are his older sisters:

Rena Oliva Bryan was born in 1902, married Robert Allen in 1931 and had her only reported child in 1932. The son died at age 15.

Elsie Ruth Bryan was born in 1905, never married and no report of any children. She went away to school in Houston and worked there for a while. She ended up living in Lake Charles. She died in 2002. A very good candidate.

Hazel Bryan was born in 1908, married Clifton Derouen in 1931, and had her first child in 1933. She died in 1998. The children are Eugene (b. 1933), Linda (born in 1937), Jarrett (b. 1940 & d. 2000), and Donald Derouen (b. 1945). They were born in Lake Charles and several of their children were born in Lake Charles also. If one of them could be tested, it would be helpful in solving this mystery. How to go about that is beyond me.
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Jul 28, 2013 Bill (StillCurious) a 3rd Cousin wrote to Van Landry:

Good morning, Van.

Thank you very much for taking so much time to shed light on my mother’s ancestry. You have obviously taken a serious and time-consuming task in hand. My immediate family is very grateful for your time and kindness.

I have informed my half sister (Diana G. from Lafayette) of your info and she is going to review it ASAP with our mother, Jane Porter Zerkowsky. As I mentioned, Jane is confined to an assisted care facility in Lafayette and her mental faculties are rapidly failing. However, I do believe she will understand your info and finally realize that it is true her biological mother was Elsie Ruth Bryan.

My sister Diana and Jane met with Elsie at Elsie’s care facility in Lake Charles not long before Elsie passed. My sister has informed me that Elsie did not acknowledge Jane as her daughter. The story of this meeting is long and detailed and I am still trying to verify more info about the meeting and why it took place.

Furthermore, if you can believe this, the Clifton Derouen family lived across the street from Jane’s residence in Lake Charles in the 1960s. Never did Hazel acknowledge any connection to Jane as her Aunt. We have reason to believe that Hazel was aware of the family connection because of info my sister and Jane subsequently learned from another member of Hazel’s family. I believe I mentioned to you in our telephone conversation that we were aware that the Derouen family was possibly connected to my mother’s biological mother.

I will be in touch too with more info as I receive it from my sister.
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Jul 29, 2013 Van Landry wrote to Bill (StillCurious):

I’ve been so excited about this all day. When I sent you all of those names, I thought they would be faceless names that wouldn’t have much meaning to you or your mother. I was a bit confused by the line “finally realize that it is true her biological mother was Elsie Ruth Bryan.” I had only said that she was a very good candidate. Then I questioned the phrase “finally realized.” When I read more, I realized that the names I sent you were not faceless in the least. I even got choked up a bit knowing that she had visited Elsie shortly before she died.

When I was looking at the ‘possible candidates’ for her mother, I remember fantasizing about the possibility of Elsie being her mother. I saw that she moved to Lake Charles and I imagined her moving there so she could be close to the daughter that she gave up those years ago. So you can see why your information floored me. And then to have Hazel’s family living across the street was surprising too. I don’t recall you mentioning the Derouens when we spoke on the telephone. I remember talking about the Keys family. Come to find out, we were talking about the same people! When I made the comment about one of them being tested to verify the connection, I thought, “Yeah, right, like someone would do that for a perfect stranger.”

Not strangers after all. And it doesn’t look like a test is needed to verify the connection.

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