Malinda Ashby and Edmund G. Hall ~ 52 Ancestors #50

In February 1842, in (probably Glasgow) Barren County, Kentucky, a marriage bond was signed by Edmund G. Hall and C. B. Hall (Edmund's brother), providing the intention of marriage of Edmund G. Hall and Malinda Ashby.

(The marriage bond became void upon the marriage; the amount of the bond would have to be paid to the Commonwealth of Kentucky by either the groom or his bondsman only if the marriage did not take place.)

"Kentucky, County Marriages, 1785-1979" from FamilySearch
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9S9-593Z-G

Stephen Ashby U.S.N.A. ~ 52 Ancestors #46

There are a few Stephen Ashbys in my ancestry. 5th great-grandfather, Stephen Ashby, was a Captain in the Revolutionary War. My 3rd great-grandfather of the same name died in 1829, leaving a widow and four young children. I wrote a Surname Saturday: Ashby post several years ago.

My ancestral line is as follows:

Stephen Ashby (1710-1797)
|
Daniel Ashby (1759-1834)
|
Stephen Ashby (1800[?]-1829)
|
Daniel Morgan Ashby (1828-1907) = Mary Elizabeth Gorin
|
Mary Bowman Ashby
|
Elizabeth Adsit
|
Charles McAlpin Pyle, Jr.
|
Me

Daniel Morgan Ashby continued the tradition of naming a son for his father. Stephen Ashby was born October 15, 1861, in Barren County, Kentucky, the third child and second son of his parents. (And my second great-uncle.)

Stephen Ashby attended the U.S. Naval Academy, as indicated in the 1880 Federal Census.

1880 US Census, Barren County, Kentucky, population schedule, Town of Glasgow, ED 7, page 4 (penned), dwelling 21, family 32, household of Daniel Morgan Ashby.

I also happen to have one letter that he wrote to his mother in January 1881 when he was attending the U.S. Naval Academy.

Favorite Discovery: Mammoth Cave National Park ~ 52 Ancestors #33

One of my favorite discoveries is about a relative's ownership of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky almost 200 years ago.

My third great-grand uncle Franklin Gorin was born May 3, 1798, in Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky, to John Gorin and Elizabeth Franklin. He is supposedly the first white child born in the county.

He married three times and had ten or eleven children.

In the 1830s, he served in the Kentucky legislature and in 1874, ran for U.S. Congress, representing Kentucky's 3rd District, but lost to Charles Milliken.

Also, for a short period of time, he owned Kentucky's Mammoth Cave, now known as Mammoth Cave National Park. 

From the National Park Service: "Rolling hills, deep river valleys, and the world's longest known cave system. Mammoth Cave National Park is home to thousands of years of human history and a rich diversity of plant and animal life, earning it the title of UNESCO World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve."

The Historic Entrance to Mammoth Cave is a natural opening
that has been used by people for 5,000 years.
Public Domain image by NPS, Wikimedia Commons.

William S. Ashby Struck by Lightning, 1883 ~ 52 Ancestors #24

William Shrewsbury Ashby was born November 18, 1859, in Barren County, Kentucky, to Napoleon Bonaparte Ashby and Juliet Shrewsbury, the eldest of their six children. He was a first cousin of my great-grandmother, Mary Bowman (Ashby) Adsit (1863-1956) so my first cousin three times removed.

Napoleon Ashby was in Russellville, Logan County in 1850, but by 1860, he was married and living in Barren County where it appears all of his children were born. (His younger brother, Daniel Morgan Ashby, my second great-grandfather, lived in Barren County for many years.)

By 1880, Napoleon B. Ashby's family returned to Russellville. His six children were living with him: Willie S. (age 20), Linda (18), Henry C. (16), Mary (14), Emma (12), and Benjamin M. (10). Two boarders in the household were Willie Hughes and Permelia Hall, age 78, who should have been listed as his mother; she was twice-widowed Permelia (Christian) (Ashby) Hall, whose death date I still have not identified.

1880 US Census, Russellville, Logan County, Kentucky, ED 164, p 443B,
dwelling 232, family 232, Napolion [sic] B. Ashby household.

By 1883, son William was setting out on his own. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for his parents and younger siblings when they heard the following news.

1903 Photo Mary Adsit ~ 52 Ancestors #2

I am hoping to blog more, using Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks themes, and this week's theme is Favorite Photo. (And, no, you didn't miss post #1; I didn't post last week.)

I am very lucky to have many family photos and I have many favorites. See my many posts with the tag Wordless Wednesday.

Here is a portrait of my great-grandmother, Mary Bowman (Ashby) Adsit, taken in July 1903 according to a penciled notation on the back.

She would have been 40 years old.

Mary Bowman Ashby was born in Glasgow, Kentucky, in 1863 (though for most of her life, she lied about her age). She married Charles Chapin Adsit in 1890.  They settled in Chicago, where she gave birth to her son in July 1892 and to her daughter (my grandmother, Libby) in June 1897. I shared a photo of her with her son at M. B. Adsit and C. C. Adsit Jr. Circa 1893.

I also shared a photo of brother and sister at Wordless Wednesday ~ 1904 Car.

I have several portraits and photographs of Mary Adsit throughout her long life and she always looked very stylish.

Searching for Adsit in The Courier-Journal

Newspapers.com just updated its collection of issues from The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY). (Click on the image to go right to searching this newspaper. This is a subscription website.) My great-grandmother was born in Kentucky and I have found her in this newspaper in the past. (See Bowmie Ashby's 1890 Wedding.)

The update includes issues into the 21st century with the Newspapers.com Plus subscription, but I haven't found any close relatives much past the following 1918 find.

Since I am easily distracted into doing newspaper research, I decided to see what I could find by searching on Adsit, one of my more unusual ancestral surnames.

Permelia Christian Ashby Hall - Changes - 52 Ancestors #46

For this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from blogger Amy Crow Johnson of No Story Too Small, the theme is Changes: Highlight an ancestor that went through many changes or that you had to change your research strategies to find.

Pamela (Christian) (Ashby) Hall is an ancestor who went through many changes AND I have to change my research strategies to find more information about her.

I have written about this third great-grandmother previously. I first mentioned her in my Surname Saturday ~ Ashby post, then shared the U.S. Census records I found her in at Kentucky ~ Looking for a Crack in the Brick Wall.

I find her listed as Pamela, Permelia and even Amelia in various records. She was born about 1802 or 1803 in Kentucky. I have not confirmed her parents in primary sources, though there are online trees that name parents for her. I need to change my research strategies to find out more about her parents and siblings, by exploring different kinds of records, probably probate records or land records, as well as exploring her "FAN Club," a research strategy that involves researching her friends, associates, and neighbors. There appear to be a lot of Christians in Hopkins County, Kentucky, which would be a place to start. (There is also a Christian County, Kentucky. Could she be related to the man for whom this county is named?)

I also need to learn more about history and geography of western Kentucky.  Here is a map (courtesy of Wikipedia) with the counties I need to learn more about in color.

Kentucky Counties, color added by me.

Third Great Grandmother Mary Ann Bowman of Kentucky - 52 Ancestors #32

For this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from blogger Amy Crow Johnson of No Story Too Small, the theme is "32" where I get to focus on one of my 32 third-great-grandparents.

Since I have been working on writing about third and fourth great grandparents during much of this writing challenge, this fits into my plan!

Last week, I wrote about a paternal third great grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Gorin. His wife was Mary Ann Bowman. I know much less about her.

Mary Ann was born in Kentucky on March 2, 1814 to Granville Bowman and wife Polly Walthall. (Her parents were born in Virginia.) I have five younger siblings listed for her, but there could be more children who didn't survive childhood.

I know her birth date from the Gorin family bible and I believe her birth place was probably Burkesville, Cumberland County, Kentucky, considering her father was in Cumberland County in U.S. Censuses from 1810-1840. (Also see her obituary below.)

Thomas Jefferson Gorin - Easy to Research - 52 Ancestors #31

For this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from blogger Amy Crow Johnson of No Story Too Small, the theme is Easy: We ended July with" Challenging,” so it seems fitting to begin August with “Easy.” Which ancestor has been pretty easy to research?

Thomas Jefferson Gorin

A somewhat easier-to-research ancestor (at the third-great-grandparent generation) is Thomas Jefferson Gorin. I mentioned him in my Gorin Surname Saturday post. I have written about one of my oldest photographs, an ambrotype, of him here. (A note in with the photograph identifies him!)

The best source I have for him and his family is the 1856 family bible, which I wrote about here. It includes several obituaries which paint a wonderful picture of his life.

Thomas Jefferson Gorin was born on January 27, 1808, in Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky, to Revolutionary War veteran, John Gorin, and Elizabeth Franklin. He was the tenth of eleven children. Barren County had only been created ten years earlier, from Green County and Warren County. It was settled by Scotch-Irish and yes, Glasgow was named for the city in Scotland. (See Wikipedia.)

It is the family bible that tells me he married Mary Ann Bowman on December 27, 1831. They had eight children:
Mary Elizabeth Gorin (1833-1891)
James Edward Gorin (1835-1896)
Laura Gorin (1837-1853)
Emma Gorin (1839-1901)
Unnamed daughter Gorin (July 1842)
Ellen Gorin (1844-1858)
Thomas Gorin (March 1847-November 1847)
Florence Gorin (1851-1925)

Some of these children we wouldn't know about except for mention in this bible!

Stephen Ashby (d. 1829) - 52 Ancestors #26

For this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from blogger Amy Crow Johnson of No Story Too Small, the theme is Halfway: This week marks the halfway point in the year — and the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge! What ancestor do you have that you feel like you’ve only researched halfway?

First of all, I am pleased with myself that I've kept up with this 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge. I am on track to writing as many posts in 2015 as I did in 2012, my most prolific year.

This week, I am sharing what little I know about a third great-grandfather, Stephen Ashby. Most of what I know about him is from The Ashby Book, Vol. 1: Descendants of Captain Thomas Ashby of Virginia (1976), compiled by Lee Fleming Reese, which is digitized and available at FamilySearch.org's Family History Books, a wonderful resource! However, this is a secondary source, so I feel that I've only researched this family halfway because I should really explore the primary source material.

Stephen Ashby was born in about 1805 (or possibly earlier) to Daniel Ashby and Mary Polly Benson. (See Surname Saturday: Ashby for more about my Ashby line.)

Bowmie Ashby's 1890 Wedding - 52 Ancestors #23

For this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from blogger Amy Crow Johnson of No Story Too Small, the theme is Wedding.

I have written about many ancestor weddings. You can see all of the posts with the label "Wedding Wednesday" by clicking here.

As I have noted, my new favorite website to explore is Newspapers.com. I did a search for "Ashby" in location "Kentucky" with date "1890", and sure enough, one of the top results was for my great-grandparents, Charles Chapin Adsit and Mary Bowman Ashby, who was known as Bowmie. Previously, I had known that they married in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 30, 1890, but I didn't know anything about their wedding.

The following is from the Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), Friday, October 31, 1890, page 6 (Newspapers.com/image/33851479). My comments are in [brackets].

BRIDES AND GROOMS.

Miss Bowmie Ashby Married To

Mr. Charles Adsit, of

Chicago.

   One of the prettiest home weddings of the season was that of Miss Bowmie Ashby to Mr. Charles C. Adsit at the home of the bride's aunt, Mrs. Henry C. Murrell [Emma Gorin Murrell, a sister of Bowmie's mother], on Second street, near Breckinridge, yesterday afternoon at 5 o'clock.
   The bride, a beautiful blonde [I wish there was a wedding picture!], has been one of the greatest favorites in the society of this city for several seasons.
   The wedding was a quiet one on account of a recent death in the family [I don't know who], and only the friends and relatives were present. The parlors were simply, but tastefully decorated, and the ceremony was performed in the front room under a panoply of green. The bride wore a handsome gown of heavy white faille with train. Her cousin, Miss Florence Murrell [daughter of Henry and Emma Murrell], acted as Maid of Honor and Mr. James M. Adsit [this could be his older bachelor brother or his father] as best man. The ceremony was conducted by the Rev. Mr. Minnegerode. Immediately after the wedding supper, which followed the ceremony, Mr. and Mrs. Adsit left for Chicago, the home of the groom.

Granville Bowman - Kentucky Politician and Postmaster

In preparing the sketch for my 4th great-grandfather, Granville Bowman, last week, I found some additional information about him.

According to Collins' Historical Sketches of Kentucky: History of Kentucky, Volume 2 (found at GoogleBooks), by Lewis Collins, Richard Henry Collins, published in 1878, Granville Bowman was a State Representative from Cumberland County in 1816.

A few years later, he decided to try for the State Senate. Also from GenealogyBank.com - a newspaper notice announcing his run for the Kentucky State Senate:

Frankfort Argus, 26 April 1821

We are authorised to announce Granville
Bowman, Esq. a candidate to represent the
counties of Cumberland and Wayne in the
Senate of Kentucky.

It's hard to tell from the first image when Wm. Wood's term ended. (It reads 1814- )

~~~~~~~~~

Granville Bowman of Kentucky - 52 Ancestors #10

For this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from blogger Amy Crow Johnson of No Story Too Small, the theme is "Stormy Weather." I couldn't find an appropriate ancestor to write about under this theme, so I am writing about an ancestor from my Kentucky branch.

Bowman vital records in
Gorin family bible

Granville Bowman is my 4th great grandfather who was likely born in Virginia and lived in Kentucky most of his adult life.

According to the Gorin Family Bible that I have, (see several family pages here and a closeup at left), Granville was born on March 21, 1786, and he died on August 11, 1841. (Note that this bible was published in 1856, which means that these birth and death dates were entered much later than the event.) Based on some Kentucky land grants given to a Granville Bowman in 1799, there is either another man by the name of Granville Bowman (possible), or my 4th great grandfather was born by 1778 (maybe 1776).

Granville was born in Virginia, probably Chesterfield County, where his father owned land and was listed in tax records. Kentucky became a state in 1792 and I believe Granville Bowman arrived in Cumberland County, Kentucky within a decade of statehood.

Cumberland County, Kentucky
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Granville married Polly Walthall on May 16, 1809, presumably in Kentucky. I find Granville Bowman in Cumberland County in each of the decennial United States censuses from 1810 through 1840, which list only the head of household and tick marks for the other household members. Following is a summary of what those censuses contain:

Surname Saturday ~ Gorin of Virginia and Kentucky

Virginia (courtesy Wikipedia)

The first Gorin ancestor I know about is the ancestor under whom I applied for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), John Gorin. He was born on May 15, 1763, in Alexandria, Fairfax County, Virginia. I don't know his parents or where they were originally from. There are some online (unsourced) family trees at ancestry.com that indicate his father's name is John Gorin; that he was born in France; that his wife's name was Gladin; and that there were at least three children from this union. I have NOT added this to my family tree, as more research needed here, but it is an interesting trail to pursue.

Fold3.com, a subscription website which focuses on military records, has a wealth of information on John Gorin. His Revolutionary War Pension file includes letters written by descendants in the early 1900s looking for information about his service in the war, as well as correspondence from the 1850s regarding the application by his widow (his second wife) for a pension as well as for bounty lands.

In a later 1793 record, he appears in muster rolls as a Sergt. Major for Russell's Reg't Cav. of the Kentucky Volunteers.

In 1799, he moved his family from Virginia to Barren County, Kentucky, after receiving a land grant for 200 acres as of August 27, 1799. At this time, this was the frontier.

John Gorin later served in the War of 1812, as a Major in the "10 Regiment (Barbour's), Mounted, Kentucky Volunteers."

Kentucky (courtesy Wikipedia)

He first married Elizabeth Franklin (about 1765-1824) in about 1786, in Alexandria, Fairfax, Virginia. With her, he had at least eleven children, the youngest of whom was Thomas Jefferson Gorin. His wife predeceased him, dying in 1824. He remarried another Elizabeth: Elizabeth Duval, on May 26, 1825, in Kentucky. She died in 1855, and it looks like she continued to receive a pension as John Gorin's widow until her death.

He died August 5, 1837, in Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky, and is buried in the Glasgow Municipal Cemetery.

See his Find A Grave memorial, which includes a photograph of what is likely his original gravestone, as well as a newer stone indicating his service in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

Generation 2: Thomas Jefferson Gorin (1808-1883) married Mary Ann Bowman in 1831.

Kentucky ~ Looking for a Crack in the Brick Wall

As I noted in my recent Surname Saturday post about the Ashby line, I didn't know much about my third great-grandparents, Stephen Ashby (about 1805 - May 1829) and Pamela (Permelia) Christian (dates unknown) until I found The Ashby Book, Vol. 1: Descendants of Captain Thomas Ashby of Virginia by Lee Fleming Reese, published in 1976.

As I noted, this book shares transcriptions of several court records from the 1830's which list the children of Stephen Ashby, Jr. and his widow, Pamelia Ashby: Malinda Ashby, Benjamin C. Ashby, Napoleon B. Ashby, and Daniel M. Ashby. These four children were born in the 1820's (between the marriage of Stephen and Pamelia in 1820 and his death in May 1829).

In one court record there is reference that "his widow Pamelia has intermarried with James Hall."

With this information, I explored census records on Ancestry.com to see what else I could find out about my third great-grandmother, Pamela / Pamelia / Permelia, and her family.

In 1830, there is an Amelia Ashby with children of approximately the correct age, as well as four slaves (as indicated in one of the court records) living in Hopkins County, Kentucky. This might be the widow Permelia Ashby, but I can't be sure. There is a James Hall in Barren County, Kentucky in 1830, with a household of one adult male the right age for James (40-50), five other whites (his children?) between ages 5-20, and seven slaves.

~~~~~~~

In 1840, I found Jas. Hall in Barren County, Kentucky.

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Ashby and Hall Half Brothers

I have been researching my Ashby line (see Surname Saturday ~ Ashby) and I found a few Find A Grave memorials for some of my Kentucky ancestors.

The biggest find was at small Hall-Harlow Cemetery in Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky: a memorial for Benjamin C. Ashby (1822-1848), my 3rd great-uncle.

Imagine my surprise when my photo request was almost immediately fulfilled...

Photo courtesy of Martha and Daine Harrison; used with their permission.
Thank you to Find A Grave volunteer Laura J. Stewart for setting up the memorials
and obtaining the permission to share this photograph on my blog.

and there was another name on Benjamin Ashby's stone. Gilbert C. Hall (1835-1850) was a half-brother to Benjamin. Their mother was Permelia (Christian) (Ashby) Hall, my third great-grandmother.

Left side:

Benjamin C.
Son of Stephen &
Pemelia Ashby
Born
Oct. 12, 1822
Died
Nov. 8, 1848

Right side:

Gilbert C.
Son of
James &
Pemelia Hall
Born
March 3, 1835
Died
August 15, 1850

Surname Saturday ~ Ashby of Virginia and Kentucky

Virginia (courtesy Wikipedia)

The earliest Ashby ancestor I know of is Thomas Ashby, who is believed to have been born about 1680 in England. His wife was Rose (or Rosanna) Berry and they had ten children. He settled in the colony of Virginia sometime between 1700 - 1710. He was known as Captain Thomas Ashby, as he served as a captain of the local militia. Thomas' will was written in April 1752 and was probated in August 1752. It is recorded on page 53 of the Frederick County (Virignia) Will Book 2, and is where his children are listed: John, Robert, Benjamin, Stephen, Thomas, Jr., Henry, Elizabeth, Sarah, Rose, and Ann.

Generation 2: Stephen Ashby was born in 1710 in Prince William County, Virginia. He served as a Captain in the Revolutionary War. For his service, he was granted what were known as bounty lands in Kentucky. When he died on May 19, 1797, he was a resident of Mercer County, Kentucky, though it is believed he died in Hopkins County. He is buried in the Old Ashby Cemetery in Hanson, Hopkins County, Kentucky. His Find A Grave memorial contains a great deal of information about him, including photographs of his original gravestone and a much later replacement one.

Different sources offer different names for his wives. The DAR Patriot index indicates that he had two wives named Elizabeth and one named Sarah. His will was written in May 1797 and is recorded on page 36 of the Mercer County (Kentucky) Will Book 2. In Captain Stephen Ashby's will, he refers to his "Military land" being left to his sons (Daniel, Absalom, John, Stephen, Enos).

Captain Stephen fathered at least eight children: John, Enos, Daniel, Rosa, Absolom, Stephen, Jr., Lettice, and Annie.

Amanuensis Monday ~ 1891 Death Certificate for Mary E. Ashby

An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin – some we never met – others we see a time in their life before we knew them.

Mary Elizabeth (Gorin) Ashby, my second great grandmother, died on July 7, 1891, in Chicago, Illinois. FamilySearch.org (Free!) has Death Certificates for Cook County, Illinois, 1878-1922 which is where I found the following.

Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1878-1922 (index and images, FamilySearch, https://www.familysearch.org,
from Illinois Department of Public Health, Division of Vital Records, Springfield, Illinois, accessed 5/8/2011),
Mary E. Ashby, died 7 July 1891. Citing Death Records, FHL microfilm 1,030,967.

Handwritten entries are in blue. My editorial comments are bracketed.

 1. Name: Mary E. Ashby
 2. Sex Female  Color White
 3. Age 58 years - months 7 days [Implies birth date of June 30, 1833; family bible has June 28]
 4. Occupation None
 5. Date of death July 7th, 1891 11:50 PM [I think]
 6. Married
 7. Nationality and place where born American  Glasgow, Kentucky
 8. How long resident in this State Residence Louisville [Kentucky]
 9. Place of death 455 Elm St, Chicago [Residence of her daughter, Mary, and son-in-law, who had only just married in the previous October]
10. Cause of death Hemiplegia [Paralysis affecting one side of the body]
11. Duration of disease Fifteen hours
12. Place of burial Rose Hill Cemetery
13. Name of undertaker Jordan [See their full page advertisement below.]
14. Dated at Chicago, July 7, 1891. G. E. Richards, M.D.
                                                 Residence 44 1/2 Bellevue Place [See his directory entry below.]

1891 Chicago City Directory, page 1918, Fold3.com

1891 Chicago City Directory, page 3045, Fold3.com

Matrilineal Monday ~ Mary Elizabeth Gorin, 1833-1891

More than a year ago, I participated in a Saturday Night Genealogy Fun blog post where I listed all 16 of my second great-grandparents. See Heritage Pie Chart for the basic details - names, dates, locations and parents of this generation of my ancestors.

I have blogged about 15 of these 16 second great-grandparents. The 16th of these ancestors I want to write about is Mary Elizabeth Gorin (1833 - 1891). I have written about her husband, Daniel Morgan Ashby, and shared an ambrotype of her father, Thomas Jefferson Gorin.

Much of what I know about Mary Elizabeth Gorin is found in the Gorin Family Bible that was passed down in the family and is now in my possession.

She was born on June 28, 1833, in Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky, where Gorins had been for several decades. Based on the bible entries, Mary E. Gorin was the oldest of seven children born to her parents, Thomas Jefferson Gorin and Mary Ann (Bowman) Gorin.

Image from Gorin Family Bible, Births page

According to U.S. Census records and city directories, she spent just about all of her life in Glasgow, except for her last few years, when she lived in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1850, the first U.S. Federal census that lists the names of all household members, she is enumerated in her parents' household as 17-year-old Mary E. Gorin.

According to the family bible, Mary Elizabeth Gorin married D. M. Ashby on February 11, 1857.

Image from Gorin Family Bible, Marriages page

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun ~ Matrilineal Line

Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge is a repeat, but one that can be repeated on a different line. The details of the challenge are as follows:

1) List your matrilineal line - your mother, her mother, etc. back to the first identifiable mother. Note: this line is how your mitochondrial DNA was passed to you!

2) Tell us if you have had your mitochondrial DNA tested, and if so, which Haplogroup you are in.

3) Post your responses on your own blog post, in Comments to this blog post, or in a Status line on Facebook or in your Stream at Google Plus.

4)  If you have done this before, please do your father's matrilineal line, or your grandfather's matrilineal line, or your spouse's matrilineal line.

5)  Does this list spur you to find distant cousins that might share one of your matrilineal lines?

My matrilineal line is listed here, and I shared the results of my mtDNA test here.

So today, I will show my father's matrilineal line.

a) Charles McAlpin Pyle, Jr. (1924, NY - 1993 MA)
b) Elizabeth (Libby) Adsit (1897, IL - 1983, MA) married Charles McAlpin Pyle
c) Mary Bowman Ashby (1863, KY - 1956, MA) married Charles Chapin Adsit
d) Mary Elizabeth Gorin (1833, KY - 1891, IL) married Daniel Morgan Ashby
e) Mary Ann Bowman (1814, KY - 1870, KY) married Thomas Jefferson Gorin
f) Polly Walthall (1793 - 1850) married Granville Bowman
g) This line goes back into Virginia and is a line I need to research.

My grandmother, Libby, passed along her mtDNA to Dad, but as a male, he could not have passed it along to any of his children.

The closest cousin who could share this matrilineal line would be a descendant of the sister of my second great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Gorin.

Any descendants of the daughters of Emma Gorin and Henry C. Murrell: Mamie Murrell, b. 1866 in Kentucky and Florence Murrell, b. 1873 in Kentucky out there?