Although I spend a lot of time trying to tease out clues from my DNA matches, I have many lines where there are just a few tiny matches, or none at all.
One of these that I’ve been focusing on recently my Moore line in Havant, Hampshire. You might think it masochistic to attempt to solve a brick wall for such a common name. But in fact I have a reasonably strong lead, with two brothers who seem based on genealogical evidence to be good candidates. I had hoped that DNA might help me prove and narrow down this connection, but without matches, it’s more likely that I’ll solve it with good old-fashioned research.
In this article I’ll illustrate some of the struggles that a lot of European testers face when trying to use DNA. I’m also hoping that once I set out my research so far, everything will become clearer. If you spot anything I’ve missed, or have any suggestions, please let me know!
My brick wall
I’m looking for the parents of my fourth-great-grandfather James Moore, born either 1779 or 1785, most likely in Havant, Hampshire:
Here’s what I know about James:
- He married Elizabeth Jones on Sep 29th 1806 at St Faiths Church in Havant; their ages were not recorded
- James and Elizabeth had seven children:
- James (1807-1865, my ancestor)
- Mary Ann (1809-?)
- Betsey (1811-1814)
- Martha (1813-1862)
- George (1816-1905)
- Edward (1818-1892)
- Henry (1822-1829)
- His profession is recorded on the baptisms of his seven children as Stonemason, and on his son James’s marriage record as Builder
- James senior died on September 8th 1836 and did not therefore appear in any census
- In the scan of the Bishops’ Transcripts of Havant Burials, his age is written very clearly as 51, giving him an estimated birth year of 1784 or 1785
- However, in a death notice in the Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle, his age was reported as 56, suggesting a birth year of 1779 or 1780
- James also appears in the United Grand Lodge of England Freemason Membership Registers where his age was reported as 39 in January 1819, pointing to a birth year of 1779 or 1780
- James left a will naming a two friends and son James as executors, with property and money left to his wife Elizabeth and his children
James’s wife Elizabeth was born around 1782, and I am inclined to believe therefore that the Bishops’ Transcripts contained a transcription error* and the earlier birth year is the correct one. Either way, I can see the records in question might potentially be missing, so I’ll need to visit a FamilySearch library and seek out the original parish registers.
* Edit: Actually, I’ve now looked at the original parish register and it also says 51!
My lead
Using that most basic of genealogical research tools, Google, I uncovered an interesting document about 10 years ago that included a memorial inscription. The deceased was Edward Moore, a stonemason from Havant.
A transcription from a memorial to Edward Moore, taken from Havant Borough History Booklet No. 72, compiled by Ralph Cousins
Further research established that Edward lived from about 1720 until 1803 and appears to have married Mary Atwick in 1747. Baptims and/or Edward’s will indicate they had the following children:
- Elizabeth (1748-?)
- George (1751-1822)
- Edward (unknown – 1794)
- Mary (1754-?)
- Susanna (1762-1798)
- William (1764-1808)
- Sarah (1767-?)
Since James was a stonemason and had also sons called George, Edward and William, it seems quite likely that he is closely related to these people. Since I’m looking for a male Moore ancestor, I’m focused in the first instance on the sons of Edward and Mary, all of whom were born early enough to conceivably have had a son in 1779.
Candidate 1: George b. 1751
- George married Ann Mills in April 1778
- There are baptisms at St. Faiths, Havant for two children of George and Ann: William (bapt 16 Apr 1780) and Edward (bapt 29 May 1782)
- George died in 1822, and I have not so far uncovered a will
Verdict: there is a window of time when James could have been born, but no evidence to prove that he was their son.
Candidate 2: Edward b. unknown (possibly around 1752)
- Edward is mentioned in the 1803 will of Edward Moore senior as ‘My deceased son Edward’ although I can’t find a baptism
- He married Martha (possibly Martha Brida in nearby Wymering on Aug 9th 1781), and there are baptisms for daughters Maria (1787) and Ann (1790)
- Martha was born around 1752 and died in 1819
- Edward died in 1794 and his burial was recorded as August 5th but no age is given
- He left a will that was only administered in 1838, naming Martha and mentioning [unnamed!] children
Verdict: Seems feasible, with a large window of time for missing baptisms, and particularly since James jnr named a daughter Martha. Also, since James died in 1836, the will might have been administered only after then in order to resolve property left in that will.
However, if the earlier birth date is correct and the 1781 marriage date is correct, then James’s 1779 birth year would have been before this marriage.
Candidate 3: William b. 1764
- William married Mary Rolfe in 1796 and baptisms reveal they had six children from 1797
- He died in 1809, and left a will that mentions brother George, wife Mary and unnamed children
Verdict: Seems less likely since he would have been very young and unmarried when James was born
Other possibilities
It’s also possible that:
- James was the illegitimate son of one of Edward and Mary’s daughters
- The naming patterns, location and profession are a coincidence, and this isn’t James’s Moore line at all!
I also have to tread a bit carefully; although I think I have everything correct so far, there were clearly near-contemporaneous people with identical names working as builders in Havant at that time.
DNA evidence
Let’s face it, my chances of uncovering DNA evidence for fifth great-grandparents were always going to be low. But in fact I have DNA for both my father and also (via artifact testing) my grandmother (his mother). James’s parents would have been my grandmother’s 3rd-great-grandparents, placing them just within that boundaries of where autosomal DNA could help.
Annoyingly, I’ve found just one confirmed match on the Moore line, a descendant of James and Elizabeth who is a 5th cousin to me, and therefore a 4C1R to my father and a 3C2R to my grandmother. Even worse:
- I’m not able to tie in any of the common matches
- Y- and mtDNA can’t help me, and even my grandmother does not have any X-DNA from this mystery line
- Other than close family that I’ve tested myself, my grandmother has only one match of over 100cM (a known cousin)
- Some secrets may be lurking among her 20-30cM matches, but if they are, I haven’t coaxed them out yet
So for now, I don’t see any obvious way to advance with DNA. In future:
- Since I’ve identified family lines for some segments my father and his cousins share, I should be able to use this information to assign my grandmother’s clusters to maternal and paternal sides. This would be a step in the right direction!
- If I’m able to research the candidate lines and uncover more unusual surnames, perhaps I might find them in matches’ trees
Can artificial intelligence help?
From a DNA perspective, I can’t currently see any obvious wins with AI at this stage:
- While I could attempt to anonymize clusters and upload them for advice, I don’t think I’d get much back
- My main challenge is that the tree information for clusters of matches is either missing or hard to search effectively
- For example, the ability to search for locations within just a group of shared matches is a great feature at AncestryDNA, but my grandmother’s DNA is not in that database!
In terms of genealogy, AI has been a great source of suggestions for new sources and evidence. I just have to find the time to schedule trips to Winchester and Portsmouth where many of the records are. I’ve also found AI a useful sounding board, partly because in order to ask the question, you have to write it down clearly, so it has forced me to do that, reconsidering and checking my evidence.
Any suggestions?
Thanks for coming along with me on this slightly tantalizing journey as I try to gather the evidence I need to determine the parents of James Moore. If you spot any holes in my work, or if you have any suggestions, please let me know!
Contact info: @dnapainter.bsky.social / jonny@dnapainter.com