While I did an autosomal dna test at 23andMe last year, I recently took advantage of a sale price to have my mother’s dna tested at Family Tree DNA, doing their autosomal test, known as Family Finder. I also upgraded my own results at FT DNA, in order to compare my results with hers.
My Family Finder results came in today, so, of course, I spent some time browsing through my 420 matches, looking at the surnames each person had uploaded.
I hit pay dirt almost immediately. I knew as soon as I saw the surnames Hemphill, MacIntyre, Mackie, Patton, and Pitcairn. This pedigree chart should show you why:
My 4th-great grandparents were Captain Thomas Hemphill and Mary Ann Mackie. Captain Thomas Hemphill’s mother was a Patton. Mary Ann Mackie’s mother was a McIntyre and her paternal grandmother was a Pitcairn.
I was 95% sure at this point and one more surname clinched the relationship. As I looked the complete list, I saw Whitesides. Captain Thomas Hemphill and Mary Ann Mackie had three daughters who married three Whitesides brothers. This match is clearly a descendant of one of those daughters.
I fired off an email explaining what I had found and got a very quick reply. The match is not a “genie,” but someone who had tested at another person’s request. This person sent me an outline of the match’s pedigree, which shows that he/she descends from Captain Thomas Hemphill and Mary Ann Mackie’s daughter – Elizabeth Anna Hemphill who married Moses Whitesides.
This image shows the area on chromosome 1 that the match and I share and which can be attributed to either Captain Thomas Hemphill or Mary Ann Mackie. I’ll need to match that segment to a descendant of one of their siblings to narrow it down further.
Excellent! How great that you had a hit so quickly! 🙂
Thanks, Taneya! None of my 23andMe matches have been this easy to identify, so it was fun to have this one jump out at me the first day with FT DNA.
Hello, I belong to Family Tree DNA and my grandmother was a Patton. ( I have your name on the list) My information however is not clear, except on her death certificate it states her maiden name was Patton. She married a Williams, who was the father of my grandmother. She also married a Mannery and then a Patton. I know she was from Galway, Ireland but not much else to go on. You also have a Patton which is my understanding is a Scottish name. What is you take on your ancestors heritage as I do not see much info listed for your Patton either.
Hi Frances, I don’t have much information on my Patton ancestress at this point. You didn’t mention what part of the country your Pattons were from. Mine were from Burke/McDowell county, North Carolina. I’ve found a lot of Pattons in adjacent Buncombe County, but haven’t connected them to mine yet.
Hi Tonia,
Please put me in touch with the Moses Whitesides you mentioned. The family is not related to me but have been neighbors /business associates of an ancestor.
Enjoying your blog!
Hi Phyllis, the Moses Whitesides from this post died in the 1860s.
Hi Tonia,
As I was researching my gg’grandfather james hemphill,(nj) I came across your website. I enjoyed it….and want to get the DNA done now too. lol