Here’s the Story
My branch of the Ryan family grows from several very old and well documented roots. On my mother’s side, we have the Caldwells and the Barringers. Both families have been traced back several generations, even before Ancestry.com became a thing. On my father’s side, there is his mother’s family, the Addingtons, who, likewise, have been traced back to their British roots.
The Ryan family though, is a bit less documented. That is to say, it’s a LOT less documented. Actually, for us, the Ryan family line stopped at my Great-Grandfather, Bert Ryan. We knew nothing about the Ryan family beyond that. There were stories, but those stories seemed a bit far fetched. My father used to say that his grandfather, Bert, told them that his “real” father’s last name was actually Harris, and that this Harris, whoever he was, had been hung for being a horse thief. So, the story goes, Bert’s mother went back to her family, and to hide her shame and to disassociate from that Harris horse thief, she took back her maiden name of Ryan. Other stories in the family have Bert, still born a Harris and simply being adopted by a Ryan family, taking their name.
But years of looking into this information gave us very little to go on as far as who Bert’s actual parents really were. If they were in fact a Harris family, which one? I had a draft card that Bert had filled out that said he was born in Vicksburg Mississippi in 1885, but there were no reliable birth records kept in Mississippi at that time.
Enter the DNA
A few years ago, I talked my brother Tim into taking a DNA test. I thought to do it myself, but I thought maybe we would have a better shot at finding Bert’s family if a male from my family took the test. Not sure if that’s true, but, it was worth a shot.
When you do a DNA test on Ancestry.com, they will automatically show you all of the other members of Ancestry.com, who also took a DNA test and who’s DNA matches yours. I looked through those matches hoping to find some clue to who Bert Ryan was, and I found something interesting: a DNA match that Ancestry listed as a “Third Cousin.” This would mean that me and my siblings and this person, (who I will call “M.H.”) share a great-great grandparent. See the image below for a visual of how the ancestry breaks down:
For me and my siblings, we know that our parental line back to our great-great grandparents breaks down like this:
Us
- Dad Ryan
- Grandfather Ryan
- Great Grandfather Ryan
- Great Great Grandfather Harris (??)
- Great Great Grandmother Ryan (??)
- Great Grandmother Robinson
- Great Great Grandfather Robinson
- Great Great Grandmother (??)
- Great Grandfather Ryan
- Grandmother Addington
- Great Grandfather Addington
- Great Great Grandfather Addington
- Great Great Grandmother McMillian
- Great Grandmother Phillips
- Great Great Grandfather Phillips
- Great Great Grandmother Parris
- Great Grandfather Addington
- Grandfather Ryan
- Mom Barringer
- Grandfather Barringer
- Great Grandfather Barringer
- Great Great Grandfather Barringer
- Great Great Grandmother Whitmore
- Great Grandmother Wilbur
- Great Great Grandfather Wilbur
- Great Great Grandmother Howd
- Great Grandfather Barringer
- Grandmother Caldwell
- Great Grandfather Caldwell
- Great Great Grandfather Caldwell
- Great Great Grandmother Smith
- Great Grandmother Thomas
- Great Great Grandfather Thomas
- Great Great Grandmother Bloyd
- Great Grandfather Caldwell
- Grandfather Barringer
By the time we get to Great-Grandparents, we are looking at several surnames: Addington, McMillian, Phillips, Parris, Barringer, Whitmore, Wilbur, Howd, Caldwell, Smith, Thomas, Bloyd, Ryan, Robinson and possibly Harris.
As I said above, my siblings and I are a DNA match for a “Third Cousin,” (“M.H.”) which means we share a great-great grandparent. As I looked through the family tree for “M.H,” I am not seeing any of the names for any of my great grandparents listed above except for one:
Harris.
M.E. is a direct descendent of the Harris family going back to their great-grandfather, Elijah L. Harris, of Lafayette, Mississippi.