BJNL's GENEALOGY

Samuel Gray Chesser and his wife Nancy are my 2nd Great Grandparents. There are a large number of trees online that show Nancy’s family name as ‘Beschett’. A few of these trees show her parents as George Fitzwater and Catherine Chesser. I have yet to find any evidence at all to corroborate these familial links. So, just who is Nancy? I decided to pull together documentary evidence and DNA evidence to see if I could make any headway into answering that question. Documentary Evidence Found So Far In re-examining what evidence I have about Nancy so far, my first thought is how little of it there is. In terms of evidence that directly relates to Nancy, all I have to date are 4 census records: The 1850 US Federal Census [1] tells me that Nancy is reported as being 44 years old at the time of the census (so born about 1806). She was born in Tennessee. At the time of this census she is living in Dwelling 546, Subdivision 1, Lincoln County, Tennessee with her husband, Samuel (a farmer, b

When we travel to the South Island (New Zealand), we often spend some time re-visiting places of ancestral and/or historical significance. So it was that, last week, we found ourselves in the Maniototo area of Central Otago once again. This time, I made a point of stopping at the small cemetery between Middle Kyeburn and the Kyeburn Diggings. In particular, I wanted to see if I could find the resting place of Lawrence Peter McCarthy.  It is a small cemetery so Lawrence was not hard to find. The plaque marking Lawrence's resting place looks like it may have been replaced relatively recently. It reads: Sacred to the memory of LAWRENCE PETER McCARTHY Died 10 August 1881  aged 2 years 5 months An inquest into Lawrence's death was held on 12 August 1881. It was conducted by Mr L.W. Buseh J.P., Acting-Coroner. He was supported by a jury of 14 men. Thomas Forgie, who had also been involved in the search for Lawrence, was the Foreman of the Jury. Most of the information tha