1798 marriage of John Gilbart and Elizabeth Huthnance

On Tuesday 3 January 1798 my husband Greg’s 4th great grandparents John Gilbart, 38 years old, and Elizabeth Huthnance considerably younger at 23, were married by licence at Gwinear, near Hayle in south-west Cornwall. Elizabeth was from Gwinear; John was from the village of St Erth, a few miles southwest. Neither had been married previously . Both were able to sign their name. The witnesses to the union were Henry Huthnance, who was probably Elizabeth’s brother, and a man called William Ninnis. The vicar was Malachy Hitchins, a notable amateur astonomer.

St Gwinear’s Church, Gwinear, photograph from geograph.org

“England Marriages, 1538–1973 “, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NJ9Z-FMN : 13 March 2020), John Gilbart, 1798. Image of register at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G924-P23Z?i=61

John was an employee of the Cornish Copper Company (CCC), who had been promoted from a position in the firm at Copperhouse near Hayle to manage the Rolling Mills at St Erth. The St Erth battery mill, constructed in 1782, used water-powered machinery to roll copper into sheets, much of it used to sheath the hulls of naval vessels.

For most of the nineteenth century the Gilbarts were prominent St Erth Methodists. John Gilbart was a member of the first Copperhouse Methodist Society and the founder, in 1783, of the St Erth Methodist Class. At the time of John and Elizabeth’s marriage, English law recognised only marriages conducted under the auspices of the Church of England, by Quakers, or under Jewish law. This is probably why the marriage was performed in the Church of England and not the Methodist Chapel. Methodism began as a reform sect within the Church of England.

John Gilbart is remembered in the St Erth Methodist Church

John Gilbart died in 1837. Four years later, Elizabeth Gilbart, 65, of ‘independent means’, was recorded in the 1841 census as living in Battery Mill, St Erth. In the same household were six, all unmarried, of her 13 children, and one grand-daughter who, perhaps, was there visiting her grandmother. The household also included a 15 year old female servant.

The house built by John Gilbart in St Erth where Elizabeth was living in 1841

Elizabeth Gilbart died on 1 July 1847. Her death was noted in the Royal Cornwall Gazette of 9 July 1847. A similar notice appeared in the West Briton newspaper of 16 July 1847:

At St. Erth, on Thursday, Elizabeth, the relict of Capt. John Gilbert, of St. Erth Battery Mills, aged 73 years.

(John’s title of captain is one that is used in the mini industry and has no military or naval significance.)

Elizabeth left a will, proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 18 December 1847. Her bequests included annuities to be provided for various children, specific books, and furniture.

The grave of John and Elizabeth Gilbart in the churchyard at St Erth

Related posts:

• C is for copper
• Visiting St Erth, Lands End and the Lizard

Wikitree:

• John Gilbart
• Elizabeth Huthnance

J is for joint stock bank

Greg’s first cousin 5 times removed was James William Gilbart (1794 – 1863),  an English banker and author,  who became General Manager of one of the first joint-stock banks in England, the London and Westminster.

Portrait of James William Gilbart by Fanny Corbeaux 1846 in the collection of the British Museum retrieved from https://www.watercolourworld.org/painting/untitled-portrait-james-william-gilbart-tww00c3dd

Gilbart’s theory and methods, set out in his many books, most notably ‘Practical Treatise on Banking‘ (1827), came to be widely adopted. He advocated ways of improving the British banking system, laying the theoretical foundations of modern publicly owned retail banks and Building Societies.

James Gilbart started work as a junior bank clerk in 1813. When this failed in the financial crisis of 1825 he lost his job worked for a short time in Birmingham and two years later published his ‘Practical Treatise‘, which described and compared the banking systems of England, Scotland and Ireland. For the next six years he worked in banks in Ireland before moving back to London.

The London and Westminster Bank was the first firm founded under the auspices of the Bank Charter Act 1833, which allowed joint-stock banks – those owned and controlled by shareholders – to be established in London. Gilbart was its first general manager.

James Gilbart was frequently called upon to give evidence before  Parliamentary committees on banking. His views, held in high regard, helped to shape the English financial system.

The City office of the London and Westminster Bank in 1838. The office was at 38 Throgmorton Street. It was designed by Charles Robert Cockerell. The building was replaced in 1932.

James Gilbart retired in 1860 and died in 1863 at his house at 56 Brompton Crescent.

“The Late Mr Gilbart.” Illustrated Times [London, England] 22 Aug. 1863: 117. from British Library Newspapers.

He never married, but he provided for some relatives and friends in his will. The Codicil mentions :

• his first cousin James Gilbart,
• James William Gilbart the son of his first cousin William Gilbart,
• James William Gilbart the son of his first cousin Thomas Gilbart,
• his first cousin Elizabeth Polkinghorne, and
•  his niece Sarah Figgis Smith and her children

Tomb of James William Gilbart FRS (1794-1863). Designed by Sir William Tite. West Norwood Cemetery, London. Photograph by George P. Landow and retrieved from http://www.victorianweb.org/sculpture/funerary/249.html

Map showing the branch of the London and Westminster Bank in the city, the home of James William Gilbart in Brompton Crescent Knightsbridge to the west and the West Norwood cemetery to the south marked with black xs.

The Westminster and National Provincial Bank merged in the late 1960s becoming the National Westminster Bank Limited from 1 January 1970. NatWest, as it became known, is now part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.

Further reading

• Royal Bank of Scotland biography of James William Gilbart https://www.rbs.com/heritage/people/james-william-gilbart.html

Visiting St Erth, Lands End and the Lizard

We drove to St Erth along very pretty, and narrow, lanes

On Tuesday 30 April we visited the St Erth Methodist Church. On Tuesday mornings the chapel is open for free teas for visitors. We met some local residents and we were shown around the chapel.

We admired the window dedicated to John Gilbart. Peter and Charlotte were invited to play the organ.

There were plaques mentioning members of the family. We were interested to see a connection between James Oddie, one of the founding fathers of Ballarat, and Francis Tuckfield, who married Sarah Gilbart, Greg’s 4th great aunt.

Members of the congregation also generously took us to a house on Battery Mill Lane nearby built by Greg’s 4th great grandfather, John Gilbart (1760 – 1837). We also walked around the Anglican churchyard where John and his wife Elizabeth are buried.

In the afternoon we had lunch at Penzance then drove to Land’s End and the Lizard. We intended to visit Helston too but got delayed by a traffic accident and ran out of time.

 

 

Related posts

• C is for copper
• Trove Tuesday: Arrival of Francis and Sarah Tuckfield
• Discovering a DNA cousin through Wikitree and confirming with GedMatch
• Edwards family immigration on the Lysander arriving in the Port Phillip District in 1849
• B is for beacon

C is for copper

My husband’s fourth great grandfather John Gilbart, born about 1760, was a Cornish Copper Company (CCC) employee, promoted from Copperhouse near Hayle in West Cornwall to manager at the Rolling Mills at St Erth.

Cornish copper mining was at its most productive in the nineteenth century, declining as copper prices fell, from the mid-nineteenth century on. The Cornish Copper Company commenced smelting at Camborne in 1754. From 1758 it was located on the Hayle estuary, ten miles to the southwest. The mills at St Erth used water power to roll copper into thin sheets.

These sheets were used mainly to plate the bottoms of wooden ships. Coppering helped to prevent barnacles growing. This increased a ship’s speed and its lifespan. It also prevented worms from burrowing into the wood and weakening it. Sheathing with copper significantly increased the time a ship could remain in service between overhauls. It was held copper sheathing could double the number of ships at sea at any time”. In 1779 each ship on average required 15 tonnes of copper applied on average as 300 plates. The 14 tons of metal required to copper a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line still cost £1500, compared to £262 for wood. The benefits of increased speed and time at sea were deemed to justify the costs involved.

The ‘Royal Caroline’ painted by John Cleveley and in the collection of National Maritime Museum Greenwich. HMS ‘Alderney’ (1757) was built to the same shape and dimensions. In 1784 the ‘Alderney’ was described on Lloyd’s Register as being copper sheathed.

 

The Battery Mill ceased in 1809 when the Cornish Copper Company closed.

 

Derelict rolling mill, Landore, Wales. This mill was in use until the 1980s. I don’t think anything remains of the rolling mill at St Erth. Photograph from https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/946514

Hayle River near St Erth St Erth church can be seen behind the trees. The Hayle river reaches the sea about 3 miles north of here. Photograph from https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/182864

 

John Gilbart married Elizabeth Huthnance on 3 January 1798 at Gwinear. They had 13 children.

John Gilbart was a member of the first Copperhouse Methodist Society and the founder in 1783 of the St Erth Methodist Class. The first Methodist chapel was built in St Erth in 1796 and the present chapel was built in 1827.

St Erth Methodist Church Photograph from https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4062405

 

The chapel includes a monument to Francis Tuckfield (1808-1865), who was one of the first of the few missionaries who attempted to convert Australian Aboriginals to Christian belief.

In 1837 Francis Tuckfield married Sarah Gilbart of Battery Mill, the daughter of John Gilbart. They departed for Australia less than a month later.

Picture of plaque kindly sent to me by the St Erth Methodist Church

The chapel also includes a monument to James Gilbart (1825 – 1923), grandson of John Gilbart. The plaque mentions John Gilbart “who built the first chapel at St Erth in 1783”.

John Gilbart died in 1837.

Row of houses in Battery Mill Lane The three houses were probably the count house and managers’ houses for the former Battery Mill (which used water power to roll copper). Image from https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3106054

In 1841 my husband Greg’s fourth great grandmother Elizabeth Gilbart nee Huthnance (1774-1847) was living in Battery Mill, St Erth. Her age was stated to be 65. Her occupation was given as ‘independent means’. In the same household were six of her 13 children, at the time all six unmarried:

• John Gilbart aged 40.
• Thomasine Gilbart aged 30.
• Margerey Gilbart aged 25.
• William Gilbart aged 25, iron factor.
• Thomas Gilbart aged 25, farmer.
• Jane Gilbart aged 20.

In the same household was Elizabeth Gilbart’s grand-daughter, Elizabeth Edwards, aged 9.  Elizabeth Edwards was the daughter of Mary Edwards nee Gilbart, Greg’s 3rd great grandmother. The Edwards family which included five other children lived in Bridge Terrace St Erth. Perhaps Elizabeth was just visiting her grandmother overnight.

The household also included a female servant, Elizabeth Davey, aged 15.

James Gilbart, an iron factor, the son of Elizabeth Gilbart, lived in the adjacent cottage with his wife Ann Gilbart nee Ellis, aged 50, and two daughters, Ann Gilbart aged 14 and Maria Gilbart aged 10.

(These ages may not be strictly correct. In the 1841 census the census takers were instructed to give the exact ages of children but to round the ages of those older than 15 down to a lower multiple of 5. For example, a 59-year-old person would be listed as 55.)

Elizabeth Gilbart died on 1 July 1847, leaving a will that was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 18 December 1847. Her will mentioned annuities to be provided for various children, specific books and furniture

Sources

• Pascoe, W. H CCC, the history of the Cornish Copper Company. Truran, Redruth, Cornwall, 1982.
• The history of St. Erth Methodist Church: https://www.sterthmethodists.co.uk/aboutus.htm
• 1841 census viewed through ancestry.com: Elizabeth Gilbart:  Class: HO107; Piece: 144; Book: 1; Civil Parish: St Erth; County: Cornwall; Enumeration District: 5; Folio: 72; Page: 19; Line: 12; GSU roll: 241266 ; Mary Edwards Class: HO107; Piece: 144; Book: 1; Civil Parish: St  Erth; County: Cornwall; Enumeration District: 5; Folio: 69; Page: 13; Line: 1; GSU roll: 241266
• Will of Elizabeth Gilbart proved 18 December 1847 viewed through ancestry.com The National Archives; Kew, England; Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 2066

Trove Tuesday: Arrival of Francis and Sarah Tuckfield

One of my husband Greg’s fourth great aunts was a Cornishwoman, Sarah Tuckfield née Gilbart  (1808-1854).

Sarah and her twin sister Thomasine were born on 22 July 1808 at St Erth, a sand and clay mining town about 5 km from St Ives. They were the seventh and eighth children of John Gilbart (1761-1837) and Elizabeth Gilbart née Huthnance (1774-1847).

John Gilbart was manager of a copper rolling mill at St Erth. He had been a member of the first Copperhouse Methodist Society (Copperhouse was a foundry and its associated district in east Hayle), and in 1783 he had founded the St Erth Methodist Class, the local Wesleyan group meeting.

Francis Tuckfield (1808-1865) was a miner and fisherman, who at the age of 18 was convinced by the truths of  Methodist nonconformism. He became an active local preacher and in 1835, at the age of 27, was accepted as a candidate for the Ministry. He received two years training at the Wesleyan Theological Institution in Hoxton in London. On the completion of his studies Tuckfield was selected to be a missionary to the Aboriginals of the Port Phillip District (later became the colony of Victoria, Australia).

On 13 October 1837, less than a month before his departure, Sarah Gilbart and Francis Tuckfield were married at St Erth. They were then both 29 years old.

SHIP NEWS (1838, March 20). The Austral-Asiatic Review, Tasmanian and Australian Advertiser (Hobart Town, Tas. : 1837 – 1844), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232476273

In March 1838 after a long sea voyage Francis and Sarah Tuckfield landed in Hobart, Tasmania. In July the Tuckfields crossed Bass Strait to Melbourne on board the Adelaide. Sarah’s first child, a daughter, was born at Geelong on 12 August 1838.

Tuckfield made several exploratory trips about the Port Philip district looking for a suitable place to establish a mission station. (He is said to have employed William Buckley as a translator on these journeys. Buckley was an escaped convict who for a time had lived with Aboriginals. He had since been pardoned and given a job as a government interpreter.)

In 1839 he chose a site near Birregurra, 10 km east of Colac. Governor Gipps granted the mission 640 acres, a square mile.

The Birregurra experiment, however, was rapidly deemed a failure by the Victorian Government. In 1848 it was abandoned, and in 1850 the mission grazing licence was cancelled.

 

SATURDAY MORNING, JULY 1. (1848, July 1). Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1847 – 1851), p. 2 (MORNING). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91457661

 

Francis Tuckfield was afterwards appointed to a succession of churches, first in Victoria and later in New South Wales. On 6 June 1854 Sarah died at the age of 45 in West Maitland, New South Wales. She and Francis had eight children.

 

Family Notices (1854, June 7). The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser (NSW : 1843 – 1893), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article690022

 

In 1857 Francis remarried, to Mary Stevens (1823-1886). Eight years later, in 1865, he died at Portland, Victoria.

Portraits of Francis and Sarah Tuckfield are held by the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

Francis Tuckfield, portrait in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia

Sarah Tuckfield, portrait in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia

With only the bare facts of her life to draw on, it is very difficult to form an impression of Sarah Tuckfield the person. A history of the Birregurra mission portrays her as a dutiful daughter, devout Methodist, and devoted and capable wife and mother:

Sarah shared not only her father’s love of music and deep Christian conviction, but also his generous strength of character. She was a practical girl, who made an excellent teacher in the Sunday School, and was thoroughly trained in the housewifely arts by her mother. She also took an interest in the sick and incapacitated people in St Earth, who loved her for her kind ways and skills in nursing.

Le Griffon, Heather and Orton, Joseph Campfires at the cross : an account of the Bunting Dale Aboriginal Mission 1839-1951 at Birregurra, near Colac, Victoria : with a biography of Francis Tuckfield. Australian Scholarly Publishing, North Melbourne, Vic, 2006. page 18.

But this – no doubt well-meant – encomium gets us no further. ‘Love of music’ to a Methodist meant hymn-singing; ‘deep Christian conviction’ covers everything from humble faith to pharisaical self-righteousness; ‘generous strength of character’ sounds suspiciously like stubbornness; ‘thoroughly trained in the housewifely arts’ might mean a drudge; and her kind ways with the sick and infirm makes her look like the village Lady Bountiful.

Sarah’s marriage at the age of 29 to a penniless Methodist preacher and her willingness to endure the hardships of missionary life on the far side of the world seem rather noble and self-sacrificing, but these were the usages of the times. She was getting no younger, and her prospects, probably never great, were shrinking. Wives followed their husbands, and she perhaps found some satisfaction in being able to help with his missionary endeavours.

Sometimes, of course, images delineate character better than words. The National Portrait Gallery painting of Sarah Tuckfield conveys a certain measure of self-assurance and sense of purpose, especially when her image is viewed with that of her husband. The artist has drawn them with much the same mouth, giving her an air of steadfastness and strength of will; he looks feminine and ineffectual. He looks coyly at the viewer; she stares beyond, into the future.

We’re left wondering. Could it be that it was Sarah who turned the Cornish miner into the Methodist preacher, urged him to attend the Hoxton Institution, encouraged him to emigrate, and supported him in his mission?

Sources

• C. A. McCallum, ‘Tuckfield, Francis (1808–1865)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/tuckfield-francis-2747/text3887, published first in hardcopy 1967, accessed online 5 June 2018.
• Le Griffon, Heather and Orton, Joseph Campfires at the cross : an account of the Bunting Dale Aboriginal Mission 1839-1951 at Birregurra, near Colac, Victoria : with a biography of Francis Tuckfield. Australian Scholarly Publishing, North Melbourne, Vic, 2006.
• Wikipedia contributors. (2017, December 13). Gulidjan. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 09:27, June 5, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gulidjan&oldid=815258681
• “St.Erth Methodist Church.” St Erth Parish Council, St Erth Parish Council, 31 Aug. 2013, sterth-pc.gov.uk/st-erth-methodist-church/.
• “St. Erth Methodist Church.” About Us – St. Erth Methodist Church, St. Erth Methodist Church, www.sterthmethodists.co.uk/aboutus.htm.

F is for Francis

One of my husband’s great great grandfathers was Francis Gilbart Edwards (1848-1913).

He was born at St Erth, Cornwall, on 21 January 1848, youngest of the nine children of Thomas Edwards (1794-1871) and Mary née Gilbart (1805-1867).

Francis Gilbart Edwards was christened at the parish church of St Erth on 11 June 1848. On the christening documents his father’s occupation is given as carpenter.

Shortly after Francis’s birth the family emigrated to Victoria, arriving at Port Philip on the Lysander on 13 January 1849.

On 27 December 1870 Francis Gilbart Edwards married Caroline Ralph (1850-1896) in Ballarat. At the time of his marriage Francis’s occupation was declared to be farmer.

Francis and Caroline had ten children:

• Edith Caroline (1871-1946), Greg’s great grandmother, born Ballarat, Victoria
• Lucy Gilbart (1873-1908) born Ballarat
• Helena Mary Francis (1876-1950) born Ballarat
• Annie Tuckfield (1879-1906) born Port Adelaide, South Australia
• Elizabeth Christina (1881- ) born Gladstone, South Australia
• Ethel Augusta (1885-1963) born Kensington, South Australia
• Benjamin Gilbart (1887-1888) born Ballarat, died Richmond, Victoria
• Stanley Gilbert (1889-1917) born Richmond
• Ernest Francis Gilbart (1891-1901) born East Brunswick, died Brighton
• Arnold Leslie Morton (1893-1904) born Brighton, died Elsternwick

The oldest three children of Francis and Caroline were born in Ballarat. Sometime between 1876 and 1879 the family moved to South Australia, and three more children were born there. A seventh child was born in Ballarat in 1887. Not long afterwards the family moved to Melbourne. In March 1888 their then youngest son died in Richmond. Three more sons were born in Melbourne. From the place of birth information on their birth certificates, it appears that the family moved from Richmond to East Brunswick, Victoria. In 1893 the youngest child, Arnold, was born in Brighton and died a year later in Elsternwick. (Richmond, East Brunswick, Brighton, and Elsternwick  are suburbs of Melbourne.)

On 1 December 1887 Francis joined the railways as a carriage cleaner.

In 1894, due to ‘a reduction in his wages and sickness in the family’, Francis became insolvent.

 

NEW INSOLVENTS. (1894, February 3). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 10. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8727630

 
On 22 July 1896, after six week’s illness, Caroline Edwards died of cancer of the uterus. At the time the Edwards were living in Grant Street, Brighton.

 

Francis Gilbert Edwards, seated on the left, was photographed at the 1911 wedding of his daughter Ethel Augusta Edwards to James McCorkell

 

On 29 March 1913 Francis, who had been ill for twelve months, died of  diabetes, at Primrose Crescent, Brighton. His occupation was given as railway employee.

Francis Edwards died intestate. His estate, valued at £1076:13:1, included two houses, one at Primrose Crescent Brighton and the other at Male Street Brighton. Each was valued at 500 pounds. Also in his estate was money in the bank, a gold watch, jewellery, and a cow.

Gilbart, the maiden surname of Francis’s mother, has often been used in the family as a given name. Francis Edwards used it consistently as his second personal name. There have been variant spellings. My mother-in-law Marjorie insisted that Gilbart should be spelled with an ‘a’ rather than an ‘e’. Her mother, granddaughter of Francis, was christened Stella Esther Gilbart Dawson. Sometimes, however, the name is spelled ‘Gilbert’, perhaps because of a recording error and at other times perhaps quite deliberately. Stanley Gilbert Edwards (1889-1917), a son of Francis Gilbart Edwards, spelled it with an ‘e’ when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in World War 1 and when he married.

References

• Victorian Government Gazette, triennial list of railway employees 14 December 1905 page 4749
• Marriage certificate Francis Gilbert Edwards Victoria 1870/3767
• Death certificate Francis Gilbert Edwards Victoria 1913/605
• Probate and administration files: Edwards Francis G, 1913, VPRS 28/ P3  unit 371,  item 129/694

Related posts

• Edwards family immigration on the Lysander arriving in the Port Phillip District in 1849
• Annie Tuckfield Edwards (1879-1906) – Lieutenant of the Salvation Army – fourth child of Francis
• Z is for Zillebeke – about Stanley Gilbert Edwards, the eighth child of Francis

 

Discovering a DNA cousin through Wikitree and confirming with GedMatch

In the year since we received our autosomal DNA results I have explored various tools to help me keep track of the results: to help me find new cousins with whom we share DNA and to show how our document-based trees connect.

One of the tools I have used is wikitree.com. Wikitree is a single tree grown using traditional genealogical sources and DNA. It currently has more than 14.6 million profiles added by more than 430,000 genealogists. Wikitree has some useful DNA tools to help make sense of your DNA results.

screenshot of the front page of wikitree.com

I have added information about our direct forebears to Wikitree. I added each forebear manually, and this meant revisiting the facts and checking that I had reliable sources for dates, places and relationships. I did not merely upload a GEDCOM file. I wanted to review relationships and I did not want to create duplicates. Wikitree has a single profile for each person. It is important to remember that none of us own our ancestors and we need to work with others on the information we attach to each profile. In fact we benefit from working with other descendants.

In addition to adding your forebears to Wikitree, you can add details of the DNA tests you have taken. Wikitree adds the information that you have taken the test to all blood relatives within eight degrees of separation — up to sixth great-grandparents and out to third cousins. You don’t upload the contents of the DNA results, just the fact that you have taken the DNA test and information that will help potential matches find you in each testing company’s database.

Recently I was contacted by Simon Bass, a distant cousin, who has also been adding his forebears to Wikitree. (Note Simon reviewed this post as a draft and following publication and is happy for me to blog about this case study.)  Simon has found that he seems to have a DNA connection to my husband’s family. Both my husband Greg and Greg’s brother Dennis have had their DNA tested and added their information to Wikitree. Simon is descended from Elizabeth Gilbart née Huthnance (abt 1774-1847) and her husband John Gilbart (abt 1761-1837). When adding their daughter Catherine’s details to the tree, linking Catherine to Elizabeth and John who were already on the tree, Simon noticed that Wikitree had a section on DNA connections on the right hand side of the screen.

Wikitree profile of John Gilbert (abt 1761-1837) retrieved from https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gilbart-8 on 15 July 2017. (click to enlarge)

 

 

Simon wrote to me and, despite testing with different companies, we were able to compare our kits on GedMatch.com . Our biological cousinship was confirmed.

GedMatch.com provides DNA analysis tools for genealogists including tools for comparing your own DNA test results with those of other people in the GedMatch public database. To use these tools you must first upload your DNA test results to GedMatch. GedMatch accepts results from Ancestry.com, Family Tree DNA, MyHeritage, 23 and Me, and WeGene.

GedMatch one to one comparison of DNA shared by Simon Bass and Dennis Young. Simon and Dennis share DNA on two chromosomes. Based on the size of the match it is estimated that there are six generations to their most recent common ancestor. Their relationship based on our document-based family tree is 5th cousins which is six generations to the most common recent ancestor, the prediction based on shared DNA is in line with our genealogy.

Since this first exchange of information Simon has shared photos with me of his trip back to St Erth in Cornwall, where the Gilbart and Huthnance families came from. We have also exchanged notes on the emigration of various members of the Gilbart family to Australia.

Wikitree made it easy for us to see that our document-based trees connected and showed that we had taken DNA tests. Having uploaded our test results to GedMatch.com, we could compare test results and see if there was a likely biological connection.

If there had been no shared DNA it would not have disproved that there was a relationship. It just meant that the same segments of DNA had not been inherited by Simon and his cousins Greg and Dennis.

Simon, Greg and Dennis are 5th cousins since they share 4th great grandparents. There is a nearly 70% chance that any two fifth cousins will not share a detectable level of DNA. ( https://isogg.org/wiki/Cousin_statistics ) In fact Greg’s brother Dennis shares DNA with Simon but Greg does not.

Related posts

• Edwards family immigration on the Lysander arriving in the Port Phillip District in 1849
• DNA testing results one year on