Tuesday’s Tips

New Ancestry Discoveries – New Coon Cousin

There are six New Ancestry Discoveries on my Ancestry DNA page. Some of the Ancestry Discoveries on Ancestry fascinate me. Some of the names I recognize and others names aren’t familiar. Names for the NADs such as Brister, Hodges, and Smith are familiar names. Those family names relate to my maternal Coon families. 

Nancy Smith married Jacob Coon a third great grandfather. I haven’t researched the Smith family simply because there are too many Smiths. I have too much other research to do to spend time on the Smith line. Nancy Caroline  Hodges married John Louis Coon, a second great grandfather. Several families connected with the Coon maternal line have tested with Ancestry DNA; so, I have found new cousins through Autosomal DNA testing with Ancestry.  What are New Ancestor Discoveries? These potential new ancestors or relatives who are not already in your family tree.

Ancestry compares our DNA to other Ancestry DNA members who have already constructed family trees. Ancestry DNA, historical records, and family trees are used to find potential new ancestors or relatives. You take the NAD, look at the information for him/her, and see if you recognize the NAD. If you share a significant amount of DNA with several members of a DNA circle, of which you most likely are related to the ancestor in the DNA circle, then Ancestry will show you a New Ancestor Discovery. There isn’t a guarantee that you are related; however, you share significant amounts of DNA with others who are possibly descendants of the ancestor. So, they may be your relative and connected in some way. This is a good way for you to research to see if that person fits in your family somewhere, and you may also connect to a new cousin.

You may be related to the descendant (for which the DNA circle was formed) through one of the collateral line relatives – aunts, uncles, siblings, nieces, nephews, etc. The NAD I recently researched was a new-found cousin through my Coon maternal line. Some of NADs I am successful in finding, proving they are related, then placing in my family tree program.

One NAD that piqued my interest recently, was the one for Isaac L. Quinn. Quinn is a name that I haven’t seen in researching my matrilineal line. So, I clicked on Isaac L. Quinn born 1846 and died 1895 to read the “Are you related to Isaac L. Quinn?” information. That information is put there by Ancestry. I used the information provided by Ancestry to research Isaac L. Quinn, to discover who he was, and why the name was showing up on my Ancestry DNA page.

Soon I discovered that Isaac L. Quinn is a son-in-law of third great aunt Elizabeth “Betsy” Ann Coon and Benjamin Franklin Goodwin. Isaac married Betsy’s daughter Emeline. That was an aha moment when I discovered this new first cousin three times removed. Emeline’s grandparents were Jacob Coon and Nancy (Smith) Coon, my maternal third great grandparents. Cousins who have descended from a common ancestor four to six generations possibly will share inherited DNA. Our common ancestor, proved to be Jacob Coon.

Emeline Coon Quinn now has her place in my family tree. This New Ancestry Discovery was made possible by others having done the genealogical research. The records were available on Ancestry that were used to prove research for Isaac L. Quinn and Emeline.

Working on the New Ancestry Discoveries gave me a break from the DNA Circles that I have worked on for a while. The NADs are another hint that is on Ancestry for genealogists. You must decide if you want to check them out or not. For me, I will go back to them occasionally and see if there possibly are any new relatives waiting to be found.