September 25, 2016. I receive an email notification on Ancestry.com from Patrice Ambeau-Royal, my 3rd cousin, once removed. I did not know she existed and this was my first correspondence with her. You might be saying to yourself, “Well, how do you really know she is your cousin?” The quick answer: Because of two simple sentences that stopped me dead in my tracks:
“Hi, Daisy Fleming was my great grandmother. Just had some questions if you don’t mine.“
I replied back with my phone number hoping she would call me ASAP. Why? Well, in 2010, I had a conversation with my great-grandmother’s brother, the late Earl Fleming, Sr., who told me his father, my 2x great-grandfather, George Arthur Fleming, Jr., affectionately known as “Papa” to the family, had two sisters, Lillian & Daisy Fleming and a brother named Nathaniel.
I continued to ask detailed questions that lead to the following discoveries: Papa was born August 16, 1886 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the only child of George Fleming, Sr. and Malinda Carr. Malinda seems to disappear from the records at a young age and shortly thereafter, George marries a woman named Lucy Kellogg. From that union, another 5 children were born. Aside from the aforementioned, there was also Hamilton Fleming and Florence Fleming.
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| George Fleming, Jr. |
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| Daisy Fleming |
Once Patrice and I started communicating she sent me a picture of Daisy. In return, I sent her a picture of George and we were both stunned. Patrice proceeded to tell me that she contacted my grandmother’s first cousin, Norma Rae, daughter of one of Papa’s son, Raymond Fleming, Sr. I don’t personally know Norma Rae, but I always knew of her. My mother, my aunts and several extended family members know her well. I asked her “how in the world do you know Norma Rae?” She told me that she met Norma Rae through her sister, Ramona because Patrice went to school with Ramona’s sons. I immediately texted my cousin, Raymond Fleming, Jr. He was stunned to hear about this because Norma Rae and Ramona are his sisters and he did not know about Patrice. Patrice said her mother, Lorraine, told her Ramona and her children were their cousins, but they did not know the exact relationship.
While researching, Patrice also discovered that “Daisy” was a nickname. Her birth name was actually Georgiana Fleming!
The DNA evidence
October 31, 2016. Patrice contacted me again to let me know she took Ancestry’s DNA test and her results were in. Once she uploaded her data to Gedmatch, I logged in to analyze her results against my known relatives who tested with 23andme. Raymond was listed as her closest match!!! My mother’s sister, Melvia, was also listed as well as Uncle Earl’s granddaughter, Ratonya Terrell and his sister, Thelma Fleming’s granddaughter, Channa Davis.
In the Gedmatch table below, notice the 4th column labeled “Gen.” It shows that Raymond, Melvia and Ratonya share their most recent common ancestor (MCRA) with Patrice approximately 4 generations ago. Surprisingly, Channa is 7.5 generations from the MCRA which is odd because Melvia, Channa and Ratonya were born in the same generation. My presumption is that Channa simply did not inherit as much DNA from our common ancestor, George, as the other matching relatives.
|
Kit Nbr
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Total cM
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Largest cM
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Gen
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Name
|
|
M738651
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64.3
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26.7
|
3.9
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Raymond Fleming
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M232604
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48.2
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27.2
|
4.1
|
Melvia W
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|
M862900
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45.7
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17.5
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4.1
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Ratonya Terrell
|
|
M288930
|
7
|
7.0
|
7.5
|
Channa Davis
|
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| Partial Descendant Chart for George Fleming |
Clearly, Gedmatch was accurate! Patrice, Channa and Ratonya are all exactly 4 generations from George Fleming, Sr. Raymond Fleming, Jr. is 3 generations away which explains why the comparison between he and Patrice is 3.8 generations from the MCRA.