John Safford and his wife, Eleanor (O’Neal) were my fourth great grandparents. The mystery behind the identity of Eleanor’s mother has been a focal point in my family research since 2019. Who was she? Where did she come from? My efforts to find Eleanor’s mother through records were unavailing, so my goal is to generate her profile, using the tools of genetic genealogy!
Eleanor’s Origins
In 1820, Eleanor’s father, Mitchell O’Neal (1770 – 1846) lived in Mississippi, along with his second wife and their children. In 1830, Mitchell lived in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana as a widower. Census records indicate that Eleanor was born about 1825 and presumably in Rapides Parish, where I found record of her father.
Mississippi Court Records, 1799 – 1835
It is likely that Mitchell’s wife passed away before 1825, as she would have been 50 years old and therefore, unlikely to have been Eleanor’s mother.
When the Paper Trail Ends
While comparing shared DNA matches with my Safford cousins on AncestryDNA, a regional and familial pattern began to develop. Using pedigree triangulation, I discovered that our shared DNA matches have deep roots in Catahoula Parish, La. Eleanor’s husband was from Massachusetts, so it raises the question: Was Eleanor’s mother from Catahoula Parish?
Eleanor and her husband raised their family in Catahoula Parish (within the dashed border-line).
The Catahoula Parish DNA matches were identified in two separate Triangulation Groups, each consisting of six individuals that crossmatch with each other. After a thorough process of elimination among potential related families, I discovered a bottleneck in shared lineage to a common ancestral couple that were pioneers of Catahoula Parish.
Follow the DNA Markers
The genetic network from Catahoula Parish led me to wonder: Was Eleanor’s mother the daughter of the Paul family? A thorough process of elimination revealed a possible connection.
Sarah Paul was accounted for in the 1810 and 1820 census records. While her sisters moved on in marriage, Sarah appears absent in further records. Was Sarah Paul the third wife of Mitchell O’Neal, and passed away before the 1830 census?
A letter dated September 25th, 1823, from Nicholas Leavens to his stepdaughter, Mary (Fowler) Metzger, in Pennsylvania. The letter informs her of family matters, including the death of her sister, Sarah (Fowler) Paul – mother of Sarah Paul. Courtesy of Wilson Family Tree Album Blog
To sum it up: Shared DNA matching and pedigree triangulation revealed a genetic pathway, essentially tracking the DNA markers that were conveyed (like footprints on a trail) by our Genetic Ancestors. Perhaps mitochondrial DNA is the genetic route marker essential to verifying the autosomal DNA pathway?
Target Testing
Eleanor O’Neal is my Direct Maternal Ancestor. Her mother’s mitochondrial DNA was passed down from mother to child in maternal line of descent, eight generations to me.
Finding a direct maternal descendant among the Paul sisters proved challenging, so I pivoted my search to the Fowler sisters of the previous generation, as they carried the same mtDNA sequence. After a week of extensive research, I located a direct maternal descendant of Mary Fowler Metzger (mentioned in the letter from 1823) and, as luck would have it, she agreed to take the mtDNA test for comparison!
Six weeks after ordering the mtDNA test kit, the results appeared in the Family Tree DNA database. And.. It was an Exact Match!!
The legacy of Sarah Paul was absent from historical records and oral traditions, yet timeless as a puzzle coded in DNA.
Matrilineage Decoded
The genetic profiling of Sarah Paul (1803 – abt. 1828) required tenacity and patience while deciphering the patterns of a genetic puzzle. This project was accomplished over a span of six years, using DNA evidence with precision to support the conclusion.
“Allow the evidence to tell the story, because the evidence will tell the truth.”
– CSI: Miami
