If we could choose the time
Here on this day in March 2020 when the United States wreaks havoc with the circadian rhythms of its citizens by setting the clocks forward an hour, the question arose on Facebook: to what time would we set the clocks if we could set them to any time we wanted?
A genealogy friend chose the early days of 1884 when she could meet her great grandmother Addie, born in August 1883, and Addie’s great grandmother Lois who died in March 1884.1
Another responded she would set the clock back to 1897 to be able to warn her great great grandmother not to marry the charming man 14 years her junior.2
The Legal Genealogist is hard-pressed to choose a single time to set that magical clock.
Should I pick April 1855 when my great grandfather Hermann was baptized in Germany… and his mother declined to tell the pastor of the Lutheran Church who the father was?3
Or a time a little earlier when my third great grandmother Margaret was born so I’d know if her mama was her daddy’s first wife or his second wife?4
Or perhaps a time in the early 1800s when my scoundrel second great grandfather George would have been with his parents and so couldn’t have told one of his many fibs about where he’d come from?5
Or a time in the late 1700s when somebody somewhere would have known the origins of our Fore family and whether we actually are descended from the Faures of Manakintown, Virginia?6
Or the middle of the 1700s when my fifth great grandfather Noel was born so I could meet his mother and determine whether I’m right in suspecting that she was a free woman of color?7
Or any of the many many times in the 1600s or 1700s when an ancestor could have told me where in England, Scotland, or Wales the family actually came from?
So many choices — almost too much to choose from — but no matter which one I chose, the one thing I’d want to make sure I could carry with me would be a DNA test.
Getting the answer to a genealogical question by being able to turn that magical clock back would be enormously great fun. But being able to prove it by having genetic evidence that supports the conclusion we’re drawing from the surviving fragmentary records is the right one — now that would truly be magical.
So here on this DNA Sunday, when we’re all readjusting our circadian rhythms, a question for you: if we had that magical clock and could set it to any time we want, when would you set it to and who would you DNA test?
Cite/link to this post: Judy G. Russell, “Setting the clock,” The Legal Genealogist (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : posted 8 Mar 2020).
SOURCES
- See status update, Jennifer Armstrong Zinck, posted 8 March 2020, Facebook.com. ↩
- Ibid., comment of Yvette Hoitink. ↩
- See generally Judy G. Russell, “Friedrike, how COULD you?,” The Legal Genealogist, posted 7 Jan 2012 (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : accessed 8 Mar 2020). ↩
- See ibid., “Why chase that mtDNA,” posted 23 June 2019. ↩
- See ibid., “How many Georges?,” posted 6 Aug 2016. ↩
- See ibid., “Down home Alabama,” posted 11 Mar 2019. I’m working on the question of his mama… ↩
I would go back in time to the moment that my Reuben M Johnston married Olivia Jane Jones in 1889 and have them both tested. And while I’m at it, I’d Y-DNA test on Reuben and Olivia’s brother, Thomas W Jones. And the final question I’d ask Rueben “where did his mother and father came from in South Carolina?”
We need to compare notes. I have Johnsons and Johnstons (distinct lines) on both my paternal and maternal sides. They lived in adjoining counties, but different states — Mecklenburg, NC, and York, SC. I know from pre-1850 census records that there are missing family members (names unknown), some of whom likely “went west.” Perhaps we should see if we have any matching DNA. I’ll send an e-mail to the address listed on your web page.
I would go back to the time my father was born on June 10 in 1905 when I could meet and test him, his mother and the doctor who delivered him and signed his birth certificate. Since this doctor is now proven via DNA to be my grandfather, did he use artificial insemination (and did she know he was the father) or was it an affair. My second choice would be to test this grandmother’s father any time during his life and ask who his parents were and where they lived in Germany.
I would go back to Illinois in July of 1920 to see which sister went for a ride with the smooth-talking Studebaker salesman one summer night. And the salesman (yes, the proverbial traveling salesman) would be the one I’d make take the DNA test. The two sisters and the salesman and his brother, who lived next door to the sisters, are the most likely candidates for my maternal grandparents. Neither of the brothers and the most likely sister ever had any known children. The other sister had one daughter, who keeps promising to use the DNA kits I’ve sent her, but hasn’t done it. Fortunately, their other sibs had plenty of children, so I’ve been able to narrow it down to these four people, but I may never know exactly which two it was.
I’d set it back to 1635 when my ancestor John Bayles (Baily, Bayly, etc.) disembarked from the ship Trulove of London and set foot on “American” shores. I want to ask him many questions starting with who his parents and ancestors were and where he was born. I want to know why he left England and if he was glad to be here. So many questions, so many answers desired.
I would go to Montreal sometime between 1854 and 1871 so I could find out from two of my great-great-grandfathers (Joseph Dearborn Dresser and Archibald McClosky) who their parents were, and when and where they were born.
Responding mostly because I also have Fore in my family in Virginia, on my father’s side. My 4th great-grandmother is Elizabeth Fore (1795-1852) who married Charles Penick in 1817 in Prince Edward County. Her parents I have down as Charles Fore and Mary Lavinia Anderson but don’t currently have much information about them — mostly because it’s been many years since I looked at that part of my tree.
I’d turn the clock to 10 January 1921 to prevent the 1890 census fire. That is why I know that time travel will never be invented. Because someone would have already done that by now if it ever is invented.
Brilliant!