DNA Match Leads to Fourth-Great-Grandfather: 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “DNA”

Confirmation Through a Distant Cousin: Isaac White is My Fourth-Great-Grandfather

Isaac White: 1742-1819 (Maternal 4^th Great-Grandfather)
Sarah White: 1795-1880 (Maternal Third Great-Grandmother)
Jacob White: 1791-? (3^rd Great Granduncle)
John Clement White: 1828-1903 (Maternal First Cousin 4x Removed)
Margaret Estella White: 1860-1944 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x Removed)
Mary Irene Farrell: 1892-1979 (Maternal Third Cousin 2x Removed)
MLR: 1928-2022 (Maternal Fourth Cousin 1x Removed and DNA Match)

 

When I get a DNA match notice from Ancestry, I try to connect the match to my family tree. Often that can be a challenge, particularly if the match has no family tree on Ancestry. So I’m always excited to see a match with a tree, and even more excited when Ancestry has identified a possible common ancestor. My  DNA connection to a fourth cousin I will call MLR (she passed away recently so out of courtesy to her family I will use only initials) was just such a match. And MLR’s DNA and tree helped me confirm the identity of my fourth-great-grandfather, Isaac White.

My great-great-grandmother Nancy Ann Herniman was the daughter of James Herniman and his wife Sarah White. The records I uncovered for my third-great-grandmother Sarah White indicated she was the daughter of Isaac White of Somerset, England. However, I was mostly relying on other people’s trees to make that connection. I had limited records to work with. I had found the parish birth and baptism record for Sarah, seen below, so I was reasonably sure I had the right parents for Sarah. Still, I wanted more positive confirmation.

Sarah's 1796 Birth Record in Somerset.

MLR’s family tree led straight back to Isaac White through Sarah White’s brother Jacob. Jacob was born July 24, 1791. His birth record appears below. 

Jacob White's 1791 birth record, between the lines in the middle.

Sarah and Jacob had similar life trajectories. Both married in Somerset in the early nineteenth century. Sarah married James Herniman on March 28, 1819 in Taunton St. Mary. She was twenty-four and James was two or three years younger. I have been unable to find the marriage record for Jacob and his wife Ann Clement, but they seem to have married at least two years earlier than Sarah, for their first child, Mary, was born September 24, 1817. Both couples had several children over the next few years.

Both Jacob and Sarah’s families appeared on the 1841 England Census, residing in Somerset. John Herniman was working as a carpenter, while Jacob White worked as an ostler (worker employed to care for horses, often at inns). At some point following this census, both families decided to emigrate to the United States. Jacob and Sarah’s father, Isaac White, had died August 15, 1819, and their mother, Betty Cox White, had died February 27, 1841. Perhaps these losses freed the siblings from parental obligations, enabling them to consider moving abroad.

Jacob and Ann White and two children appear on the 1850 United States Census living in Dane County, Wisconsin. By the time of the 1860 census, they had moved north to the town of Fountain in Juneau County, Wisconsin. Jacob died there the same year.

James and Sarah Herniman were more difficult to trace. They appeared on an 1855 New York State census living in Grand Island, Erie County, New York. James was farming. None of their children were living with them although Nancy Ann and husband Charles Macbeth were in the same town and a couple other of their children were in Erie County. By the time of the 1860 census, Sarah and James were living in Lawanee, Michigan. James was working as a laborer and had shaved a few years off his age on the census form. They were living next door to their son John Herniman and his family. In addition, their youngest daughter Mary Redick, now the married mother of two, was living with them. By the 1880 census they had relocated to Juneau County, Wisconsin to live with son William and his wife. Sarah died there in 1880, and James died in 1882.

My cousin MLR was descended from Jacob and Ann’s son John Clement White, who remained in Juneau County for much of his life, serving as the chairman of the county board of supervisors thirteen times. He had a daughter named Margaret Estella White, who married a man named Daniel Farrell.

Fountain, Minnesota to Fountain, Wisconsin.

The Farrells relocated to Minnesota. In a strange coincidence, they also settled in a town named Fountain, about 120 miles away from Fountain, Wisconsin where Margaret’s family lived.  Among the Farrells’ children was a daughter named Mary Irene Farrell, born October 3, 1892 in Fountain, Fillmore County, Minnesota. She married Gordon Rowley, and moved to first to Walla Walla, Washington and then to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Mary and Gordon had two daughters, and one of those daughters was my DNA match.

Thanks to this DNA match, I have confirmation that Isaac White is my fourth-great-grandfather, and I have been able to add another branch to my family tree. DNA matches are proving to be a big help in my research.

Sources:

Census records accessed on Ancestry.com.

Birth records accessed on Ancestry.com.

A Tale as Old as Time: 52 Ancestors 2025 “Oldest Story”

Love at First Sight Fades Quickly For Macbeth Teen

Zella Macbeth: 1888-1951 (Maternal First Cousin 1x Removed)
 

Young, impulsive love: truly the world’s oldest story. Sadly, it’s a story that rarely ends happily, and Zella Macbeth’s teen marriage followed that pattern. However, her story was entertaining enough that it attracted plenty of press attention. It had all the elements of a great soap opera: carnival workers, a fast-talking young man who could also play a pretty tune on a calliope, a pretty teen girl, elopement, an angry father tracking down the young couple, and even the police wading in to jail the musical groom. Front page news!

Zella Macbeth was born November 11, 1888, to parents William H. Macbeth and Nettie Houk Macbeth. She was the oldest of their three children, and the only girl. Her parents moved back and forth between a farm property in LeRay Township in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, and a house on South Broad Street in nearby Mankato. William both farmed and worked as a real estate agent. Zella likely attended a one-room school in the country for her elementary education, and then went to high school in Mankato.

In July 1906, when Zella was seventeen years old, a carnival rolled into town. Mankato was a sleepy little city, so the Parker Carnival, with all its games, rides and shows, would have been an exciting diversion. The carnival employed a young New York man, Arthur Franklyn, as a calliope and piano player. Zella attended the carnival and met Arthur, and the two started a romance. The carnival was only in town for a week, so, as one news article stated, “good use had to be made of the time between performances.”

Vintage postcard of a circus calliope--Arthur Franklin would sit inside the calliope wagon to play, and could be seen by his audience.

Apparently, they made very good use of their limited time, for on July 13, Arthur went to the Blue Earth County Clerk’s office and obtained a marriage license. As you can see below, the license had a few “errors”. Firstly, despite Zella’s birth record and all other records on which she appeared showing her first name as “Zella”, the marriage license lists her as “Catherine Macbeth”. Secondly, while Arthur’s age is correctly listed as 28, his intended wife’s age is listed as twenty, three years older than Zella’s true age.

According to press accounts, Arthur and Zella “quietly sought a prominent divine, Rev. George W. Davis, pastor of the aristocratic First Presbyterian church. He quickly made them husband and wife, and then they sought the handsome home of the bride.”  The news reporters tended to exaggerate the Macbeths’ wealth. Their home was hardly in the ritzy part of town. It was nice, but not “handsome” and certainly not a mansion.

Broad Street just a block from the Macbeth House, circa 1910.

Predictably, William Macbeth was not pleased to be presented with a carnival musician for a son-in-law. One news report said he gave the couple “a marble heart” and “ordered Franklin to leave the city “on pain of arrest for perjury” due to the lies on the marriage license.

Franklin left the Macbeth house, but remained in the city, donning some sort of disguise. Zella and her brother Ralph drove downtown the next day, and the young couple spotted one another. The newspaper said “she at once flew to his side, while her younger brother pleaded with her to return.”

Ralph went home to get his father, who charged downtown, grabbed a policeman, and demanded that the officer arrest Franklin. The poor policeman refused to make an arrest without a warrant, so William, Zella, Franklin and a “great crowd of curious people” descended on City Hall. One article said the carnival even sent their lawyer over to defend Franklin. While the situation was ripe for a brawl, saner heads prevailed and an arrangement was worked out. Zella was sent home with her parents, and Franklin was ordered to head out with the carnival on their next stops in South Dakota and Canada. When the show returned to Minnesota in three weeks’ time, the young bride would be allowed to join her new husband.

Some of the articles were over the top. Here is a section from the Mankato Daily Review:

“Miss Macbeth saw Doc Franklin, and Doc looked at her. He was playing away in his faultless style when she confused him in his part, something which had never occurred before. There followed a short courtship, not exactly approved of by Lord and Lady Macbeth of Mankato, and they showed they did not carry their name in vain when they caused Doc to be arrested before the carnival was to leave town.”

Some news accounts had a tearful Zella begging the police officers to lock her up with her husband—that she could not bear to be parted from him. I suspect the actual scene was not quite as dramatic as that.

After three weeks, the couple was reunited in either Mankato, Brainerd, or St. Cloud, Minnesota, depending on which news account is to be believed. The Daily Review described it as follows:

“St. Cloud was the place where the lovers were united Sunday. Doc grinned yesterday when he was accosted by the Journal Press man and asked how he liked married life….[Doc responded] ‘I went from the church to the jail, and from the jail to heaven. It was a long trip by way of Sioux Falls, Winnipeg and Brainerd, but I found the heaven in St. Cloud.’  Mrs. Macbeth (sic) was radian and happy. A letter…from her father’s lawyer did not affect her in the least…that her father had changed his will, and his daughter Catherine was absolutely disinherited. But the music of the calliope sounds better to Mrs. Franklin than the jingle of silver…”

Zella apparently performed in the carnival in some fashion.  The Daily Review reported on August 7 that “Mrs. Franklin is taking part in one of the attractions and made her debut at St. Cloud Monday night. It is said she is not pleased with show life and is somewhat homesick.”

The bloom was off the rose of teen passion after just four weeks. It is unclear how long Zella remained on the road with Arthur. The Minneapolis Journal reported on Zella’s divorce petition on June 26, 1908.

“Judge Pfau has granted a divorce to Mrs. Zella Franklin (note that this is the first news article to use her real name of Zella rather than Catherine) from her husband, Arthur Franklin, on the ground of desertion and non-support, and she is allowed to resume her maiden name of Zella Macbeth. They were married in this city two years ago, after a few days’ acquaintance…Two months later, it is alleged, Franklin deserted his wife, who comes from a well-known family.”

So what happened to Zella following her divorce? A 1908 Mankato City Directory shows her living with her parents at 326 South Broad and working as a nurse. But by the 1910 census she had changed professions. She was still living at home but was now an actress in the theater industry. I found an article from an October 13, 1911, Mankato newspaper titled “Miss Zella Macbeth Meets with Success”. It stated that she “began her stage career three years ago. She studied at a theatrical school in Chicago for six months…” The article goes on to list some of her theater credits and reported that she was the leading lady in a touring show of a musical comedy called “The Girl from Bohemia” which would play in Mankato later that year.

I believe Zella started out performing under her middle name, Helen, as a Helen Macbeth appeared in a comedy at Garrick’s Theater in Chicago in May of 1909, around the time she would have completed theatrical school in the same city. She appears on records following 1909 as both Zella and Helen.

Zella disappears from records for a few years following the 1911 article. She married a man named Herbert Williams and they had a daughter, Jean Williams, around 1916. I have found no marriage or census records for them. The couple seem to have moved fairly frequently. According to census data, Jean was born in California. By the time Zella’s father William died March 23, 1931, the obituary listed survivors as Mrs. H. Williams of Detroit, Michigan. Another newspaper stated she was living in Toronto, Canada.

Zella, calling herself Helen Williams, appeared on the 1940 census living in in the Broad Street house in Mankato with her widowed mother and daughter Jean. Zella stated she was a widow and was retired, so Herbert Williams had died sometime prior to 1940. Zella had also shaved several years off her age; she stated she was 46 but in reality was nearly 52. The census record also noted that Zella and Jean had been living in London, England in 1935. Jean, then 24 years old in 1940, was working as a dental nurse in a dental office.

Zella made only one last appearance in the records, at her death on April 1, 1951. She died in a Long Beach California hospital, and had been living at 330 West Ocean Boulevard, a beachfront apartment highrise. Her obituary appeared in the Long Beach Press-Telegram, and continued Zella’s fictions about her life. She was listed as Helen Macbeth Williams, not Zella, and her age was given as 52 when she was actually 63. Her mother Nettie and daughter Jean were listed as survivors living in Mankato.

Headstone image from Findagrave. Photo by RB Hall-Gallea and MS Gallea.

Zella’s body was returned to Minnesota. She was buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Mankato near her parents. Her headstone lists her true name, Zella M Williams, and her true birthdate of 1888.

Sources:

“Surprise and Trouble.” Mankato Daily Review. Mankato, MN. Jul 14, 1906.

“Groom Did Not Leave City”. Mankato Daily Review. Mankato, MN. Jul 16, 1906

“Street Carnival Yields a Romance.” Minneapolis Journal. Minneapolis, MN. Jul 17, 1906.

“Sudden: Mankato Couple Become Acquainted, Wed and Separate All in One Week.” Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Minneapolis, MN. Jul 18, 1906.

Item on Franklins. Mankato Daily Review. Mankato, MN. Aug 7, 1906.

“Lovers United at St. Cloud.” Mankato Daily Review reprint of St. Cloud Journal-Press article. Mankato, MN. Aug 9, 1906

“Married in Haste”. Minneapolis Journal. Minneapolis, MN. Jun 26, 1908.

“Miss Zella Macbeth Meets With Success.” Mankato Daily Review. Mankato, MN. Oct. 13, 1911.

“Macbeth Funeral Will Be Saturday”. Mankato Free Press, Mankato MN, Mar 26, 1931.

Obituary for Mrs. Helen Macbeth Williams. Long Beach Press-Telegram. Long Beach, CA. Apr 3, 1951.

Catherine and Zella Macbeth: Two People or Just One? 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “Big Mistake”

 

Changing Names, Changing Places: The Mixed-Up Macbeths

William H. Macbeth: 1855-1931 (Maternal Great-granduncle)
Zella Helen Macbeth: 1888-1951 (Maternal First Cousin 2x Removed)
Catherine Macbeth: 1888-? (Maternal First Cousin 2x Removed)

Several years ago, I was conducting some family history research at the Blue Earth County Historical Society in Mankato. The Society maintains a wonderful archive of local newspapers from the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, and a card catalog-type index of surnames. Among the names I was researching were my great-grandfather Walter Macbeth’s numerous siblings, including William H. Macbeth. When I searched for him, I discovered an amazing set of news articles about the elopement of a young woman, Catherine Macbeth, in 1906. Catherine was listed in the articles as the daughter of William H. Macbeth of Broad Street in Mankato, Minnesota. She had run off with a calliope player in a traveling carnival. Her father did not react well to his little girl running off with a carney. The press had a field day. The society volunteer who was helping me print the articles was reading them and laughing, saying this was far more entertaining than the usual articles she helped researchers print! I had to agree!

I took my treasure trove of articles home, eager to research wild young Catherine Macbeth. But I immediately hit a snag. My great-granduncle never had a daughter named Catherine. His daughter’s name was Zella. She was the same age as the mysterious Catherine, and my William and his daughter Zella lived on Broad Street in Mankato on the 1910 census. I could only find one record for Catherine Macbeth: her marriage license. Then she simply vanishes in the records.

Marriage License for Arthur Franklyn and Catherine Macbeth, dated July 13, 1906

I was baffled. Were there two young women living on Broad Street in Mankato with two different fathers named William Macbeth? Had the newspapers made a mistake about the young girl’s name? Did the Calliope Man falsify her name on the marriage license, along with her age? (He told the county clerk she was twenty, but she was barely seventeen.) I threw up my hands and made a rookie mistake: I added both Zella and Catherine to my tree, listing both as the daughters of William H. Macbeth. I probably led multiple other researchers down a bad path if they copied my tree. This year, I was determined to find the truth about Calliope Catherine and fix my big mistakes.

I started by looking for birth records and found them confusing. I could find no birth records for a Catherine Macbeth anywhere in Blue Earth County, Minnesota from 1880 to 1900. However, FamilySearch had an indexed birth record for Zella Macbeth, showing the birthdate of November 11, 1888 and a birthplace of Blue Earth County, Minnesota. This date corresponded to the birthdate on her death and burial records. However, the parents were listed on the index as August and Celia Macbeth. Who were they? I couldn’t find either parent anywhere on any Blue Earth County records, or anywhere else in Minnesota. I suspected a transcription error, so I went in search of the actual record image. I had to scroll through 1,957 microfilm images on Family Search to find the hand-written birth records for LeRay Township in 1888. I discovered the children’s names were written on one page of the ledger, and the parents on the facing page.

Zella's 1888 birth record

 The microfilms of the facing pages didn’t match up perfectly, so the indexer had connected the wrong parents to Zella—William and Nettie’s names appear above August and Celia’s, whose actual surname seems to have been Bescue. I finally had proof that Zella Macbeth had been born to William and Nettie Macbeth on November 11, 1888.

William and Nettie appear above August and Celia in birth ledger facing page.

Next I needed to prove that William, Nettie and Zella Macbeth lived on South Broad Street in 1906. Property and residence records were also confusing. William and his wife Nettie seem to have moved back and forth from rural Blue Earth County to Ward 4 in the city of Mankato. The 1895 Minnesota State Census shows William and his family, including Zella, living in Mankato’s 4^th Ward. Yet the 1900 census has them living back on their farm in LeRay township. The 1904 Mankato City Directory lists William as living in rural Eagle Lake/LeRay Township. But by 1906, when Catherine/Zella elopes, they are living at 326 South Broad Street in Mankato’s 4^th Ward. 

1910 Census record showing William, Nettie, Zella and sons Ralph and Donald living at 326 South Broad, Mankato, MN

The 1910 census still has them on Broad Street, but now William’s occupation has changed from farmer to real estate agent. Perhaps they owned both the farm and the Broad Street property, and moved back and forth, or perhaps the extended Macbeth family owned one or both properties. But I was able to confirm that William was on Broad Street in 1906.

I found the final piece of proof that Zella Macbeth and Catherine Macbeth were the same person when I found newspaper articles reporting her divorce from Arthur Franklyn/Franklin, the calliope man. The article states that following her divorce, “she is allowed to resume her maiden name of Zella Macbeth.”

I discovered that I had made further errors in Zella’s entry on my Ancestry tree. I erroneously linked her to second and third husbands in Wisconsin, when the actual wife of those men was a different Zella Macbeth—I made the mistake of thinking her name was fairly unique, when in the early 1900s it was not.

I determined that Zella did remarry once, and had a daughter, but since she and her husband Herbert Williams moved frequently and lived abroad in both Canada and England, I didn’t find the expected census and birth records in the United States.

Zella Macbeth’s entry on my tree now has correct information. I have proved that despite several newspapers claiming the name of the bride was Catherine Macbeth, Zella Macbeth was the actual seventeen-year-old who eloped with a carnival calliope player she’d met just days earlier. William H. Macbeth had only one daughter—Catherine Macbeth did not exist.

Zella’s full story is well worth writing about, so I will provide the details of this age-old story of impulsive love gone bad in my next blog post.

Sources:

Marriage License Arthur Franklyn and Catherine Macbeth. July 13, 1906. "Blue Earth, Minnesota, United States records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939Z-B2SW-1D?view=index : Apr 4, 2025), image 1931 of 2144; Minnesota. County Court (Blue Earth County).

“Married in Haste.” (Article detailing Zella Franklin’s divorce.) Minneapolis Journal. Minneapolis, MN. June 26, 1908 edition. Accessed via Newspapers.com.