Tracing Jane McNabb - Part 2
This is part 2 of 3 in a series about tracing Jane McNabb.
Last time, our trail of Jane McNabb had gone cold – there just seemed to be no New Zealand documentation about her; we only knew she was still alive as of 1928 by inference from the list of living children in her father’s death certificate. Was she even still in New Zealand?
My father – a great-grandson of Francis & Catherine McNabb – tested his DNA through MyHeritage. By the way, having your parent test their DNA will give a clearer picture of their ancestors, than testing yourself. You only have half of each parent’s DNA, and the half you don’t have from one parent might have held the vital clues you’re looking for. If your grandparent is alive and willing to help your journey with a DNA test, even better!
One of his higher DNA matches is pictured above. I have blanked out his name and image, because in genealogy we do not publish a living person’s personal data without their express consent. He has not responded to any of my messages – a common occurrence, as many people test out of curiosity and then move on, never logging back in to check for updates.
A DNA match of 153.1 centimorgans (cM) is significant, genealogically; and we would expect to extract useful family information from a match this large. Checking the DNAPainter Shared cM chart, a 153.1cM match is likely to be somewhere between second cousin (2C) and third cousin (3C) but nearer to 2C; – i.e. a common ancestor likely to be 3 or 3.5 generations back; or at most 4 generations back.
Furthermore, this tester’s shared matches also include another known McNabb relative; who descends from a different son of Francis & Catherine McNabb than my father does. So, this tells us that the tester is connected via Francis & Catherine McNabb (as opposed to a different line of my father’s ancestors).
Putting these two facts together: Thelma is very likely to be a descendant of Francis & Catherine McNabb; or if she isn’t, she is almost certainly a descendant of one of Francis or Catherine’s siblings.
With these expectations set from the DNA match size, let’s start to look at his tree. If we can establish 3 generations of ancestors of our DNA match, we should come across a point where his tree intersects with ours. Thankfully, this tester did spend some time entering his ancestors into the site:
His paternal side goes back a few generations, and none of those names look familiar. But who is the mother – Thelma Harries Jack ? Because this tester’s shared matches also include another known McNabb relative, It seems likely she must be connected to the McNabbs somehow.
A little research using New Zealand online genealogy resources tells us that Thelma’s parents were Percy James Jack (1893-1956) and Margaret Caldwell (1892-1984).
If you’ve spotted a clue there already, well done; if not, re-read the opening paragraphs of Part 1 !
Looking into Margaret Caldwell’s parents , they were both emigrants from County Tyrone to Canterbury; not even far from Drumquin. But they do not appear to be connected to the McNabbs. This may seem surprising at first, but it was common: migrants often became friends with other migrants from their home village or county.
How about Percy Jack’s parents? Returning to the New Zealand Historical Births, Deaths and Marriages website - Birth search:
Checking marriage records through the same site:
In fact this marriage is also recorded in the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand marriage registers, occurring 31 December 1891 at St. Peter’s church, Woolston, Christchurch.
The Presbyterian record gives Arabella a middle name of Janet, so we have the parties’ full names as James McKendry Jack and Arabella Janet Melville. (McKendry appears to be a transcription error; other records give his middle name as McKendrick.)
Research on James M. Jack shows that he was born in Glasgow, and came to New Zealand with his parents Peter Jack and Martha McKendrick in 1873. So, he does not seem to be the connection – we’re already too far back to explain a DNA match as large as 153.1 cM.
The connection must, therefore, be Arabella Janet Melville – and as per our original analysis of the significance of a 153.1cM match: Arabella is probably a daughter of Francis & Catherine McNabb; or possibly a niece.
In the third and final part of this series, we will look more closely at Arabella Janet and try to prove our suspicions – that she must be one and the same person as the missing Jane.