Events in My Family Tree: February 10

This list includes two Sellers siblings, one of whom died on the birthdate of the other.

Births

Charles Augustus Sellers, son of Thomas Sellers and Elizabeth Schellemberger, was born February 10, 1827, possibly in Sellersville (yes, it's named after my family), Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  He is my 2nd cousin 4x removed.

Jonathan Franklin Easlick, son of Jonathan Easlick and Susannah Sever, was born February 10, 1877, possibly in New Jersey.  He is my 2nd cousin 2x removed on my Gauntt line through the Easlicks.

Clayton Ezra Major, son of Clayton Major and Ida May Lippincott, was born February 10, 1903 in New Jersey.  He is my 1st cousin 3x removed via the Lippincotts.

Janet Elaine Perlman, daughter of Morton Eli Perlman and Doris Bash, was born February 10, 1950 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.  She is my 2nd cousin once removed on my Nowicki line through the Perlmans.

David Michael Allen, son of Clarence Allen and Grace Stagnato, was born February 10, 1953.  He is my 5th cousin once removed on my Gauntt line through the Allens.

Steven E. Gaunt, son of Frank E. Gaunt and Judith M. Dittzenberger, was born February 10, 1955.  He is my 6th cousin once removed.

Tomas Eduardo Cabaniel was born February 10, 1983 in Caracas, Venezuela.  He is married to Jessica Gabriel Hoffmann, who is my 4th cousin once removed on my Meckler line.

Connor Gabriel Speir Kent was born February 10, 2004 in the independent city of Virginia Beach, Virginia.  He is my grandnephew.

Marriage

Adam Stump and Lydia Longanecker, daughter of Daniel Longanecker and Sarah Mack, were married on February 10, 1841.  Lydia is my 3rd cousin 5x removed via the Macks.

Deaths

Anne Johnson died February 10, 1788, probably in Pennsylvania.  She was married to John Sellers, son of Philip Henry Söller and Catharina, who is my 5th great-grandfather.

Lydia Sellers, daughter of Abraham Sellers and Sophia Bodder, also died February 10, 1788, probably in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, at the age of 2 years and 3 months.  She is my 3rd great-grandaunt.

Susannah Webb died February 10, 1865 at the age of 68 in Tuckerton, Burlington County, New Jersey.  She was married to Isaac Gaunt, son of Hananiah Gaunt and Rebecca Mulliner, who is my 3rd great-granduncle.

Catharine Sellers, daughter of Thomas Sellers and Elizabeth Schellenberger, died February 10, 1901 at the age of 76, probably in Pennsylvania.  She is my 2nd cousin 4x removed and the sister of Charles August Sellers, included above in the births.

James Owen Gaynor, son of John Francis Gaynor and Josephine O'Connor, died February 10, 1971 at the age of 69 in Moorestown, Burlington County, New Jersey.  He is the granduncle of my half-sister Laurie Sellers.

Beatrice Roll, daughter of Harry Roll and Anna Roll (her parents were 1st cousins), died February 10, 1998 at the age of 76, probably in Staten Island, Richmond County, New York.  She is my maternal grandaunt.

I'm Apparently a Sellers via Informal Adoption

During my extended search for my grandfather's birth record, one of the reasons I continued to try after being rebuffed by the New Jersey State Archives multiple times was, of course, to verify and document his birth date.  But another reason was that I had begun to wonder who his father actually was.

You see, my grandfather had a younger brother, George Moore Sellers.  I was told by their younger sister that George (who actually went by "Dickie") was named after my great-grandfather Cornelius Elmer Sellers' stepfather, George W. Moore, because Elmer loved his stepfather so much.

I had that little factoid filed away in the back of my brain for several years before I suddenly wondered why, if Elmer loved his stepfather so much, did he name his *second* son after the man, and not his first son?  From that it was an easy step to wonder if maybe Dickie actually had been Elmer's first son.

When my sister finally acquired a copy of my grandfather's birth record, it did not resolve the question, as no father was listed.  The fact that my great-grandmother filed an amended birth certificate 37 years later and listed Elmer as the father seemed a little too convenient, as poor Elmer had been dead for 22 years and really couldn't argue about the issue.

It occurred to me that this was a great way to use DNA testing to resolve a question.  I already had the results of my father's Y-DNA test (Y-DNA being the test for the male sex chromosome, passed down from father to son).  I just needed to find a straight male-line descendant of Dickie and convince him to have a test done.  This was even one of the wishes I had in my Dear Genea-Santa letter.

I was lucky in that Dickie had two sons and they each had sons.  I found most of them through online searches and was able to talk one of my cousins into doing the Y-DNA test (which I of course offered to pay for).

And the big news is here.  I received the results of the Y-DNA test for my cousin (grandson of my grandfather's brother) a few days ago.  If the Y-DNA for two men matches, they have to descend from the same male ancestor at some point in the past.  If it does not match, they do not descend from the same man.

After comparing my father's and my cousin's Y-DNA, the conclusion is that Dickie and my grandfather absolutely do not descend from the same man.  My grandfather's biological father was not Cornelius Elmer Sellers, and my family line became Sellerses by informal adoption.  When Elmer married Laura Armstrong, he accepted her 7-month-old son by another man, and as far as I know raised him as his own.  There are no stories in my family that my grandfather (or any of his siblings) ever knew that Elmer was not his biological father.

Speaking of Y-DNA, another reason this didn't come as a big surprise to me is that with more than 1,000 matches at 12 markers, my father has no matches with anyone named Sellers.  My cousin who just took the Y-DNA test?  At 37 markers he has eight matches, five of whom are Sellers.

So I think researching my adoptive Sellers family line back to 1615 is far enough, and I probably won't do too much Sellers research anymore.  On the other hand, now I have to try to figure out just who Grampa's biological father actually was.  And maybe I'll find out that the 12% Irish that Ancestry.com's DNA test claimed for me is actually true.  (Of course, that test also said I'm less than 1% English, when one of my great-grandmothers immigrated here from England and her family is traceable in the Manchester area for five generations.  So I still don't trust the "cocktail party conversation.")

There are some things I'll miss about the Sellers line.  Now I know that I'm not a descendant of Alexander Mack, the founder of the Church of the Brethren (Dunkers); of Justus Fox, a printer in 18th-century Philadelphia who knew Benjamin Franklin; or of Franklin P. Sellers and his son Cornelius Godshalk Sellers, both printers and editors.  And I can't claim Sellersville anymore.  But I'll be sharing all the research I've done with the cousins I've been contacting and letting them know about the rich heritage that's part of the Sellers name.

Wordless Wednesday