DNA
I wondered what would come of the results of the DNA tests I had done for myself, Big D, mom and dad and my sister in law Chloe.
Yesterday I found a message from a Deanna Watkins in my inbox:
Deanna Watkins
Mar 16, 2017
Hi, it appears we may be second cousins. Please contact me so we can make comparisons. Thank you.
I have gotten these before but never put much weight in them and so my response and the ensuing communication after checking the connection between us went like this.
Me: The DNA test is for my mom. I am her daughter. She is 95 and does not know her dad's family. He was an Alden who had an Ennis in his line. What information do you have on the Ennis family? His mother was an Ennis whose father was James Rose Ennis.
DW: There is a James Ennis, married to Catherine, with a daughter Lydia. Lydia is my great grandmother. They were from Saginaw, Michigan. Lydia's daughter was my grandmother, Marian Martindale, she married Ervind Schjott. They had 5 boys. They ended up in a little town called Bayou La Batre, Alabama.
Me: Yes there was James Rose Ennis married to Catherine Fidelia Reed. They also had a daughter named Sarah Jane who married Delos Alden who was my great grandfather. I believe they stayed in Saginaw as my Grandfather was born there in 1873. His name was Harry Ennes Alden.
Me: Harry actually was quite a character, played piano in NYC, was a gambler winning Billings Montana for a night and lost it the next night. He also was the Band director for Black Jack Pershing against Pancho Villa. He married my gandmother Sabas Grijalva in 1916 in Deming NM. He was a music teacher at UNM in Las Cruces. Also was a piano tuner, piano player, tuba player, violin player. I believe he also led either the symphony or an orchestra in El Paso.
DW: Amazing. I let my subscription to Ancestry expire, but I just received my DNA results. This is all very interesting. So Sarah Jane and Lydia were sisters. How cool is that!
Me after looking at her tree: An interesting side bar...my mother changed her name to Catherine Marion from Catalina Marion.
DW: Do you live in NM? My son was stationed in ABQ when he was in the Air Force. I have a grandson that lives there and his wife's family live there. I visited ABQ a few times and also Santa Fe. I love it out there and plan on visiting, hopefully before this year ends.
DW: I have some interesting news. I was talking to my cousin, Marion. She had found an old letter written by Sabas to Harry in her sister's research. Carol had passed and Marion was going through her papers. She is going to send me a copy. Marion said the letter was hard to read, but that Harry was in the Army in Texas and Sabas was writing him.
End of communication for the day.
Now the last piece of information was quite surprising! Wow!