RootsChat.Com

My daughter and I have both done the Ancestry DNA test. Needless to say we share many DNA matches, but what is unexpected is that the number of cM for those matches is often more for my daughter than for me. I would have expected (maybe naively) that the number of cMs matched would be either the same as for me, or less. The result has been that where I have sorted the matches into groups on the basis of their shared matches, it is sometimes the case that there are several members of the group that have shown up on her list but not on mine as presumably they are below the 8cM limit for me.

Is this just down to random errors? Does anyone know what the error bar is on DNA matches? Is this a common state of affairs? Or is my test somehow flawed?

One of the minor brick walls in my research into the Oakey family of Grimley concerns the following.

William Oakey (b. 1827) was the son of William Oakey and Mary Berrow. On the 3rd November 1850, according to the Grimley parish records (and the IGI), he married Betsy Bishop Pender.

In the 1851 census they are in Grimley (Hannah is either Betsy's mother or maybe grandmother):

Hannah Bishop, 66, widow, cake maker, b. Grimley
William Oakey, son in law, 24, farm labourer, b. Grimley
Betsy Oakey, wife, 19, gloveress, b. Grimley

In 1851 they had a daughter, Betsy Emily Oakey (chr. 3rd August 1851; also on BMD). In 1859 however William died, and in the 1861 census Betsy and her daughter are living with her brother (maybe) William Bishop in Coucher's Cottages. in St John's in Worcester.

William Bishop, head, 40, married, labourer, b. Grimley
Elizabeth Bishop, wife, 28, married, gloveress, b. Bromyard
Elizabeth Grubb, daughter, 20, married, gloveress, b. Bromyard
Betsy Oakey, visitor, 28, widow, b. Grimley
Betsy E. Oakey, visitor, 9, scholar, b. Grimley

After that: nothing. Or at least nothing that I can find out for certain.

Betsy senior seems to vanish completely. As does her daughter. In the 1881 census the only Elizabeth of the right age born in Grimley is an Elizabeth Weaver; she's already married to William Weaver in 1871, and is indeed listed as Betsy Weaver, but I can't find any record of a Weaver marrying an Oakey.

Anybody got any ideas where these two might have vanished to? All helpful suggestions gratefully received!

Does anyone know if the 1891 census for Greenwich has any missing areas, either in the actual census taking or in the Ancestry indexing of it. I have so far failed to find Robert J. Slatter, b. 1869; any of his siblings, namely William James Slatter b. 1871, Frederick George Slatter 1873, Arthur Henry Slatter 1878, Annie Maria Slatter 1879, and James Crew Slatter 1884; his mother Rosina Slatter (also called Rose or Rosanna on occasions); and for that matter his bride to be Lena Bigel, depite the fact that they are all in Greenwich in both 1881 (at Dodd's Corner) and 1901 (on Trafalgar Street). Has anyone got any ideas?

We'd like to find John Insull in the 1841 census. He was born in Hartlebury in about 1835 and his parents were Samuel and Sarah. We'd be particularly interested in whether he had a brother William, about 10 years older. There are of course several variations in the spelling of Insull (Insoll, Insole, Incell, Insool even) though Insull is his most common one in later life.

Just to complicate matters we know there is another John Insull born in Hartlebury in about 1838, whose parents were Richard and Hannah. At this stage we're not interested in him, though he definitely had a brother William as well.

If some kind person could find him for us we'd be eternally grateful. I should point out we have already tracked him (and his possible brother) in all the censuses after that so it's only the 1841 we need now.

Thanks in advance