DNA Mystery

[AmandaSoutter]

Hi Everyone,

I'm fairly new to DNA ancestry, moat of my research has been through family and historical records. Anyway, my parents and I alp did DNA tests and my dad's was the main interest as I have hit a brick wall.

My ancestor Arthur Head Souter, was based born in Plumpton 1799. At some point John Souter took him in and raised him as his son. John is a mystery of his own, he's untraceable before his marriage in 1773  in Plumpton.

Anyway, my father's DNA test showed 2 Souter matches with family links to  Amberly,West Sussex. Suggesting my dad was there 5x cousin ( one shares 21.4‎ cM of DNA and the other 15.4‎ cM of DNA) I've gone back but cannot find a family link and now I'm not sure where to go from here. My father is the last male alive of his line so I can't ask anyone else. His line since John Souter has been known East Sussex with no known links to West Sussex.

Can anyone offer any advice on where to go from here?
Many thanks

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

I would suggest it's worth downloading the results you have and uploading them to other  sites such as gedmatch, myheritage, MyLivingDNA and myFTDNA. That way the results will be compared against others that you may never otherwise see and many of the sites also allow tree hosting so you may find some clues through those too.

The more distant the relationship to someone the more likely it is that they won't actually share DNA even though there is a biological link, matches to someone where the common ancestor is 5 or 6 generations back is possible but anything beyond that is a bit hit and miss as the chance of sharing dna drops away dramatically. It might well be the case that you are around that sort of level and going further back could be difficult but it's impossible to say for certain. 

[LizzieL]

Was Arthur Head Souter a blood relative of John Souter or did he just take John Souter's surname when he was adopted?

[AmandaSoutter]

As far as I know he was blood but I have only confirmed that with DNA cousins. The records show he was base born as Arthur Head in St Michael's Plumpton Sussex record's. But almost immediately he was with John and his wife being raised as his son. I have suspicions he could have been John's or one of his children's  child as a few years before a girl was born in similar circumstances, father listed as Master Souter  but I haven't been able to trace her further. 

As I said John is a mystery, no idea where born, he turns up in 1773 marrying Elizabeth Heath of Lewes. His family stayed in Streat/Plumpton area but I'm not 100% when he died. I believe it was 1810 in Wivelsfield as the area and dates add up. I believe he may have married twice again not 100% sure.

I thought I would investigate DNA matches as I'm stuck with physical records

[LizzieL]

There is a marriage between an Anne Henley and a John Souter of Plumpton on 27 May 1788 in her parish of Little Horsted. It doesn't say he was a widower, but often that's not recorded. Do you know when Elizabeth died?

[LizzieL]

It could well be coincidence that your father's DNA links to people with Souter ancestors. I have ancestors from around Amberley, so checked my DNA matches for Sowter / Souter. I have two whose current surname is not Souter but are also descended from Souters of Amberley. I also have another Souter descendant who links back to Souters of Forfarshire Scotland. I don't believe my link with any of these is through their Souter families, especially not the Scottish one. I just mention this to illustrate that your matches with Souter descendants may not be through that line.
John Souter and Elizabeth Heath had several children, have you traced a definite link to descendents of theirs? If Arthur was a natural son of John Souter with a Miss Head, them John and Elizabeth's children would be Arthur's half siblings. i did see that Ann Souter married a Mr Weston (occ hairdresser ) and had at least two children.

[brigidmac]

When You say the dna matches are 5th cousins do you mean they go back 5 generations

Or could it be 5th  cousin level which could also be 2nd or 3rd cousins 2 or 3 times removed .

It's common  to find people who are biologically different generations even when similarl age range 

[AmandaSoutter]

It said parents 4th cousin on both.

[brigidmac]

I did the randomname search test too and found 2. 5th-8th cousinevel may he's who had Sussex SOUTER s on their trees

One linked back to 1710  john SOUTER  of West Grinstead  .
Coincidentally   according to that tree the son was born in Scotland and the grandson in Carolina USA



It might be worth doing a location search for matches on your father's side