Showing posts with label Rhea Martha Priscilla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rhea Martha Priscilla. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

23andMe and Ancesty DNA, trying to track down relationships

I have now done the Ancestry.com and 23andMe DNA. I had hoped it would be more helpful but has yet to meet my expectations. With that being said, it did spur me on to check for a name. Faye, a new"family" member at 23andMe, contacted me to see how we're related.

She sent me a list of family names. The only one I could find was a Collins.

Ida Belle Tyler, my 1st cousin, 2x removed, (meaning, she was the daughter of my great grandmother's sister), married Landon Haynes Collins and had one child, Robert Jesse Collins. Given the relationships, Robert is my 2nd cousin, 1x removed. None of them live in the places Faye mentioned but it didn't stop me from doing a little more research.

Landon's father was Bailey Collins, 1868 - 1897. He is related to me by marriage so that throws off the DNA as far as the Collins goes. However, doing a little more research, I discovered that Bailey Collins married Melissa Rhea. The name was familiar so I did a little more digging.

Melissa Rhea is the daughter of Samuel Rhea. Samuel Rhea is my 1st cousin, 3x removed. I had to figure this one out step by step.

John Elijah Rhea Sr married Febra Northcross. They had 7 children.

Joseph Rhea is the 1st child. He is the father of Samuel who is the father of Melissa who married Bailey Collins.  

Martha Pricilla Rhea is the 3rd child. She is my 3rd great grandmother and married John McCollom. Their son is James Northcross McCollom.

John Elijah Rhea Jr. is the 4th child. He is my 2nd great grandfather. He married Lucy Anderson and their son, John Carter Rhea married Martha Jane McCollom, the daughter of the above mentioned James Northcross McCollom.

This is where I stop because I just can't think about it anymore.


Sunday, March 31, 2013

The more I learn, the worser my family gets

I am trying to get my act together for the trip to Tennessee to track down the missing answers. I think I've read somewhere my gg grandfather was adopted so that's a dead-end although I plan to really check that out. When my mom did the trip in the 1980's, there wasn't as much documentation.

So I hit RootsWeb. I didn't realize that it was possible to search by name, by county. Imagine my surprise when I found these two tidbits. 


Martha Priscilla Rhea
BIOGRAPHY: She was a twin and her twin brother was named Aquilla and they were Herb Doctors. The common talk or story was that one of Priscilla's brother's did not like her husband and had killed him and put him in the river.Her brother helped her raise her twins James and John Jr.

John McCollom
BIOGRAPHY: His occupation was a music master. He died of unknown causes. He disappeared one day and never was found. He probably was taken by Indians who were raiding in the area at that time. As a young man he came and boarded at the Rhea Station, which was south of Sneedville, Tn. and across the Clinch river. It was the first home of the Rhea family. He met his wife Priscilla Rhea at this Station. 

I have a death date (not verified) for John McCollom. Now, it might be bogus and has to be added to the list of questions to answer. The note on RootsWeb does not identify the brother who didn't like John but it leads one to wonder if if might be John Elijah Rhea Jr. His son, John Carter Rhea, married Martha Jane Rhea, the daughter of the twin, James Northcross McCollom.

It took several days to unravel the relationship between Martha Jane Rhea and John Carter Rhea. They were second cousins. Now it gets even more sticky if indeed the brother disposed of Martha Priscilla Rhea's husband and not Indians as the other note suggests. However, the Indian story also holds some merit because Martha and John Elijah's mother was Indian.