I haven't blogged in a while but the research has been ongoing and I have broke through many brick walls. Let's start with my father's family:
My father's was raised by his stepfather, John Keys and his mother Vera. John's mother was Lillie Duck(s)worth and her father was John Duck(s)worth. There were four Duckworth brothers, usually referred to as the Big Four. Two names immediately caught my attention, Isom and John. I have always wondered if our John was "the" John of the Big Four. However I could not find any other information on him. Through my own DNA tests I have found out that I am related to the Duckworth since I pulled several Duckworth matches but I couldn't figure out how until I came across the 1940's census which listed Vera, her mother Mamie and sisters living with John in Mississippi but they were listed as cousins to the head of the household John. Now I had proof that I was not only related to John Keys by blood but also to the Duckworth family as well through him. Recently through the help of a new cousin, I have come to understand that this branch of my family is long and complicated. Vera's maternal grandmother is also a Duckworth....Anna Duckworth was the daughter of Isom and Jane Keys. It will be an interesting journey to trace this side of the family.
The Windham branch of the family is also very interesting in that some believe the American branch can be traced to the English branch, which is connected to royalty. I have seen a few extremely detailed trees leading to the Plantagenet family on paper but the DNA proof will most likely never be found.
Now my mother's side is also interesting. My mother is 97% African and 3% European. Her European has already directed me to matches who have traced some of their connections to the Visigoths! Her results are still new and there are new matches everyday. One of her first matches that I noticed was really astounding in the fact that the person is directly descended from my dads Duckworth ancestors but she only shares DNA with my mom. It seems that my maternal genealogy research is going to take me on a wild adventure and I am looking forward to it!.
