Kym and I are real fans of Skip Gates's PBS series Finding Your Roots. We never miss an episode.

And we've become fascinated by his genealogy crew, who often use a combination of paper trail and DNA evidence to confirm or point the way when their research into program guests hits a brick wall in the search for a previous generation.

The availability of online records has provided a real boom for the present-day genealogy research, but the explosion of available DNA data has opened up tools and avenues of exploration by amateurs like us, helping us break through our own bricks.

My own search for the grandparents of Josiah Todd (1778-1853), is a case in point. 

I've used a combination of painstaking research into genealogical records to narrow the field, but DNA matches have provided leads in some instances, while in other instances DNA data has confirmed hunches--even to the point of helping me to build a strong case for the identity of my mysterious ancestors: the parents of Josiah's father, Thomas Todd, my 3xGGgrandfather. 

In this blog, I'll walk through what the DNA evidence leads tell me, and then I'll narrow the field even further by revealing what the genealogical records reveal about who Thomas Todd's mother, my 4xGGgrandmother, may well be.

(In the following blog, I'll do the same for the identity of Thomas Todd's father, my 4xGGgrandfather.)

DNA Evidence for the family of my 4xGGgrandmother, Thomas Todd’s mother

My DNA research, all autosomal since Y-DNA doesn’t track matrilineal lines, produces a convincing number of shared identical DNA segments with uploaded DNA kits on GEDmatch.com from descendants of Capt. Thomas Todd Sr (1619-1675) and Anne Lovelace Gorsuch (1638-1694). These shared segments  are with 15 living, confirmed descendants from Todd+Gorsuch sons Thomas Todd Jr (eight living descendants with shared identical segments totaling 220.5 cM) and William Todd (seven identified living descendants with shared identical segments totaling 215 cM), for a total 435.5 cM. (To be clear, this number represents the aggregate of ALL matching segments with me from all 15 descendants. But subtracting the 57.9 cM overlapping shared segments still produces 377.6 cM of unique matches with me by living Todd+Gorsuch descendants.)

Here’s the breakdown of identical segments with the living descendants of the two Todd+Gorsuch sons, revealing two identical triangulated segments in five instances with two varying descendants: one pair matching mine on my Chromosome 2, one matching pair on my Chromosome 12, one pair on my Chromosome 21, two matching pairs on my Chromosome 22. To clarify, these identical segments on each chromosome recur for three living descendants, including me.

I also share three identical “triangulated” segments in six instances with varying living descendants of Todd+Gorsuch sons: one triple match to a segment on my Chromosome 1, a triple match on Chromosome 2, a triple match on my Chromosome 10, a triple match on my Chromosome 15, a triple match on my Chromosome 17, and a triple match on my Chromosome 20. To clarify, these identical segments on each chromosome recur for four  living descendants, including me.

Among these matches, I share a total of 53.4 cM with a 9th great-granddaughter of Thomas Todd Jr (son of Todd+Gorsuch) and a total of 41.6 cM with a 10thgreat-granddaughter of Thomas Todd Jr. I also share a total of 46.5 cM with an 8th GGranddaughter of William Todd (another son of Todd+Gorsuch), a total of 42.2 cM with a 9th GGranddaughter descending on a different line of descendants of William Todd, and a total of 38.8 cM with another 8thGGranddaughter of William Todd.

Tracing the family trees for the six above higher-shared matches with descendants reveals no other recognized divergent surnames other than the Todd+Gorsuch line. (I did the same for all the other descendants as well and with the same results: no other recognized divergent surnames other than the Todd+Gorsuch line.) 

Additionally, I share identical segments on Chromosomes 2, 5, 10, 11, 15, 19, and 20 with three living descendants through a separate Gorsuch line descending directly from Anne Lovelace Gorsuch’s parents John Gorsuch and Anne Lovelace. This line is via great-granddaughter Elizabeth (Gorsuch) Howard. Eight of the identified 15 living descendants of the Todd+Gorsuch sons included in my pool also share these same identical segments.

All the shared segments with living descendants of the Todd+Gorsuch sons for whom I have documentation suggest my 4xGGgrandmother, the grandmother of Josiah Todd, is an unidentified daughter of Thomas Todd Sr and Anne Lovelace Gorsuch, one who has no officially recorded offspring that I can find in official records.

But which daughter? According to the paper trail, the Todd+Gorsuch couple had eight children, including the following four (maybe five? See below) daughters:

Ann Todd (1658 to sometime between 1684 and 1694). Born and died in Baltimore MD; documented as living at home in 1669, when her father Capt. Thomas and family officially emigrated to MD; still lived at home in 1677; married Miles Gibson in 1677. 

My 3xGGgrandfather Thomas Todd has a presumed birthdate between 1710 and 1715, so Ann is only a candidate if our Thomas was born much earlier: if Ann died between age 26 (1684) and age 36 (1694), then she could have been the mother in or before that window.

          Frances Todd (1669 to possibly as late as 1706, per VA Mag 25.1: 85-86). Born in Gloucester VA; died in Baltimore, MD. Included under head of household Thomas Todd Sr in 1677 when the family officially emigrated to MD. (He already had land holdings in both VA and MD.) Frances appears in Thomas’s will of 1677 in MD and again in stepfather David Jones’s will of 1686 for 230 acres from his “dwelling plantation.” No record she ever married. 

Since my 3xGGgrandfather Thomas Todd has a presumed birthdate between 1710 and 1715, Frances would have been at most 37 at time of her death if 1706. So a likely candidate for mother of my 3x GGgrandfather Thomas if he were born slightly earlier than supposed.

          Johanna Todd (1669-1686). Came to VA in 1669 with father Thomas Sr and in his will of 1677 in MD. Died at age 17. So not a candidate unless the range of dates for my 3xGGfather Thomas are very much in error.

      Averilla Todd (birth date before 1669 and died prior to 1700). Came with father Thomas Sr to VA in 1669. She appears in her father’s will of 1677 in MD. In stepfather David Jones’s will of 1686, she received 250 acres from his “dwelling plantation.” Died before 1700 when recorded rent goes to her brother James alone. Approximate age at death was likely about 30. 

Averilla may be a candidate for my 4GGgrandmother if my 3xGGgrandfather Thomas was born prior to 1700.

       ??? Elizabeth Todd Kennedy (1670-1743?). Born in Baltimore, MD; died in Augusta, VA. 
This presumed daughter is problematic. No records reference or mention this presumed “daughter” of Thomas Todd Sr and Anne Lovelace Gorsuch among any primary Todd documents. And the reported death date of 1743 only appears on one WikiTree profile and one Ancestry.com profile—both managed by the same researcher. The 1743 death date pertains to an Elizabeth Todd buried in Scotland only two days after supposedly dying in Virginia. So we have no certain end date for this presumed daughter. However, the nine discovered living descendants of this line nonetheless share many DNA segments with me and with the other descendants of Thomas Todd Jr and William Todd, both confirmed sons of Todd+Gorsuch.

I have discounted this person as a candidate because of the lack of historical documentation connecting her to Thomas Todd Sr and Anne Lovelace Gorsuch..

Frances Todd seems the most likely candidate, with Averilla Todd as a less likely possibility as well, as the mother of my 3xGGgrandfather Thomas Todd, and paternal great-grandmother of Josiah Todd.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here are links to the WikiTree profiles for the key ancestors I discuss above, including documentation and sources.

Josiah Todd
(my great-great-grandfather)

Josiah's parents:Thomas Todd -- if born before 1706 (my 3xGGgrandfather)Charity Hardy (my 3xGGgrandmother)

       Thomas Todd's rerouted matrilineal line, per DNA and genealogical findings:

Frances Todd, Thomas's proposed mother (my 4xGGgrandmother)Thomas Todd Sr, Thomas's maternal grandfather
(my 5xGGgranfather)Anne Lovelace Gorsuch, Thomas's maternal grandmother
(my 5xxGGgrandmother)