I love it when a new random distant DNA match leads me on a spiraling journey deep into my tree. Today's new match led me to find a NEW very close ancestor, my half 4th Great Uncle!
Today's DNA hit had folks in New Zealand, so I realized it must be my Cornish line. Something didn't seem quite right in the St Just in Penwith parents, so I did some digging in my files. The Geoff McKee file that documents all the St Just in Penwith families, showed an illegitemate son that I didn't have in my tree.
This child was born just after his Father's first wife died, and before he married again. This son was baptized as Thomas Tonkin (his mother's maiden name), but his Father was James Oats -- and he used the name Thomas Oats after baptism.
This Thomas married a Mary Davey, and their dau Elizabeth Sarah Oats b 1834, ended up emigrating to New Zealand (along with a brother) and marrying a William Francis Alexander. Elizabeth Sarah Oats was my 1st cousin 4x removed. Thus a whole new line of ancestors to follow!
DNA is really the only way to find some of these Cornish folks that "disappear" from England. Their names are often very common, and so tracking down their connections is difficult unless you have a DNA match to prove things. That's exactly the case here, where the DNA match between my Father, Sister, and 1st cousin all connect to this family -- which makes sense as it goes straight up my direct line to our 4th Great Grandfather James Oats.
The descendants of this Oats family really did scatter all across the globe, New Zealand, Australia, Montana, USA, Ireland, etc.
Of course, as with most of my Cornish family - there are intersections all over the place with marriages to other distant cousins up and down this line! Lots of work to do to merge them all together and sort out the descendants!
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