Tag Archives: Genealogy Proof Series

Genealogy Proof Series – Creating Genealogy Proof Tables

Posted on by
5

This is the fifth article in the Genealogy Proof Series.

For maximum advantage, I recommend reading these articles in publication order.

In earlier articles, we’ve detailed how to gather resources for specific locations, how and where to search for surnames and the process of extracting and recording information from those sources.

Now, it’s time to use that information and assemble it in a logical way to provide “proof” that the person by the name of “John Smith,” or whoever you’re seeking, is actually YOUR John Smith.

I use a technique that I call Genealogy Proof Tables. We will cover two types here. You’ll need the first one to complete the second one.

Genealogy Proof Tables

Genealogy proof tables have two purposes:

  • Individual Proof Tables – For an individual ancestor, to compile the various pieces of evidence to prove a connection to their parent or parents and their child or children.
  • Lineage Proof Table – Evidence for an entire lineage, proving connections between all of the individuals in the lineage, one by one in both directions. For a lineage proof table we prove a connection to the parent and also to the descendant that is your ancestor for each generation.

Please note that sometimes you actually wind up disproving a relationship, or realizing you need more information, but that’s equally as important. Nothing worse than wasting time by barking up the wrong tree.

A genealogy proof table is a working document that can be used to focus on each ancestor in every ancestral line. What’s included in a proof table varies by which records are available, the timeframe and circumstances.

You may want to prepare proof tables to help yourself focus and evaluate your data. Proof tables can be sent to someone who asks questions like:

  • How do you know that?
  • What is your proof?
  • What are your sources to identify John as the son of George?

People should be asking those questions, and researchers should be able to answer them. You need to answer them for yourself for your own ancestors, even if no one asks.

The answer to these questions may well be that you’re still working on “proof,” but you’ll at least want to have documented everything available to date. For me, doing these exercises helps me think about what’s still missing and looking for additional sources if I actually don’t have “proof.”

Generally, I create a proof table for a specific ancestor, which I then roll up into a comprehensive proof table for the line. This approach helps me identify which pieces of evidence are conclusive and which ones are not.

The purpose of a proof table is to compile and rank information about that ancestor’s connection to their parents, including negative evidence. It’s not meant to be “everything I know” about that ancestor, just the things that relate to proving that this ancestor is in FACT the child of his parent or parents.

What is Proof?

Isn’t this the question of the ages for genealogists? I wrote an article, Ancestors: What Constitutes Proof?, here. In that article, I’ve provided a list of what isn’t proof and some challenges you may face.

Aside from what I’ll term normal genealogy roadblocks to be overcome, there are other challenges as well.

For example, you can have a birth certificate, a death certificate, a will, and personal knowledge that a person lived with their parents – but that child could have been adopted, or the father might not have been the biological father.

In this case, paper proof, no matter how compelling, isn’t actual proof. It can prove the identity of the person, but alone, cannot prove a biological relationship connection.

Sometimes, DNA evidence outweighs everything else, but without DNA evidence, paper proof is the closest we can get. The BCG defines the Genealogical Proof Standard, here.

We need our evidence to be as conclusive as possible.

What does Conclusive Mean?

Conclusive evidence means that any other evidence cannot reliably contradict it, or it’s so strong that it overbears any other evidence. (Thank you Bar Prep Hero.)

In a nutshell, that’s your goal – and all evidence is not created equal.

Evidence is Weighted

Some evidence is better or more solid than other evidence.

Furthermore, sometimes one single piece of evidence isn’t conclusive, but multiple pieces of evidence, taken together, create a body of work and are considered a “preponderance of evidence.” Having said that, I often cringe when I hear that term because sometimes it means there really isn’t good evidence or not enough research has been done.

How good is good enough? You can only work with what’s available and what you have. Unfortunately, one cannot unburn the courthouse!

Sometimes, you’ll need to use DNA evidence. From my perspective, you ALWAYS need to utilize DNA evidence to confirm at least the closest generations.

By closest, I mean that second cousins or closer always match, and you can often reliably use autosomal DNA within, minimally, 5 or 6 generations, but circumstances vary.

Many times I have solid matches to descendants of ancestors 9 or 10 generations in the past, but as you can see in this graphic created by Dr. Paul Maier at FamilyTreeDNA, beginning at eight generations, you may not inherit any DNA from a particular ancestor. Of course, to match someone else, you both need to have inherited the same DNA segment(s) from that ancestor.

You can almost always use Y-DNA to establish relationships beyond what autosomal can confirm, but with both Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA, you need someone who is appropriately descended from the ancestor in question, as illustrated in this three-generation chart. Sometimes, you need two people descended from that ancestor, preferably through different children, because their Y-DNA or mitochondrial DNA needs to match.

Every situation is different.

How Much Evidence is Enough?

It depends.

Enough for what?

  • Enough to prove that your parent is the child of their parents?
  • Enough to prove to yourself that you’re searching in the right ancestral line?
  • Enough to prove that this John Doe is the same John Doe that moved from Virginia to someplace else, or conversely, the John Doe in Missouri is the one who moved from Virginia?
  • Enough to quality for a lineage society?

Again, from my perspective, enough is not enough until you have looked at every piece of evidence that even MIGHT be relevant for that ancestor.

Essentially, all of this is a bit fluid, so let’s look at an example.

Individual Proof Table

Let’s begin with a proof table for one person.

I’m going to create a proof table to attempt to prove that my paternal grandfather, William George Estes, is the son of Lazarus Estes and Elizabeth Vannoy.

I’ll be using actual documents and information from my files.

If you want to read my 52 Ancestors articles about these people, you can find William George Estes, here, Lazarus Estes, here, and Elizabeth Vannoy, here. I’m not specifically trying to prove that my father, William Sterling Estes, is the son of William George Estes, but some documents cover both men – plus, there’s the possibility of same-name confusion, given that both of their first names are William. I swear, every generation in this family has both Johns and Williams.

To begin, there are a few mandatory categories on every chart. For example, I always use the census when it’s available. You should include these categories even if you don’t have evidence for them, because it reminds you if you’ve searched and the search came up with nothing.

Some categories would be expanded, such as Organizational Societies. For example, if there’s a separate History and Genealogy Society for that county, you would want to check both, as well as the local library and regional or state organizations.

You’ll notice that I’ve assigned a weight to each piece of evidence. Weighting is subjective. Aunt Margaret was the daughter of Wiliam George Estes, so she should know – but often, she didn’t provide any source, like a document or Bible, and she was a bit “eccentric.” In some circumstances, I might weigh what she provided as a 5, but in the first item, I only gave it a 4 because she provided other dates that I found to be erroneous. Memories do fail people.

Red items are direct, confirming evidence of the relationship and that the William George Estes, my grandfather, is the same William George Estes who is the son of Lazarus Estes. Names are spelled or misspelled the way they are in the original source.

William George Estes Information Source Weight (1-5) Comments
Birth March 30, 1873 Aunt Margaret 4 Birth certificates not available in 1873
Father Lazarus Estes
Mother Elizabeth Vannoy
Identity of Parents From letters and discussions 1980s, 1990s Aunt Margaret, Aunt Minnie, children and grandchildren of William G. Estes 5 They knew their grandparents
1880 Census Wm. G. Estis age 7, listed with parents Lazarus and Elisibeth Estis, and siblings, including sister Cornie Claiborne County, TN Dist 8, page 107 on Ancestry 5 Family lives between William G.’s future wife’s uncles
1890 Census destroyed
Marriage Ollie Bolton, Sept 26, 1892. Claiborne County Marriage Index, page 382 5 No parents given
1900 census William G. age 27, with wife, Ollie, and two children Claiborne County, TN Dist 8, page 113 5 Lives next door to Lazarus and Elizabeth Estes and next to his sister Cornie and her husband
1910 census Age 38, with Ollie and two children, Estle and Robert Claiborne County, Civil Dist 4 5 Lives beside sister Cornie and her husband, three houses from Lazarus
Home Location – 1913 Family photos taken in 1913 and labeled “Fowler” Provided by Margaret 5 Written on the back of the family pictures
Home Location Fowler, Indiana Sept 1915 Newspaper article 5 Sons Wm. and Joe ran away and were returned to parents in Fowler
William G. Estes’s divorce from Ollie Fowler, Indiana Aunt Margaret 3 Ollie caught him cheating with her cousin Joyce Hatfield, who was visiting them in Indiana
Divorce from Ollie Unknown, maybe 1916 or 1917 Inferred
Children William S. and Joe “run away” to their grandparents 1915/1916 Fowler, Indiana to Claiborne County, TN Aunt Margaret’s letter, Uncle George, 1915 newspaper articles stated that they tried to run away but got caught 5 Margaret said that when William G. and Ollie divorced,  neither wanted sons Wm. and Joe, 13 and 11, and the boys jumped trains to make their way back to their grandparents, Lazarus and Elizabeth
William George returned to Claiborne County 1916/1917 ish Uncle George Estes, family historian 5 Lazarus was furious when William G. returned after cheating on Ollie and abandoning the boys and threw William G. out of Estes Holler
Move to Harlan County, KY After being thrown out of Estes Holler when he and Ollie divorced Uncle George, Aunt Margaret, Estel’s daughter 5 Settled in Harlan County, KY, just over the border from Claiborne Co., TN
Divorce from Ollie Unknown, about 1916/1917ish Fowler, Ind newspaper August 30, 1917 2 Ollie listed without Wm G and as visiting where she used to live
Marriage Joyce Hatfield, unknown if or when/where married Census, daughter Virginia’s birth Nov. 1918. 3 Inferred, no document found
Child Irene’s Death* August 1, 1916 – Irene Estes, mother Joyce Fury Shawnee, Claiborne Co., TN Informant of the death of daughter, Irenia.

*Please note that this has since been disproven. This William B. Estes who married Josie Fury is not our William G. Estes who married Joicie Hatfield.
Military/draft Registration – signed Sept. 12, 1918, gives birthdate as March 30, 1873 Tazewell, Claiborne County, TN 5 Wife is listed Joisce Estes.
1920 census Age 47, lives with Joise and daughter Virginia Claiborne Civil District 4 5 Future third wife, Crosha Brewer, and her child are living with them as lodgers
Divorce Joice Hatfield Unknown, approx 1921 or 1922 inferred Based on Crosha’s children’s ages
Son William S. Estes’s marriage to Martha Dodder Dec. 12, 1921 Calhoun County, MI 5 Parents are given as Ollie Estes and W. G. Estes
Wm G. Estes child with Croshia Brewer Josephine born March 19, 1923 Springdale, Arkansas 5 Birth certificate, death certificate, census
William George Estes Marriage Croshia Louise Brewer, Feb. 3, 1925, Wise County, VA VA Marriage Registers, page 171 5 Parents given as Lazarus & Elizabeth Estes
1930 census Cannot find the family
1940 census Age 67, living with Crochie and their 2 daughters Harlan Co., KY Lynch dist 5
1940s or 50s Photo with “his sister Cornie” and also one with “Worth Epperson” Claiborne County, TN 5 Photo is labeled and provided by Cornie’s family, who knew him
1950 census 76, lives with Crocie, daughter and boarder Harlan County, KY 5 My mother visited William G. and Crocie with my father in the 1950s.
Cornie Estes Epperson’s 1958 death certificate Born June 22, 1878 to Lazarus Estes and Betty Vannoy, age 79, died Feb. 18, 1958 Death Certificate 5 Correlates to census dates and other data indicating she is the daughter of Lazarus and sister of William G.
Cornie Epperson Obituary Gives Will Estes, of Lynch, KY as her brother. Newspaper clipping 4 Does not give her paents
William Sterling Estes obituary Aug. 28, 1963, Star Press in Muncie, Indiana, page 3 Residence Dunkirk, IN 4 Lists surviving father as W. G. Estes, Cumberland, KY
William George Estes’s death Nov 29, 1971, lived in Harlan Co., KY Kentucky Death Index 5 Parents not given
Obituary Parents not given, living children include Estil, Virginia, Margaret, and Minnie, their locations provided Nov. 30, 1971, Middlesboro Tribune 4 His nephew, Cornie Estes Epperson’s son, Kermit Epperson is a pallbearer
Social Security Claims Index for William G. Jan. 15, 1972 claim, birth 1873 Ancestry 5 SS # given, but no parents given
Social Security Claims Index for my father, William Sterling Estes No claim filed
Will No, rechecked film at FamilySearch 7-8-2024.
Legal No, checked court index in Harlan County
Land Tax No tax lists
Personal Tax No tax lists
Deeds Yes, 1915 deed from Lazarus to Cornie and Worth Epperson where they must pay his other heirs Claiborne County deed book, in person 5 Cornie Estes Epperson to pay William Estes $120
William George Estes signed receipt and release On July 22, 1957, Will signed on the edge of the above deed, releasing the claim on the deed and stating that the $120 had been paid. 5 Confirms his relationship to Lazarus Estes and Cornie Estes Epperson
Sibling Documents Have not looked extensively beyond Cornie
Newspapers Need to revisit when Claiborne County, TN newspapers are digitized
Organizational Searches such as Historical Societies Have not looked recently, need to recheck local libraries
DNA ThruLines to John Y. Estes, father of Lazarus Estes Ancestry 5 Proven via 35 cousin connections to Lazarus’s parents through 3 of John’s siblings
DNA Lazarus Estes ThruLines at Ancestry through Lazarus’s children Ancestry 5 20 matches, 9 through William George, 7 through Cornie, 5 through Charlie Thomas Estes
DNA at FamilyTreeDNA My autosomal matches to Buster Estes, Lazarus’s grandson FamilyTreeDNA 5 Including 556 matches in common and many triangulated segments to descendants of Wm. G., Lazarus, John Y. Estes and upstream ancestors
Other Relationship to wives and children Letters from Aunt Margaret 3 or 4 Clearly states relationship of William G. and Lazarus
Other Relationship to wives and children Letters from William G. to my father 3 or 4 Clearly states relationship of William G. with his siblings and family members

Some types of information are notably unreliable. For example, obituaries may omit people or confuse relationships. William George Estes’s obituary omits his daughter and incorrectly notes her husband, his son-in-law, as William’s child.

Death certificates often give parents incorrectly, especially the mother’s birth surname.

The names of parents in both obituaries and on death certificates are often third-hand information provided by people who are at least two generations removed and are under significant stress at that time. My mother’s obituary was republished two times due to errors made AFTER I provided correct information.

We have several pieces of information that strongly suggest that the William George Estes who was born to Lazarus Estes and Elizabeth Vannoy is the same William George Estes that married Ollie Bolton, but there’s more.

We know for sure that William Estes, who married Croshie/Crosha Brewer, is the same person because his parents are given in the county marriage record book. This is first-hand information and judged to be more reliable because we can reasonably expect that William George knew who his parents were, or at least who they were supposed to be.

If we discount entirely the fact that my aunts personally knew Lazarus as their grandfather, and look only at the paper evidence, we just need to tie William George in his later life to the same William George in his earlier life.

Here’s a photo passed from William George’s daughters to me. Cornie Epperson’s grandchildren had this same photo showing William George Estes with his sister, Cornie Epperson.

Here’s another with Will Estes and Cornie’s husband, Worth Epperson.

Cornie’s children told many stories about their Uncle Will, who rode the bus from Harlan County to Claiborne County, as he didn’t drive. The legendary favorite story was about the time that Will had a bullet in his shirt pocket. It accidentally got mixed into his pipe tobacco, which he put into his pipe and was smoking on the bus.

Yes, the bullet blew up. No one was hurt, and miraculously, the driver didn’t crash. Nevertheless, Will was banished from riding the bus forever thereafter.

That story alone connects the William George Estes living in Lynch, in Harlan County, as the same person, as do his children from all three wives. So do letters from my aunt to family members discussing several people involved, and letters from Will himself in the early 1960s detailing some pretty spicy antics.

However, we’re looking for more than oral history. What other documents do we have?

The Smoking Deed

This deed serves, in essence, as the will of Lazarus Estes and his wife, both of whom conveyed this deed.

Thankfully, it identifies both Cornie and William as their heirs, along with several other children, although it never actually states that the people mentioned are their children. The census confirms that these people, Cornie and William George, along with Martha (Estes) Norris, Charlie Estes, and Lum (James Columbus) Estes mentioned, are their children.

If you’re still wondering if William George Estes is their son, notice the release of lien, stamped on the upper left-hand side of the page decades later, in 1957, with his signature.

This signature matches Will’s other handwriting on letters that he sent in the 1960s, in my possession, and on my father’s delayed birth certificate signed in 1952.

This document provides their relationship, the type of evidence submitted, and both of their addresses and signatures. Evidence doesn’t get much better than this.

For additional signature confirmation, William G. signed his 1918 draft registration in Claiborne County. In Harlan County, KY, in 1957, he signed the delayed birth certificate for his son, Estle, who was born in Springdale, Arkansas, in November of 1894.

When Evidence Isn’t Conclusive

Unfortunately, this situation happens often, especially with generations further back in time where less information is available. Let’s look at an example.

Genealogists tried for years, decades actually, to identify the parents of John R. Estes.

His son was named John Y. Estes.

No one knew what the R. stood for, nor what the Y. stood for. Truthfully, we still don’t, at least not for sure.

Here’s what was said:

  • John R. Estes’s mother was Mary Younger, who was married to George Estes. This claim was made because John R.’s son was named John Y. Estes, the Y. standing for “Younger.” That was the hypothesis, but it was stated as fact.
  • The middle initial R in John R. Estes stands for Regan or Reagan because his grandson, John Reagan Estes, son of John Y. Estes, was “named for his grandfather.” This was told to me by his grandchildren who were living in the early 1990s, as information they were told.

I fully understand why one would think those are possibilities or why conclusions might be drawn. They are clearly possibilities, but without additional evidence, that’s all they are. Eventually, that possibility begins to be passed along as a fact. Then, people don’t want to question what was passed down from “people who should know.”

So, let me play devil’s advocate here.

The Y in John Y. could stand for any number of things. For example, the surname Yancey is also found in Halifax County, Virginia. Y could have come from anyplace. At that point in time, we were searching for the parents of John R. Estes, so Mary Younger seemed to make sense.

Having said that, we now know that John Y. Estes’s grandmother WAS Mary Younger, BUT, that does NOT mean that the Y. stands for Younger, nor does it serve as any kind of concrete evidence.

Might it stand for Younger? Yes, of course. But the Y itself serves only as a potential hint.

Can you use it for evidence? Nope, not without more information. I’ve searched high and low, so if you find “Younger” in a reliable record for this man, by all means, let me know. While confirmation would be wonderful, we really don’t NEED to know like we do with Reagan.

John Reagan Estes (1871-1960), the son of John Y. Estes, could well have been named for his grandfather, John R. Estes (1787-1885). John was his father’s first name as well as his grandfather’s. That does NOT mean that that Reagan was John R. Estes’s middle name. We have no idea where Reagan comes from. If I had a letter from John Reagan’s mother or sister, for example, saying John Reagan was named for his grandpa Estes, who was also named John Reagan, that would be evidence because we have a contemporaneous source and know the information wasn’t assumed or constructed later to “fit” the question about John R. Estes’s middle name.

I have dug for years for any Reagan connection to the Estes line, or to the wives’ lines in upstream generations in Virginia, hoping to prove that Reagan genealogical connection. I have never found it, although that clearly doesn’t mean it’s not there. For all we know, Reagan could have been the name of the preacher or the doctor who delivered someone. It may or may not have anything to do with John R. Estes, and even if it does, Reagan may not be an ancestral surname.

So, if you’re taking yourself down the path of ascribing too much weight to information that may or may not be evidence – don’t. What you can do that’s beneficial is more research. If you think the Y or the R might be a hint, DIG!!! You just might find that evidence. If you haven’t utilized the new FamilySearch full-text AI search, by all means, do. These are the perfect types of situations to research using this amazing tool.

Treat everything as a hint, but it’s not evidence until it’s confirmed.

While we’ve since proven that, indeed, John R. Estes is the son of Mary Younger using other types of evidence, the middle initial R. and the middle name Reagan two generations later still is and may remain a mystery.

In the Weeds

At this point, you might be thinking that we are SO FAR DOWN IN THE WEEDS, and you’d be right, but the answers to our specific question are found here.

Our original goal was to prove that William George Estes was the son of Lazarus Estes and Elizabeth Vannoy.

The items bolded in red in the Individual Proof Table for William George Estes, above, individually and certainly cumulatively “prove” that relationship, as far as a paper trail can go.

The other information, especially taken together, supports that and, more importantly, does not dispute or provide contradictory or conflicting evidence about any of the other evidence. In other words, we have concensus.

Lineage Proof Table

The table below is designed to document the proof that the individual listed under the name column is, in fact, the child of the father and mother below. Other information from the Individual Proof Table that we completed above is omitted because it’s not needed in a Lineage Proof Table.

The Proof rows between the child and their parents are the proof, or the best evidence we have, that connects the child conclusively to the parent or parents. Sometimes that proof can arrive indirectly, such as a sibling’s obituary that lists your ancestor as their sibling – allowing you to connect the sibling who died and your ancestor both to their parents through the census or other documents.

Proof listed will vary and could be personal knowledge (someone you knew within your lifetime), a Bible, a will, a deed, an obituary, a church baptismal document, a pension application, census records, and more.

The best proof, of course, is multiple contemporaneous pieces of evidence.

Proof can also be negative proof. For example, if there was a will but this person was missing, that should be noted. However, that alone is NOT negative proof, as sometimes a child who had already received their inheritance was not mentioned. It does need to be listed because, when combined with other evidence, it may become very important. So is the wording of the will. For example, does it say “all my children,” but omit the person you’re searching for?

Proofs also must take into consideration things like individuals with the same name. In other words, we need to prove that THAT particular John was the son of THAT particular George.

There are times when one must dig deeply as well as far and wide, using siblings and the FAN (friends and neighbors) methodology to reveal a nugget or put enough information together from multiple sources to prove a relationship collectively. For example, I have found proof two generations downstream in Virginia chancery suits that detail the descendants of someone who died and left a will two or three generations earlier.

If this Lineage Proof Table was for my own use, I would utilize a spreadsheet, and I would provide links and more detailed information. For ease of use in this article, I’ve constructed a chart here.

The entire purpose of this lineage document is to unquestionably connect the generations. If these proofs are strong and unquestionable, the only piece of evidence that could upend all of them, together, is an unknown DNA event where a parent or parents are not the individuals reflected in the non-genetic proofs.

Name Birth & Loc Death & Loc Father Mother DNA Confirmed
Me William Sterling Estes Separate lineage proof for mother’s line Father confirmed via paternal half-sister’s children and cousins’ autosomal DNA matches..
Proof My birth certificate, newspaper announcements
Proof Father’s obituary
Proof Social Security application after my father’s death
Proof Personal knowledge, photos, and memories
Proof DNA match at the expected level to my half-sister’s descendants and our upstream Estes relatives
William Sterling Estes Oct. 1, 1902 or 3, Tazewell, TN Aug. 27, 1963, Jay County, IN William George Estes 1873-1971 Ollie Bolton 1874-1955 Autosomal DNA matches to multiple Estes cousins & half-sister’s children
Proof Census and newspaper articles identifying my father as his parents’ child
Proof My father’s marriage license, personal knowledge, and his delayed birth certificate
Proof Death certificate and obituary
Proof Aunts’ knowledge and family letters
William George Estes March 30, 1873, Tazewell, TN Nov. 29, 1971, Harlan Co., KY Lazarus Estes 1845-1916/1918 Elizabeth Vannoy 1846-1918 Autosomal DNA triangulated to multiple descendants of both Lazarus Estes and Elizabeth Vannoy.
Proof Deed to Worth and Cornie Epperson where Lazarus lists William George Estes as one of his heirs – Claiborne Co., Deed Book M2, page 371.
Proof Various censuses showing parents and siblings, including sister Cornie Estes Epperson
Proof Marriage license to Crocie Brewer lists his parents
Proof Cousin George Estes knew these people and was at the funeral of Lazarus when he was a child, plus Aunt Margaret’s letters
Lazarus Estes May 1845, Claiborne Co., TN 1916-1918, Claiborne Co., TN John Y. Estes 1818-1895 Rutha Dodson 1820-1903 Y-DNA confirmed to haplogroup of Moses Estes, autosomal triangulated to descendants of Lazarus and Elizabeth and upstream ancestors through multiple matches.
Proof 1850 and 1860 census with his parents, 1870 census where he lives one house from parents with wife and children, 1880 census where his wife is still living a few houses from his parents, with their children, and John is found in Montague Co., TX
Proof October 1865 deed where John Y. Estes deeds all his possessions to his eldest son, Lazarus. Claiborne Co., Deed book B1, page 37
John Y. Estes December 29, 1818, Halifax Co., VA Sept. 19, 1895, Montague Co., TX John R. Estes 1785/88-1885 Nancy Ann Moore c 1785-1860/1870 Y-DNA confirmed through multiple sons. Autosomal triangulates to several descendants through multiple lines of other children.
Proof Personal written knowledge of Claiborne County attorney, P. G. Fulkerson, published in the local newspaper who listed parents, wife, siblings, and children of John Y. Estes and wife and children of John R. Estes
Proof John R. Estes signed as a witness for John Y. Estes in 1865 when he deeded goods to son Lazarus “for natural love and affection.” In 1850 census John R. Estes lives near sons Jechonias and John Y. Estes
Proof John Y. Estes’s and John R. Estes’s death conveyed in letters between family in Claiborne County, TN, Texas, and Oklahoma
John R. Estes 1785-1788, Halifax Co., VA May 1885, Claiborne Co., TN George Estes 1763-1869 Mary Younger  ~1775-1820/1830 Y-DNA confirmed through multiple lines. Autosomal confirmed triangulation of multiple lines of his children and his ancestors. Descendants’ DNA triangulates to that of Nancy Ann Moore’s ancestors.
Proof Halifax County 1812 personal property tax list where John R. Estes is listed as the son of George Estes and lives next to him.
Proof Halifax Co., VA chancery suit dealing with property of Moses Estes, father of George Estes, lists John R. and his wife’s name and location in Tennessee as Moses’s descendants.
Proof War of 1812 pension application
George Estes Feb. 3, 1763, Amelia Co., VA July 1859, Halifax Co., VA Moses Estes Jr. 1742-1813 Luremia Combs c1742-1820/1830 Y-DNA haplogroup descended from Moses Estes Sr. 1711-1787 and autosomal from his maternal and paternal lines, both.

I’ll stop here because you clearly understand the process. If I were applying for membership in a lineage society, I would simply continue this chart until I reached the individual in question. In this example, George Estes is a Revolutionary War soldier, so I could apply for DAR membership, assuming I meet their various criteria.

Another aid in documenting your ancestors is lineage organizations and their records, but keep in mind that their evidence, especially that submitted decades ago, may not be sufficient today.

DNA Confirmation

DNA can either confirm this relationship, even without a paper trail, or conversely, it can burn it all down.

The closer in time a DNA relationship is, the more likely you’ll be able to confirm it using autosomal DNA.

Sometimes, Y-DNA is a consideration, and it certainly would be in this circumstance, except that I’m not a male, and we don’t have a living Estes male descended directly from William George Estes (through all males) to test.

Mitochondrial DNA can’t be used in this circumstance either since William George Estes’s children have their mother’s mitochondrial DNA, not his.

For the purposes of today’s proof, I used the Family Finder autosomal DNA test.

Buster Estes, now deceased, grandson of Lazarus Estes through his son Charlie Tomas Estes, is my 1C1R, (first cousin once removed). He tested both his Y-DNA and took the autosomal  Family Finder test for me many years ago.

Additionally, Cornie Epperson’s grandchild and great-grandchild, my second cousin and 2C1R, agreed to autosomal DNA testing for me as well. Cornie’s grandchild agreed to test their mitochondrial DNA, which descends from Elizabeth Vannoy – for which I remain immensely grateful.

All of these cousins match me, as well as each other, appropriately, as would be expected for their respective relationships to me and to each other.

Since then, additional descendants of Lazarus Estes and Elizabeth Vannoy have tested and match others at the appropriate, expected level.

I also match other descendants of Elizabeth Vannoy’s parents, as do my cousins, so I can literally walk both Estes and Vannoy segments back in time.

In this case, NOT matching close Estes relatives would conclusively prove that I’m NOT related to the more distant Estes family.

However, if I didn’t match, it’s also possible that my father would not have matched those people either. I don’t have a full sibling through my father, but I do have a half-sibling whose descendants I match appropriately for the expected relationship. That proves that I’m my father’s biological child.

My half-sister died before DNA testing. NOT matching my sister’s descendants would confirm that we were not sisters, meaning we did not share the same father. One or the other of us would probably match Estes descendants, such as our second cousins. Fortunately, we match each other and Estes descendants.

Unfortunately, my half-brother Dave did not match me, nor any Estes family members, providing that we did not share a biological father – a heartbreaking discovery. He’s still my brother though, just not biologically, and I loved him dearly. (For the record, I found Dave’s father and his family after his death.)

I can prove that my father descends from his father because I also match the descendants of my father’s paternal half-siblings, as expected.

I also match (and triangulate with) the descendants of my grandfather’s sibling, Cornie Epperson, as expected, which proves my connection back to Lazarus and, therefore, my father and grandfather’s connection to Lazarus, too.

By the time we reach John R. Estes, son of George Estes, we can also use Y-DNA. While I personally can’t test for the Estes Y-DNA, a descendant of John R. Estes has taken the Big Y-700 test, needed for this level of detail, and they match the unique mutation (R-ZS3700) that occurred between Abraham Estes and his son Moses Estes Sr., then descended through Moses Jr. to George to John R., then on to our tester, confirming this paternal lineage.

Furthermore, I and other descendants of Lazarus Estes autosomally match Y-DNA descendants of John R. Estes as would be expected of 3rd or 4th cousins.

Therefore, by proxy, using both Y-DNA and Family Finder, we are all confirmed to descend from this entire Estes lineage, to and including Lazarus Estes and his son, William George Estes, through my father to me.

Whew!!!

Summary

Yes, it was a long, detailed path to get here using both traditional genealogical research and DNA results, but we did, and that’s really all that matters. I probably provided more examples than I really needed to, but I’m trying to answer as many “what about this” questions as I can, in advance. The Proof Table methodology isn’t cast in concrete and is easy to replicate and adapt based on your situation and the records at hand.

My final word of caution would be to make sure you don’t discount or omit negative evidence inadvertently. I made that mistake when I was less experienced because I didn’t realize the importance of negative evidence.

I’ve seen situations where a resource was not recorded because there “was nothing there,” when the fact that “nothing was there” is in itself important negative evidence that needs to be weighed and considered.

That’s one reason why preparing a list of all the resources in a particular area is so important. When you discover new resources or they become available, be sure to record and check those resources. For example, if a tax list for a particular county or district is uncovered, record that resource, even if the person you’re seeking isn’t listed there. The next question to ask is why they would not be listed, which may lead you to seek out or perhaps reevaluate other information.

Future Topics

I have three more articles planned in this series and expect to publish the next one in the winter.

  • DNA as Proof – or Not
  • Leveling up
  • Writing it Up

______________________________________________________________

Sign Up Now – It’s Free!

If you appreciate this article, subscribe to DNAeXplain for free, to automatically receive new articles by e-mail each week.

Here’s the link. Just look for the black “follow” button on the right-hand side on your computer screen below the black title bar, enter your e-mail address, and you’re good to go!

In case you were wondering, I never have nor ever will share or use your e-mail outside of the intended purpose.

_____________________________________________________________

Follow DNAexplain on Facebook, here.

Share the Love!

You’re always welcome to forward articles or links to friends and share on social media.

If you haven’t already subscribed (it’s free,) you can receive an e-mail whenever I publish by clicking the “follow” button on the main blog page, here.

You Can Help Keep This Blog Free

I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase your price but helps me keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.

Thank you so much.

DNA Purchases and Free Uploads

Genealogy Products and Services

My Books

Genealogy Books

Genealogy Research