Saturday, March 29, 2014

My Pilgrim Heritage from Ireland to Maryland to South Carolina to my FRIEND

It was a birthday present to my friend for being such a blessing in my life!  I would have never thought after knowing her for the past seventeen years DNA would tell us that we are cousins.  We typically get together about three times a year; there are three of us who celebrate each other’s birthdays.  It was April 2013 that I told my friend, whom I will call Adele, that in order for me to complete her birthday present, I needed her spittle (just between us, I said spit).

I ordered the DNA kit, had it sent to her house and she mailed off the sample.  Though she was really interested in the matches, Adele’s life is so busy with her business she asked if I would be willing to manage her account.  I told her yes, since I love researching family history!
When I received Adele’s results, I quickly contacted her with the percentages; she was quite impressed and shocked by the ethnicities contained in her DNA! A few days went by before getting back to her results; I was busy keeping track of my uncle’s and my DNA matches (the new matches could overwhelm if you did not keep up with them).

Ok, now I have the time to rummage through Adele’s matches!  The first person I looked at is listed at 3rd to 4th cousin, with an Irish background; I emailed him with a few questions, but nothing came out of our contact.  On to the next person, she is a 96%er listed as Adele’s 4th to 6th cousin.  Looking at the matches surnames, I spot one of my family names, PILGRIM and PILGRAM.  I click on the “IM” spelling and immediately say to myself that this list of ancestors looks familiar.   I go over to my uncle’s matches and search for the same person who is on Adele’s list; I found the match twice; she and another family member got tested and showed up on my uncle’s list.  At that MOMENT I realized that Adele and I are cousins.
I continued to research and made many discoveries.  I strongly believe that the person who connects Adele and I is Amos Franklin Pilgrim, Jr.  He and his family were sponsored to come from Ireland to America, Baltimore, Maryland in particular in 1724, by John Dykes*, as indentured servants to serve for five years.  After serving his five years, Amos Pilgrim and his wife purchased property in Bel Air, Maryland; they called the property Pilgrim’s Rest.  Next, he moved his family to South Carolina, where my Pilgrim ancestors lived.

I will continue to search out this connection and will keep you all updated.

*"Emigrants to America: Indentured Servants Recruited in London" 1718-1735 by John Wareing (Reference # 929.3W in the Hagerstown, MD Library) that John Dykes was listed at least 29 times as the agent for people going to Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, and New England.

10 comments:

  1. What a wonderful birthday gift for your friend, and a gift for both of you to discover your kinship. Great post.

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    1. Hi Dawn...I can always count on you being up late along with me! I was shocked when I made the discovery since I was not expecting us to be related. As always, thanks for reading my posts.

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  2. Great and exciting story. Your friend must be so happy, what a thoughtful gift you gave her.

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  3. Wow! Not that is truly amazing! "The Ancestors at Work"! Two long time friends finding out that they are actually relatives. Reminds me of the day that my best friend and I realized that our families were from the same not so well known part of Alabama. For all these years she's been traveling to AL and we would talk almost everyday during her trips there and I never knew that she was in the same county (Chambers County) that my family is from/at! I truly believe that the ancestors lead us to certain people as friends who are in turn our relatives. Great post Delores!

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    1. You know, I keep saying that the world is not as big as we think it is...WOW, to be from the same county. Thanks for reading my post and for the encouragement!

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  4. I love how this worked out for you and your cousin. I have had little success with DNA relatives, but I am not giving up hope. I have a few more relatives that I would love to take the test as well in hopes of seeing who their matches are. Great blog it goes to show that there are possibilities...it just takes perseverance and a little elbow grease.

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    1. Right, just keep plugging away at those matches! I had my mother's brother and myself tested, waiting for my dad's results to come in...this should open a lot more doors! Angelo...if you ever want to know what I do to connect with matches, contact me...I believe we all have little tricks of the trade to make contact. Thanks for reading my post.

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  5. That's amazing how best friends now share more than just friendship...you now connect by way of kinship. Keep up the good work cuz. You are appreciated.

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    1. Hi Sandra...it is amazing...now I have to work to pin down the ancestral connection so I can later attach it to my tree. I appreciate the encouragement cuz!!!

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