Finding Family with DNA
This will be the first of several
posts about using DNA to find family. Sometimes with the help of DNA, we can put a few cracks in our family history brick-walls and our family tree begins to blossom.🌼🌼
Discovering Martha Baldwin's Family
Recently while looking through the
Ancestry.com "shared matches" of a known Baldwin 2nd cousin, I found
a shared Baldwin match with a decent sized family tree. A rare treat because most Ancestry.com matches do not have trees attached or have private trees😒. Although the match tree did not contain one of our Baldwin’s, I saw a James
Jutson. I knew that a Baldwin 3rd great-aunt Martha Baldwin had married a James
Jutson. The match tree James Jutson had the right birth and death years and
was from Texas, but he (the match) was not married to my Baldwin 3rd great-aunt
like he should have been. Instead the match tree showed him married to a woman named Nancy. Our James Jutson supposedly married a second wife Nancy after Martha died. I was confused because I should not be sharing any DNA with anyone who descended from James Jutson and his second wife.
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DNA match tree with James Jutson married to Nancy Bailey
James' first wife was Martha Baldwin |
I checked the "shared matches" tab of the owner of the above tree and
more than a dozen known Baldwin cousins showed up. So I knew that someone in this tree had to descend from common Baldwin ancestors.
And, none of us could share DNA with James Jutson’s descendants unless James had a child with his first wife, Aunt Martha Baldwin Jutson. The DNA would need come through the Baldwin wife not the Bailey wife. Since NO children were known to exist from the Baldwin/Jutson marriage, it
was time to investigate!
My Mysterious Jane Baldwin Family
My Jane Baldwin family has always been
and continues to be one of the biggest puzzles in my family tree. Ever
since I found that 1850 census record (30+ years ago) in Walker County, Texas,
showing Jane as a widow with 12 children, I have been trying to discover more
about her family. Click HERE to read about
discovering her husband William, who died in 1849. But, what
happened to most of Jane’s children still remains a mystery. By 1870
only two of her thirteen children are known to be alive – Francis Marion and
James. The other eleven children were already deceased or their
whereabouts unknown in 1870. Only six of the thirteen children had
descendants that were known about.
So, it would be exciting to find
another descendant line from Jane – that of her daughter Martha Baldwin. Here
is Martha's story.
Martha Baldwin
Not much is known about Martha Baldwin,
the daughter of Jane and William Baldwin. During
her short life Martha appeared in only two records: the 1850 US Federal Census
of Walker County, Texas and her 1853 marriage record from Walker County, Texas. But, Martha may have left behind
something just as important as records – her DNA.
According to the 1850 US Federal Census of
Walker County, Texas, Martha Baldwin was born about 1834 in Illinois. In that 1850 census, Martha was
enumerated in the household of Jane Baldwin. Martha,
16 years old at the time, was the third oldest child listed and appears to be
the daughter of Jane, a widow and the mother of 12 children.
 |
1850 US Federal Census Walker County, Texas; pg 11-12
Jane Baldwin Family |
Three years later, Martha Baldwin married James Jutson on February
3, 1853 in Walker County. (James Jutson and Martha Baldwin, 03 Feb 1853; Walker County,Texas Marriage Records; FHL microfilm 1,034,889.)
Martha’s mother, Jane, moved from Walker County, Texas to
Limestone County, Texas sometime in 1853. Jane’s other
children who were married by that time also made the move from Walker County to
Limestone County, so it is highly likely that Martha and James made the move to
Limestone County shortly after they were married.
On July 16, 1860 James Jutson was living as a single man in Limestone
County, Texas. James was enumerated in the 1860 US Federal Census as
a 30 year old “farm laborer” in the C W Nanny household, which was just next
door to his mother-in-law Jane Baldwin and family. As no Martha is listed in the 1860 census, she is presumably deceased. And, since no small "Jutson" children were living with James or next door with his mother-in-law Jane, it has also been presumed that Martha died without leaving any heirs.
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1860 US Federal Census Limestone County, Texas, pg 44
James Jutson, line 13 |
A week after the census was taken, James Jutson married Nancy H
Bailey on July 23, 1860 in Robertson County, Texas. The
following year on June 8, 1861 at Centerville, Leon County, Texas, James B
Jutson enlisted in the Confederate Army – Co B(or H), 20th Texas
Cavalry. James survived the
war to come home to his family in Limestone County, Texas. But, just 4 years later James
died on November 2, 1868. He
left behind his wife Nancy and 4 children.
In the 1870 US Federal
Census of Limestone County, Texas, James' widow Nancy Judson was
enumerated as a 40 year old single white female head-of-household
with 4 children in the home: Emerly
Judson, age 16; Martha Judson, age 14; Nancy Judson, age 12; Ida Judson, age 5. Note that the older children in the household would have been born before the marriage of Nancy and James in 1860.
By 1880, the widow Nancy Jutson moved the family from Limestone County to
Robertson County and was listed in Robertson County, Texas for
the 1880
US Federal Census. Besides Nancy, three children are in
the household: a daughter, Nancy A. Jutson, age 18; a daughter, Ida M Jutson,
age 13; and a son, James M A Jutson, age 11.
The two older girls, Emily and Martha, from the 1870 census are not in the 1880
household. Emily was married by then and Martha had disappeared from all records.
Emily Jutson, the “inferred” daughter of Nancy
Jutson listed in the 1870 Census, married in about 1875 to James B Choate. In 1880, Emily Choate, her
husband James, and their three children are found in the US Federal Census for
Limestone County. Sometime
before 1900, the Choate family had moved to the Fort Worth area in Tarrant
County, Texas where they raised their family of nine children. Emily continued to live in the Fort Worth area
until her death on March 17, 1928.
Emily’s
death certificate gives the following information: Name: Mrs Emma Chote; Birth:
2 March 1855; Father: Jim Jadson; Mother: Nannie Jadson.
So, who was the mother
of Emily Jutson Choate? James’
first wife Martha Baldwin or his second wife Nancy Bailey?
Could Martha Baldwin be the mother of Emily Jutson Choate?
By just following the timeline of
events and official records, it would appear that Emily was the
daughter of James Jutson and his first wife Martha Baldwin.
James and Martha
married on 3 Feb 1853.
Emily
Jutson was born on 2 Mar 1855.
Little Martha Jutson was born 1856-1857.
Martha
(Baldwin Jutson) most likely died around 1857-1859. It is a possibility that Martha died giving birth to little Martha or shortly thereafter.
James appeared to be single on the July
16, 1860 census record.
A week after the census was taken, James married Nancy Bailey on July 23,
1860. Emily,
who was born in 1855, would have been about 5 years old when her father
remarried and her sister, Martha would have been about 3 or 4 years old.
Neither
Emily nor Martha can be found in census records for 1860. It is not known who was caring
for them after their mother died.
As
soon as their father remarried, they would have been reunited in his household. But by June 1861, James left to fight for the Confederate Army in the Civil War. Emily and Martha would have been left in the care of their step-mother.
After their father James died in 1868, the Emily and Martha continued to live with
their step-mother, Nancy. They can be found living in her household in the 1870 census. After their father died, there would have been no one in their lives to
help keep the memory of their mother alive. The only mother they could probably remember was their step-mother, Nancy.
DNA
DNA evidence
supports the theory that Emily Jutson Choate is the daughter of Martha
Baldwin. Martha had three siblings (Arminda Baldwin Rose, Francis Marion
Baldwin, and James M. Baldwin) who have descendants (12+ known Baldwin matches) who share DNA with descendants of Emily Jutson Choate. The shared
DNA evidence points to a relationship between the descendants of Martha
Baldwin's siblings and the descendants of Emily Jutson Choate, and helps to
prove that Emily was the daughter of Martha Baldwin Jutson.
Conclusion
By
looking at the timeline of events, official records, and DNA evidence, it is safe to
say that Emily Jutson Choate is the daughter of James Judson and his first
wife, Martha Baldwin.
 |
Tree showing Emily as the daughter of
Martha Baldwin & James Jutson |
Note:
The DNA
matches used for this conclusion were found on AncestryDNA. Sadly😞 AncestryDNA does not provide a
chromosome browser, so this shared DNA between the descendants of Emily Jutson
Choate and Martha’s siblings has not been triangulated. And, until the descendants of Emily Jutson
Choate extend their tree to include Martha Baldwin and her parents (Jane &
William Baldwin), they will not be included in the AncestryDNA Circle for Jane
Baldwin.
All
Choate descendants and Baldwin descendants are encouraged to have their DNA
tested. If tested at AncestryDNA, please
consider transferring the raw DNA to FamilyTreeDNA, MyHeritage, or Gedmatch.
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