@ Erica Howton A few years ago I began the Tartan Trail in Wikitree's Scotland Project. One of the profiles they gave me to source was John Mcilvaine and the Lady Cunningham. As I was attempting at the time to get a better focus on William McElveen in South Carolina, I searched for and found a Relationship between me and this John McIlvaine of Grimmet. They let me have the profile on Wikitree where I could begin a trek between The House of Grimmet and my colonial ancestor.
I researched Ayrshire and the Killing Times and when I arrived at the the McElveens settlement in Charleston, I found the issue with John McElveen in Charleston and the John who married Sarah Clark. John McElveen got a grant of land in Charleston and John Mcilvaine and Sarah Clark died in Northern Ireland. I sent up a flag on the file and invited the Southern Colonies Project into a profile where the manager was elderly and didn't come on much. So at some point, somebody (not the PM) who I assumed was from the SCP added the location of the marriage of John with Janet Dunn of Argyle and they reconnected the profiles and me who for whatever reason was disconnection by a mysterious person..
Where Wikitree is a Master of Sourcing, Geni has a better handle on genetic relationships and easy access to one's connection to lineages. Even in Wiki though we can show an unbroken bloodline (distant cousins) between me and Patrick McIlvaine [Patrick McIlvaine of Grimmet) an ancestor for John Mcilvaine and Lady Cunningham that I don't see reflected here. All I'm doing here in Geni is seeing if there is a blood connection worth chasing and identifying the path I should follow.
What's interesting is two things:
1. Every path I find goes through my 2nd Great Grandfather, Bridger John Wise. He married Susan Catherine "Katie" McElveen. Her mother was Susannah Harvey. Susannah and her husband William McElveen's story is fascinating, but mostly unsourced -- which I've been working on for the last few years. The issue with my research becomes intensely contentious on every platform out there that connects Susannah's father with a Richard from Albermarle. who when we look closer was apparently never married nor had children. In fact, he passed his estate to nieces and nephews.. This becomes important because the McElveens intermarried with Susannah Harvey's family after a bond created during the Fall of Charleston. Sourcing is incredibly difficult as the connections are hardwired to Harveys in Albermarle. Some arbitrary Richard' enlisted in Virginia even as there is a more compelling Richard Harvey enlistment in South Carolina where he would have met William McElveen. This has been a ridiculous fight which I see it here as well. I've connected with Albermarle here, began a discussion asking for reliable sourcing and I created another profile connected to my mother's matriarchal line.
This is why paper trails are tricky. It is so important to connect them to genetics. All of it must work together. But I promise you, there is no human being that can carry on a lineage without having children. (shoot). and finding the trail between colonial mcelveens and Scotland should not be so emotional. The name itself attaches to a clan even without paper or genetics. and that's why names are important.
This brings me to my second point:
The McIlvaines have a connection to me through Bridger John Wise. I'd have a closer connection though, through my 2nd Great Grandfather William Emanuel McElveen who married Susannah Harvey. it's ONE ANCESTOR away to closing the link that began in Wikitree. I cannot relinquish the identity of an ancestor whose traditional identity is just plain wrong. RICHARD HARVEY OF ALBERMARLE DID NOT PASS HIS ESTATE DOWN TO A WIFE AND FAMILY. omg...If that connection can be released we can begin to follow a proper trail. whose mother is a mysterious wife named Elizabeth that interestingly enough I found mitochondrial traces at Oxford during the Viking invasion through the project I joined at FamilyTreeDNA.
I have a lot of work to do on this line and am exhausted with people not even a part of this family making accusations and causing unwarranted issues for what? I lost my temper on Wikitree and frankly just want to work on the line alone. With that said, however, I deeply appreciate and hope to focus on any advice, counsel, and training in new skills. and I believe genetics is the answer.
Thank you for the opportunity to voice my concern.
I feel MUCH better. :D
