Hill Branches – My Maryland-Louisiana Roots

Loving the New Ancestry.com Shared Match, Pro Tool

I often bounce around, alternatively using between Ancestry.com, Gedmatch, FamilySearch.org and 23AndMe.com as I go down various rabbit holes in search of my familial roots. I’d been focusing on 23AndMe for a month or so. Two weeks ago, I logged into Ancestry to see if the new profiles I’d seen in 23AndMe also existed in Ancestry. I saw a several new profiles and clicked on the Shared Match button. And was I surprised! The Shared Match button previously showed how closely you matched a particular person and the profiles of other people that you and the shared profile both matched. Also displayed was the amount of shared DNA and the kinship relationship for you and the various profiles. But you could not see how closely each of the shared match profiles matched each other.

That was how the Ancestry, Shared Match tool used to work!

Ancestry has updated the tool so that it is similar to the 23AndMe tool which allows you to see the match between you and match A and match A and match C, D, etc . This is a total game changer. Right off the bat I was able to figure out how 2 close DNA matches were connected to my family and to each other. Before the tool was updated, I could only speculate on the connection, but as they say, “DNA does not lie.”

I next began using the shared match tool to focus on the connection between my known Calvert County, MD family to a large number of DNA matches in Drew County, Arkansas and Monroe County, Alabama. These connections are still too complex to figure out and still seem to point to cross matches between my mother’s parent#1 and parent#2.

The tool has also helped me focus on several DNA profiles that include branches that include the surnames of Banks, Donelson and Lambert. These branches lived in Washington, DC and Virginia. Hopefully, I can use the tool to connect these closely related people to my Gibson, Hill and Morgan family members who came to Louisiana from Virginia.

I think I am close to nailing down the ancestral roots of another branch on my family tree. I just need to stay focused and work one branch at a time!

Best,

Eagerly Awaiting Once More

I posted a few days ago that I was eagerly awaiting records from NARA regarding Alexander Hill’s Civil War pension. As fate would have it, I awoke the very next morning to find an e-mail message with a link to a digital document containing the remaining twenty-eight pages of his pension record! I read through the pages hoping to see if the plantation where Alexander was enslaved was mentioned and if any mention was made of his siblings.

Two witnesses provided differing information on where Alexander was enslaved. Alexander’s wife Rose testified that he had been born in Virginia and was a slave of Chodelle Rousselle who lived somewhere “…up the Mississippi River.” Rousselle died and Alexander was sold to someone named ‘Whale‘ who “brought him to the southern part of Louisiana.” Alexander told her that he’d been in New Orleans 4 years before the war. She said that Alexander had brothers and sisters in Virginia whom he unsuccessfully attempted to locate.

Jacques Darensbourg testified that he’d known Alexander for fifteen years before the start of the Civil War. Both he and Alexander had served in the 74th regiment. He could not say with any certainty if Alexander was born in Virginia. He stated that Alexander had been a slave of Felix Garcia who lived about 8 miles from Boutte in St Charles Parish. Darensbourg further testified that Alexander had not been married while a slave and that he knew of Alexander’s marriage to Rose in 1866. He said that Alexander had not lived in New Orleans before the war, but that they both enlisted in New Orleans.

So, I received the information that I had been eagerly awaiting. I found the names of 3 possible people on whose plantation Alexander may have lived. Alexander was reported to have brother and sisters who lived in Virginia. Neither Rose or Darensbourg mentioned that Alexander had a brother living in St Charles Parish.

So, it seems that my great-great grandfather Robert Hill was most likely not Alexander’s brother. Both men were born in Virginia and both lived in Boutte Station, St. Charles Parish, LA in 1870. Both reported Civil War service on the 1890 Veterans Schedule. Alexander kept his discharge papers and filed for and received a military pension. When he died in 1905, his wife Rose applied to keep his pension. Her application provided a great deal of information about her family and their movements and some information on Alexander. Robert Hill lost his discharge papers and was unable to receive a pension. I last found Robert on the 1900 US Census in the household with his daughter Celestine Crowder. I have not yet found Celestine and family on the 1910 census. I did find Celestine Crowder and family in St Mary Parish on the 1920 census working on the Alice B plantation. I found a 1939 death record for a 101-year-old Robert Hill. But have never found any record of Robert Hill living after the 1900 census. I assume that the 1939 death certificate is actually for Robert Hill Jr.

Although it seems that Alexander and Robert may not have been brothers, both were living in Boutte Station in 1870 and both had the last name of Hill. Perhaps the name ‘Hill’ is what connects the 2 men. I am now searching probate records and New Orleans ship manifests for Alexander and Robert listed together. I recently found an index listing for New Orleans notaries at https://www.orleanscivilclerk.com/notaryalpha.htm. I also found a possible manifest of an Alexander and a Robert coming to New Orleans on the same ship. I am attempting to request the detail pages regarding the manifest.

And so I am once again eagerly awaiting!

Best,

Eagerly awaiting…

I found information in 2021 that documented my enslaved ancestors with the last names Gibson, Morgan, Guy and Jenkins. All of these people were enslaved on the plantations of 2 related families: the Weeks and Palfreys. Since then, I have been searching for similar documents regarding my St. Charles Parish ancestors Robert Hill and his wife Charlotte Alexander. Robert was born about 1821 in Virginia. He was counted in the 1890 veteran’s census. According to the census, he had lost his military discharge papers and so was not able to provide information on which company or regiment he served. A few pages before Robert’s name was a listing for Alexander Hill. Alexander Hill had retained his discharge papers and in fact lived long enough to apply for and receive a pension for his Civil War service.

Alexander served in the US Colored Infantry, Company A, Regiment 74 from September 6, 1862 to October 11, 1865. I applied for Alexander’s Civil War pension application with hopes of finding out if Alexander and Robert Hill were related. Often included in pension records is information about the siblings, or wife and/or children of the applicant. In other pension records, I have found the name of the plantation where the applicant lived.

I requested Alexander’s file electronically July 3, for a base price without knowing how many pages it would contain. I then received an e-mail message on December 26 alerting me that the requested pages were available for download. I received 100 pages of Alexander’s pension file. Included were the names of his children and his wife, his medical records, information regarding his marriage to Rose Matthews in 1866 and deed information about land purchased in 1879. Alexander had applied for and received a pension of $20/month. He had died March 1905. Unfortunately, most of the information that I received centered around Alexander’s widow Rose, who survived him and applied to continue receiving his pension and for help with his burial. There wasn’t any information regarding his life as a slave or any mention of siblings, parents or his place of birth.

Two weeks after I downloaded the file from NARA, I received a letter from the national archives letting me know that there were an additional 28 pages from Alexander’s pension file that I could request. I don’t know why I wasn’t informed that an additional page were available in December when I was emailed the download link. Evidently, NARA sends you up to 100 pages per request for a price. If additional pages exist in the file, they then write to you and let you know of the availability to request those additional pages. And so, I requested the additional pages. Of course I did!!

And so, I am back in the queue, waiting for someone at NARA to repull Alexander’s file, copy the pages and send me another download link. In other words, I am eagerly awaiting …

Best,