In Disney’s The Lion King, the Pride Lands were the areas that King Mufasa and his pack of lions had control over within the kingdom, as a group of lions is traditionally called a pride of lions. In my ancestry, Pride remains a proper noun, but instead of describing a block of land, it resembles a branch of my family tree; in other words a group of people in my ancestral line.
Week 25: Groups
Copyright: Disney.
When I first took up researching my family’s genealogy on my mom’s side, I studied a lot of the notes and information shared with me from my grandparents and great aunts. Their trees stretched back to my 2nd great grandparents definitively, Nathan & Elizabeth (Rockwell) Dixon. But my 3rd great grandparents on the Dixon line were shrouded in a bit more mystery.
Nathan Dixon and Elizabeth (Rockwell) Dixon, tintype portrait.
Nathan Dixon’s father’s given name was thought to be something along the lines of James, Joseph, or John. As of yet, I believe it to have been James, though I only have 1 U.S. federal census record to support that hypothesis. To really confirm that suspicion, more sources would need to be uncovered. My great aunt Thelma said “the Dixon history is sketchy” and they only really knew of Nathan’s siblings Jerry, Henry, and Jenny.
1860 U.S. federal census, Monongalia, Virginia, population schedule, enumeration district 7, p. 297, line 6, James Dixon household; 1860 United States Federal Census, online database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : 27 Jun 2021) Provo, UT, 2009; citing NARA M653, 1438 rolls.
Nathan Dixon’s mother was assumed to carry the maiden name Butcher, but her first name is still up for interpretation as well. My family’s records say it was Elizabeth, but Nathan’s death registration listed her name as Sarah, a census record listed her name as Hannah, and Nathan’s brother Jerry’s death certificate also listed her name as Hannah. So for now, it seems most likely that her name was Hannah Butcher.
State of Ohio Department of Health, certificate of death, Jermiah Dixon, 15 October 1941.
Assuming Hannah as her given name and placing her birth around 1830 in Virginia, I was able to find an 1850 U.S. federal census for a 20-year-old Hannah Butcher living with her parents, Matthew and Nancy Butcher, in Barbour County, Virginia. Hannah had an 8-year-old brother at the time named Nathan (possibly the namesake for her future child – my 2nd great grandfather?). That brother of hers ended up passing away in Indiana in 1926. His wife, Retta, was the informant on his death certificate, and she listed his parents as Mathew Butcher and Nancy Pride.
Having added all of these details to my Ancestry.com tree, I was given hints that Nancy’s parents might be Mary “Polly” Sapp and Henry S. Pride.
“A History of the Sapp Family,” p. 64; uploaded to Ancestry.com 15 Jul 2017 by user Nancy_Cretella.
Barbour County, Virginia district and probate courts, “Henry Pride’s Will,” 23 April 1856, p. 123, Wills, Vol 1, 1843-1890; West Virginia, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1724-1985, online database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 Jun 2021) Provo, UT, 2015.
When I plugged in these hypothesized parents for Nancy, the AncestryDNA ThruLines for my mother’s test kit immediately expanded. It appears we have certainly stumbled upon Nancy’s parents, as my mom shares DNA with 144 of their reported descendants!
AncestryDNA ThruLines shared matches for Beatrice Foltz through ancestor Henry S. Pride on Ancestry.com.
That is the largest swath of DNA matches I’ve seen in ThruLines – quite astounding, with the next highest numbers being 131 matches with descendants of Mathew Butcher’s father, Robert Butcher! These large groups are indicative of Henry Pride and Mathew Butcher having many children who then proceeded to have a large number of offspring themselves, though much more research needs to be done to firm up who all of these children were, as well as which households they belonged to.
Photo of Pride, Shepherd, and Crouch family descendants, uploaded to Ancestry.com 18 Jul 2017 by user Devon Larsen.
For now, I can say that AncestryDNA really helped me find my ‘pride’ with the way in which they’ve used ThruLines to ‘group’ my DNA matches. And by the way, happy Pride month!
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