DNA Matches, Process of Elimination, Conclusions? The Neverending Saga of Thomas Cail

The saga to figure out which Thomas Cail is my great grandmother’s biological father continues. To recap, my great grandmother, Dora Annie Black, was adopted by Anne M Black some time between 1891 and 1901. I’ve come to this conclusion because Dora was not listed with the family in the 1891 census, but is listed with them in the 1901 census. According to her late registration of birth, her biological mother was Jane Ward, born in Weldford, NB. The father’s name is not listed. When she married my great grandfather, John Henry Farrer, Dora listed her parents are William and Maria Black.  (Brief note about her adopted mother’s name: Going through all the records for this family it appears that she went by both her first and middle name, appearing as Ann Moriah, Anne, Ann M, Maria and Moriah. However, from the other information listed on the records it is very clear that they are all referring to the same person.)


Interestingly (and thankfully because it gave me a HUGE lead) when Dora married her second husband, William George Wilson on September 1, 1934 in Rexton, NB, instead of listed her adopted parents’ names, she listed them as Thomas Cail, born Pine Ridge, Kent County, NB and Jane Ward. Since I already have documentation that her biological mother’s name is Jane Ward, I have concluded that her biological father’s name is Thomas Cail. After a thorough search of records in New Brunswick trying to find out who Thomas Cail was, I pieced together a large family, and instead of finding one Thomas Cail, I found numerous ones. Ugh. I narrowed down my search to only Thomas Cails in the right age group and geographical location to possibly be Dora’s father. This still produced more than one Thomas Cail. There were three potential matches, all cousins: Thomas William Cail, Thomas Burgess Cail and Thomas Edward Cail. Since there were multiples matches I decided to get a DNA test done. I knew this would still be tricky since I will share DNA with descendants of all of them. It would come down to how much DNA I share with my matches.

I learned about my first match (I’ll call him MATCH A) in 2015 shortly after getting my DNA results from 23andMe. MATCH A is the great grandson of Thomas William Cail. Comparing our results, we share 62 centimorgans and 0.82% DNA, with a predicted relationship of 3^rd to 4^th cousins. If I was also a direct descendant of Thomas William Cail, we would be 2^nd cousins once removed, and should share between 75-360 cMs. Taking into consideration our amount of shared cMs and our traditional genealogy research, it is more likely that we are 4^th cousins once removed. This would mean it is more likely that Thomas William Cail is not Dora’s father. 


Thankfully, my second DNA relative (I’ll call him MATCH 2) is a descendant of one of the other Thomas Cails! MATCH 2 is the great grandson of Thomas Burgess Cail.  He and I only share 26.6 cMs, even less DNA than MATCH 1 and I share, so it is very unlikely that I could be a direct descendant of this Thomas Cail.

Although neither of these DNA relatives were able to help me confirm which Thomas Cail is Dora’s biological father, by the process of elimination, it seems likely that I am a direct descendant of Thomas Edward Cail. 


Going back to my genealogy records for Thomas Edward Cail this is what I know.


Thomas Edward Cail was born March 12, 1859 in Kent County, NB. He is the son of George Cail and Jessie Girvan. He was living with his mom (widowed) and siblings in Weldford County in 1871. In 1881 the census lists him as being married, however, on closer inspection, it appears he was living with his two sisters, Sarah and Jessie, and their mother, Jessie. 


Thomas married Emily McLeod Sullivan on September 22, 1885 and they had the following children: George William, Sarah, Frederick and James Edward. A note of interest is that the family was living in Pine Ridge in 1887, 1889 and 1891 according to birth records for the three eldest children, which is where Dora’s biological father was born.


Thomas Edward Cail was a farmer, and was living in Kingston (Rexton), Kent County, NB in 1892, 1894 and 1901, but relocated some time prior to the 1901 census to Richibucto, Kent County, NB. His wife, Emily, died September 27, 1913. Thomas married his second wife, Sarah Jane Walker on October 20, 1915. Sarah died in 1927. Thomas died September 17, 1928 and is buried in St. Andrew’s Cemetery, Rexton, NB, where his second wife is also buried.


Although this is a good lead, I still want to confirm it with DNA. I will continue to keep checking matches on 23andMe.com and GEDmatch.com. As well, I have just ordered an AncestryDNA kit. I am hoping a solid lead will help me confirm who Dora’s biological father is. I feel like if I finally close the door on that side, I can re-focus on figuring out who her biological mother is… who I strongly suspect is a relative of her adopted mother… It never ends! There is always a mystery to figure out in genealogy!


If you are reading this and are a descendant of Thomas Edward Cail and are interested in helping me confirm this match, I would love to hear from you!

SOURCES:

·         23andMe.com

·         ancestry.ca

·         archives.gnb.ca (Provincial Archives of New Brunswick)

·         automatedgenealogy.com

·         GEDmatch.com