Thursday, May 29, 2025

Introduction



For those who would rather do their own research than trust anything I have to say, I, William Mortensen Vaughan, am the son of William Knowlton Vaughan-3998 (KWJ6-DCK) and Merle Allen (née Mortensen) (G7GC-JBG). My FamilyTreeDNA Kit Number is 157904. My GEDmatch Kit Number is FC6733318, and my ID 1369118. My searchable AncestryDNA ID is William Mortensen Vaughan.

My DNA Tests:  

I have had the following tests done on my DNA:

    * Autosomal (AncestryDNA and FamilyTreeDNA's Family Finder)
    * Mitochondrial (FamilyTreeDNA's mtFull)
    * Y-DNA (FamilyTreeDNA's Big Y-700)

I have also had FamilyTreeDNA's FamilyFinder, mtFull, and Big Y-700 tests done on patrilineal descendants of both of my great-grandfathers on my mother's side:  a Mormon polygamist, Morten Peder Andersen-5202 (KWJD-SYX), and a Pony Express Rider, Erastus Julius Smith (Sørensen-4804)(KWCL-TJW).

How Are We Related?


If you're reading this introduction, it is, I presume, because you want to know how I'm related to you or someone you know. The information above should give you a few good places to look for those answers.

We Are All Related!

 
How often have you heard someone say something such as, "He's not kin to me!" or "We're not related!"?

As far as I'm concerned, all creatures in the Animal Kingdom are related; if we are all related to reptiles, we are all certainly related to each other, so the question is not "Are we related?" The obvious answer to that question is "Yes." The questions are "How closely are we related?" and "How well can we prove it?" The answers to these questions change as technology advances, and more information becomes available.


Labels

In this blog, I intend to write and publish the following kinds of posts:

  1.     Biographies (labeled "Biographies")
  2.     Reviews of Genealogical Websites (labeled "Reviews")
  3.     Walk-Throughs (labeled "Walk-Thrus")

The W.M.V.G.S.N.S.

 

The William Mortensen Vaughan Genealogical Spreadsheet Numbering System (W.M.V.G.S.N.S., pronounced "whim-va-JISS-in-us")

To identify my forebears and relatives, I have developed my own code, using characters which are used in URLs. It is also based on a spreadsheet. Each letter or combination of letters representing the columns represents a generation. Each forebear is listed in the order that it would appear on a horizontal pedigree chart, starting with my father on top. So my parents are A1 and A2, A1 being my father, and A2 being my mother. My paternal grandfather is B1; my paternal grandmother, B2; my maternal grandfather, B3; and my maternal grandmother, B4; and so on.

    [nothing] or ' = spouse; e.g., 1 is my first wife, María del Lourdes Bentos Balkon, and 2 is my second wife, Libertad Green. A2'2 is my mother's second husband; her first husband is my father, A1.


    ~ = "upstream"; e.g., A2'2~A1 is the father of the second husband of my mother


    ! highlights a relationship which is in doubt; e.g., E1! is perhaps my 3Xs great-grandfather, but it's doubtful
 

    @ adoptive parent or child; e.g., 2@A1 would be my second wife's adoptive father; @E15 and @E16, my great-great-grandmother, Lizzie Lambert's adoptive father and mother; A1A2@1, my adopted sibling, if I were to have one (I didn't)
 

    $ slave; e.g., G5$Jean is a slave named "Jean," owned by my 5Xs great-grandfather, John Foley O'Bannon-338, Sr. Names are used, if known; numbers are assigned - odd for males, even for females, in order of age (or listing, if names and ages are unavailable); e.g., G5$1 would, hypothetically, be the oldest male slave of my 3Xs great grandfather, or the first male slave listed, if his age were unknown.

 
    & = a polygamous spouse, numbered in order of marriage; e.g., C5&1 is the first wife of my great grandfather, who was in a polygamous relationship with him; C6 is his second wife, but, more importantly, my great grandmother. (Yes, one of my great-grandfathers was a Mormon polygamist, named Morten Peder Andersen, a.k.a. Morten Peter Mortensen.)
                                           

    _ = (used as a place holder)

    ( = years in parentheses indicate approximate year lived B.C., A.D., or Y.A. (years ago); for examples: 

(20BC-100AD) would indicate a birth circa 20 B.C., and a death circa 100 A.D.;

 (250BC-100BC), a year of birth circa 250 B.C., and a death circa 100 B.C.; 

(10000YA), a year lived, circa 8000 B.C.


    ) = (See open parenthesis above.)


    - = divorcee; e.g., 1~A2-1 would, hypothetically, be the first husband of my first wife's mother, whom she divorced


    + extramarital mate; e.g., 2~A1+3 would
, hypothetically, be the third person with whom my first wife's father had an extramarital affair

 
    [ = Characters in brackets represent people in an unknown relationship with the person represented by the preceding characters; e.g., E4[Mary Jonston] is Mary Jonston, whose relationship with my 3Xs great grandmother is uncertain.


    ] (See open bracket above.)


    , = an illegitimate child; e.g., D13,1 would
, hypothetically, be the firstborn but illegitimate child of a certain, maternal, 2Xs great grandfather


    . = a legitimate child; e.g., A2'2.1 & A2'2.2 would be the first and second legitimate children of my mother's second husband

A Growing List of Code Names for My Relatives

__1.................María del Lourdes Bentos Balkon
__2.................Libertad Green
_A1.................William Knowlton Vaughan
_A2.................Merle Mortensen
_A2'2...............Ralph Lavene Allen, Sr.
_A2'2'1.............Johanna Marie Meenderink
_A2'2'1.1...........Ralph Lavene Allen, Jr.
_A2'2'1.2...........Carol Loretta Allen
_A2'2'1.2'1.........John Koegler
_A2'2'1.2'1.1.......Ramona Koegler
_B1.................William Swift Vaughan
_B1'1.2.............Sidney Knowlton Vaughan
_B1'1.2'1...........Charlotte Allaben Vaughan
_B1'1.2'1~A1........Max Fenimore Allaben
_B1'1.2'1~A2........Flora Elizabeth Solfisburg Allaben  
_B1'1.2'1.1.........David Sidney Vaughan
_B1'1.2'1.2.........Warren Charles Vaughan
_B2.................Maud Osborn Knowlton
_B3'1...............Hulda Amelia Smith
_B3'1.1.............Amelia LaBlanche "Blanche" Mortensen
_B3'1.1'1...........Wallace Wight Pulsipher
_B3'1.1'1.1.........Ruth Pulsipher
_B3'1.1'1.1'1.......Mick Nelson
_B3'1.1'1.2.........Sylvia Pulsipher
_B3'1.1'1.3.........Marian Pulsipher
_B3'1.1.3'1.........Robert S. Hope, Sr.
_B3'1.1.3.2.........Trudena Hope
_B3'1.1.3.3.........Dale Hope
_B3'1.1.3.4.........Valerie Hope
_B3'1.2.............Loyal Roland Mortensen
|B3'1.3.............Sylvia Lavon Mortensen
_B3'1.4.............Hyrum Smith Mortensen
_B3'1.4'1...........Ila Burton
_B3'1.4'1...........Gary Burton Mortensen
_B3'1.5.............Clara Leola Mortensen
_B3'1.5'1...........Arthur Leon Murray, Sr.
_B3'1.5'1.1.........Arthur Leon Murray, Jr.
_B3'1.5'1.2.........James Roland Murray
_B3'1.6.............Hulda Josephine Mortensen
_B3'1.7.............Milton Parker Mortensen
_B3'1.7'1...........Nancy Anastasia Wapensky
_B3'1.7'1.1.........Mary Ann Mortensen
_B3'1.8.............Roland Nels Mortensen
_B3'1.9.............Maynard Lamar Mortensen
_B3'1.10............Marian Christena Mortensen
_C1.................Luther Clay Vaughan-4000
_C2.................Mary Catharine Swift
_C1'1.4.............Rutherford Birchard Vaughan, a.k.a. Dewitt Rutherford Vaughan
_C1'1.4'1...........Mary McDonald Evans
_C1'1.4'1.1.........Virgil Birchard Vaughan (GWVM-S8T)
_C1'1.4'1.1'1.......Virgil Birchard Vaughan's first wife, Elmira Elsie Hamel (MWJP-H3H) married 8 Jun 1921, Cook County, Illinois
_C1'1.4'1.1'1.1.....Elaine Marie Vaughan (GW8M-9CP)
_C1'1.4'1.1'2.......Virgil Birchard Vaughan's second wife, Rose Katherine Kuczborski (GWVM-ZSB) married 27 Aug 1925, Cook County, Illinois
_C1'1.4'1.1'2.1.....Birchard "Bert" George Vaughan (GWVM-3QS)
_C1'1.4'1.1'2.1'1...Birchard "Bert" George Vaughan's wife (GCL9-31C)
_C1'1.4'1.1'2.1'1.1.....Duane Wesley Vaughan (GCLM-FX4)
_C1'1.4'1.1'2.1'1.1'1...Leslie (GCLM-R7F)
_C1'1.4'1.1'2.2.....Catherine Vaughan (GCLM-X7L)
_C1'1.4'1.1'2.3.....Winifred  Vaughan (GCLM-23G)
_C5.................Morten Peder Andersen
_C5'2.2.............Amelia Christina Mortensen Jensen