The gentleman called Bill shares 101 cM (centiMorgans) with Ian on Ancestry. How can this be? Bill has a maternal great grandmother called Catherine Walton. Could this be the Kate Walton on Joseph Leigh Hunter’s wedding record? Catherine Walton appears to have been married to Matthew Lee 1838-1892, not a Read more
As part of trying to solve the family mystery, Jane and Ian had a dabble with facial recognition software that can be found at familysearch.org At this point Jane and Ian now have an idea about who Joseph Leigh Hunter might have really been, just now about how to prove Read more
Thanks again to Jane and her father Joseph for sharing this photograph. The photo is of Jane’s and Ian’s fathers, when they were wee laddies.
Miss S. Leigh (daughter) Sarah Lee 1873 – 1933 Mr. J. Leigh (son) John Lee 1863 – 1918 Mrs Cotton, London (daughter) Mary Lee 1861 – 1946 Mr. and Mrs. J. Gilliland, (son-in-law and daughter) Ada Isabel Lee 1879 – 1950 Mr. Ellison (son-in-law) Son of Annie Lee 1865 – Read more
Proof that Matthew Lee / Joseph Leigh Hunter was in Nelsonville, Ohio, this also supports the evidence that he applied for naturalization. It is interesting that Jane and Ian’s paternal grandfather kept this photograph and others ‘secret’, Jane’s father, Joseph inherited the photographs when his mother Jessie passed away.
The Declaration of Intention below says that Matthew Lee from England first arrived in the United States in August 1891. He has signed the document on 8th May, 1893, that it is his intention to become a citizen of the United States of America. Above is Matthew Lee’s Declaration of Read more
Jane and Ian are now 100% certain of our paternal lineage, so on to solving the next mystery. A previous post we made was this one – It means nothing to me, an unexpected relative Ian has been a huge fan of this musician since he was a teenager. The Read more
When Jane and Ian initially suggested to Bill how we thought we were related via DNA, Bill was very sceptical, Ian recalls that he thought Bill was slightly “hostile” to our suggestion, he told Ian to prove it with records! Proving it with records was something Jane and Ian knew Read more
Jane found the clipping below on FindMyPast. It is a clipping from Newcastle Evening Chronicle 10th March, 1892. The clipping details the death of Joseph Leigh Hunter aka Matthew Lee’s father, Matthew Lee (Senior) (1837-1892) We don’t know which son the clipping refers to, whether it was John or Thomas. Read more