A useful service has recently come to my attention via 23AndMe. It enables anyone to run their raw DNA analysis in comparison with others who have also used it and who are out there waiting to be found. When my DNA analysis comes back from 23AndMe in a few weeks, I will run my data as a trial.

E1b1b1c1a M84 has good news/bad news aspects. Since there are relatively so few carrying that Y-chromosome it may take some considerable time before enough of us opt to be tested and then make data available for such triangulation. The good news is that we should be able to plot probable migration more and more precisely as others of our ilk add themselves.

The GEDmatch.Com site provides tools for making ‘deep’ comparisons between genealogies and DNA test results to help identify possible hidden ancestral connections with distant cousins. This is particularly useful when your GEDCOM or list of DNA matches contains hundreds, or even thousands of individuals. This service is provided free to anybody.

Also, you will find instructions for 23AndMe on that site.

A short search of this record recently made available by Ancestry.com, using obvious combinations of Frank, Francis, Freeman and McCallum, turned up no obvious leads.

AJHS, New York Hebrew Orphan Asylum Records, 1860-1934
According to one account, residents of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of the City of New York (HOA) made up an entire enumeration district in the 1920 U.S. census. Not all the children at the HOA were “orphans” in the traditional sense – some were half-orphans: children whose parents who couldn’t provide for them. (By the way, the Yankees never did buy the asylum property. They built their new stadium on a little site in the Bronx instead.)

http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1611&o_iid=46812&o_lid=46812

Are we related?  From time to time, in our search for both our ancestors and currently living family we will post names in the hope that they will come to this site as the result of an Internet search that they, or other living individuals, do on their names.

If you have come as the result of such a search and are not a relative then I apologise for disturbing you.  However, if you are indeed a relative then do we want meet you!  We have a lot to talk about.

Family of John Frank McCallum, LCDR (ret) Wildomar, a city in Riverside County, California,  Born August 9, 1924 ~ Died August 7, 2010

My grandfather’s name was Frank McCallum.  John is a common family name in various forms.  John Frank was born the right year to be the son of my grandfather’s lost brother,

He is survived by daughters:

• Laurie Hood; grand daughter Elizabeth Hood
• Sharon McCallum, and
• Misty Franklin; grandson Cody Franklin

Services are private, but friends and family may call 951-678-7756 for information. In lieu of flowers, donations by check may be made to Scripps Health Foundation. Indicate: In Memory of Frank McCallum Cardiovascular Institute.

Sign the Guest Book online obits.nctimes.com Published in North County Times on August 12, 2010      San Diego, California  http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nctimes/obituary.aspx?n=john-frank-mccallum&pid=144636101

Who knew!

Israeli immigration laws will accept an application for Israeli citizenship if there is proven documentation that any grandparent—not just the maternal grandmother—was Jewish. This does not mean that person is an “ethnic Jew”, but Israeli immigration will accept that person because he or she has an ethnically Jewish connection, and because this same degree of connection was sufficient to be persecuted as a Jew by the Nazis. See Jewish ethnic divisions.

This Wikipedia site has an interesting overview of what it means to be Jewish.  It is not as straightforward as one would assume.

In a related area, today I heard on the CBC (Tapestry) a program on Jewish aetheists, agnostics and ignostics.    Apparently a recent study in the United States determined that 17% of Jews are aetheists.    The same program indicated that the Sephardic Jews who were chased out of Spain into northern Portugal by the Catholics at the end of the 15th century  AD went on to university there and many became  aetheists, apparently the first in Europe.   Now I ask you, did it not cross anyone’s mind before that?  So far I have not attempted to confirm the information presented in that program. The program is available in a podcast http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/pastpodcasts.html?26#ref26 .

From the Wikipedia entry cited above:

“Who is a Jew?” (Hebrew: מיהו יהודי‎ pronounced [ˈmihu jehuˈdi]) is a basic question about Jewish identity and considerations of Jewish self-identification. The question is based in ideas about Jewish personhood which themselves have cultural, religious, genealogical, and personal dimensions. The question was of importance during the rule of the Nazis in Germany, and was addressed by the Nuremburg Laws

There are controversial aspects — to begin with, the question has a logical inverse, namely, “Who is not a Jew?” Recent court cases have gained particular prominence in connection with several legal cases in Israel since 1962,^[1][2] and in 2009 there was a prominent and controversial court case, in the United Kingdom, about the question.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]}

The definition of who is a Jew varies according to whether it is being considered by Jews based on normative religious statutes, self-identification, or by non-Jews for other reasons. Because Jewish identity can include characteristics of an ethnicity, a religion,^[9] and citizenship, the definition of who is a Jew has varied, depending on whether a religious, sociological, or ethnic aspect was being considered.^[10]

According to halakha, the oldest normative definition used by Jews for self-identification, a person is matrilineally a Jew by birth, or becomes one through conversion to Judaism. Adherence to this definition has been challenged since the emergence of the Karaite sect, emergence of modern groups in Judaism since the 19th century, and the creation of Israel in 1948. Issues that have been raised reflect:

• Child’s non-Jewish mother: i.e. whether a child born of a non-Jewish mother should be considered Jewish through the father’s Jewish identity.
• Conversion: i.e. what process of conversion other than the historically normative procedure according to Jewish law should be considered valid.
• Historical loss of Jewish identity: i.e. whether a person’s or group’s actions (such as conversion to a different religion) or circumstances in his or her community’s life (such as being unaware of Jewish parents) should affect his or her Jewish status.
• Diaspora identity: identity of Jews among themselves, and by non-Jews throughout the Jewish diaspora.
• Claim to Israeli citizenship: the examination of the three previous issues in the context of the Basic Laws of Israel.

As indicated in an earlier post, we don’t yet have proof of patrilineal  Jewish ancestry but we have definitive proof of patrilineal  Semitic ancestry.

Ian

Y-chromosomal Aaron

Y-chromosomal Levi (para)

The E1b1b1 haplogroup (formerly known as E3b1) has been observed in all Jewish groups worldwide. It is considered to be the second most prevalent haplogroup among the Jewish population outside of the J haplogroups. According to one non-peer reviewed paper^[46] it has also been observed in moderate numbers among individuals from Ashkenazi, Sephardic and Samaritan communities having traditions of descending from the tribe of Levi, suggesting that the E1b1b1 men claiming to be Levites may have existed in Israel before the Diaspora of 70 C.E.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y-chromosomal_Aaron

The children ranged in age from about six to 18 and shared a common grim existence. Homeless or neglected, they lived in New York City’s streets and slums with little or no hope of a successful future. Their numbers were large – an estimated 30,000 children were homeless in New York City in the 1850s. Charles Loring Brace, the founder of The Children’s Aid Society, believed that there was a way to change the futures of these children. By removing youngsters from the poverty and debauchery of the city streets and placing them in morally upright farm families, he thought they would have a chance of escaping a lifetime of suffering.

He proposed that these children be sent by train to live and work on farms out west. They would be placed in homes for free but they would serve as an extra pair of hands to help with chores around the farm. They wouldn’t be indentured. In fact, older children placed by The Children’s Aid Society were to be paid for their labors.

The Orphan Train Movement lasted from 1853 to the early 1900s and more than 120,000 (note: as many as 200,000) children were placed. This ambitious, unusual and controversial social experiment is now recognized as the beginning of the foster care concept in the United States.

Orphan Trains stopped at more than 45 states across the country as well as Canada and Mexico. During the early years, Indiana received the largest number of children. There were numerous agencies nationwide that placed children on trains to go to foster homes. In New York, besides Children’s Aid, other agencies that placed children included Children’s Village (then known as the New York Juvenile Asylum), what is now New York Foundling Hospital, and the former Orphan Asylum Society of the City of New York, which is now the Graham-Windham Home for Children.

http://www.childrensaidsociety.org/about/history/orphan-trains

More information can be turned up by Googling the following search terms <orphan train “North Dakota” names>.

Orphan Train Heritage Society of America Inc OTHSA
http://www.orphantraindepot.com/
The legacy of the famed Orphan Trains that began during the first days of the Children’s Aid Society in New York lives on today. An estimated 150,000 children took part in the Orphan Train Movement from 1854 to 1929, giving them new lives and a bright future by removing them from the poverty and danger of the city streets.

Victor Remer Historical Archives

http://www.childrensaidsociety.org/about/history/victor-remer-historical-archives

Important historical records can be accessed via The Guide to the Records of The Children’s Aid Society (1853-1947). This guide contains materials pertaining to emigration programs such as the Orphan Train, foster care and adoption programs operating between 1853-1947, annual reports to 2006, a small collection of materials from 1948-1951, and The Children’s Aid Society lodging houses, industrial schools, convalescent homes, health centers and farm schools.

Guide to the Records of the Children’s Aid Society 1836-2006 (bulk 1853-1947)  MS 111

http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/childrensaidsociety_at.html

A solid collection of records and references, but primarily focused on New York or the point of departure.

Although the emigration program became known as the “orphan train,” many of the children were not orphans. They were children whose guardians could not care for them, or who hoped they would find a better life, and who signed surrender documents releasing them to the care of the Children’s Aid Society. Many others were adolescents without known guardians who were seeking their own fortunes by heading west.

Research Resources

www.haplozone.net/e3b – ongoing updates on research into E1b1b1c1a with genealogical revelations

www.dna-forums.com

www.23andme.com get your DNA analysed and compare it to others

http://phoenicia.org/pirc_news_release.html great resource on our Canaanite and Phoenician forbearers

http://isogg.org/tree/index08.html – ongoing updates on genetic research and a source of ongoing articles on geographical or ethnic clusters

http://boards.ancestry.ca/topics.immigration.depsct/472/mb.ashx  – I’ve set up a “fishing” thread/post on this site set up by the Church of Later Day Saints which has one of the largest ancestry databases in the world which is now taking genealogical information as well.  It is used extensively and consulted by many who are on their own searches.  It is a site which can result in an unknown family member putting a 2 to our 2 and giving us both 4.

https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/lan/en/globe.html  – This site has similar promise to the Ancestry site.  Plus you can also pay to have your DNA analysis done.

Wikipedia.com has all kinds of useful information from DNA analysis to ethnic groups.

Ian

While we now have a fair amount of info on Frank/Gramps but we still don’t know anything concrete about his parents or brother(?).  So I’ve started using the social networking systems to go fishing.  Eventually it will be best for us to set up a family site where the most recent documents and confirmed information is placed and updated.  One of the areas with promise may be the Orphan Trains which transported orphans and indigents from the eastern United States to the west in order to provide needed labour.  Apparently there is a large body of information so if there is anyone in the family that can tackle that area it would be appreciated by all.

I have placed the message set out below on a new group that I created on Facebook [Frank McCallum Finding ancestors & kin Y-DNA E1b1b1c1a1 (E-M136) (E-M34) ]

and also on Ancestry.com [http://boards.ancestry.ca/topics.immigration.depsct/472/mb.ashx] However, it may have ended up in the wrong part of Ancestry.

I’m not sure that I have the optimum set up or test but I will tweak it later.  Only so many hours in the day.

Do you have a Facebook account?  I’m at Ian McCallum and Skype Mcluhan.

Do you have suggestions as to edits, additional key words or other fishing holes where I can place the hook?

The Y-Chromosome information is a long shot but will become of increasing use as more people are tested, their results made public and their family’s migration patterns are geographically plotted and tracked as far back as they can.

Feel free to pass this info along to anyone else in the family who might be interested in it.

It’s a great detective story for a family of thespians and other creative types. 

Ian

Frank McCallum Finding ancestors & kin Y-DNA E1b1b1c1a1 (E-M136) (E-M34)

Key Points: We are looking for the parents of our grand father, Frank McCallum, and living family too. Frank was likely born in 1891 or 92, probably in the United States and orphaned before he was 12.  He emigrated, that is walked, from North Dakota to Saskatchewan, Canada around 1902.  He died in 1956 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Much of the social information about him is unconfirmed.  Recent DNA analysis proves that McCallum could not have been the ancestral name. 

We don’t know when or where he was orphaned.  The story that family recall that he provided was that he worked on a farm in North Dakota, left and walked into Saskatchewan, Canada in his early teens, around 1902.  He then worked at Vanscoy near Saskatoon as a farm labourer for Charlie Benolken who had recently emigrated with several other relatives and family members from just west of Minneapolis.  Frank then acquired four parcels of land to farm and simultaneously operated a small general store from his farm, sold insurance and involved himself in other ventures.

Apparently he had a younger brother, name unknown, who Frank last saw in North Dakota.  Later Frank tried finding him but was unsuccessful.  He remembered his father having red hair and his mother black hair.

Y-Chromosome

Haplotype:         E1b1b1c1a1 or E-M136 a sub-clade of E1b1b1c1 (E-M34).   

The DNA analysis proves that our ancestral name is not McCallum.  The global McCallum Y-chromosome is group R; his was group E.  The McCallum name was adopted at some point.  Emigration or adoption would be events when that would occur.  There are all kinds of reasons why someone looking for a name would pick a specific name; but, “Frank McCallum”? Frank is not a typical Scottish name per se, particularly in that era since the name Frank apparently only came into use in the 1700s.  Today there are a number of Frank McCallum’s listed in a Google of today’s Glasgow. 

The modern day geographical locations of the M136 haplotype are not yet meaningfully identified.  The earlier E1b1b1c group seems to have originated in or near to the Jordan Valley of the eastern Mediterranean.  However, distribution of the M34 haplotype also includes northern Spain and Portugal and through the coastal areas of the Mediterranean and into Anatolia and even north East Africa.

Frank’s eldest son deduced from various indicators that Frank may have been Jewish.

Birth

Date of Birth:     likely October 27, 1891 or 1892 

Place of Birth:   possibly Detroit or Wayne County, Michigan (cited in numerous homestead registrations, wedding certificate and WWI sign-up documents); but could also be New York, Illinois and Europe.

Alternative McCallum Parentage

Alternative McCallum Parentage – Alternative Names

(from his 1919 Glasgow wedding certificate)

Father: John McCallum, hotel proprietor

Mother: Julia, maiden name Leggat

Alternative McCallum Parentage – Immigrants 1892

 

Names: Frank McCallum Age 42 (nationality Canadian) & Mrs. McCallum Age 40 (nationality Irish) Both citizens of the USA.

Arrived: Ellis Island, New York Sept 9 1892  from Liverpool

Ship was: The City of New York  

Of the 65 McCallums who landed at Ellis Island, New York between 1892 and 1924 only one was named Frank, arriving Sept 9 1892, who brought no children. 

Coincidence? Quite possibly.  But consider the following: this Frank’s Nationality/Ethnicity is listed as Canada! Very odd. This Frank is also a Citizen of the United States and destination is “Ills” which I assume is an abbreviation for Illinois (Chicago?). Why would Canadian Frank be taking an Irish wife from Liverpool to live in the US instead of Canada?

So what might be the relevance?

·         They could have had a child after arriving in Illinois.

·         They could have “adopted” a child, even one from the boat.  There were deaths during the voyage but I haven’t yet checked the other 1,740 passengers.

·         Our “Frank’s” parent(s) could have met passenger Frank and his wife on the boat and then after landing taken on his name, and naming his son Frank as a tribute or thank you. 

For an eventual orphan Canada could also be a strong, attractive myth of “home”, strong enough to motivate a walk there when he could have walked in any other direction.

Alternative McCallum Parentage (possibly grandparents)

Source: Essex County, Ontario Wedding Records (year)

Father: Frank McCallum

Mother: Julia Vanantwerp / or Van Antwerp

Father: James McCallum

Names Given To children that may be relevant hints:

James, John, Francis, Merle, Neil, Effie.

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