DNA

        DNA connections are truly amazing. I started building my family tree the old fashioned way, as so many did, with paper and online records, plus with my family’s knowledge. Without a doubt, this is still the gold standard of family history research and will continue to be needed to verify and source these connections. But now, with DNA testing being done over such a wide population base, and the tools that have been created using DNA to make family connections, I find it enormously satisfying to see my paper-based research come to life! It is almost unbelievable that I can see the DNA connections from distant cousins to my 4th and 5th great grandparents. 

Going back to the early and mid 1700’s, my mother’s side of the family had many ancestors that immigrated from Germany and western Europe, and settled in Philadelphia and Montgomery counties in eastern Pennsylvania. I knew many of their names from my family tree, but now the DNA connections help to confirm my other research. The same is true for my father’s side of his family from North Carolina and Tennessee.

One surname that came into our maternal line in 1785 was Harley (unfortunately not the motorcycle company) when Samuel Harley married Catherine Sower (my 4th great-grandparents). In 1795 he bought the Harleysville Hotel and also had the honor of having the town named after him. The hotel is still there in Harleysville, PA,  although it has been updated and remodeled a few times.

Samuel Harley 1758-1839 Revolutionary War veteran in the Harley Family Cemetery and Klein Meeting House grounds in Harleysville, PA

In 2017 I took a trip eastern Pennsylvania, and one of my stops was to go to Harleysville, visit the many cemeteries in that area, and to also meet with a 3rd cousin of mine. I found her through my DNA matches, but she is related to my Irish Reilly side of the family, not Harley. She just happened to live in Philadelphia area, so we arranged to meet at the Harleysville Hotel (its not a hotel anymore, just a local establishment with spirits and food.)

my 3rd cousin in our Reilly line meeting in Harleysville PA

Kate and I met there for lunch and to try to see if either of us had enough information to find our Ireland roots. That didn’t happen, but just the fact that our DNA connected us to the same Reilly family was amazing in itself. It was wonderful to make such a personal connection with a Reilly cousin. That would not have happened without DNA.  And it wasn’t lost on me that we were meeting in a place where I had deep DNA roots to another of my family lines, the Harley line.

Owner of Harleysville Hotel at the time Leon and me. Notice the old wood beams on the ceiling were from the original building in the 1750's

While I was at the Harleysville Hotel that day, I was also talking to one of the people who worked there, and I mentioned why I was there. She asked what family names, and one I mentioned was Alderfer. She couldn’t believe it. She was an Alderfer too! She ran home and got one of her family history books and we poured through it until we found our connection. I swear I could have thrown a bottle cap at all the people in that tavern and I bet I would have hit a few more cousins. 

Harleysville Hotel now, and an older photo of it in maybe 1880's?

One new DNA connection that I honestly just found while I was writing this, was to the person who first built the Harleysville Hotel in 1750. His name was John Isaac Klein, my 6th great grandfather. Most DNA connections really only go back to 5th grand grandparents if your’re lucky, as they get quite diluted that far back, so I don’t have a DNA connection to him that can be proven, but I do have a small DNA connection to his son Gabriel Klein.   Its kind of crazy to think that my 6th great grandfather built this place, and my 4th great grandfather bought it 45 years later.