A few weeks ago, on a Sunday evening, I had a discussion with some of my children and grandchildren about some photos a distant cousin, Ted McClellan, had sent me. I “met” Ted in December 2013 via Family Tree DNA. I had taken FTDNA’s Family Finder DNA test the previous July. The test shows Ted and I are relatives.
This story actually began back in the 1970s when my Aunt Evelyn Vincent Farris promised me some heirloom family photos of Andrew Thompson. He’s the guy in the above photo (click HERE for a larger version). Before I begin, let me share a pedigree that helps connect the dots. Click HERE for a photo pedigree of my grandmother, Oma Seay’s line, marked in RED.
I inherited photos of Oma’s parents. I had seen her granddad, J.N. Seay’s father in a group photo. But I didn’t know of any photos of Oma’s mother’s family. The photo we had of her dad’s father was a group photo taken during the Civil War. That photo is courtesy of one of my cousins (thanks cous’) but we didn’t know which person in the photo was our ancestor nor did we know our ancestor’s correct name.
Cousin Ted identified Oma’s grandfather, Nathaniel David Seay. He found his Civil War record from his name which matches Thompson Family Bible records where he was shown as “N.D. See.” (His name is also spelled “See” in the Civil War record)
N.D. Seay’s height and rank are in the record. The group photo only has one man who would have matched N.D. Seay’s height and rank – the back row, 2nd man from the right. The original black & white photo was later colored by hand.
Finding Cousin Ted was a story in itself. Actually, he found me. I had connected with another cousin who Ted already knew. Since our DNA matched, he contacted me via FTDNA.com and we began emailing back and forth. It was Ted who explained to me where Andrew Thompson comes in. Ted is my 2nd Cousin Once Removed.
As it turns out, N.D. See died in the Civil War. His wife remarried a man named Thompson. My grandmother’s father, J.N. Seay, never liked his step-dad but he was very fond of the man’s son, his younger half-brother, Andrew. J.N. Seay ended up with at least 3 photos of Andrew Thompson which were passed on to my grandmother Oma when he died.
My Aunt Evelyn got the photos when my Oma died. My Cousin Cass got them when Aunt Evelyn died then Cass sent them to me. Andrew Thompson was Cousin Ted’s grandfather! What a revelation. He knew all about the family and literally covered me up with information about my grandmother’s ancestors, all sorts of stuff I never knew.
I was very grateful and thought, since he’s a direct line descendant, he should have two of the three photos of Andrew Thompson. So I scanned hi-res images as copies and sent him two of the three originals. I kept the one with Andrew and J.N. Seay together. In return, Cousin Ted sent me a stack of wonderful old photos of my Oma’s mother’s family I never knew existed. Wow! Those are the photos I showed my children and grandchildren that I mentioned in the first paragraph of this blog post.
As you can see from the photo at the top, Andrew must have been a skilled blacksmith. If you’re curious to know more, please email me. If you think the rest of the family might want to hear your comments or questions, please comment to this blog. Thanks. -Ron.V
P.S. Here are photos of Andrew Thompson, Seays, & Paces:
A photo of him standing outside his shop with an unknown man
(the black man in the background was related to “Aunt Febby”)
A photo of Andrew with Oma’s father, J.N. Seay
A photo of my grandmother’s sister Johnnie sent by Cousin Ted
(Our Aunt Celia Christine was named after Johnnie Christine)
A photo of Oma’s Uncle Joseph Brown Pace, her mother’s brother
(Many of these and photos on The Pedigree are courtesy of Cousin Ted McClellan)
