Surname Saturday - Evans

     My Evans family line is somewhat short, only tracing back to 1850 and my Great-Great-Great Grandfather.  Here's the line:

1. Sally Ruth Evans [Great-Grandmother]
--- born: 17 Aug 1902, Hart County, Georgia
--- died: 20 Jun 1999, Hartwell, Hart County, Georgia
--- married: Bennie E Craft, abt 1918

2. John H Evans [Great-Great Grandfather]
--- born: 28 May 1879, Elbert County, Georgia
--- died: 9 Jul 1911, Gaines, Elbert, Georgia
--- married: Leila Frances Craft, abt 1897

3. William A Evans [Great-Great-Great Grandfather]
--- born: 18 Sep 1850, Hart County, Georgia
--- died: 2 Oct 1917, Ira, Anderson, South Carolina
--- married: Harriett Ann Partain, abt 1872

4. Unknown Evans
--- born: ?
--- died: bef 1860
--- married: Bedie / Beady

     Having written that out, I see that not only does this line go back very far, but it has been elusive regarding marriage licenses!

     The initial problem with this line is that I can't find the family in the 1850 census. William's parents should have been married, perhaps just starting out together. I also haven't found a marriage record for a Mr Evans to a Bedie / Beady in Georgia.  It's likely they were both from South Carolina, which doesn't have as many available records. I don't see this line a brick wall, so much as a temporary road block.  I need to spend (a lot of) time going through records to find GGGG Grandpa Evans. I'm sure there's some record of him somewhere. There are a few online trees, that do not give sources, that say he was Powell Evans from Cherokee County, South Carolina.  But without sources, I have no idea where this idea comes from and have yet to come across any substantiating evidence myself.

     Interestingly, this is a family line that I have confirmed via DNA.  My dad and I match two sisters, who are descendants of Mr Evans and Bedie's son James L Evans. You can see where they show up on my dad's DNA on chromosome 6.

Handwriting Help - What's the Maiden Name?

     Can anyone help with the maiden name of the groom's mother on this document? I've uploaded the entire document for hand writing comparison. You can see a larger version by clicking on the image.

Wordless Wednesday

Petitioning 23andMe

     It's been at least 12 days since 23andMe changed their Frequently Asked Questions without notice, taking away previously promised data access to non-subscribing customers.  Despite almost two weeks of complaints and questions from customers on message boards, Twitter, Facebook and via email, 23andMe has yet to respond or even notify the rest of their customers of the changes.

     As a whole, we want them to reverse the changes. Personally, I want some customer service from a company that I've spent hundreds of dollars with.

     To put more pressure on 23andMe, genealogist Larry Vick (who has been featured on 23andMe's blog, The Spittoon) has started a petition. It's short and to the point:

"23andMe Don't Take Away Our Relative Finder Matches  --  I am asking 23andMe to stick to its previous commitment to let customers who discontinue its Personal Genome Service (PGS) to retain their existing Relative Finder matches as long as the customers fulfilled their PGS commitment."

     I have signed, as have 225 others. Please take a moment and sign it too.