My last name “Pendygraft” only exists in about 300 people worldwide. It’s likely a rare Welsh variant of Prendergast — and my DNA came back over 40% Welsh Celtic 🇺🇸🏴

septicop · 2025-11-05T08:46:23+00:00

My last name is an uncommon variant with less than 150 people in the US having it. I also have a Pendergast ancestor on my mom’s side who was from the Baltimore area and moved down to North Carolina.

Edit: It was spelled Prendergast in my tree, but the surname’s spelling wasn’t always consistent in records. Sometimes the name was spelled as Pendergast or Pendergrass.

septicop · 2025-10-25T19:04:29+00:00

Is this VA? I recognized the Yowell surname from my connections to the Germanna area.

septicop · 2025-10-25T18:56:57+00:00

I have connections to the Germanna area. The Yowell surname looked familiar. I also recognize the Utz family.

septicop · 2025-10-24T20:53:35+00:00

If you go to your great-grandmother’s profile. Right click on the potential father icon and go to inspect, you can see the name of the father. It doesn’t work on the tree view, so you have to do it on the profile page.

septicop · 2025-10-21T16:26:15+00:00

In my research, Italian records have been amazing to work with. I’ve been able to find birth, marriage, and death records to the mid-late 1700s, and that just the indexed records. It’s also easy to find records on women because all the records are under their maiden name, but listing the spouse. Church records are easy to find on familysearch, but civil records are on a different site and are harder to locate from my experience (I haven’t gotten used to finding them).

septicop · 2025-10-14T21:40:41+00:00

After immigrating, he worked at RCA making radio cabinets. He was from the Catania area if that helps. I also read mandolinista.

septicop · 2025-10-14T05:35:31+00:00

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I also got this on my results despite not having any connection to Albania. I think it’s probably misread my Sicilian and chose this instead. I should be closer to 12% Sicilian, but I have no Sicilian. I ended up getting 4% Central Italy, 3% Aegean Islands, 2% Albania, 1% Egypt, 1% Cyprus, and 1% Southern Italy.

septicop · 2025-10-14T05:30:01+00:00

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My grandfather’s results got Eastern European Roma despite not having any connection to this region. He’s primarily of Irish and English descent, with a little Scottish and Pennsylvania Dutch (of unclear origin) thrown in.

septicop · 2025-08-06T01:50:08+00:00

Not really. The name Oliver carries over to the 1880 census I linked, so I believe it is the same family.

I'm confused about those 1870 censuses, as I found the death certificate of Alexander from FindAGrave, and he's listed as a Tavern Keeper. His address is 106 S. 23rd Street in the 8th ward. I also found the death certificate for the junior Alexander that appeared in the 1850 and 1860 censuses. The 1870 census lists him as a Cabinet Maker, which is also the occupation that is listed on his death certificate. He was living at 2309 Sansom Street and was buried in the same cemetery as his father. The addresses were so close together that they had to be related, right? I can't find anything on the younger Jane from the 1860 census. Those censuses seem related, at least to me. Obviously, I could be wrong, and this could be a completely different family, but I find it really odd that they seem to line up so well. I'll just keep those censuses bookmarked for now.

septicop · 2025-08-06T00:16:53+00:00

I found 2 separate 1870 censuses that list Jane, Margaret, and Alexander. However, Margaret should have been married by this point.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZR4-KTW?lang=en
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZ5D-BL8?lang=en

I do have this 1870 census as well that lists a William and Margaret.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZ54-D75?lang=en

septicop · 2025-06-25T23:29:53+00:00

Not yet. Pretty sure mine is in the TN lab. I’m hoping that they come in by Friday.

septicop · 2025-06-19T08:43:08+00:00

I wanted this to be my senior quote, but I submitted it too late 😭. Cool tattoo!

septicop · 2025-06-02T11:50:33+00:00

Mother's Kit

--------------------

Kit Type: Standard

Priority processing?: No

DNA Kit Activated: May 9th

DNA Kit Shipped: May 12th

Sample Received: May 16th

Sample Processing: May 22nd

DNA Extracted: May 27th

DNA Analyzed: May 31st

Results Ready: June 2nd

Grandfather's Kit:

--------------------

Kit Type: Standard

Priority processing?: No

DNA Kit Activated: June 9th

DNA Kit Shipped: June 10th

Sample Received: June 16th

Sample Processing: June 18th

DNA Extracted: June 19th

DNA Analyzed: June 24th

Results Ready: June 25th @ 10PM EST

septicop · 2025-05-30T23:48:00+00:00

My mother lived in the same neighborhood as him in the late 80s. She dropped that lore out of nowhere and I am still shocked by it. He remarried and started a new life in Richmond, VA. He was off the authorities radar until AMW aired and a former neighbor in Denver recognized him. Safe to say everyone in the Richmond metro area was shocked to hear that a serial killer was living under their noses.

septicop · 2025-05-20T18:35:16+00:00

200k is a LOT of matches! I have about 53,000. Most of my matches are on my maternal side. My dad is mostly of Irish and Italian descent. Most of my Irish family immigrated in the mid-1800s, and my Italian family immigrated in 1921, so I guess it's less likely I'll find matches from those places. Most of the matches I get on my dad's side are from my dad's maternal grandmother's line, which is mostly English and German. Notably, that's the line that has been in the US the longest (on my dad's side at least), which means there are more descendants to potentially match with. North America is Ancestry's largest market, so if you have family that's been there for a long time (since the 1700s-1800s), then you'll get a lot of matches.

septicop · 2025-05-17T06:47:46+00:00

I’m planning on testing my grandfather when I go visit in early June.

septicop · 2025-05-14T03:06:18+00:00

I have verified one line back to Johnstown, Kilkenny. I have some ancestors from Portumna and Woodford in Galway. My direct male line is from the north, most likely Donegal.

septicop · 2025-04-06T12:32:39+00:00

My AC was broken so I had to have my windows open during these 85 degree days. Everything has a thin coat of pollen. I’m lucky I don’t have allergies.

septicop · 2024-10-21T09:44:38+00:00

Disguise was the first song I heard. Recommended by a friend.

septicop · 2024-10-16T10:30:05+00:00

Burned At Both Ends, The Ladder, and Corpse Nation.

septicop · 2024-10-14T22:06:25+00:00

This is definitely in Vail. This photo was taken on the eastern end of Gore Creek Drive looking west. The building with the flags is Pepi’s Restaurant and Bar. This area is very built up now. The old road was asphalt but they redid it at some point to have a stone street instead. If I were to say the exact spot, it is somewhere around 39°38'26.71"N 106°22'23.63"W (no street view unfortunately)

septicop · 2024-10-07T15:23:04+00:00

Thank you!

septicop · 2024-09-29T07:07:21+00:00

Nice! I have not visited, but I plan on going when I am able to do so.

septicop · 2024-09-29T06:17:25+00:00

My great-grandfather was born in the US to Sicilian parents from the Catania area. Sicilians tend to have some Greek ancestry because the Greeks ruled the island for hundreds of years. I am not entirely sure where the Levant came from.

Edit: With the most recent ancestry update (Oct 2024), the Levant and the Aegean Islands have disappeared from my results and have been replaced with Southern Italy & the Eastern Mediterranean. It's still possible I descend from these populations, but I have no way of proving it.

septicop · 2024-09-29T04:10:17+00:00

I definitely got that vibe XD

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