The Meckley Connection
One of my DNA matches on MyHeritage has the surname of Meckley.
Meckley is a well known name to me. My husband Gary’s paternal grandmother was born Anna Mae Meckley on March 3, 1911 in Elizabethtown, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Her parents were Samuel Kulp and Annie (Geib) Meckley. The Meckley family including her grandparents, Levi (1842-1897) and Catherine; her great grandparents, Samuel (1811-1886) and Mary Ann; and her 2nd great grandparents, Melchior (1775-1824) and Elizabeth, settled in Lancaster and Dauphin Counties in Pennsylvania. (Melchior may have been born in Germany.)
My DNA match with the surname of Meckley is estimated to be my 3rd to 5th cousin so the connection is not very close. She only has 12 people in her tree so there is not a lot of information there. We have no surnames in common. However, her line can be traced to her great grandparents, Joseph Ray (known as Ray) Meckley and his wife Ida Rebecca Phleeger who was born in either Pennsylvania or Maryland (I have many ancestors from Maryland). Joseph was born on September 24, 1891 in Green Castle, Pennsylvania which is in Franklin County to Daniel M. Meckley and Maude E. Myers. Franklin County is in southern Pennsylvania.
If this DNA match is a 3rd cousin, then she has a great grandparent whose sibling is my great grandparent which means that we would share a set of great-great grandparents (the average person has approximately 190 third cousins). If however, this connection is actually a 5th cousin then that increases the possibilities to over 17,000 possible cousin matches and we would share a 4th great grandparent (which means that there are 12 degrees of separation between us). With maternal lines involved it is likely that the connection is not even a Meckley: “In the US and in most other countries, surnames are passed down from a father to his children, but only those male children will pass down their father’s surname to their children. If the father only has female children, then the surname does not continue on his line. If he has two sons and a daughter only the sons will carry the surname. The daughter will take her husband’s name, and her children, the grandchildren of her father, will not share his surname (Mercedes).”
Geographically however, we very well may have an ancestor in common. I wrote about the two cousins with the same name, John Calvin Watkins, in my blog entry of February 11, 2022 https://journeyingwithjacque.com/maps-generations-cafe-ancestry-challenge/ My great grandfather was John Calvin son of Samuel and John’s cousin was John Calvin son of William. Both Samuel and William were born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania (which is a county in southern Pennsylvania) as was John Calvin son of William.
Any family connection? Who knows…but it was a fun discovery.
Sources
McDermott, Marc. “What Is a Fifth Cousin? Are They Considered Family?” Genealogy Explained, 22 Feb. 2022, https://www.genealogyexplained.com/what-is-a-fifth-cousin/.
McDermott, Marc. “What Is a Third Cousin? Are They Considered Family?” Genealogy Explained, 22 Feb. 2022, https://www.genealogyexplained.com/what-is-a-third-cousin/.
Mercedes. “Should You Have Surname Matches with Distant Cousin DNA Matches?” Who Are You Made Of?, 16 Jan. 2022, https://whoareyoumadeof.com/blog/should-you-have-surname-matches-with-distant-cousin-dna-matches/.
I’ve had something like this turn up in DNA results, too. My mother’s surname attached to one of my paternal matches. As you point out, the match possibilities are many when it is a 5th cousin. Thanks for sharing.