I have been searching for the parents of my gg grandfather William Oliver, born in Scotland in 1812, for 21 years and am unable to find any conclusive, written evidence of where he was born or who his parents or siblings were.
All I know from Scottish Parish Records is that he was living in:
• Samieston at the time of his marriage to Elizabeth Turnbull in 1833. The marriage was registered in Jedburgh - occupation was Ploughman • Denholm for the birth of his 1st 2 children (John 1834 & Agnes 1836 whose births were registered in Cavers). Father’s occupation was Labourer.
William and wife and children emigrated to South Australia in 1839. A Mr. Little selected William & his family. His application for free passage to South Australia was made to a Mr. Rue or Rae. William has Southdean named as his place of residence on this application.
The family sailed on the ship Delhi from Liverpool, England on August 18th 1839 and arrived at Pt Adelaide, South Australia on December 20th 1839. What a journey that must have been with 2 young children! I have so much admiration for my gg grandparents undertaking such a life change.
However, I now believe that the only way I will solve this puzzle is though DNA technology.
I am presently involved in an Oliver DNA project, using my brother’s DNA, to see if this technology can help find my ggg grandfather and beyond.
If you have any living MALES with the surname OLIVER in your family tree would they be willing to join the Oliver DNA Project? The more in it the more likely we are to find our distant ancestors and our connections.
My brother’s DNA matches Olivers in Scotland, Ireland, America & Canada.
The following link will take you to the OLIVER DNA Project Web site -
http://www.familytreedna.com/public/oliverDNA/default.aspx?
where you will find information about the OLIVER DNA project and the use of DNA in genealogy research.
There is no fee for submitting your Y DNA results to this group. There is a cost to getting your DNA tested but it is getting a lot cheaper than it used to be. Your DNA is only tested for genealogy markers and not for health markers.
Hope you find this information useful to your own genealogy research. If you have any questions please contact me.
Thank you Ms Chaye Oliver South Australia
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