A Picture, a Blog Post and a DNA Test

      In March of 2014, I wrote a post called Family Friends Friday-Well Maybe... about finding a picture on ebay of Lenora Ridgill and my hopes of returning it to her family and a follow up post called Matrilineal Monday-Finding Lenora's Descendants about how I was able to do just that!  You can read them by clicking on the links. 
   The picture was returned to Lori Abrams Rauchwerger , Lenora's 3rd great granddaughter. 
  

Lenora Ridgill
Clarendon County, SC

 I thought that was the end of the story until last week when my AncestryDNA test was processed and I was reviewing my matches.
  As I scrolled down the list my eye caught a familiar picture. It was Lori!
 Turns out we have a DNA match that leads to a common ancestor: 

  Claudius Richbourg (1715-1788) from St. Mark's Parish, South Carolina is our 7th great grandfather. 
  
 How incredible is that? We are both stunned. 

Thanks for helping me find a cousin, Lenora!


Are we kin? Please contact me. Together we can find our people!
Thanks so much for stopping by!




   
 

Matrilineal Monday-Finding Lenora's Descendants

 Last week I wrote a post called Family Friends Friday-Well Maybe.... that told of my finding and purchasing a picture from Ebay.
 The small tintype had the name Lenora Ridgill written on the frame and the seller said that the woman was from Clarendon County, SC.
   My blog post was placed on several SC Face Book Pages and Groups hoping that it would reach a family member.
  Much to my surprise, within just a few hours, I had a response on the SC Roots Forum Group.
 The respose was from Lori Abrams Rauchwerger who was excited to see a picture of the person she said was her 3rd Great Grandmother! Lori posted a chart from ancestry.com showing how she descended from 
Lenora Ridgill and also shared a picture of three of Lenora's descendants.
 Was this the same Lenora as the one in the census? Did I really connect that quickly with her family? I told Lori that the seller had not provided any other information as to how or why he had the picture, or how he knew she was from Clarendon County. A request for more information was sent, but no response has been received.
  One of Lori's relatives saw the post on FB and made a comment about how he could see a family resemblance.

  The picture of Lenora Ridgill

The Descendant picture. Lori's Mom (in the middle) and Grandmother.

Descendants of Lenora Ridgill
©Lori Abrams Rauchwerger
Used by permision
 

Lori

©Lori Abrams Rauchwerger
Used by permission

I see it too!
 Perhaps we will receive more information that will further prove the relationship or even disprove it but, as of today, the picture of Lenora Ridgill is on it's way to be reunited with those I believe to be be her family.
What a joy this experience has been!
©Cheri Hudson Passey

    

  

Family Friends Friday-Well Maybe....

 A few weeks ago I found this picture on Ebay. It is not anyone in my family, but it interested me because the woman was said to be from Clarendon, County,SC. The picture has the name Lenora Ridgill written on it.

 Several of my lines that are from the same county, so the picture was purchased and the searching began.

Lenora Ridgill
©Cheri Hudson Passey

  A Lenora Ridgill was found in both the 1860 and 1870 Clarendon County,SC Census.  

1860 Manning, Clarendon, SC Census
Lenora Ridgill, Family 109, Line 9
Source::Ancestry.com

 While looking at this census page, I scrolled forward and back to get a sense of the community and to see if there were other Ridgill families in the area. To my surprise just three pages ahead of Lenora and her family,were the Benjamin Reese Gibson (1824-1907) family! Benjamin and his wife Margaret Cantey Walker Gibson (1830-1900) were my Paternal 3rd Great Grandparents. They were about the same ages of Lenora and her husband, C.W. Ridgell, and their children were similar in age as well. Both men were listed as farmers.
 Is the Lenora in the 1860 Clarendon County,SC Census the same Lenora in the picture? Only time will tell. A few leads have been found on Ridgell descendants in Clarendon County. Perhaps one of those will bring answers.
 If it is the same Lenora, perhaps that is why I felt such a strong urge to purchase the photo and return it to the family. She was a family friend....maybe.

 ©Cheri Hudson Passey