A Son of the Utah Pioneers

Finally, after checking and double-checking, I think I have the definitive list of my Mormon Pioneer Ancestors (those arriving in Utah between 1847-1869, including the few who didn't stay. . . .)

I have them all identified on my Ancestry.com "glvaughn" tree with the icon for the Mormon Pioneer Trail having lifted it from the Federal Register (OK, don't tell anybody at my work - but at least it's not for commercial trademark exploitation).

Curiouser and Curiouser

Found it.

Yes, you can download and upload the raw DNA data from ancestry and use on other sites. The easiest appears to be gedmatch.com, a "crowd-sourcing" site that needs our financial along with DNA contributions. It's all still very confusing and I still haven't figured out how to look at my Y Chromosome which I seriously need for Welsh connections.

But I found my American Indian percentage! Or at least one of the versions. There are several ways to look at DNA on the Gedwatch site. It scares me to begin to understand them cuz of a little knowledge and stranger-danger, etc. One of the analyses gave me:

Amerindian

0.22%

Not Illegitimate - Not Adopted

Not that there's anything bad with adoption or even illegitimacy for that matter. We know my Vaughans, with "John the B," started out illegitimate. Apparently Petersons back in Denmark, too.

What my DNA testing through Ancestry.com accomplished well was to link me genetically to the families I already have in my tree. Mormon family genealogies are largely to credit for that. (Along with not much foolin' around).

There is one significant name missing. Yep, Vaughn. We need more Vaughn/Vaughan DNA tested! Cousins, Uncles, Aunts, etc., please note! In another section of my Ancestry profile, I have confirmed Vaughan DNA with a distant cousin in Utah County with matching ancestors from Thomas Vaughan (1850) back. So it's there, it's just not well documented yet. We need more testing.

Here is the general genetic confirmation of my Family Tree:

The Rice Family - Either They Knew Or Didn't Know the Prophet Joseph

Trying not to go all logical on a legalistic evidentiary basis, but I am fortified in my testimony of the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith, Jr., in what is not said in the history of some of my ancestors.

My most persistent pioneer forebearer was Ira Rice (1793 -1868). Born in western Massachusetts, he helped pioneer western New York. As a veteran of the War of 1812, he took a land bounty and pioneered in what is now Michigan. Converted to the LDS Church, he moved to Illinois and helped build the communities in the neighborhood of Nauvoo, Illinois. Following Brigham Young west with the Saints, he pioneered Farmington in Davis County, then North Ogden, then he went to help settle Providence in Cache County. When a call went out to pioneer the Muddy or Cotton Mission south of Utah's Dixie, Ira readily volunteered. President Young supposedly told him that he had done enough pioneering in his lifetime. (He was up to seven pioneering experiences by my count). And he probably should have listened as Ira died from the effects of exposure in a flood at Beaver Dam, now in Arizona. He is buried in Washington, Utah.

Ira's son William Kelsey Rice (1822-1913) established a claim on some land in Farmington, Davis County, Utah, where the Farmington City Cemetery now lies and where he is buried. William was born in Manchester, Ontario County, New York. Sound familiar? Yes, that's the same neighborhood where  Joseph's family lived at the time of his First Vision and the Angel Moroni's visits to the boy prophet.

The Rices left upstate New York in the mid-1820s, a few years after the time of the First Vision and during the time of the Angel Moroni's appearances to Joseph. This is where the lack of evidence comes in to help establish a very important point. The histories I have of the Rices make no mention of the Smith Family of the neighborhood of Palmyra and Manchester.