This was a document I created to help understand my Grandmother Juanitas side of the family. I believe I created this around 2008. New science and documents are possibly available so I will have to revisit this issue. March 2020
I’m writing this to record and share my thoughts and research with my family that descends from Juanita Brady. I call her Juanita Brady because that is how she identifies herself on the few records I have of her. On the 1935 Florida State Census she lives with her family and the head of the family is Mr. Phillips. However all of the children are listed as Brady’s including Juanita. On a document from her first marriage in 1937, she identifies herself as a Brady also. I have never found a document that listed Juanita as a Phillips, only Brady. So I have to go with what I’m provided in the records.
First of all, family research and DNA analysis is hard. It takes quite a bit of research and money to figure this stuff out. I love doing it, but its not a simple task to reconstruct your family’s past. Some people spend their entire lives and spend a fortune doing this, only to find very little accurate information.
The TV shows you watch like the George Lopez Show where they give guests an ethnic breakdown are based on poor science. There are several companies that use very old tests and will tell you what Native American tribe you match up with. These companies are known within the DNA community as a sham. People continue to use their services because they tell people what they want to hear, that they are a certain percentage of American Indian. The “TV” tests use only 13-100 CODIS markers to identify your origin. This technology is antiquated and the results are ambiguous at best. The new tests available today utilize 500,000 + markers within our DNA , a substantial difference.
If you want to have membership within a recognized tribe, you need to “prove” decent from a person on the various rolls. (Dawes, Baker, etc.) This is very hard to do and the majority of Americans with Indian ancestors are not on these documents.
If you have no records and want to trace your native ancestry with DNA only, which is our present situation, there are still a few things you can do. 23andme provides a test that will give you a geographic breakdown but it’s rather conservative. It’s split up into three percentages: European, African, and Asian. For people with American roots the Asian is the Native American percentage. Most “white” people get 98-99 % European since that’s what we are overwhelmingly. If you get a larger percentage of Asian 4-10 % then you have a good chance of having a Native ancestor.
Family Tree DNA has a new test that is to be released any day now. This test is supposed to be more granular in respect to ethnicity, but the Affymetrix chip that is used by FTDNA is geared toward Northern European heritage, so I’m not sure how well it will identify Asian or Native American markers. It will probably tell me all about my Irish and English ancestry, but that’s not the subject of this article.
Within the extended Tanner family there is debate about Juanita’s origins. Here are the competing stories. Feel free to add more if you have one…lol.
Story # 1. Walter Lee Brady and Missouri Bryant are her parents. This is the official story, but we have little proof if this is true or not. Here are my thoughts on this.
We don't have a birth certificate for Juanita yet and no sign of her on the 1920 Census. Now Juanita was born supposedly March 1920 and the 1920 census was taken in January. On that census if Missouri was her mother, then she was about to have her. But the census doesn't mention if a mother is with child, so we will never know.
Juanita Tanner shows up on the 1935 Florida Census for the first time. On that census the following people are listed:
J.A Phillips 50, Missouri Phillips 52, Annie Brady 29, Frank Brady 26, Council Brady 23, Juanta Brady 15 and Corine Farabee 4.
Now we know that Annie was back in the house since she had divorced Mr. Farabee and had Corine there as well. But what I want to point out is the fact that the first 3 children of Missouri’s were 3 years apart each. There is an eight year difference between Juanita and Council. It’s not impossible, but suspicious.
Story # 2. James A Phillips brought Juanita from another state were she was born to an Indian woman. Grandma always had stories of different mothers.
Story # 3. Juanita was the daughter of Missouri Bryant and a traveling Italian salesman who was a boarder in Missouri’s boarding house.
So above are the 3 stories we have to work with.
Before we get into what we have discovered lets discuss what we know about the family without all of these pesky records and DNA tests. Families often have legends that are passed down and many of them have quite a bit of truth in them. There are also things that people don’t want to pass on and feel ashamed of at the time so details are left out.
My job as a family historian is to find the facts and present them in a respectful manner. I loved Grandma Juanita and would have done anything for her, but I have tools that she didn’t have access to and the ability to analyze DNA and cross reference large databases of people that have submitted their genealogy and DNA.
In years past if you researched your family’s genealogy you could only go by what was recorded and what you are told. With DNA and the huge databases that have been compiled by 23andme, the Sorenson Foundation, and Family Tree DNA, we are able to see what others match our DNA report as their heritage. For example, I consider myself English and Irish with a small amount of Native American ancestry. This is what I have been told by family and the genealogy that I have done over the years. When I took the data that has been reported by over 50 people in the FTDNA database, I see an overwhelming English, Irish Ancestry.
I also see a bit of Cherokee and Choctaw ancestry. This seems to reflect what has been reported by my family over the years.
We have several people in our family that look rather “Native” so it’s not so far fetched for us to say we have Native heritage. We have a strong family history from the South and actually have living people in our family that “look Indian”.
So what does my (our) DNA say about Native Ancestry?
There are several tests that you can take to prove, or try to prove Native American ancestry. A Y-Chromosome test (native male line), mtDNA (native female line), and various autosomal DNA tests (the rest of your DNA).
We suspect Juanita’s native ancestry comes from the female Northern European line. I carry her mtDNA which was passed down from her mother.
It is the mtDNA U4 haplogroup which originates in Siberia or Finland from 30,000 years ago. It’s quite common in Ireland and the UK which makes sense if Missouri Bryant is her mother. I manage the U4 mtDNA group at FTDNA and it’s not Indian. It is one of the oldest mtDNA’s of Europe.
The Y-Chromosome won’t help us here with Juanita since that’s a male only test.
Autosomal DNA testing is rather new but I’ve taken a test and my results have linked me to numerous people throughout the world that share DNA with me. There are also other databases that I’ve submitted my DNA to and have found several distant cousins from Ireland, England, and Australia. Not much Native American yet, only a small amount.
So what can we do at this point to find our Native ancestry?
#1 wait. There are numerous studies and tests that are linking portions of our genomes to areas of the world.
#2 Test Uncle Bo. – He is the closest link we have to Native Ancestry from the way he looks to his age. When he dies… we will be out of luck. That would give us a direct link to Grandpa Tanner’s paternal line as well as grandma’s mtDNA and atDNA.
Any test I take will be diluted by 50% since I carry Bill Allen’s DNA as well as April’s. So without Grandma to test, Uncle Bo is the best chance we have.
Uncle Bo is 50% Grandma, 50% percent Grandpa. I’m 25% percent Grandma, 25% Grandpa and the other 50% my paternal line (Allen.) So as generations pass, it gets diluted more and more.
So if you have any information that I have not covered in this document, please send it my way. I would love to be disproved or scooped by a family member with new information.
My Origins by FTDNA
FTDNA released an update to their population finder tool. My old percentage was 90% Orcadian and 10 % Mediterranean.
My new percentage is, 100 Percent European.
If I click on the + symbol next to European, I can expand this to four different reference populations.
My population breakdown is:
56% European Coastal Islands
European Coastal Islands is typical to the British Isles, especially Ireland. Its reach includes all European Islands from the far north and down south to the Azores Islands off the coast of Spain. The continuous mixing of European populations means that this group is also present in lesser amounts on the mainland. Genetically close to European Coastal Plain and European Northlands, European Coastal Islands has had an impact on the demography of the world because of the explosion of population in the Anglosphere over the past few centuries.
The farmers came to Britain late, but when they came they brought great change. The hunters were assimilated by the farmer. This admixture caused the European Coastal Islands as we know it to become a hybrid of farmer and hunter. Perhaps due to its isolation and strategic placement, the major powers in the world and throughout history have wanted to rule the islands. From Caesar to the Irish king Niall of the Nine Hostages, we see the wide variety of genetic influence from the Celts, Picts, Vikings, Normans and French.
29% European Coastal Plain
The European Coastal Plain combines nearly all of the threads of European genetic history into one. This cluster goes from the Bay of Biscay near Spain, toward the Pripet Marshes of western Russia, to the coastal plain of Northern Europe. The hunter-gatherer, farmer, and intruder from the steppes were forged together as one people. The French and the German were created by the intersection between the civilized and the barbarian during antiquity. With this diverse ancestry across the uniform plain, a relatively unified cluster was born.
European Coastal Plain represents the diverse groups brought together over the past 5,000 years, as Germans, Celts, and Slavs have moved in with their cattle, and the Romans brought their mills and cities. This cluster is common among many populations with Northern European heritage. Germanic migrations after the fall of Rome guaranteed its presence in the south. The people on the European Coastal Plain are at the heart of recent history. Being the engines behind the Great Powers of the age, they became the dominant actors in colonization of the world.
8% North Mediterranean
The North Mediterranean cluster is a distinct European cluster. It is situated in the southwest of Europe from Spain to Greece. Its people are a mix of the first hunter-gatherers to reach Europe and later migrations from Western Eurasia. There were two waves into the area: first the farmers of the Middle East and later the Roman Empire.
A long history of traveling merchants and seafarers shaped this group. The great empires of Rome and Greece brought it to distant lands. They also brought a second wave of Western Eurasian influence into the cluster. Its modern geography speaks to the history of those who moved, either willingly or in chains, under the Roman Empire. Because of this, the cluster’s signature is strongest in the western part of the Mediterranean. It is particularly strong on the isolated island of Sardinia. It reaches upwards to the British Islands, as well as east into modern Turkey.
They have the same genetic origin as those who reached north to what is now Sweden. While the culture survived there, the genetic signature was largely replaced by later migrations.
7% North Circumpolar
The world is not such a wide place at the top and the bottom. The North Circumpolar cluster began around the arctic as hunter-gatherer peoples. They have carried their genes down to the modern era. The North Circumpolar stretches from Lappland east to Greenland. Though genetically diverse, the root of many of these populations is a genetic signature found most often in Finnic peoples.
These are the descendants of hunter-gatherers who withstood the push of the farmers. They adapted, and flourished, in a new age. Like the Bering Expansion, this cluster goes beyond conventional divisions, and has clear connections with both east and west. Even the New World is connected to North Circumpolar due to their shared kinship with ancient Siberia.
Humans pushed into the deep north only within the last 30,000 years, going where no Neanderthal had dared. With connections to populations in the south, the northerners maintained long term lateral connections and developed a coherence as the ice retreated. North Circumpolar has its roots with Saami hunters and fishers, as well as Uralic, Russian, Swedish, and even Scandinavian ancestries.
Overall I'm quite pleased with the new product since it is an update to an existing product that I purchased several years ago.This is a good example of a DNA test providing results for a long time. This test matches my known ancestry from genealogy.
More info here: https://www.familytreedna.com/learn/ftdna/myorigins-population-clusters/
My new percentage is, 100 Percent European.
If I click on the + symbol next to European, I can expand this to four different reference populations.
My population breakdown is:
56% European Coastal Islands
European Coastal Islands is typical to the British Isles, especially Ireland. Its reach includes all European Islands from the far north and down south to the Azores Islands off the coast of Spain. The continuous mixing of European populations means that this group is also present in lesser amounts on the mainland. Genetically close to European Coastal Plain and European Northlands, European Coastal Islands has had an impact on the demography of the world because of the explosion of population in the Anglosphere over the past few centuries.
The farmers came to Britain late, but when they came they brought great change. The hunters were assimilated by the farmer. This admixture caused the European Coastal Islands as we know it to become a hybrid of farmer and hunter. Perhaps due to its isolation and strategic placement, the major powers in the world and throughout history have wanted to rule the islands. From Caesar to the Irish king Niall of the Nine Hostages, we see the wide variety of genetic influence from the Celts, Picts, Vikings, Normans and French.
29% European Coastal Plain
The European Coastal Plain combines nearly all of the threads of European genetic history into one. This cluster goes from the Bay of Biscay near Spain, toward the Pripet Marshes of western Russia, to the coastal plain of Northern Europe. The hunter-gatherer, farmer, and intruder from the steppes were forged together as one people. The French and the German were created by the intersection between the civilized and the barbarian during antiquity. With this diverse ancestry across the uniform plain, a relatively unified cluster was born.
European Coastal Plain represents the diverse groups brought together over the past 5,000 years, as Germans, Celts, and Slavs have moved in with their cattle, and the Romans brought their mills and cities. This cluster is common among many populations with Northern European heritage. Germanic migrations after the fall of Rome guaranteed its presence in the south. The people on the European Coastal Plain are at the heart of recent history. Being the engines behind the Great Powers of the age, they became the dominant actors in colonization of the world.
8% North Mediterranean
The North Mediterranean cluster is a distinct European cluster. It is situated in the southwest of Europe from Spain to Greece. Its people are a mix of the first hunter-gatherers to reach Europe and later migrations from Western Eurasia. There were two waves into the area: first the farmers of the Middle East and later the Roman Empire.
A long history of traveling merchants and seafarers shaped this group. The great empires of Rome and Greece brought it to distant lands. They also brought a second wave of Western Eurasian influence into the cluster. Its modern geography speaks to the history of those who moved, either willingly or in chains, under the Roman Empire. Because of this, the cluster’s signature is strongest in the western part of the Mediterranean. It is particularly strong on the isolated island of Sardinia. It reaches upwards to the British Islands, as well as east into modern Turkey.
They have the same genetic origin as those who reached north to what is now Sweden. While the culture survived there, the genetic signature was largely replaced by later migrations.
7% North Circumpolar
The world is not such a wide place at the top and the bottom. The North Circumpolar cluster began around the arctic as hunter-gatherer peoples. They have carried their genes down to the modern era. The North Circumpolar stretches from Lappland east to Greenland. Though genetically diverse, the root of many of these populations is a genetic signature found most often in Finnic peoples.
These are the descendants of hunter-gatherers who withstood the push of the farmers. They adapted, and flourished, in a new age. Like the Bering Expansion, this cluster goes beyond conventional divisions, and has clear connections with both east and west. Even the New World is connected to North Circumpolar due to their shared kinship with ancient Siberia.
Humans pushed into the deep north only within the last 30,000 years, going where no Neanderthal had dared. With connections to populations in the south, the northerners maintained long term lateral connections and developed a coherence as the ice retreated. North Circumpolar has its roots with Saami hunters and fishers, as well as Uralic, Russian, Swedish, and even Scandinavian ancestries.
Overall I'm quite pleased with the new product since it is an update to an existing product that I purchased several years ago.This is a good example of a DNA test providing results for a long time. This test matches my known ancestry from genealogy.
More info here: https://www.familytreedna.com/learn/ftdna/myorigins-population-clusters/
Jeremiah Allen Bastrop County Tax Assessments
Here are various Tax assessments from Bastrop County from 1850-1870 for my 4th Great Grandfather Jeremiah Allen.
John Swartout and Alvira Debord Documents
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| Maude Swartout (Allen) Birth Cert |
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| John / Alvira Marriage Cert |
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| Alvira death Cert |
Death Certificates for various family members from the State of Florida
 |
| Sara Missouri Phillips |
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| Minnie Lee Tanner |
 |
| Walter Lee Brady |
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| John M Tanner |
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| James A Phillips |
1940 United States Census
The 1940 Census is becoming searchable slowly. I'll post any family related images I find here.
1. Minnie Lee Tanner (Scott)
Some of the info on the Census below:
Name: Minnie L Tanner
Titles & Terms:
Event: Census
Event Year: 1940
Event Place: Election Precinct 6, Polk, Florida, United States
Gender: Female
Age: 65
Marital Status: Widowed
Race (Original): White
Race (Standardized): White
Relationship to Head of Household (Original): Mother-in-law
Relationship to Head of Household (Standardized): Mother-in-law
Birthplace: Georgia
Estimated Birth Year: 1875
Residence in 1935: Same Place
Enumeration District Number: 53-13
Family Number: 104
Sheet Number and Letter: 6B
Line Number: 52
NARA Publication Number: T627
NARA Roll Number: 612
Digital Folder Number: 005449603
Image Number: 00542
2. Annie and Homer Sapp
1. Minnie Lee Tanner (Scott)
Some of the info on the Census below:
Name: Minnie L Tanner
Titles & Terms:
Event: Census
Event Year: 1940
Event Place: Election Precinct 6, Polk, Florida, United States
Gender: Female
Age: 65
Marital Status: Widowed
Race (Original): White
Race (Standardized): White
Relationship to Head of Household (Original): Mother-in-law
Relationship to Head of Household (Standardized): Mother-in-law
Birthplace: Georgia
Estimated Birth Year: 1875
Residence in 1935: Same Place
Enumeration District Number: 53-13
Family Number: 104
Sheet Number and Letter: 6B
Line Number: 52
NARA Publication Number: T627
NARA Roll Number: 612
Digital Folder Number: 005449603
Image Number: 00542
2. Annie and Homer Sapp
Juanita Brady State of Florida marriage and divorce records
My grandmother Juanita Brady was married at age 15 to a man named Ollin Rowell. They divorced a few years later and she married my Grandfather Roger Tanner. Below are the documents I received today from the state of Florida.
Willow Oak Cemetery
I visited Willow Oak Cemetery this week to see the graves of my Great
Grandparents Missouri Bryan (Bryant) John Brady and James Phillips. No one was around
when I visited.
The three grave sites. Phillips is to the right, Missouri in the middle.
Their son Frank
Ila Mae
Frank and Ila Mae
James Died 10 years later, so his stone is separate.
Walter and Missouri
Updated:
Here is Ila Mae's Obit:
Ila Brady
PIPER CITY - Ila Mae Brady, 70, of Piper City, died Thursday (Feb. 26, 1998) at Gibson City Hospital emergency room.
There will be no visitation.
Services will be held Tuesday in Mulberry, Fla.
Burial will be in Willow Oak Cemetery, Mulberry, Fla.
Arrangements are by the Knapp Funeral Home, Clifton.
She was born Jan. 16, 1928, in Bowling Green, Fla., the daughter of Frank and Claudia Barefoot Best.
Her first husband, Frank Brady, whom she married in 1948, in Miami, Fla., died in May 1978.
Surviving are her husband, Bernard Regnier, of Piper City, whom she married in 1988 in Florida; two daughters, Sarah Krell of Ocala, Fla., Peggy Youmans of Mulberry, Fla.; two sons, Frank Brady Jr. of Oak Harbour, Wash., Walter Brady of Frankfort; one sister, Edna Mae Bosarge of Theodore, Ala.; one brother, Robert Biddle of Olive Branch, Miss.; and 10 grandchildren.
Deceased are her parents and one brother.
She was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, Mulberry, Fla.
Updated:
Here is Ila Mae's Obit:
Ila Brady
PIPER CITY - Ila Mae Brady, 70, of Piper City, died Thursday (Feb. 26, 1998) at Gibson City Hospital emergency room.
There will be no visitation.
Services will be held Tuesday in Mulberry, Fla.
Burial will be in Willow Oak Cemetery, Mulberry, Fla.
Arrangements are by the Knapp Funeral Home, Clifton.
She was born Jan. 16, 1928, in Bowling Green, Fla., the daughter of Frank and Claudia Barefoot Best.
Her first husband, Frank Brady, whom she married in 1948, in Miami, Fla., died in May 1978.
Surviving are her husband, Bernard Regnier, of Piper City, whom she married in 1988 in Florida; two daughters, Sarah Krell of Ocala, Fla., Peggy Youmans of Mulberry, Fla.; two sons, Frank Brady Jr. of Oak Harbour, Wash., Walter Brady of Frankfort; one sister, Edna Mae Bosarge of Theodore, Ala.; one brother, Robert Biddle of Olive Branch, Miss.; and 10 grandchildren.
Deceased are her parents and one brother.
She was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, Mulberry, Fla.
Sallie C. Allen Confederate pension application
In 1902 my 3rd great grandmother Sallie C. Allen applied
for a Confederate pension. Her husband James Thomas Allen was a member
of the 18th Texas Cavalry, Company "B" of the Confederate Army, also
known as Darnell's Regiment. She was denied. I requested a copy of the
pension application from the state of Texas.
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