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Here's the situation: I have strong documentation going back to a Fanny Bergey, born 11 April 1794. (Maybe 13 April.) And, I have 41 DNA matches through that ancestor but no direct evidence of which Bergey (or Berge or Bergy) family she comes from.

Some trees have Johannes "John" Berge (or Birki or Bergey) as her father, but: records show no "Fanny" or "Veronica" in that family, and not only no daughter of the right age but a son born in July 1794:

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So, I'd ruled that out. However... here's what AncestryDNA is showing:

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... that is, lots of matches for those other Bergey siblings!

What does this actually mean?

There aren't any other Bergeys elsewhere in the tree — there's a "Berkey" in another branch, but further back and not apparently closely related to this family.

What are the possibilities?

Additional information: there is a Bergey genealogy book, and I can't find any reasonable candidates among cousins and siblings, either.

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    @shoover See the second Jacob, #160. (And for that matter John #158 and #161.)
    – mattdm
    Commented Mar 20, 2023 at 21:55
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    @shoover re: "Fanny" for "Veronica" — this was a surprise to me too, but it turns out to be very common in Swiss/German Amish-Mennonites. (Mostly in Ohio and PA; I also have a few Frances "Fanny" entries from Virginia.)
    – mattdm
    Commented Mar 20, 2023 at 22:05
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    Also, that means the Jacob Freed Bergey in the Ancestry chart probably isn't the one born in 1794 but the other one.
    – shoover
    Commented Mar 20, 2023 at 22:10
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    The published genealogies' sources may be critical - transcriptions of old church records sometimes confuse baptismal dates with birth dates, transcribe years incorrectly, etc. Also, if this family (or one of the cousin families) moved, it's possible that there are earlier records from one church, and later records from another, with a gap in between where Fanny could fall.
    – cleaverkin
    Commented Mar 21, 2023 at 18:26
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    You might have enough DNA matches to try the DNAPainter WATO tool. It's not really designed to work this far back, but if you contact some of the 41 matches in Fanny's tree, you might find a few with good enough matches to at least create some likely hypotheses.
    – cleaverkin
    Commented Mar 21, 2023 at 18:28

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Without knowing the depth of your other sources, is it possible that Fanny was married to Isaac and then remarried after his death (but used her maiden name in the marriage record or other records)? Perhaps even Anna Erb is really Isaac's daughter but was adopted with the remarriage and took the new last name?

Again, haven't looked further at the sources listed but these are things I've personally run across in the past.

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  • Hmm — I'll go back and see if something like that might line up. Would that be consistent with the DNA matches here? I really have no idea how to interpret them.
    – mattdm
    Commented Apr 3, 2023 at 2:11
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    I can't comment on the DNA specifically as I have limited experience myself. But if Anna was actually Isaac's daughter, then it would follow that some of the other siblings would generate matches as well. From my understanding, you would probably want to look further at the matches and see what the level of relationship is Another thing that could be considered is that Fanny would be a child through a different mother. Would be a little scandalous with a minister, but not unheard of in any age The other matches in Fanny's line could potentially know more as well, so worth that outreach
    – Jon D
    Commented Apr 4, 2023 at 20:15

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