Mary Elizabeth (Dinkins/Lee) Huntington
Mary Elizabeth (Dinkins/Lee) Huntington LNQV-2XJ (April 10, 1906 - May 12, 1944)
My Grandmother was born in Abingdon, Washington County, Virginia per her (New York Death Certificate) and verbal history. Her death certificate also indicates her parents are Mary Carter (Mary Hay Carter Lee) LZGN-JBC and Ludwell Lee LZGN-J1W of Fairfax, Virginia. Unfortunately, I don't have any information on her biological parents (Dinkins). According to verbal history she was adopted and her family was Cherokee Indian. I have done extensive research and have only been able to find her on 1920 U.S. Census Fairfax, Dranesville, Virginia. She is listed as Elizabeth D. Lee, adopted daughter of Ludwell and Mary Lee. She is not listed on the 1910 Census of Ludwell and Mary.
Mary died when my father Robert Wallace Huntington GM7V-GQ2 and his 7 brothers and sisters were young and my grandfather was serving in the United States Army, which separated the family.
I have her August 15, 1922 Washington, DC Marriage License when she married my Grandfather Roscoe Whitehead Huntington L61J-XS6. Her age is listed as 19 years old, I believe her age was given as 19 to avoid parental consent, Mary Hay Carter Lee died on August 10, 1922.
Virginia Vital Statistics does not have a birth record for my grandmother.
New York Death Certificate does not indicate biological parent information.
I have done extensive research on multiple Dinkins families in the United states and just can't make a connection.
Maybe a Dinkins family member will see this and have some clues.
Thank you very much,
Robert Huntington
Answers
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You might get a better response by posting in one of the location research groups.
Atlantic States Research covers New York and Washington DC.
Southern States Research covers Virginia.
Best of luck.
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Hi Robert. Have you considered a DNA test to figure out who Mary's parents were? It's possible a distant cousin could fill in the missing piece. While not a guarantee, it might be worth thinking about if the paper trail proves difficult.
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Thanks GFre,
I am considering it, I'm researching the best option(s). Do you have any experience with this and/or suggestions?
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Robert, I'm by no means an expert on this, but if you do take a DNA test, Ancestry is generally favored, as they have the largest pool of test takers. Gedmatch, which takes tests from multiple sites, may also be of interest to you.
Wishing you success in solving the mystery!
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"Ancestry is generally favored, as they have the largest pool of test takers" — of Americans. Europeans, not so much.
(That said, I cannot in good conscience recommend the companies that seem to have the largest share of UK and mainland Europe DNA testers: the one continues to declare my name invalid, and the other continues to [in my opinion, fraudulently] ask for money for data that's copied from free websites [such as FS]. Therefore, I do not do business with them and do not recommend them for others.)
A cautionary note about Ancestry: unless you plan to also pony up the (significant) subscription to the website, your DNA results will be coming up against the paywall All The Time. (I suppose the situation may be different for LDS; I wouldn't know about that.)
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