DNA Match Linking a Speculative Hartley Relative to Solomon Hartley's Brother George

Any kind of breakthrough on my Hartley side is always exciting because my earliest known Hartley ancestor (4th great grandfather Solomon Hartley 1775-1815) has proven to be especially difficult to figure out.

For a long time I have speculatively linked George Hartley (1763-1824, rigger in Philadelphia and likely brother of my Solomon Hartley) to George's possible son Samuel, whose descendants lived in Rappahannock/Page counties in Virginia and later in West Virginia.

Today I checked for DNA matches for Hartleys in Virginia and West Virginia.  My dad has 2 DNA matches to Samuel Hartley's descendants, who also share/match known or suspected Hartley matches on AncestryDNA.  I consulted the shared cM chart and the amounts shared was reasonable given the relationships--respectively, 5th cousin (20 cM shared) and 5th 1x removed cousin (10.9 cM shared).

Will this help me figure out Solomon and George's ancestry?  I don't know.  But how cool that I was able to expand the Hartley clan through autosomal DNA and move the relationship from speculative to likely.



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