Minding Many Metzgers

 

Focusing on one ancestral surname plus adding DNA matches to the search can mean lots of research progress for a month's results. As usual, for my biweekly count, the progress continues at about the same clip. This month's focus on my mother-in-law's Metzger family has been productive, despite being challenging. Even though we began with her second great-grandfather, immigrant Michael Metzger, and are now looking at fourth cousin DNA connections, the count steadily moves up.

Ancestry's ThruLines now has our Metzger DNA connections up to eighty one matches, and I am still attempting to chart them all—even that as-yet undocumented Clinton Metzger. For the past two weeks, I was able to document 244 more Metzger collateral connections. That brings my mother-in-law's tree up to 35,590 individuals. Minding these Metzgers has indeed been a productive endeavor, despite our mysterious Clinton Metzger.

I've also managed to add three names to my own family's tree, due to changes in the family that came to my attention in the past two weeks. While my focus for the past three months has been away from my own family's lines, whenever there's news of births, marriages—or even realization that I inadvertently left someone out of the family—adding the information in a timely manner helps keep track of everyone better. After all, it can take a bit of effort to keep track of 38,369 family members.

We've got barely a week remaining to untangle the puzzle of Clinton Metzger, as well as wrap up what else can be found on founding immigrant ancestor Michael Metzger and his descendants in Ohio and beyond. At this point, I doubt I'll have any eureka moments pinpointing Michael Metzger's origin, but at least we have enough time to untie some lesser genealogical knots.