The Seven Faces of Frank's Parents

Are these the faces of people willing to adopt a child? This is Benjamin Franklin Rosell and Jane Elizabeth Pelton. Parents of Abigail who was born in 1844 and not seen since the 1850 census (presumed dead), Helen born in 1848, Ida born in 1850, Frankling born in 1852, Sarah born in 1854, Sidney born in 1856 and William born in 1858. Jane is dead by 1860 and Benjamin remarries a Mary Harris and we don't have enough room here to go into what children they had. Theodore Freeman was living steps away from the Rosell's in 1850. We know Frank's father is a Freeman, not a Rosell so it could be assumed that Theodore is Frank's father and Frank was taken in by this family down the way.

I'm going to start scouring the 1850 census and the pages surrounding our little lonely orphan's possible father and adoptive parents to see if there are any suspicious looking women who could be Frank's mother.

For Those Of You Just Tuning In

Depending on who you are:
Grandpa Russell (Vern, for most of us) was born in April of 1929 to Milton Jerome Russell and Judith Rogers (The Real Grandma Russell, for most of us). Milton was the fifth son of Cordy Russell and Maude Smith and he was born in Oakland county on 17 FEB 1910 and died in 1969 in Michigan. Cordy Alvin Russell was born on 04 APR 1881 in Oakland and died 01 FEB 1965. He was the last child of Frank Russell and Lydia Powell.

After the Russell Genealogy Team established those facts they were unable to move forward. It was as if someone was lying about who they were. A Y-chromosome DNA test was done and confirmed the life long suspicion of many that indeed, we are not Russell's. Although nothing is 100% in DNA (no really, it's true) some things are known. What I mean is, we may not be able to prove who we are through DNA alone but we can prove who we are not.

When comparing ourselves to other Russell's it must be noted that we have few genetic similarities. When comparing ourselves to all other surnames floating around in various DNA, Surname and Family Projects the family we matchis the Freeman's with the haplotype E1b1b (or the Haplotype Formerly known as E3b).

That is where we are with our research.