Mary (Gano) Denman (abt. 1666 - 1761)

Hi. I'm trying to break through one of my brick walls and found I have multiple matches to what some say are two different families, despite their "similarities." My ancestor, William Purdy b. 1769, is the one I'm having trouble with. I did discover that he is very obviously connected to the descendants of Francis Purdy, the Ogdens, the Budds and the Streings, if the DNA offers any verdict on this. Interestingly, I found a number of DNA matches to the siblings of Hannah Ganung 1705 who married Anthony Miller, and is the daughter of Jeremiah Genung 1671 and Martha (?). I have matches to at least 4 of Hanna's siblings lines.

I also have a number of matches to multiple lines who are reported to be down from Marie Madeleine Gano and John Denman III, including Marie/Mary's siblings. Marie's family as I've seen in various trees and written histories came from Etienne Gano and Lydia Mestereaux of La Rochelle, France.

In postings I've seen, there is a lot of dispute about there being any relationship between these the Ganung lines and the Gano lines; and no support for Martha, Jeremiah Genung's wife, being a Denman.

This is not a primary line for my research, however, I'd love to be able to resolve the issue of William Purdy's parentage if I could. (Looking at Bethiah Miller and Gabriel Purdy, even though the list of their children stops with son Elijah b. 1767. After going through multiple Purdy lines, this is the only one that fits with DNA and with dates for children's births.)

I know papertrails are important to support hypothesis based on DNA. However, DNA doesn't lie and there would appear to be some sort of connection here.

Thanks!

Mary

If someone could help me with any actual documented proof of these lines I'd greatly appreciate it!

No, this Mary was the widow of John DENMAN and she married Phillip BROOKS after John DENMAN's death. She was not the mother of Mary (DENMAN) BROOKS.

Gayneau-8 and Gano-1 appear to represent the same person because: These are the same individual, but Gano-1 preserves her mythical father "Francis" rather than her actual father, Etienne. I've copied from my research notes below to clarify the confusion:

FRANCIS GANO, allegedly died 1733, aged 103, was supposedly a Huguenot from the Guernsey who settled at New Rochelle, New York in 1661 (Virkus, Compendium, i. 116). His great-grandson, the Rev. John, gave the following account of him:

My great grandfather, Francis Gano, brought my grandfather Stephen Gano, (when a child,) from Guernsey, in Jersey; it being a time of bloody persecution. Flight, or the relinquishment of the protestant religion, of which he was a professor, were the only means of preserving his life. He chose the former. One of his neighbours had been martyred in the day, and, in the evening, he was determined on as as [sic] the victim for the next day; information of which, he received in the dead of the night. He thereupon chartered a vessel, removed his family on board, and, in the morning, was out of sight of the harbour. Of what number his family consisted, I am not able to say. On his arrival in America, he settled in New-Rochelle, in the state of New-York, and lived to the age of one hundred and three (Biographical Memoirs, 10).

As Guernsey had been an English territory for centuries, the tale can hardly be true, but it may, perhaps, encode some vague family memory of persecution leading to emigration, whether there or elsewhere. Even Francis’ name is almost certainly wrong and it seems clear that the real founder of the family was,

ETIENNE GAINEAU OR GENEAU of La Rochelle immigrated from Amsterdam to New Amsterdam in the summer of 1661; purchased a house and lot in Pearl Street, New Amsterdam, 1662; granted 80 acres of upland and 10 acres of meadow on the west side of Staten Island, 2 June 1677. He married LIDIE METERAU OR METEREN, who emigrated with him from Amsterdam together with two children (Fernow, Records of New Amsterdam, v. 42; Leng, Staten Island and its People, ii. 900).

kind: , Marie Magdalinne

doopdatum: 17-10-1660 kerk: Oude Waalse Kerk godsdienst: Waals-Hervormd vader: Gaineau, Estienne moeder: Meterau, Lidie