This article by Yvonne Oliver Bowers will be of interest to those involved in genealogy and to us all as a lesson in tenacious research. It first appeared in Kynyav, the Newsletter of the California Cornish Cousins and Yvonne was kind enough to sanction its inclusion here. If falls under the heading of ‘Global Cornwall’ and we take this opportunity to repeat an invitation for other articles from our Cornish cousins overseas.
My great-grandfather John Oliver left Cornwall when he was around twenty years old and – according to family lore – stowed away on a ship to California and came around The Horn. He possibly did stow away as I found him on a packet boat from San Luis Obispo to San Francisco in 1865. Maybe they found him in the hold and dumped him off the ship. Maybe he came across the isthmus. Upon arrival he went to work in the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine in Santa Clara. He was listed in the 1870 census living in a boarding house in New Almaden. Almost nothing was known about John’s origins.
John and Ellen Oliver
John Oliver’s death certificate
On his death certificate (1918) John’s father was listed as “John Oliver” and his mother was listed as “Alice ?” Who was Alice? We have a few Alices in the family. John named his second daughter Alice Bennetts Oliver. For years I searched for a John and Alice Oliver in Cornwall to no avail.
In 1873, John met and married Ellen Benney. Ellen’s parents, James and Elizabeth (Bennetts) Benney had emigrated from Cornwall in 1844 settling first in Mineral Point, Wisconsin and later California in 1854. Ellen was born in 1855 at the Michigan Bar Mining Camp on the Cosumnes River in Sacramento. We knew a great deal about our Benney and Bennetts families, but John’s parentage was still a mystery.
I knew a y-DNA test could help but I needed a direct male ancestor. Y-DNA is unbroken DNA passed from father to son through the generations. If I could find a y-DNA match, I might find John’s father. John and Ellen had three sons but only one (my grandfather Adrian) had a son. My grandfather died in 1961, my father died in 1963 and my only brother, Clay, died in 1984. My brother had a son named Jason in 1975, but we didn’t know where he was or if he’d agree to a DNA test. Then, in 2017, I received a Facebook message from a Corey Heath who claimed to be my brother’s son (born while Clay was in high school). Corey wanted to solidify his place in his newfound family and offered to take a DNA test. As a genealogist I was ecstatic. And yes, Corey was my blood nephew, and I now had a direct male descendant of John!
Our y-DNA is evidently quite rare. According to Joe Flood who administers the Cornwall Advanced YDNA Project on familytreedna.com: “This truly is an ancient YDNA astonishing find. Your last branch dates back to 3000 BC, well before Stonehenge or the Bell Beakers. Such a long time ago, seems to have originally evolved in the Balkans or Anatolia. Rare Cornish DNA indeed, no way of telling its history until more turns up. Thanks for giving us this branch.” Our y-DNA is so rare that there are only two matches at the 37-marker level (a way of determining the closeness of the match) even though Corey has taken the y111 and Big Y 700 tests. However, one of the matches, Donald Oliver, led us to an Oliver line back to Matthew born 1711 in St. Teath who was married to Elizabeth Mann. This couple turned out to be my sixth great-grandparents. But who was Alice?
In 2020, I met a half-third cousin, Lynn Hambley, on 23andme. I was an autosomal DNA match to her father, William Morton “Bill” Hambley. Lynn provided information on her line back to her first Cornish immigrants to California – Philip Hambley and Elizabeth Ann Bennetts Hambley. Bennetts! That was the maiden name of my great-great grandmother, Elizabeth, Elizabeth must be my connection to Lynn and her family. I learned that my Elizabeth was Elizabeth Ann’s aunt.
Richard Bennetts and my great-great-grandmother Elizabeth, were the children of William Bennetts and Elizabeth Clemo Bennetts of St. Mewan. Richard’s first marriage to Catherine Arthur Bennetts produced seven children. Catherine died in 1851 and Richard married a woman named…Alice! This Alice’s maiden name was Penaliggen (spelled various ways including Pennyliggen and Penhaligan). She was born in St. Issey in 1824 and her family could be traced back over 200 years in St. Issey to Gregory Penaliggen who died in St. Issey in 1597. This Alice was Lynn Hambley’s great-great-grandmother!
I had found an Alice but how did she fit into my Cornish family? She was my great-great grandmother’s sister-in-law. I started researching Penaliggen and the picture became clearer.
John Oliver’s baptismal certificate
I found Alice Penaliggen, age 15, in the 1841 St. Issey census as a house servant on the farm of Richard Udy. On the same page was a William Oliver age 20 (ag labor). In the 1851 census Alice, now 25 years old, was a servant on the farm of Mary Nickell. And in the 1851 census I found Alice’s parents, John Penaliggen and Sarah Harding Penaliggen in St. Issey with a grandson, John O. Penaliggen! Was this my John and his mother Alice?
On ancestry.com I found a birth record in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 Quarter 1 1844 for a John Oliver Pennyliggen! Searching further I found an entry in the “Baptisms Solemnized in the Parish of St. Issey in the County of Cornwall 1844” for March 18th No. 556 John “Baseborn son of” Alice Penaliggen. In the 1861 census for St. Issey, Alice was living with her new husband Richard Bennetts, their children and a John O Bennetts (age seventeen) – Alice’s and my John! I found my Alice but who was John’s father?
Circling back to the y-DNA results for Donald Oliver, and tracing back to Matthew, I found a William Trevan Oliver born 1820 who was on the farm with Alice in the 1841 census. We now know John’s father was William.
John Oliver’s entry in the family bible
In June 2022, Lynn Hambley, my (first) cousin Denise, and my fourth cousin, Terry Bennetts Johnson, met in Stockton, CA. to share stories and genealogy. Terry provided the final clue. She gave me a copy of her great-grandfather, William Arthur Bennetts’ (son of Richard Bennetts and Catherine Arthur) bible and there was my John listed as “adopted.”
Having finally found Alice, I found her story compelling. She was the third of eight children born to James and Sarah. In the 1841 census James, Sarah and their first child were ag labor on the Hawkins farm. Alice went to work at 15 years old. After giving birth to John, she continued to work on farms until she married Richard Bennetts in 1852. John was living with his grandparents in 1851 but came to live with his mother and stepfather in 1852. Alice had nine children with Richard but four died in infancy. That must have been so hard! Alice was widowed in 1888 and lived eighteen more years dying in 1906 at the age of eighty-two. She is buried in the churchyard at St. Mewan. Sadly, her father, James Penaliggen, died in the Union Workhouse at St. Columb Major at age seventy-one.
Five of John’s step-siblings and his half-sister, Elizabeth Ann, all emigrated to the California goldfields. The Olivers, Benneys and Bennetts all found themselves in the Amador City census in 1880.
Through research, perseverance, luck and the miracle of DNA testing, the brick wall was knocked down and the question of “Who was Alice?” was answered. Never give up. You never know where you’ll find the next clue.
Yvonne Oliver Bowers
I was born in San Francisco and am a fourth generation California. I have spent most of my life studying the genealogy of my family with a special focus on my Cornish ancestors who came to California as miners in the 1870s. After retiring from Diageo as a Procurement Director in 2005, I’ve enjoying drawing and painting, volunteering at our local State Park, Historical Society and the California Cornish Cousins. I love spending time with my family. I have three children and three granddaughters.