Genealogical research inevitably ends up in a brick wall, where there is no information on an ancestor’s parentage. Such is the case with my great grandfather James William Figueroa (1848 – May 2, 1919), whose parents are unknown.

What’s in a name?

First of all, we need to clarify that his full name is known from the birth records of his children, which show him as James William or J. William, even though his tombstone says William J. Figueroa. Perhaps he was known as William, and when the monument was placed 46 years after his death, perhaps the engraver was being cautious, as his death record listed him as John William Figueroa.

What we know about his life

The only information I have on his birth comes from his death registration, which stated that he was 71 years old and listed his occupation as a house painter. But the informant was presumably not at his birth, so his age at death might be in error.

On 21 Sept 1871, (James) William Figueroa witnessed the wedding of Charles Brandon to Emily Aitchison both of Kingston. Charles Brandon was at the baptism of James William’s son William Ignatius Figueroa, who subsequently married his daughter Emily Louise Brandon.

On 9 April 1877, James William Figueroa married Theresa Eugenie Perneau in Kingston. Witnesses included the aforementioned Charles Brandon, Charles Remy, Mary Jane Dorrington, Sarah Kelly, Ada Barnett, and Louis Bell. Their children were:

• William Ignatius Figueroa, born on 30 Jul 1879, at 46 Mark Lane, Kingston.
• My grandfather, James Vincent Victor Figueroa was born on 24 Feb 1882 at 58 Wildman Street, Kingston
• On 23 May 1884, Justin Polycarp Figueroa was born, also at 58 Wildman Street.
• On 29 Apr 1888, George Stanislaus Figueroa was born at 5 Fishers Row, Raetown, Kingston.
• On 1 June 1891, Theresa Marie Figueroa was born at 5 Fishers Row. She is listed on her father’s grave marker.

On 22 April 1908, James William Figueroa witnessed the death of his infant grandson Joseph Francis Xavier Figueroa, son of my grandfather with his first wife Annie Wilhelmina Muschett.

Who’s your Daddy? (and Mommy)

Could my great grandfather be the William Figueroa who was born to Joseph Figueroa and his wife Jane on 18 June 1850 in Kingston?

James William Figueroa is not listed in the index to Roman Catholic baptisms in Kingston between 1837 and 1846 so perhaps he wasn’t baptized or perhaps he was born after 1846. We don’t have a record of his parents, so we can only speculate about how he got his family name.

• Perhaps he was a foundling adopted by a Figueroa?
• Perhaps his mother was a Figueroa and the father was unidentified and the family adopted him at birth.
• Perhaps he wasn’t born in Kingston.

Genealogist Richard Dear speculates that James William’s father was Jose Angel Figueroa, who married Emily Wright on 11/9/1844 . She was the daughter of of Andrew Wright and Eveline White, natives of Kingston. The wedding was witnessed by his father Jose Maria Figueroa, John White, John Wright, Jose Ysidoro de Cordova, Jose Maria Moreu. In Dear’s family tree, his mother is listed only as ‘Jane’.

What about DNA?

So far there aren’t DNA matches that lead back to Jose Angel Figueroa. But there are very interesting DNA results that point in another direction. Ancestry DNA shows that Dorothy M. Figueroa, granddaughter of James William Figueroa, shares 101 cM with Steven Stanhope.

Ancestry estimates that they are second cousins, twice removed, but there are a number of alternative relationships.

Frequency	Relationship
35%	half 2nd cousin 1x removed 2nd cousin 2x removed 3rd cousin half 1st cousin 3x removed
31%	2nd cousin 1x removed half 1st cousin 2x removed half 2nd cousin 1st cousin 3x removed
19%	3rd cousin 1x removed half 2nd cousin 2x removed half 3rd cousin 2nd cousin 3x removed
10%	half 3rd cousin 1x removed 3rd cousin 2x removed 4th cousin half 2nd cousin 3x removed
5%	half 1st cousin 1x removed 1st cousin 2x removed 2nd cousin half great-grandnephew half great-granduncle

Who is Steven Stanhope?

He is the son of the 11th Earl of Stanhope, whose royal ancestry is documented in Burke’s Peerage, although I used Wikipedia to derive this chart of his relatives.

What could the connection be?

Assuming the Ancestry prediction is correct, then as second cousins, the connection would be via Dorothy’s great grandparents, the unknown parents of James William.

If Steven Stanhope is two generations removed, counting his father (11th Earl) and grandfather (10th Earl) as the two generations, we go up through the 9th Earl, the 7th Earl (grandfather) to Rev. Hon. Fitzroy Henry Richard Stanhope (1787-1864) and Ann Wyndham. The Rev. Stanhope was son of the 3rd Earl, represents right generation to have sered or given birth to James William Figueroa (b. 1848).

To be a true second cousin, James William would have to have been born to the Rev. Stanhope and his wife, but the probability table shows that a half-third cousin is equally plausible. This means the brothers and sisters of Rev. Stanhope are good candidates. It’s fair to assume that his sisters were not involved as they were all in their late 50s or 60s in 1848.

So what about the brothers? The brothers who were alive at time were:

• Charles Stanhope (1780-1841), 4th Earl of Harrington
• Leicester Fitzgerald Charles Stanhope (1784-1862), 5th Earl of Harrington
• Rev. Hon. Fitzroy Henry Richard Stanhope (1787-1864)

Intriguingly, the 5th Earl married Ann Green, whose parents William Green and Ann Rose Hall resided in Jamaica. It seems to me that one of James Williams’ parents was fathered by the 5th Earl, but we can’t conclude whether the child was male of female.

So my money is on the 5th Earl as the father and an unknown woman as the mother, possibly a sister or friend of the Earl’s wife. Once she was with child, my conjecture is that she was dispatched to Jamaica to give birth away from society’s judgemental eyes, where baby James William could be adopted by the Figueroa family.