As mentioned in the previous article, Companion Matriarch added to Mi’kmaq Women mtDNA line, Marie (Brake) Companion, one of the matriarch’s of the Bay of Islands Companion family, shares the mtDNA of several ancestral Mi’kmaq women Elizabeth (Joe) Blanchard, Elizabeth wife of John Saunders, Mary (Unknown) Park Brooks.
Recently a grandchild of Jean Prosper Companion (1811-1885) and Marie Brake (1848-1945) has DNA tested on Ancestry. This is particularly valuable to family researchers as there are less than 5 grandchildren of this couple still living. The closer a DNA tester is genealogically to an ancestral couple, the larger the proportion of DNA they are likely to carry from that couple — and the clearer the genetic signal becomes.
As stated in the previous article, there has been debate over the parentage of Marie Brake. Was she the daughter of Joseph & Mary Brake, who both died in 1850? Or was she the daughter of James & Susanna Brake? There is, notably, a baptism record for a Mary Brake, daughter of James & Susanna, baptized in 1849 by the traveling Bishop Feild. In contrast, Bishop Feild baptized only a daughter Elizabeth at the same time for Joseph & Mary Brake — not a Mary or Marie.
Reviewing the DNA matches of this grandchild — whose Bay of Islands ancestry is limited and therefore easier to isolate genetically — a clear pattern emerged. They had a clear, massive connection to the descendants of James Brake his wife Susannah –?. The clearest indication of this connection appeared through their daughter Jane Cecilia Brake.
Jane Cecilia was baptized in Flower’s Cove and born in 1849. Jane Cecilia would have one daughter, Susannah, born January 4 1874 and baptized by a layman at the time. No father was listed, suggesting her parents were likely unmarried. Jane Cecilia later married Levi House, a much older man, in Bellburns on the Northern Peninsula and had no further children. Marriage records from Massachusetts indicate that Susannah later moved to the United States and married Stephen Powell in Gloucester on November 12, 1898. She and her family remained there for over a century, continuing down to present-day descendants.
This type of migration pattern is a gift to DNA researchers in Newfoundland. Unlike many Newfoundland families, which are heavily interconnected through multiple lines, Susannah’s descendants have only one ancestral connection to the island: through her mother Jane Cecilia Brake and her father John Blake. DNA research can be very difficult in Newfoundland, as people from the same areas are related in multiple ways, inflating the amount of DNA that cousins would share which makes making conclusions very difficult. In this case, however, the genetic pathway is clean and singular — making interpretation far more reliable.
Two siblings, great-great-grandchildren of Susannah (Brake) Powell, have DNA tested. They have only one Newfoundland connection — through Susannah. One sibling matches Marie (Brake) Companion’s granddaughter at 81 cM; the other shares a substantial 144 cM.
One thing that is clear, in order for Marie Brake’s granddaughter to shared DNA with someone that highly with no other connection to Newfoundland, their ancestor would have to be a close relative of Marie Brake. It’s simply impossible to be otherwise given shared DNA averages. For context, if Marie Brake and Jane Cecilia Brake were siblings, then Marie’s granddaughter would be a second cousin twice removed to Jane Cecilia’s great-great-granddaughters. That relationship has an average shared DNA expectation of approximately 53 cM. Both of these great-great-granddaughters of Jane Cecilia Brake are well above that – further cementing that Jane Cecilia and Marie Brake have to be close relatives. Anything more distant is statistically impossible. Critically, because there are no additional Newfoundland ancestral connections between these testers, the shared DNA must flow through the Brake line.
To further strengthen the case, a first cousin of the two previously mentioned great-great-granddaughters has also DNA tested and shares 142 cM with Marie (Brake) Companion’s granddaughter – thus, this is not a fluke.
This brings us back to Jane Cecilia Brake’s parents: James Brake (sometimes recorded as James Matthews Brake) and his wife Susannah (surname unknown). What is currently known? Well, three daughters were baptized: Mary and Elizabeth Brake were baptized on August 3, 1849, by Bishop Feild in the Bay of Islands; Jane Cecilia was baptized in Flower’s Cove. After these entries, the documentary trail becomes sparse — a common challenge in mid-19th century Newfoundland research.
The final individual to examine is Elizabeth Brake, daughter of James Matthews Brake and Susannah. Are any of Elizabeth’s descendants DNA tested, and how much DNA do they share with Marie Brake’s granddaughter?
Elizabeth Brake (1848–1898) married Reuben Poirier (1844–1927), a native of St. Pierre et Miquelon, and lived in the Riverhead area of the Bay of Islands. Reuben anglicized his surname to “Perry,” giving rise to the Perry family of the Bay of Islands. Fortunately, several of Elizabeth (Brake) Poirier’s descendants have DNA tested.
One of her great-grandsons matches Marie Brake’s granddaughter at 86 cM — squarely within the expected range for a second cousin once removed if Elizabeth and Marie were siblings. Another great-grandson shares 96 cM. A great-granddaughter matches at 122 cM. All three independently descended testers fall within statistically consistent ranges for descendants of siblings.
The DNA evidence, when combined with the baptism records, paints a clear picture. Marie Brake was born about 1848 in the Bay of Islands to parents James Brake & his wife Susannah. She had sisters Jane Cecilia Brake and Elizabeth Brake.
The convergence of documentary evidence and multiple independent DNA matches strongly supports this conclusion.
Now we turn to the next question: Who is Susannah wife of James Brake?
Through Marie’s confirmed mtDNA, we know that Susannah carried the same mtDNA signature as Elizabeth (Joe) Blanchard, Ann (Unknown) Wheeler, and Mary (Unknown) Park Brooks of the Bay of Islands. Because mitochondrial DNA passes unchanged from mother to child along the direct maternal line, this means Susannah’s maternal line — her mother’s mother’s mother, and so on — connects to the same ancestral Mi’kmaq matriarchal line shared by these women.
Was she a descendant of Elizabeth, Ann or Mary? That is likely – but how? Further DNA research is needed. As is often the case in Newfoundland genealogy, the records provide fragments — but DNA helps us assemble the whole.
Elizabeth Riddell nee: Pike
Gertrude Mary Pike nee: Greene (My mother)
Carmelita Greene nee: Donahue
Florence Greene ( My Grandfather)
I has my blood tested 15+ years ago but it was only for Quantum. Indicated I was Mi’kmaq from northern NS
I was born/raised in the Bay of Islands