This is my inaugural blog about some ancestors I am continuing to work on. I have been seeking to find the parents of Ira W. Rabren since 2008.
Ira Washington Rabren was born c. 1820 in Darlington, South Carolina according to his Civil War documents. Censuses generally back that date up, but they are varied as to the age. This could be due to them not keeping birth records back then, only in family Bibles. So that could lead to a lot of various dates being given for any given document. This was typical of that era.
There are a few guesses as to who Ira’s father was. But that’s all they are – guesses. There is no proof of anything. There is even less information about Ira’s mother. The fact that there are so many multiple ways of spelling the last name does not help. I have seen Rabren, Raborn, Raburn, Rabun, Rabon, Raiborn, Rayburn, Rayborn, Raben, and various other spellings. It seems that back then, spelling didn’t really matter. Most of these poor settlers couldn’t read or write. The Census taker just wrote it phonetically. Hence the various spellings.
My grandmother was born a Rabren. She was born in Andalusia, Alabama, where the Rabren clan settled many years ago. And R-A-B-R-E-N is how that group ended up spelling it. She told me when I was a child that anybody with that spelling of the surname was related to them. I would assume at least the ones in Andalusia were all related. You don’t really see that particular spelling outside of that area very much. I suppose some may have migrated to other areas of the country over the years, but generally, they would be associated with that area.
Let’s discuss the DNA links a little bit. My mother, my brother and myself all took the DNA test by Ancestry.com. My grandmother passed away in 1983, so DNA from her was not possible. I have studied the DNA matches in great detail for several years. My mother’s DNA of course provides the best matches because she was a generation up from us. I discovered many matches to a George T. Rabon. There are also variations of the spelling of his last name including Raybon. Regardless, these matches tell me there is a connection somewhere. Hold that thought for a moment. Now, there are many, many DNA connections/matches to the Ard family descending from Reuben Ard. They share matches with the Rabren descendants descending from Ira.
Is it possible that Ira’s mother was an Ard? Could George have been Ira’s brother? One complication to sorting all that out is that George married an Ard. If George was Ira’s brother, then all that Ard DNA shouldn’t be showing up just from an incidental marriage. At least, I don’t think so. The DNA is so strong on that line, it seems to indicate that we are descended from Ards somewhere down the line somehow and it’s tied to Ira somehow.
There are also strong connections to the Barrow family. In particular there are strong matches to a George Washington Ard who married a woman named Abigail Barrow. There are many Barrow intermarriages with some of the Rabren lines so that further muddies things up.
I will discuss more details I learned about Ira’s life, the DNA, the theories about some family relations and various other things in future posts.
Stay tuned.
Linda's Genealogy Research Blog 