DNA Research

The Anson Bowen Call Family Organization would like to sponsor research to extend family lines in areas where documentation of the lineage is insufficient. The growing science of DNA-based genealogical research offers the possibility of finding solutions to some of these obstacles. Please consider donating to the Family Organization to help finance this research (Donate).

See additional details in this video.

Research Summary
  • Proposed Research
    • Hire a forensic genealogical DNA consultant to formulate a DNA program for the Anson Bowen Call Family Association to help resolve two major obstacles. It could also be used to extend other lines.  The two major obstacles are.
      • Nathaniel Bowen
        • DNA program could,:
          • Confirm the birth location of Connecticut,
          • Help determine with Connecticut Bowen family he is descended from,
          • If Connecticut is not where he is from help determine where he originated.
      • Christopher Tiffany
        • DNA program could,:
          • Provide clues to where in Germany he came from
          • Search German DNA records to learn more of his ancestry.
    • Implement the DNA program with the assistance of the consultant.
      • Work on the above obstacles.
      • Look at extending the end of lines of all our ancestors (especially those lines that have yet been established in Europe).
  • Summary of Family Organization research to date.
    • In the early 2000’s the Family Organization hired a consultant to work on three obstacles.
      • Esther Sikes – Anson’s great grandmother
      • Nathaniel Bowen – Anson’s great grandfather
      • Christopher Tiffany – Anson’s great grandfather
    • Results of the work
      • Esther Sikes, daughter of Othniel Sikes of Springfield, Massachusetts
        • Confirmed as wife of  Nathaniel Bowen (and great grandfather of Anson Bowen Call
        • Line extended 5 generations to immigration to the Colonies from England
      • Nathaniel Bowen
        • Established a probable birth location of  Connecticut
        • Established a probable death location of Waterford, Erie County, Pennsylvania about 1846/47
        • Lived in both Highgate and St Albans, Vermont (northern) 
        • Northern Vermont and southern Canada sparsely populated.
          • Few established governments or churches
          • Few birth, christening, marriage or death records are available.
        • Accessible Vermont and southern Canada records searched.
          • Only some 1100 page of a Notary Publics records (handwritten in a mix of French and English) have not been reviewed.
          • 1880 Census shows his son, Daniel, who says his father (Nathaniel Bowen) was born in Connecticut (this is the only information that has been found regarding Nathaniel’s birthplace).
        • Nathaniel Huntingdon Bowen (born in Connecticut) disproven as our ancestor.
      • Christopher Tiffany (German mercenary, who was captured or deserted from the British forces, during or after, the British General Burgoyne was defeat in the Battle of Bennington (Vermont) in 1777 during the American Revolution)
        • Married Rebecca Ellis 24 Mar 1784 in Bennington, Vermont. Rebecca and Christopher Tiffany were banned from Bennington, Vermont shortly thereafter.
        • Postulation that Christopher Dieffenbach is Christopher Tiffany disproved.
          • Christopher Dieffenbach was a private in the 5th company of the Von Wissenbach Garrison Regiment.
          • Record
            • Sept 1778 recruited
            • Dec 1779 deserted
            • 1780 returned to unit
            • Apr 1782 inducted into regiment by transfer
            • Aug 1782 deserted again
          • Christopher Tiffany
            • Married Rebecca Ellis 23 Mar 1784, Bennington, Vermont
        • Problems with Dieffenbach solution
          • While T and D are sometimes interchanged in translations from German to English other similarities of the Tiffany or Tiffaner (another version of Christopher’s surname) and Dieffenbach are a stretch.
          • Dieffenbach was recruited to serve in the Von Wissenbach Regiment while living in Germany after Burgoyne’s defeat at Bennington, Vermont
          • Von Wissenbach Regiment landed in New York City in the fall of 1776 (Dieffenbach was not yet serving.)
          • Between 29 Dec 1778 and 11 July 1782 Von Wissenbach Regiment participated in the occupation of Savannah, Georgia (about as far away from Bennington, Vermont as you could get, and still be in the American colonies).