The 50,000 Year DNA Journey of the Knusli Family

141 Pages·2014·1.15 MB·English

by  Ronald Earl Nicely

THE 50,000 YEAR DNA J URNEY
of the
KNUSLI FAMILY
Author
RONALD EARL NICELY
The map on the front cover shows the trail of the Knusli family journey
from Eastern Central Africa northward and eastward across the continents
and then across the Pacific Ocean to America and to Lancaster, PA. It was
not one long journey but a journey of time with many stops and starts in
many different parts of the world. The information that established the very
early journey locations came from the results of testing the male Y-DNA of
the author of the book. The testing was completed by Family Tree DNA and
the results were submitted to the National Geographic Genographic study
and to a J2 Haplogroup Y-DNA study that was being undertaken in Greece.
These two studies gave me information on the locations where my DNA was
located. Comparison of my DNA to samples that were time dated and
matched indicated places around the world where my DNA was present.
This location information was used to trace our path prior to the arrival in
Switzerland. The path from Switzerland and the rest of the journey was
indicated in many different reports and in family history.
The picture on the map in the bottom right represents the early
beginnings of the trek out of Africa where they were hunters following the
animals as they moved north, the middle picture represents the Anatolia
area, where they were cave dwellers. The last picture on the top left is of the
Anthony A. Nicely family of Ligonier PA and is used as a representation of
our many families in America.
WE ARE THE CHOSEN...
We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the
ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the
family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve.
Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life
into all who have gone before. We are the storytellers of the tribe. All tribes
have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have
gone before cry out to us, “Tell our story!” So, we do.
In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood
before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the
ancestors, “You have a wonderful family; you would be proud of us.” How
many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love
there for me? I cannot say.
It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who I am and why do I do
the things I do. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds
and indifference and saying, “I can’t let this happen.” The bones here are
bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it.
It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish, how they
contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and
losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and
build a life for their family.
It goes to deep pride that the fathers fought and some died to make and
keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they
were doing it for us. It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled
to give us birth. Without them we could not exist, and so we love each one,
as far back as we can reach.
That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we
do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because
we are they and they are the sum of who we are. So, as a scribe called, I tell
the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to
answer the call and take my place in the long line of family storytellers.
That is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young
and old to step up and restore the memory or greet those whom we had
never known before.
Author Unknown
For comments, questions, and autographed book purchases Contact Ronald
Earl Nicely directly at [email protected]

This book can also be ordered online at The Lulu Bookstore at

http://www.lulu.com/shop/shop.ep

or
Nicely (Knusli) Family History Store

http://lulu.com/spotlight/knusli1717

or
as an eBook at one of the following Amazon Kindle
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© Copyright 2014 Ronald Earl Nicely
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author.

Print ISBN: 978-1-304-54454-4
eBook ISBN: 978-1-625-17479-6
Dedication & Recognition

This book is dedicated to all the ancestors and the wide spread members
of the Knusli family that did research and gratefully supplied information
to me that was utilized in developing the history in this book. I also want to
recognize the website “Family Tree DNA” who completed the tests on the
Knusli family members who submitted their DNA samples for analysis. I
also want to recognize the individuals in Greece who worked on the study of
the J2 haplogroup, Costa Tsirigakis and Angela Cone for the information
they supplied that was helpful in developing some sections of this book. I
also need to recognize The National Geographic Genographic Project that
supplied volumes of information on the early DNA history of my family line
and Dr. Spencer Wells who wrote the book “The Journey of Man” and his
DNA research that led to the development of the path that lead to the
population of the world and gave me the basis for our long family journey.

I have so many people to thank for their input and assistance that I
could not possibly mention them all, but there are some that need to be
mentioned. My wife Marian “Chris” Plummer Nicely, who has put up with
my research trips and time spent working on the research and writing of the
book. My mother (now deceased), Florence Rose McDowell Nicely, who
gathered and documented a lot of the information on the Anthony Nicely Sr.
branch of the Ligonier, PA family tree over many years and gave me the
basis for the start of my research work She was the person that stemmed my
interest in knowing more about the family. They say genealogy is a disease
you inherit from your ancestors and I would venture to guess I was infected
by my mother. LOL. John Robert (Jack) Nicely and Todd Garrett Pelkey,
both descendants of the Adam Nicely Jr. Ligonier PA branch, passed on to
me almost all of the history for the Adam Nicely Jr. branch of the tree. John
Robert and I were the ones who discovered the information that Adam
Nicely Sr. was the person who moved to Ligonier and was the father of
Anthony Sr. and Adam Jr. On the Whitecrow side of the Kneisle family,
Mary Virginia Scritchfield Wood (now deceased), a descendent of Tsu-Ka-
We or Crow as Jacob Nicely was known by his Native American name, had
been searching for her ancestors for around twenty years and had
accumulated information on Crow’s descendants. Her information was
passed on to Leora Lacie Whitecrow (now deceased), the wife of Sidney
Whitecrow, who became involved a few years back and through the use of
the Internet and access to the Native American history files she began to
expand the knowledge of Jacob’s family. I want to thank Bruno Nuessli,
who is a member of the unrelated Nusli family line, of Winterthur,
Switzerland, who helped with Y-DNA testing that proved the separation of
the Knusli line from the Nusli line. Special thanks goes out to Jake and
Sondra Knisely, who helped start all of this interest in the full family line by
meeting the Whitecrow family and then finding me. Jake also elected to pay
for a Y-DNA test that connected us as cousins and who’s historical
genealogy data gave me the information to connect to Hans Knussli who
was born in 1628 in the Canton of Zurich in Switzerland. Without Jake’s
efforts in finding me this story could not have been told. I would also like to
thank all of the people who have purchased the DNA kits and submitted
their DNA to Family Tree DNA for testing. This includes many non Knusli
descendants, including Sidney Sacks, who was closely matched and helped
indicate a distant cousin connection to the Hebrew line. I would also like to
thank all of the family members who got in touch with me and gave me so
many stories of the family. The list of names is in no particular order but
they were all significant in the process. Jean Aikins Anthony, Rev. Harry
Knisely, Glenn Nicely (now deceased), Don Gilmore, James Bernard
Niceley, Shirley McQuillis Iscrupe, Harry Loren Knisely, Dwayne Larry
Nicely, Robert Knisely, and many others who supplied pieces of their family
history that helped to fill the voids in my research.
Contents
Preface

Introduction

Chapter One: DNA and Genealogy

Chapter Two: In The Beginning

Chapter Three: Mediterranean Sea Area
Anatolia Region
Fertile Crescent Region
Jericho

Chapter Four: Journey to Zurich

Chapter Five: Zurich Switzerland
The Black Plague
The 1500’s in Switzerland
Anabaptist Mennonites in Switzerland
Hans Knussli’s Family in Switzerland
Religious Persecution in Switzerland

Chapter Six: Alsace, France
The Journey to America
Lancaster, PA
Chapter Seven: Antonius Kristopher Knussli Sr. Family
Anna Kneisle Kauffman
Christina Kneisle Haldiman
Johannes Hans Kneisley Sr.
Antonius Kristopher (Anthony) Kneussel Jr.
Elizabeth Kneisly Kauffman
Maria Knussli
Jacob Knussli
Barbara Kneisley Miller
Sybilla Kneisley Golladay
Mary Kneisley Shelley Landis
George H. Kneisley
Adam Kneisle

Chapter Eight: 1739 Knusli Line
Elias Abraham Knisely
John Knisely Sr.

Chapter Nine: Family Information & Stories From
The Johannes Hans Kneisley Sr. Line
Christian Kneisly
Sen. George Omit Deise
Thomas Alexander Deise
Melvin Henry Knisely
Jacob Clarence (Jake) Knisely
Robert August Knisely
Rev. Harry Lee Knisely
Michael Douglas Nicely Sr.
Alexander (Alex) Knisely
Dr. Jonathan Petrus Sandberg Knisely MD

Chapter Ten: Family Information & Stories From
The Antonius Kristopher (Anthony) Kneussel Jr. Line