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Archiver > DNA-R1B1C7 > 2007-09 > 1190130792


From: Jeff Scism <>
Subject: [DNA-R1B1C7] examining possibilities.
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 08:53:12 -0700
References: <001e01c7fa03$90e21510$6400a8c0@NEWCOMPUTER>
In-Reply-To: <001e01c7fa03$90e21510$6400a8c0@NEWCOMPUTER>


In my case I KNOW I am working against a non-marital birth, my father's.
Family lore has tended to support the conclusions I have reached as to
the identity of the actual father. I was relayed "death bed" information
unfortunately it came to me after the aunt concerned had passed. WE had
only made contact with my father's family about two years prior. (He was
born out of country, to a single mother, and she returned to the USA
without him, he was raised by her father, who always listed him as his
son, instead of his grandson. This was done to establish citizenship,
although the Birth cert listed no father.)

Fortunately the death bed information was enough to lead us to a path
toward solving the mystery. The information was that the father of my
father had been in the USN, worked in "construction" in1932, and was
"named McCann or something like that".

The cousin who relayed the information thought that he may have been a
SeaBee, but 1932 was a decade before that. The only "construction" group
in the Navy at that time was the Bureau of Construction and Repair, the
section that built ships, and repaired them. BCR had no Panama branch,
which is where my father was born, Christmas night 1932.

My deceased aunt had thought the first name may have been Robert, so we
looked that way first. Both in Panama records and in NY, where she was
from. No luck.

I went to the 1930 census when it came out, there was only ONE McCann
family in Panama for that census, but in 1932, they had gone to Egypt.
They then went to California. Coincidentally the same town my Father
ended up in, Burbank, but no connection. He when a young adult knew
members of this family.

We started looking for the Military clues, which for a while was a dead
end. At this time I took the initial 12 STR dna test.

The basic level test wasn't very informative, but I did match with
several "McCanns, O'Kanes, and Cain Families."

I decided (when it became available) to upgrade to 37 markers, I got a
35/37 match with Dr. Keane out of England.

Other people from the net decided to also see what they could find. One
found the military bio of Vice Admiral A. R. McCann. He had been
stationed in Panama previous to 1932, but in 1928-1931 was working for
the Bureau of Construction and Repair. At first I thought "almost", and
almost discarded him as a candidate.

I decided however to dig a little deeper. I contacted the site owner of
the Bio site, and asked if they had more on his career, they sent me
his career itinerary, a list of his assignments. In early 1932 he was
in transit, on administrative hold in Panama, while his submarine
underwent refit. My grandmother's sister was a dependent wife on the
base where then Commander McCann was stationed, Coco Solo sub base. Ten
ears earlier, the Panama Canal's Dredging division assisted the Coco
Solo Sub Base in raising a sunken submarine from the bay outside the
Canal locks, near the base, The submarine 0-5. The dredging division's
crane was used to lift the sunken sub to the surface so two crewmen
could escape. The previously mentioned grandfather was a senior Tow
Master for the Dredging Division. Commander McCann is an identified
individual who was also on the rescue scene. This incident made
Commander McCann think about rescuing downed sub crews, the 0-5 was the
first such successful rescue. This led his career to the Bureau of
Construction and Repair, where he developed the "McCann Submarine Rescue
Chamber", completing it in 1931. McCann was a engineer, and diving
expert. He worked with Charles B. "Swede" Momsen, together they
developed the Momsen Lung, The Momsen/McCann Diving Bell, and the McCann
SRC.

This put him in the right place at the right time. It also met the
reference to "Navy Construction."

He is still the best candidate.

I have recently upgraded the y-test again to 67 markers, now my closest
match is a McCann out of Australia, at -4/67. The Admiral had spent most
of y part of WWII in the south Pacific as a Sub Squadron Commander. The
individual in Australia indicates he knows of no connection via the
Admiral. It is likely however that common roots are further back.

It was recently discovered that Admiral John McCain, II was also in
Panama at Coco Solo in the right time frame. He however doesn't fit as
well. His line is so far not represented in the DNA projects. It is
represented in the Current race for President. Senator John McCain, III
is his son, born at Coco Solo in 1936.

--


Jeffery G. Scism, IBSSG
~~

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