Ridgewood Public Library and the Genealogical Society of Bergen County
A Shipwrecked Tale: The Identification of Captain Henry Goodsell After 180 Years Off the New Jersey Coast
Presentation by Julian Rebelo, Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center, Ramapo College
Monday, 20 April 2026 @ 7pm at the Ridgewood Public Library Auditorium
New York Democratic Press, Friday December 20, 1844 (Ramapo College of New Jersey)
Description: “… A skull washed ashore in Longport in 1995, and more bones were found in Margate in 1999, both in Atlantic County. In 2013, additional remains were found in Ocean City, Cape May County. Scattered Man John Doe went without a name for 30 years since traditional methods of investigation could not deliver an identification.
“In the fall of 2023, the New Jersey State Police partnered with the Ramapo College IGG Center to see if they would be able to use investigative genetic genealogy to solve the mystery of the scattered bones along the New Jersey beaches. That November, a sample was sent to Intermountain Forensics who uploaded the sample to GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA in February of 2024.
“That is when Ramapo College undergraduate students conducting field studies and IGG Center certificate program students began their research. They found ancestry dating back to the 1600s, with genetic relatives hailing from Litchfield and Fairfield Counties in Connecticut. …”
Bone Fragments Found on New Jersey Beaches Linked to 19th Century Shipwreck, Ramapo College Read More >
Speaker: Julian Rebelo is Ramapo College’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center’s current Staff Investigative Genetic Genealogist, having provided leads in numerous cold cases. A practicing genealogist since a teenager, his professional background includes a Bachelors of Science in Chemistry from Monmouth University, as well as a graduate of Boston University’s Genealogical Certificate Program, and Ramapo College's Investigative Genetic Genealogy Certificate Program.
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