Magdalene Culliton (1916/1918-2012), recorded as a daughter in the Culliton household, is treated here as a biological daughter of Leonard I. Nicholson and Catherine Teresa “Katie” Kelly, wife of John Culliton.
The genetic evidence rests on autosomal DNA comparisons at 23andMe. Robert Berkley Steele, a son of Magdalene Culliton, shares 4.37 percent DNA with a documented Nicholson grandson, a result consistent with a half first-cousin relationship. The same Steele descendant also shares 8.64 percent DNA with Leonard and Myrtie’s youngest daughter, Ellen (Nicholson) Ward. Those figures fit descent from a half-sibling of the Nicholson grandchildren: a child who shares Leonard Nicholson as the common ancestor but does not share Myrtie Ferguson.
Several Nicholson grandchildren test as full first cousins to one another, fixing Leonard and Myrtie as their shared grandparents. The Steele descendant does not show the expected Ferguson or Rippey matches from Myrtie’s side, but does match established Nicholson-line relatives. That pattern isolates the shared ancestry on Leonard’s side rather than Myrtie’s.
The documentary setting fits the genetic conclusion. Leonard was in south-central Saskatchewan in the mid-1910s, with records placing him in the Swift Current judicial district and Herbert area. That geography is compatible with the Elbow-area Culliton household in which Magdalene was raised. The genetic and documentary evidence together identify Leonard I. Nicholson as Magdalene’s biological father.
An alternate explanation, that the Nicholson connection came through the paternal Steele line, has been excluded on geographic and Y-DNA grounds. This source card summarizes private DNA evidence; avoid publishing additional living-tester details beyond what is necessary for the proof statement.