The Case of the Cryptic Chromosome

Where are the Hardy Boys when you need them?

I’ve been doing a lot of work recently to associate my DNA matches with specific segments of the various chromosomes. I think this will prove to be a valuable project in identifying some pre-James Sr. ancestors (and maybe some unknown later relatives). In addition to the various sites which provide DNA testing and matches to DNA relatives (Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA, MyHeritage, 23andme, and GEDMatch are the ones I use), there is an excellent free program called GenomeMatePro which imports and organizes all DNA matches and associated chromosome data. I use it as a master database to view all the matches together in one place, as well as to tie together the chromosome segment data from the different sites. Contact me directly if you are interested in using it yourself – it’s a very large and complex program but once you get the hang of it and what it can do it becomes the Swiss Army Knife of DNA genealogical research (and I’m talking about one of the big honkin’ knifes, not the little pocket babies).

I’ve also been using an online tool called DNA Painter to place various segments on colorized sections of DNA for each chromosome. It is a great visualization tool that help to see where descendants of various ancestors match up. Below is a picture of what I am currently working with on the mysterious (as you will see) Chromosome 3 (I have removed last names to preserve privacy, although almost all of these names are public on the DNA matching sites).

What makes this particular chromosome interesting (and cryptic!) is that the area in the right half contains known descendants of James Sr. or one of his progeny, or people with a different Wilson name, or folks that are descendants of known associated families and regions. For instance, Debbie R. (in pink) is descended from Thomas G. Wilson’s and Sally Duck’s daughter Lovisa Jane and Nathan M. from James Wilson and Delilah’s daughter Elizabeth. There are many other known Wilson relatives I haven’t yet included as they don’t really provide any new information.

OK so now, as promised, the mysteries:

1. Carolyn D has quite a bit of DNA overlap with me – 3 segments that total about 50cM (centiMorgans) on this Chromosome alone, which is enough to make her a 3rd or 4th cousin on average. To compare, a 3rd cousin would have a common g-g-grandfather of James C. Wilson of Kansas, and a 4th would be in common with his father Thomas G. Wilson. This timeline would put our common relative somewhere between the very late 1700’s and the mid 1800’s, based on probabilities. However, her family tree has *no* Wilsons in it! But it does have connections in the Henry County area (including neighboring North Carolina) up through her recent ancestors. One name that stands out is “Gilley” – two of Thomas Wilson’s (son of James Sr.) daughters (Polly first, then Libby after Polly died in 1813) were married to George Gilley. George was born in 1765 in Buckingham County, Virginia, where I have no record of any our Wilson relatives, so it is unlikely he was actually a Wilson. If there were any Wilson (or Gilley’s descended from Wilson) sources of Non-Parental-Events (known as NPE’s, also more accurately called Not Parent Expected), it would have most probably been during the 1800’s in the Henry County area. Many Wilsons (and the families of female Wilsons) stayed behind as others in the clan headed off to Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, etc. Of course, the other possibility is that one of my female ancestors, such as Delilah the wife of James II (grandson of James Sr.) was of the Gilley or some other family in Henry County. But for reasons mentioned later I believe this segment is truly Wilson DNA from long before.
2. Another fairly close match on Chr3 is Beverly D. She has also ancestors with familiar names in Henry County, VA, such as Stephens and Bailey (both families intermarried with Wilsons at various times). Some of the Stephens also moved to the Pulaski County, KY area along with or at about the same time as the Wilsons. For the same reasons as with Carolyn D. above, I believe there was an NPE in Kentucky in the 1800’s involving Wilson DNA. In both cases, we would really need Y-DNA evidence from male descendants of these families to know much more.
3. Now it gets more interesting (or at least not as sordid :-)) — two or three segments — Rhonda H., RK F., and Karen J. (which might only be 2 people) actually do have solid Wilson lines in their tree, all traced back to a James Edward Wilson, b. 1830 in Tennessee, who was the son of Edward b. 1795 in Virginia. There is no indication who his father was or in what part of Virginia he was born. The tax lists for Henry County and Franklin County do have an Edward Wilson in 1782-1785, 1795, and as late as 1803 (not all areas have complete lists for all years). It obviously isn’t a given that Edward born in 1795 would be the son of another Edward, but it’s a good place to start looking. Unfortunately, the Edward in Henry/Franklin isn’t geographically adjacent to our known Wilsons, although he is close to other Wilsons. If this Edward is truly the progenitor of this group on Chr3, then it is likely the other Wilsons in that area are related to us also. But they ended up in different parts of the old Henry County — did they migrate together and split up, or were they just distant relatives already? Once again, more Y-DNA testing might reveal answers in the years ahead.
4. Finally, we have the most interesting clue in our cryptic chromosome, which is thanks to Ralette B (who also gets today’s prize for the most interesting relative name). Ralette’s family tree has a clear and documented Wilson line going back to Lanarkshire, Scotland, with a John Wilson immigrating to Maryland in the late 1700’s. The level of DNA matching suggests a 4th cousin or so, but our common ancestor would have to be at least 1 generation prior to James Sr. given the relatively late date of Ralette’s ancestor’s arrival in the US. I will be writing up a separate blog post on this line and where there or may or may not be a match. But it throws a monkey wrench into my theory that James or his family emigrated from Ulster (see my previous post on Y-DNA results).

So to sum up our case: the DNA segment on Chromosome 3 that is definitively correlated to known descendants of James II (grandson of James Sr.) and Thomas G. Wilson (James II’s son) also match with descendants of related families in Henry County, Virginia and Pulaski County, Kentucky, suggesting a NPE (“Not Parent Expected”) from these areas, which will probably not be resolved until there is more DNA testing of those groups. We also have a new link to a relatively (!) unknown Edward Wilson who could be a product of the Henry County clan, or perhaps a related group in Virginia. And finally, for the first time we have a solid, documented connection to a Wilson directly from Scotland!

But unfortunately, we aren’t yet able to close the Case of the Cryptic Chromosome. Maybe Dad will take us to the Bayport Dairy Queen for milkshakes anyway…*

* Lame Hardy Boys reference