There’s big news on the DNA testing front – one of John Culpeper Wilson’s descendants finally received his Big-Y DNA testing results from FamilytreeDNA.com. He and I have only 3 private variants (see my posts on Y-DNA testing for background on what this means) which is very close to what I would expect for another relative of James Sr. We are grouped together in a new terminal SNP called R-FT75629, which you can see in the image below in the middle. I feel confident that the match (whom I’ll just call “T” for privacy reasons) and I have James Sr. as a common ancestor based on the typical estimates of ~80-144 years for each mutation. This is relatively new science -as more Big-Y results are correlated with paper family trees, the estimates seem to be gravitating to the lower part of the range (and perhaps even lower than that) on average. So, if our common relative was born about 250 years before us, 3 private variants (which are mutations in the Y chromosome that have occurred in his lines since then) is just about right for James to be the most recent common ancestor.
However, since we can’t use the number of variants to precisely indicate particular generations, there is a slight possibility that John C. was not directly descended from James Sr. but rather from another of James’ family members (e.g. brother, uncle, father). But I have yet to find evidence of any other related Wilson branches in the Henry County area that weren’t spawned by James Sr. and Martha. I believe there is a very high probability that John C. was the grandson of James Sr., likely through James’ son Moses. James’ only other known son was Thomas Sr., whose own son John was still living on his land in Henry County at the time of Thomas’ death in 1816, which was well past the time that John C. had migrated westward, thus leaving Moses as the only known possible father.
So, to all you male Wilson relatives out there, welcome to the James Wilson Sr. Haplogroup R-FT75629!
John C. Wilson’s daughter Diana had a son named Moses Payne. Since the Wilson’s used family names, it is a possibility that Moses is the missing link.
That’s a good hint, thanks. There were a number of other Moses in Virginia and Kentucky (after many of the Wilsons moved there) but I think they were mostly descendants of the “first” Moses. I think there is also a connection between Moses in KY and a Payne but I have to look more closely at that.
Lawrence County, Ohio
How do you feel about the fact that Moses’ will does not name John as a son, only Moses, Thomas and Abner? Is the DNA more persuasive?
I’ve been meaning to check on Moses’ will, thanks for pointing that out. One possibility is that since John C. had already moved west (to Ohio I believe) long before Moses death, he may not have included him since he had moved away. The DNA doesn’t tell us one way or the other, unfortunately. It only gives us a high probability that John C. was descended directly from James Sr. Based on what we know, Moses is the only choice for John’s father since Thomas’ son John is otherwise accounted for. If we were to find other members of James’ family (son, brother, father, etc.) we would have other options.