The Williams DNA Project was established in January 2003 with the purpose of gaining a better understanding of all the various Williams lineages in the world. Hardly a family can say they don't have a Williams line in their ancestry. This project has proven very successful in helping many researchers prove and disprove their genealogies. Could it help you?
Latest News and DNA Results -
May 29, 2009
It's incredible how fast time moves the older you get. Of course having an incredibly busy personal life seems to speed it up even more. I guess fate is determined to keep me a month behind on getting data posted to the results.
I've just finished updating all the latest results that have come in over the last month. It's been a busy one for our project. Our project has grown immensely over the last month or two...we are now up to an amazing 676 participants and 88 matched groups...simply INCREDIBLE! Just in this update alone, we've seen the creation of four new groups. And, I'm anticipating another large update here in the near future. FTDNA just had a major sale on upgrades and we had somewhere in the neighborhood of 30-40 upgrades ordered....which is FANTASTIC!! I can't stress how important upgrades can be in identifying accurate matches...especially for the folks who have only tested 12 markers.
I'm hoping to have some time in the near future to take care of a couple housekeeping items. One is to put some guards in place to prevent the bot activity on the forums and in the lineages underway section...it's about to drive me nuts. Also, I'm going to take a hard look at what I need to do to the results table to display all 67 markers instead of just limiting it to 37. No promises on when but know that these items are definitely on my radar!
I am also interested in in any feedback that anyone may have regarding the format. Please let me know if this works or if you have an idea on how to improve it. Contact me at stickamw@earthlink.net. And again, if you are able, please consider donating to the fund.
Current Statistics:
Date of Last Update: 02 Mar 2010
Number of Participants: 747
Number of Unique Families: 222
Number of Matched Groups: 94
Number of Kits Not Yet Returned: 43
Legend:
In the table, there are a number of features. First, click on any of the
underlined participant or group names to access their pedigree information. Clicking on the underlined kit number
will allow you to email the owner of that kit! If there is a "Y" in the column entitled "Web",
it means that this participant has a website and you can access it by clicking on the "Y". The DYS numbers in
red are considered fast mutating markers. Finally, Haplogroups that have been confimed by SNP testing are in
bold green text.
Matched Group Results:
This first page of
information details the results for all of the projects matched groups. All of these groups have been
identified by carefuly analysis of all available data including, number of markers tested, number of
mismatches, which markers were mismatched and existing genealogies. Except in rare occasions, once a
matched group is identified, they are assigned a permanent group number and are referred to in the
future by that number.
Note to IE7 Users! - There is a known issue with using Internet Explorer v7 with the matched group
and no match group scrolling tables. I am working on getting a solution for this and during the interim,
you have a couple of possible options. First, these tables have been tested using other browsers and
works fine in IE6 and Firefox. The other is to use the printable results table. This works fine in the IE7
browser but doesn't have the scrolling table feature...it basically creates one very long page. I appreciate
you patience!! - adrian
Group 2 – Our family starts with an unkn Williams father and sons Isaac, John, Ambrose, James & Hardin. We are presently trying to connect Sherrod 1776 & Philip E. 1792 of Franklin County, TN & the unknown ancestors Davis 1764, James 1806 & Joseph 1829 of the South Carolina matching DNA participants.
Ambrose abt 1725 seems to be the most documentated with 8 generations, then James abt 1730. Philip "Buckspike" 1756 is part of this group.The family names Ambrose, Hardin, Philip, Sherrod & Davis seem to appear in each generation, several times. Sgt. Alvin York married into this Williams family.
* My Family Sherrod Williams site by invitation only*
Rootsweb DNA tree at:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=tenennesse
Group 3 - Thomas Barnes and Hannah (Pinson Williams circa abt 1790 South Carolina.
The participants in Group 3 descend from three different sons of Thomas Barnes and Hannah (Pinson) Williams. Thomas B. (sometimes known as Barney) was born in South Carolina abt 1790 and the first known records of him show up early in Laurens Co about 1813. In abt 1831 Thomas B., Hannah and their children emigrated to Carroll Co., GA. Many of the descendants stayed there but many spread on into Alabama, Mississippi and beyond. For more information see the following: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~devore/williams/williams1.htm
Group 5 is one of our most challenging groups to date. Not only are these participants blessed with the 3rd most common surname in the US, they also have one of the most common y-DNA signatures in the R1b Haplogroup. And, a couple of these participants have what is called the Western Atlantic Modal Haplotype. The Western Atlantic Modal Haplotype is THE most common Y-DNA signature of Europe?s most common Haplogroup, R1b. Simply put their ancestors have experienced a dramatic population explosion over the past 10,000 years and did more than their ?fair share? in populating Western Europe. Because they share both an incredibly common surname AND a very common Haplogroup, the 12-marker testing isn't sufficient in identifying matches. So, this is a sort of "holding area" for them until we have more information from either the 25 or 37 marker tests.
Group 7 has a couple of very interesting points. The strong marker matching confirms that the three are related. Also, there is a very rare 3-step mutation on a DYS 385b, however, the rest of the markers are right on (with the exception of DY b which is expected to be different.) Adrian's family migration path begins in Surry Co., VA with Roger Williams (1638) then to Bertie Co., NC then finally Chatham Co., NC. Documentation indicates that Walt's ancestor, Jeptha Williams (1775) also came from NC (his wife appears to be from Chatham) but no obvious documented match has been found yet. Jim's family lines hit a wall ca. 1777 in SC with their ancestor Theophilus Williams. The name Theophilus was primarily used by the Arthur & John Williams families who also immigrated to IOW & Surry Co.'s VA and who later moved to Bertie Co., NC. This group is actively looking for descendants from this family to see if there is a connection. Haskel appears to be tied to Walter's kin. Finally, the latest member of the group, Kenneth, is a documented descendant of the brother Adrian's 5th g-grandad. Interestingly, Kenneth doesn't have the same 3-step mutation on 385b that Adrian does, meaning that this mutation is fairly recent in Adrian's lineage only.
Match I - John W. living at Ft. Pitt, Pa ca.1740. 1st son William W.b.Ft.Pitt 1760, nothing is known of any siblings. 1762 John and family move to Brunswick Co. Va, lived there 'til 1794. William has a record of Rev. War service 1777-1781.Both families move to Bourbon Co. Ky in 1794. William has three known children John R.,William D. and Jesse.They later moved to Preble Co. Ohio
Match II - Purviance W. b. 1804 NC lived in Henry/Stewart Co.TN. A loose Bible page shows him with an older couple, Benjamin b.1772 and Amey b.1780 (perhaps his parents?) plus James R. b.1793, Jarrot b. 1800, Judith b. 1806, Eliz.R.b. 1808, and John b. 1816 in Tn.. This family left Tn 1836/37 for Panola Co. Tx.
Match III - Thomas R. W.b. Stewart Co. TN 1818, moved to Pontotoc/Lafayette Co. MS 1834 and ca. 1880 to Erath Co.TX.
Group 9
This is based on the pedigrees submitted and the sharing of information within Group 9 to affirm connection to this Williams Family. The Most Common Ancestor in America is suspected to have been from the descendancy of John Williams who married Ann Whitley on Feb 21 1669 in IOW, Halifax County, VA.
John had eight sons: Theophius (b. 1689-90),– died early; John Junior (b. 1673), m. Margaret and/or Ann Jones (possibly other wives, one with surname Sanders) ; William (b ca 1676) m. Mary Moore; Thomas (b ca 1678) m. Susannah Crews; Jonathan (b. 24 Jan 1679), m. Unknown ; Nicholas H. (b 1687) m. Ann Lewis; and Capt. Richard Williams (b. well bef 1710- his marriage date) m. Sarah Daughtry (Daugherty or Daughtrey).
Some of the descendants migrated from VA to NC (Bertie and Chowan Counties, possibly Martin and Nash) and some to So. Carolina, with others going on to Tennessee. From there they scattered to MO, KY, LA, GA, AL, AK, IL and eventually to Texas and beyond.
There are many in this group that have documented early ancestors in America with some of the earliest as: Britton b. ca. 1741 SC d. 8 Apr 1781 and wife Elizabeth as well as William Micajai Williams b. ca 1740 and purportedly his father Capt. Micajai Williams being born in England in 1715. Another is Isaac b. ca. 1663 and d. ca 1707 in NC m. Martha (poss. Hodges). Additionally there is Elisha Williams b. 1746 (wife Sarah Josey) John b. 1781 and d. 1833 who m. Rachel England as well as Daniel Williams born ca 1790 and d. ca 1844 Haywood Co., NC m. Ellenor (Jenkins)
Of course expanding any or all members to a larger marker such as the 25-37can narrow the number of generations of relativity. One of our members is of African American descent and his family, though known only a few generations back, came from Natchez, Mississippi into Louisiana, just across the Mississippi. There are several members who have not submitted their pedigree as yet. Other members have known ancestors of later dates and are still in a state of discovery of their descendancy.
Group 10 This group has a strong marker match and confirms the three are related. The common ancestor continues to remain a mystery. The earliest known ancestor of this group is Paul’s James Williams b. 1575 in Wales, d. after 1600 in London, England. He married Alice Pemberton, b.1575 in Wales. They had two sons; Rodgers, b.1599 in Gwinsea, Cornwall, Wales, d. 1683, Providence, RI; and Daniel, b. about 1600. Paul has been on the lookout in North Carolina and has shown his ancestors were on the move from NC to parts of TN, and on to MO. The next earliest ancestor reported is Jim C’s Stephen Williams b. 1808, SC and d. 1897 in Meriwether Co. GA after moving there before 1845. He married Nancy E. Simpson and they had eight children. The most recent documented ancestor of this group is Jim H’s William L. (Will) Williams b. 1859, state unknown, and d. 1935, LA. He married Sarah J. Harris and they had five children. Five decades of Census records disagree on the state of birth for him and his father. His mother probably was born in AL. No obvious documented match in Group 10 has been found as yet. The families of the respective Jim's of this group have family lines that hit a wall ca. 1808 in SC and ca. 1859 in an unknown state respectively. To heighten the mystery, the DNA results of two "Bornefeld" surnamed men exactly match that of the two Jims.
