Blog Some Genealogy

Mr. Arthur Staples has made some good analysis of VIA and STAPLES DNA that VIA family members may find interesting, therefore I am republishing comments that he posted to the VIA Message Board. See his first comment of the VIA-STAPLES Connection here: VIA - STAPLES Family DNA. See the VIA DNA website for the details: www.familytreedna.com/public/ViaSurnameProject/.

VIA PROJECT MATCHES (21 Aug 09):
1) VIA HAPLOGROUPS (Hg): Hg age is taken from the book “Deep Ancestry” (2006) by Dr. Spencer Wells, head of the NGS - Genographic Project. ISBN: 9780792262152 There are four Hg’s listed for the FTDNA - Via Project.

• a) Hg I12, b. about 20,000 yrs ago;
• b) Hg J2, offshoot of Hg J, b. about 15,000 yrs ago;
• c) Hg R1a1, b. about 10-15,000 yrs ago,
• d) Hg R1b1b2, descending from R1b, b. about 30,000 years ago.

All of these Hg’s are thousands of years old and considered Pre- History.

Genetic scientists state that it is impossible for any ancestor to belong to more than one major Hg (i.e.; I, J, R1a, R1b), thus if a participant’s pedigree shows any surname ancestor belonging to more than one haplogroup there is a problem.
Examples:

• a) John Via, 1710/1723-1785, is listed three times in Hg R1b1b2 (42087, 156939 & 157289 and twice in Hg J2 (50048 & 45239).
• b) Gideon Via Sr., William Via Sr., is listed by 46438 in Hg R1b12 and 58163 in Hg J2.

2) VIA & STAPLES MATCHES WITHIN VIA HAPLOGROUP R1b1b2: Three members match John Via Sr. 1759-1834, #109129, 12-markers; 43438, 37-Markers; #56051, 67-markers.

There are three more Hg R1b1b2 participants that are descended from John Via 1710/1723-1785, however a genetic distance of 4 in 25- markers from the above participants plus the one participant 37 markers giving a genetic distance of 15 means that these two Hg R1b1b2 groups, of three participants each, have not been genetically related for over 500 years.

This leaves participants 109129, 46438 & 56051 as a unique group not genetically related to any of the other current (20 Aug 09) participants within the Via DNA Project.

3) COMMENT:
Y-DNA is passed from father to son and is personal and unique to each one of us, however it is only one important tool that is used in determining ones Ancestral Family History.

To answer the question “Who are my surname ancestors?” - The next step starts with ourselves and is to prove our pedigree at each generation by locating documentation that proves the birth and parents of each generation. Primary information which can be considered as legal documentation held at court house archives usually needs only one such document to prove what is written. However secondary information such as census reports, family bible, etc., will need at least two documents to prove what is written, such as a combination of census report and family bible.

Regards, Art Staples, Jr.

Elaine Via Bouscher received the following e-mail from Arthur Staples which was published at the VIA-L Message Board . It references VIA DNA Kit#56051 that had results of 67 Markers with a Genetic Distance of 2 with a person on the STAPLES Surname Project.

STAPLES & VIA - VIRGINIA PLANTERS - GENETIC CONNECTION 12 August 2009; Information Added 15 Aug 09: Arthur B. Staples, Jr., GA, Staples Surname & DNA Project (SSDP) http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~staplessurname

Y-DNA MATCHES: Tested participants Haplogroup and Haplotype or genetic signature are defined by the DNA testing company. Y-DNA matches can be easily analyzed by creating a Haplogroup Founder Modal, based on the Haplogroup of the tested participants, which will identify Genetic Family Tree and Family Branch Mutations that are changes from the Haplogroup Founder Modal in tested participants Haplotypes. This process is extremely valuable when analyzing small group’s of participants.

To discover if there is a Genetic Family Tree match it is important that the Genetic Family Tree Mutations match. However, based on past SSDP studies, it is possible that one out of several may have a one-step mutation but no two-step mutations.

Y-DNA results showing a match within a Genetic Family Tree are Biological and therefore cannot tell us who the common ancestor is that the tested participants match. Only pedigrees with family relationships proven at each generation by primary & secondary genealogical recorded information can tell us who, when and where the match took place.

Matches with other surnames may indicate a Genetic Family Tree relationship prior to the surname era of recording births and marriages for common people in England (1538) and thus if one participant has a pedigree back far enough in time it will help identify the ancestral home.

**CHARTS OMITTED as the formatting did not come through in the email.

GENETIC CONCLUSION: The study shows a very close genetic relationship between FTDNA #’s 44268 & 56051 with only two one-step mutations in 67 Markers. In addition the other two VIA participants lend support, one at Y12 and the other at Y37.

Genetic Family Tree mutations strengthen the proof of a relationship between participants 44268 & 56051 with four mutations at about 10%; one at about 5%; and three at about 3% of the 3,000 plus R-M269 Haplotype population study by Clinton Platt, 06 May 2009.

We do not know when this relationship took place. It could have been in England before the 1538 surname era, or in Virginia. Only genealogical records can give us this information.

GENEALOGICAL RECORDS: Participant 44268 descends from William STAPLES (c1675-c1755) of Hanover County, Virginia. William had 4 son’s John, David, Samuel and Issac. This family’s history is given by Gretchen Elizabeth (Staples) Kroll in her book William Staples (circa 1675 -circa 1755 of Hanover County, Virginia, Volume 1 & 2 (2005).

On the VIA DNA Project website in their R1b1 Haplogroup it is noted that participant 56051 is a descendant of John VIA Sr., 1759-1834. The other two VIA participants descend from Sparrel Jackson VIA 1828-1883. The lineage is shown as John Via, Sr. John Jefferson Via George Washington Via Sparrel Jackson Via. Three other VIA’s listed in their R1b1 Haplogroup descend from a John VIA, 1710/1723-1785, however their Y-DNA results show two of them to be from another VIA genetic family and have no genetic relationship to the STAPLES participant.

Via Deed Abstract, Albemarle Co. VA, 15 Feb 1755 John VIA land survey Virginia Surveyor’s Plat Book 1, Part 1, Virginia Archives Microfilm #393, 1744-1755, p 333, 125 acre Survey by John Staples Surv. In Gretchen Kroll’s book, 1:16, John Staples, d 22 Oct 1766 in Buckingham Co., VA, son of William (c1675-c1755) is listed as an assistant surveyor in 1754 in Albemarle Co, VA., working under Peter Jefferson, head surveyor. On page 1:15, although John never married he had two children by his mistress, Elizabeth Whitaker. James Whitaker, b 1763; used his mothers surname; Jane Staples, born before 1766; died by 1834. In Buckingham Co., VA, 1787 Tax list has both William Staples and John Via listed.

In Patrick Co., VA, 15 May 1816, Bond of Richard Via to marry Franky Via, dau of William Via as witnessed and recorded by Samuel Staples.

This preliminary genealogical information is given to show that STAPLES & VIA families in Virginia lived in the same area during the 1700 & 1800’s. The participants involved will want to do more thorough research. Did the families know each other in England?

page 4/5 The following is from Gretchen Elizabeth (Staples) Kroll, 15 August 2009: The Via family is familiar to me in Buckingham County and other counties. They lived in the area of “Plain Dealing,” also, where Thomas Staples built the first (log) part of that home. And, coincidentally, I have worked with a Via widow from that area!

The connection of Via to Staples is very interesting. The Via family members were present, also, in Hanover County, where William and his four sons lived before the sons moved on. Next time I am in Richmond, I will enjoy taking a look at the survey [1] John Staples did for Via. I probably saw it long ago but had no other reason to connect Staples to Via, and John Staples, of course, did so many surveys since he was assistant surveyor in Albemarle from 1754 through 1758 — and then [a full] surveyor in Albemarle from 1759 until 1761 — and then was surveyor for Buckingham County from 1761 until his death. (When he was a surveyor in Albemarle, that county also included the areas that became Amherst and Buckingham in 1761.)

The Samuel Staples you mentioned, of Patrick County, who witnessed and recorded the Via marriage bond, was the Clerk of the Court. He was a son of Samuel and Molly (Chambers) Staples — this latter Samuel being a brother of John2 (The Surveyor).

The William Staples who was on the tax list you mentioned (1787) in Buckingham was a son of David (who was one of the four brothers, sons of Wm. of Hanover). This William (s/o David) had a first wife whose name is unknown to us (my book 1:56). He had one or two children before marrying Martha Tompkins in 1786 in Albemarle. But could that possibly have been a way for a Via connection? But, then, I am sure there are MANY ways it could have happened, because we don’t know everything about the mothers’ and grandmothers’ lines.

[1] John Staples Survey for John Via: Information copied 16 Aug 09 from Early Via Family - http://www.geocities.com/pre1800vias/ - Early Via Name Index John Via [This is the John Via that according to earlier researchers was born about 1710 and who married Mary Powhatan, although no such record has been found] 15 Feb 1755 Survey of 125 acres of land on Appomattox River, Buckingham or Albemarle Co. VA.

I have just finished the “Revised and Updated” Second Edition of my genealogy book of the PEYTON family of Virginia, - PEYTONs Along the Aquia Genealogy. It is now available as a “keepsake” edition in hardcover.

PEYTONs Along the Aquia Genealogy

HELP - Please from PEYTON Researchers. I have looked everywhere and I cannot find these parish records that are continually cited in PEYTON-PAYTON pedigree charts. I have searched all of the Bisley Parish records I could get my hands on - NOTHING. I searched all of the Horsely Parish records available - NOTHING! Then I searched all of Gloucestershire - NOTHING. Can somebody please tell me where these parish records that are so often cited are hiding. THANKS!

Payton Family Pedigree

• (Gen 1) Thomas PAYTON, Sr, died/buried 17 Feb 1648, Bisley, Gloucester, married 19 Jul 1606, Bisley, Gloucester, to Anne Gree.
• (Gen 2) Philip PAYTON, bapt 15 Mar 1612/13, Bisley, Gloucester; married 13 Sep 1638, Cirencester, Gloucester, to Elizabeth Gibbs.
• (Gen 3) Philip PAYTON born May 1644, Bisley, Gloucester;

AT&T Natural Voices can be a good resource to determine pronunciation of names by various voices. I tested the family surname VIA - VIAR. I was suprised that every one of the native English speakers pronounced it the same way, just as my family had done long ago. Give it a try: AT&T Natural Voices.

Reverend Horace Edwin HAYDEN, continues to be the leading genealogist of the PEYTON family of Virginia. His celebrated book, “Virginia Genealogies,” published in 1891, included a chapter on the PEYTON family: “PEYTON, ‘of Iselham,’ Cambridgeshire, England, Gloucester, and Westmoreland Counties, Virginia.” The author closely followed the English PEYTON lines in the 1878 book “Genealogical Memoirs of the Extinct Family of Chester of Chicheley,” by Robert E. Chester WATERS.

One hundred seventeen years ago, when Reverend HAYDEN published the lineage and history of the PEYTON family of Virginia, his work was the most comprehensive and accurate in data, scope and material ever received. Since then, his extensive “Peyton” chapter in “Virginia Genealogies” has formed the basis of all succeeding published genealogies of the Peyton family. This scanned reprint will be a welcome and necessary resource for those studying the PEYTON family of Virginia. His acclaimed essay “Descent” is included.

Photograph from Flickr.

I published “So Obscure A Person”, today 13 March 2007. It is a story of a man who wanted too much, and his Virginia descendants, who were the beneficiaries of his quests. He was ALEXANDER STINSON Senior of Williamsburg and Buckingham County, Virginia and his lifetime spanned almost the entire eighteenth century of Colonial Virginia.He first appeared in the court records of Virginia as a bound servant boy, “a slave without shackles.” The title of this book comes from the reply of the Virginia Council at Williamsburg in May of 1741, when, as an overly ambitious young man, he made an official petition for land to fulfill his dream of becoming a Virginia planter. After years in bondage, his hopes must have seemed shattered when President JAMES BLAIR and the Council denied his plea, explaining that it was “too much land for so obscure a person.”

As his childhood had been passed being owned by tavern keepers along Williamsburg’s Duke of Gloucester Street, young SAWNEY seemed not easily discouraged. He allied himself with some of Virginia’s finest families, and went on to win his Virginia land and much, much more.

Eighteenth century Virginians muddled through life much as we do today. They lived each day, one at a time, the same as do we, but they did so much more during those one hundred years of history. Alexander STINSON moved upcountry from Tidewater Virginia to a place called Willis’s on the branches of Cattail, in what is now the center of Virginia, Buckingham County. He saw the land when it was a wilderness, and he settled it, and built a home for himself and his family. His dream of working the land he had won came true, as he became a Virginia planter. He cleared and built his own roadways, he taught his children, and he helped create a society where there had been no community at all. He and his children rebelled against a tyrannical government, fought a war, and created a brand new nation. While living through it all, he kept intact the faith of his fathers. After having accomplished all that he did, his children moved on to new places to pioneer as he had done.

Photo from Flickr.

Reverend Edgar Woods’ celebrated history, “Albemarle County of Virginia”, published in 1901, on page 296, mentions the following about the brother of my PEYTON ancestress, Lucy PEYTON.

“Henry PEYTON became the owner of Park Hill, the old Drury Wood place near Stony Point, where he resided until his death. His wife was a sister of William P. Farish, and his sons were William, Benjamin, George L., Dr. E.O., Bernard and Eugene, all of whom exhibited a marked degree of enterprise, some in conducting lines of Stages and some in hotel keeping. They removed for the most part to West Virginia.”

The genealogical lineage and descendants of Henry PEYTON of Park Hill in Albemarle County, Virginia are contained in my genealogy book published in 2004, available at Amazon and Lulu: “PEYTONs Along the Aquia”.

The eight children of Valentine PEYTON (1749-1831) were enumerated in his will, extant in Lincoln County, Kentucky, and also in a bounty land claim. They seem to be Randolph PEYTON, Buford PEYTON, Lucy PEYTON (married William HILL), Simeon PEYTON, Delila PEYTON, Vincent PEYTON, and Rhoda PEYTON (married Fleming GOODE). More than a few of his children married into the SPEED family. Many grandchildren are also mentioned in these documents, which are a wealth of information for genealogists. Valentine PEYTON and his lineage is on pages 130-132 of “PEYTONs Along the Aquia.”

When I wrote the genealogy book in 2004, “Peytons Along the Aquia”, I published the ancestry (page 71) but not the descendants of the William PEYTON, born 1753, who married Mary ROSS on 22 February 1796. William PEYTON had removed to Hartford County, Kentucky, sometime before 1780.

Under “Shelby County TN Biographies” are the details and stories of the illustrious descendants from his son Craven PEYTON: Presley Ross PEYTON, Dr. William Peyton (born 1817), Dr. Craven Peyton (born 1821), and Dr. Thomas Fleming Peyton (10 May 1823 Mount Vernon, Kentucky - 14 February 1878 Shelby County, Tennessee).

William PEYTON served as a private during the American Revolution in the 5th Virginia Regiment on the Continental Line. Although I have found no pension for him, William PEYTON has been proven as a DAR patriot by descendants of his son Samuel Oldham PEYTON. Samuel was born on 8 January 1804, at Bullitt County, Kentucky and died at Hartford, Ohio County Kentucky on 18 January 1870. On 12 November 1829, he married Mary Worthington KINCHELOE who was born in 1810, at Muhlenberg County, Kentucky and who died in Kentucky in 1888.

All women who descend from William PEYTON through his son Craven PEYTON are also eligible for membership in the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.