Not in the mtDNA
There are, at this moment, 201 family trees on Ancestry.com that list the man who became The Legal Genealogist‘s third great grandfather as Jacob Elijah Gentry.
Of those, 167 are public trees. And 34 private trees.
And every last one of them is wrong.
Because my third great grandfather’s name was Elijah.
Not Jacob Elijah.
No middle name. No middle initial. No Jacob.
Oh, there was a Jacob Elijah Gentry in my family line — he was a grandson of this Elijah, born some 66 years after his grandfather.1
But my third great grandfather? He served in the War of 1812 as Elijah Gentry.2 He was in the census — repeatedly — as Elijah Gentry.3 He was a circuit-riding Methodist Episcopal preacher under the name Elijah Gentry.4 He was a commissioner named by the Mississippi Legislature to establish the county seat for the newly-created Rankin County as Elijah Gentry.5
Never once, not under any circumstances — except in family trees on Ancestry.com — did he ever appear with the name Jacob as a first or middle name.
Sigh…
But that isn’t anything that DNA can tell us and this, after all, is DNA Sunday.
What DNA can tell is about Elijah’s wife, my third great grandmother Wilmoth, the woman who — according to the family lore of those who’ve posted some 55 of those family trees on Ancestry.com — was also known as White Cloud, a full-blood Catawba tribeswoman from North Carolina.
Um… no.
And DNA can help us prove that.
You see, there is a form of DNA called mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) that passes down through the female line with very few changes from generation to generation. A mother gives her mtDNA to all of her children, but only her daughters can pass it on to their children.6
Native American women have very distinctive mtDNA — with few exceptions, they fall into specific haplogroups, or branches of the maternal human family tree: haplogroups A, B, C, D and X.7 (Actually, more recent research has identified Native American mtDNA with finer gradations, coming from just some subgroups within those groups,8 but for purposes of this discussion, we can stick to the letters, without worrying about those subgroups.)
So if Wilmoth — who was from North Carolina — was, indeed, a full-blood Catawba tribeswoman (or the daughter of a full-blood tribeswoman), the odds are overwhelming that she would have had one of those very distinctive Native American haplotypes — she would have been A, B, C, D or X.
But Wilmoth is long gone, her final resting place unknown. How would we find out, today, what Wilmoth’s mtDNA haplogroup was?
All we need to do is test one of her direct descendants in an unbroken maternal line: her daughter’s daughter’s daughter’s child.
Elijah and Wilmoth had many children, among them my second great grandmother Isabella.9
Isabella had a daughter Mary Isabella,10 who married Amos Hendrix in Delta County, Texas, in 1879.11 Among their children was a daughter, Mary Manila, born in 1899.12
Mary Manila married John Roland Rudolph in Hall County, Texas, in 1918,13 and had a daughter Mary Leila.14
And Mary Leila took an mtDNA test.
Now… remember… Mary Leila’s mtDNA will be exactly the same as anyone in her direct maternal line, or near enough as to make no difference. Her haplogroup will be the same as her mother’s mother’s mother’s mother — Wilmoth. For Wilmoth to have been haplogroup A, B, C, D or X, Mary Leila’s mtDNA haplogroup would have to be haplogroup A, B, C, D or X.
And Mary Leila’s mtDNA haplogroup?
U5.
The oldest European-specific mtDNA haplogroup around.15
Wilmoth.
Not White Cloud.
Sigh…
No, no Native American here.
SOURCES
Image: OpenClipArt.org, johnny-automatic
- See 1860 U.S. census, Neshoba County, Mississippi, Hills Bluff Post Office, population schedule, p. 153 (penned), dwelling 985, family 1019, Jacob E Gentry in J W Gentry household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 September 2002); citing National Archive microfilm publication M653, roll 588. ↩
- Compiled military service record, Elijah Gentry, Pvt., Captain Samuel Dale’s Company, 1st Regiment Mississippi Territorial Volunteers; Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, War of 1812; Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1762-1984, Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C. ↩
- See e.g. 1850 U.S. census, Neshoba County, Mississippi, population schedule, p. 119 (stamped), dwelling 74, family 79, Elijah Gentry; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 July 2002); citing National Archive microfilm publication M432, roll 378. Also, 1860 U.S. census, Neshoba Co., Miss., Hills Bluff P.O., pop. sched., p. 153 (penned), dwell. 988, fam. 1022, Elijah Gentry. ↩
- See e.g. Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church … 1773-1828 (New York: T. Mason & G. Lane, 1840), I: 251, 261, 269, 283, 288-289, 287, 305; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 22 Aug 2015). ↩
- §9, “An Act, to divide Hinds County…,” 4 Feb 1828, in Laws of Mississippi (Jackson, Mississippi: State Printer, 1838), 166; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 22 Aug 2015). ↩
- ISOGG Wiki (http://www.isogg.org/wiki), “Mitochondrial DNA tests,” rev. 17 Aug 2015. ↩
- See generally Blaine Bettinger, “The Six Founding Native American Mothers,” The Genetic Genealogist, posted 17 Mar 2008 (http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/ : accessed 22 Aug 2015). ↩
- See generally Roberta Estes, “Native American Mitochondrial Haplogroups,” DNAeXplained, posted 18 Sep 2013 (http://dna-explained.com/ : accessed 22 Aug 2015). ↩
- Autosomal and YDNA tests confirm substantial indirect evidence of the relationship, and link descendants of Isabella to descendants of Elijah and Wilmoth through children Elijah K. Gentry, John Wesley Gentry, William Jefferson Gentry and Nancy (Gentry) Humphries — so far. At this point, Isabella’s Gentry heritage is beyond question. ↩
- See 1880 U.S. census, Delta County, Texas, Justice Precinct 3, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 20, p. 502-D (stamped), dwelling 117, family 118, Amos Hendricks (“son-in-law”) and Mary I Hendricks (“his wife”) in household of Gustavus and Isabella Robertson; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Aug 2015); citing National Archive microfilm publication T9, roll 1300. ↩
- Delta County, Texas, Marriage Book 1: 266; County Clerk’s Office, Cooper. ↩
- See 1900 U.S. census, Hall County, Texas, Justice Precinct 2, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 9, p. 28-B (stamped), dwelling 214, family 214, Mary M. Hendrix, daughter, in Amos Hendrix household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Aug 2015); citing National Archive microfilm publication T623, roll 1641. ↩
- Hall County, Texas, Marriage Book 2, Rudolph-Hendrix (1918); County Clerk’s Office, Memphis. ↩
- See 1930 U.S. census, Hall County, Texas, Justice Precinct 2, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 96-9, sheet 3-B, dwelling 58, family 60, Leila Rudolph, daughter, in Roland Rudolph household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Aug 2015); citing National Archive microfilm publication T626, roll 2338. ↩
- “mtDNA Haplogroups,” WorldFamilies.net (http://www.worldfamilies.net/ : accessed 22 Aug 2015). ↩
It’s always entertaining to see people get DNA tested just because they think they had some NA in them. Even funnier is when they strongly believe there are ways to “look for” some NA segment. I have no NA but I end up with a very tiny amount, consistently, but I know that to be noise.
What’s even more entertaining is watching people insist on Native ancestry when a generation ago they would have been insisting they couldn’t possibly have been (gasp) Indian. Things do change, don’t they?
Oh my yes!
My late MIL told the story of her paternal grandmother who was “adopted off the reservation” in New Jersey. Unfortunately, this “Indian grandmother” had no daughters who lived to adulthood – so no mtDNA.
My sons (2nd great grands of the alleged NA ancestor) have tested and neither one shows any NA. One of my sons shows a tiny but distinct segment of West African DNA on Chr 4. I have a feeling that back at the turn of the 20th century, it was preferable to be “Indian” than to be “Negro” (even if it’s only one drop).
Another thing that I see many times is the quest to find “Jewish DNA”. This is mostly a Bible Belt white Christian thing. I’m half Ashkenazi and half colonial American. Several paternal side matches have wondered if a match to me meant they had some Jewish ancestry. Er, no.
No question but that there is more social acceptance of the idea of NA ancestry than the idea of African American ancestry, even today. And anyone who is trying to find “Jewish DNA” hasn’t had to deal with figuring out endogamous relationships!! That Ashkenazi DNA really complicates life!!
I couldn’t quite help thinking that it would be nice if another descendant of Wilmoth along a different all female line, could also have her mt-DNA tested. I do not doubt that it, too, would be U5, but whenever possible, I feel much better basing any DNA conclusions on something I can confirm in multiple ways.
More evidence is always better… but solid evidence like this surely answers “but that’s the story I was told…”
Bryan, I will add that we have tested roughly 20 descendants of Wilmoth through six of her children, some as close as 2nd great grandchildren (who would share on average 6.25% of their autosomal DNA with this MRCA) plus a whole mess of 3rd great grandchildren (who would share on average 3.125% of their autosomal DNA with Wilmoth) — and there is not a single case where NA ancestry has been detected on any of the autosomal tests. Not one.
Is it correct on Geni?
http://www.geni.com/people/Elijah-Gentry/6000000006388569011
The identification of his mother as Hannah is “iffy” — she was named as the widow of his father, but that’s not definitive proof that she was the mother of all the children. And we do know that he died before 1868 (there’s a deed naming his heirs then). Other than that, it looks decent on Geni. Wilmoth is another story (she was still alive in 1868).
mtDNA from Family Tree helped clear up a mystery for me that is 9 generations back. And, DNA testing at 23 and Me showed I had a very minute amount of Sub-Saharan DNA (Nigerian). That also confirms a theory I have. DNA is interesting stuff and I am glad we are learning more through DNA. As to Native American, three cousins as well as myself had DNA testing and there is no Choctaw blood in us even though the family stories continue. Sigh.
I do not understand how the author knew that ‘White Cloud’ was ‘full-blooded’ Catawba. Based on the practice of ‘adopting’ or ‘borrowing’ additional females for breeding (to supplement the birthrate) a person could be a first, second, or third generation tribal member and still be genetically European for mtDNA. I am astounded that no one has suggested this! With a name like ‘White Cloud’ it suggests even more a mixed heritage.
Oh please… let’s start with the fact that we are dealing with pure lore here without a shred of documentary evidence. And that lore was that she was a full-blood Catawba. It’s hard enough to prove a negative without having to address all of the unspoken, unreported, undocumented possibilities of negatives.
With all due respect, the point is that the story could very well be true, and the DNA test does not discount that possibility. I personally know a number of women who are blond or brown-haired and whose parents are Native American (at least two to four generations back). That applies to both Eastern and Western Tribes or Nations.
With all due respect, family stories without documentation are myths. No, it is not possible for the direct matrilineal descendants of a full Catawba tribeswoman to be haplogroup U5.
I’m surprised your “White Cloud” wasn’t turned into an Indian Princess while they were at it. As to fictitious middle names, that’s another one. It is all over the internet and before there was an internet that William Kilby, Sr. of Wilkes County, NC was really William Humphrey Kilby. He never had any such name, ever, at any time, anywhere. When pressed to show any evidence, researchers will say it came from the late Alan Poe. No, it didn’t come from him either. One of his clients took his handwritten report and typed it up to suit herself and SHE is the one who invented the name. He told me so himself, adding “that IS just the sort of thing SHE would do!” Tracking this stuff down is not easy, and is usually a waste of time though.
This is great information, and I definitely have echoes of this in my own family lines (including the inexplicable additions of fictional “first” names). Thank you for sharing this.
What I always wonder is how to these stories get made up in the first place?
I suspect most of them are a bit like that old game we played in elementary school: where the teacher whispered “helicopter” into the ear of the first child, who repeated what he/she heard to the second child and so on, until it came out “grasshopper” at the other end.
I too had the oft repeated story that Mom was 1/32 NA therefore… My mtDNA proved that statement wrong but left open the possibility of a father who was NA… Until I have some documentation to that story it is not worth chasing now that I have disproved it once. Now the three brothers that came from the old country, one to MA, one to NJ and one to NC…
You mean one brother didn’t go west, never to be heard from again????
After the revolution, the use of family surnames for middle, given names became fairly ubiquitous in the south. It is not been without problems for researchers and unfortunately stumps sites sporting academic credentials. For example, the Encyclopedia of Alabama claims that Gov. John Murphy married, as his second wife, Sarah Darrington Carter. This much is true. The article then goes on to claim that Murphy and Carter were the parents of Duncan Murphy. Alas, it is not so. Sarah was a Darrington by birth and Carter by marriage. (A census gives her middle initial as J.) The mischief is introduced because the Carters named their daughter Sarah Darrington. As it happens, it was the daughter who married Duncan, the son of John and his first wife. Doveryai, no proveryai.
That’s enough to give you a headache!
“Elijah Gentry Jr” in FamilySearch Family Tree, with alternate Birth Name “Jacob Elijah Gentry.” https://familysearch.org/tree/#view=ancestor&person=LHJF-1ZH
Isn’t it nice that someone can go into Family Tree and delete “Jacob.” I’ll plan to check again in a day or so to see if anyone has cleaned it up.
His wife Wilmoth is also in the system twice (at least twice).
As an off-shoot of the first thread, I just discovered that someone who is listed as a 3rd or 4th cousin on Gedmatch, has a Gedcom with every single person in my tree of over 19,000. The tree is both the maternal and paternal sides of my family, and my parents are not related. Have been trying to figure out how he could be related to everyone that I am, and I cannot find a credible common ancestor, or a MRCA. I have never heard of him. I have spent over 30 years researching my tree and doing many do-overs because I didn’t believe what I was coming up with. I kinda feel like my hard work has been hijacked. I don’t mind sharing legitimate matches, but really…..?
I’ve got one a good one for you. The farthest we can get back in my Conard line in North Carolina is James Conard b. 1808. People all over the place have his father listed as “Emmett Starr Hair Conard.” Emmett Starr wrote a book about the Conard lineage. There was a Hair Conard who moved to OK during the forced removal in 1838. However, there is literally NOTHING that links James to Hair, other than they both lived in North Carolina at some point. And all over the place people have Emmett Starr Hair Conard who is a completely fictitious person made up by conflating the author and the ancestor. Pointing this out to people gets you absolutely no where. They will argue with you, even when you send them a link to the book that is freely available on google books.
That’s a “good” one, all right. Sigh. Some people never learn.
Well, I think my story tops ALL of yours! This person has hijacked my great grandmother and married her off to someone else!
http://stagge-parker.blogspot.com/2011/08/ephraim-hunt-1610-1686.html
Their story is utterly unbelievable. I can’t imagine any person researching their family tree making this up. But they did. If this got her into the Mayflower Society, I hope she’s very, very happy and that legitimate Mayflower descendants don’t care that history has been rewritten.
I find these inaccurate names being passed around on various family trees infuriating. Many, many people, not knowing that Jennie was a common nickname for Jane in the 19th century, list my 3rd great grandmother as “Virginia Jane Pickelsimer” Every piece of valid documentation on her lists either her given name, Jane, or her nickname “Jennie.” Same problem with people confusing the name “Polly” as a nickname for Pauline when it is actually a nickname for Mary.
It’s not that Jennie couldn’t have been what Virginia was called or that Polly couldn’t ever have been a Pauline … it’s just the assumption that it must be so… Sigh…
This is so interesting to me. This is my family you write of would love to learn more if and when you have the time. My grandmother isn’t Isabella. My grandfather is James Gentry.
Ashley, check your email!! Let’s talk — though I think you must be referring to a great great grandfather and not your grandfather, no?
I am a direct descendant of Wilmoth whitecloud which I am studying quite closely. I am not done with my research yet I am finding that there may be something to this. I am keeping an open mind.
Don’t be misled by the DNA links to descendants of James Gentry, who will show native ancestry. His father was almost undoubtedly Elijah’s brother James, and not Elijah (meaning the mother was not Wilmoth).