Research Status Update

The ancestry DNA results will take some time to sort out - LOTS of time.  I have to click on each of the hundreds of "cousins" who share my DNA and look at the list of common surnames.  A cousin may share my DNA, but have no surnames in common with my tree (how could that be?).  And not every surname is the one that links us.  We may have ten surnames in common, but which is the one that connects us? Sometimes the results will show a specific ancestor that we share (not just the surname) and it will show the relationship of that cousin to me on the family tree.  That is the gold nugget that I search for in the results.

There have been several "gold nuggets" concerning the Allens of St. Peter's Parish, New Kent County, Virginia. The common ancestors in this case are Robert Allen, Sr. (1704-1784) and his wife, Elizabeth Young Stokes.  The problem is, I am having trouble determining from which one of their many children we are descended. Working backwards from my great-grandfather Augustus Dozier Allen (1859-1904), there was his father, Robert Scott Allen (1797-1864), and HIS father, John Watson Allen (abt 1770).  I just need to determine the missing generations between the original Allen and John Watson Allen.

Robert Allen, Sr. (1704-1784) m. Elizabeth Young Stokes (1702-1762)
Children:  Lt. Robert Samuel Allen, Jr., William Carr Allen, Drury, Reynolds, David, Young, James, Josiah, Ann, Judith, Sarah, Agnes, Elizabeth, Susannah, Richard.

Our most probable path is William Carr Allen (1724-1789) > Turner Allen (1751-1800) > John Watson Allen > Robert Scott Allen > Augustus Dozier Allen.  

Augustus Allen married Eva Bosworth, so I also hoped to prove the link to the Bosworths.  Sure enough, there are several DNA matches that share specific Bosworth ancestors with my tree.  This proves that their only child "Ethelyn," and my grandmother Teresa are one and the same.  The Bosworth link also confirms our Mayflower descendance from the Howland/Tilley families.

This fulfills my primary purpose in having the DNA test done.

I will eventually write about the illustrious Allen family of Virginia, who associated with the likes of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and who owned vast tracts of land in what is now Gloucester and New Kent County.  Stay tuned!