Ancestry user shaunbc1983 (Shaun) has a tree that dead-ends on a Mark H. Willis 1855-aft 1920. Shaun has DNA segment matches with a number of members of my family, and other ancestry users who specifically match my family on our Willis branch. To test this match we fabricated a path from his Mark, back to our DNA Circle around Jacob Willis 1780-1828. We took Mark back thru Johnson Willis, son of Jacob. We can not yet account for Johnson's whereabouts after he was born in Rutherford County, NC in 1817, so thought this path might be a possibility.
Once Shaun undated his tree with the path from Mark, to Johnson, and then to Jacob, Shaun became a member of the Jacob Willis DNA Circle. Shaun shares DNA Segment matches with every member of this circle, which indicates that his Mark Willis is related to Jacob, somehow.
Jacob Willis DNA Circle as of Feb 2017:
So, the challenge now is to find the actual path from Mark back to Jacob.
Looking at the census data for Mark ...
1880 - Mark is living in Red Hill, Ouachita, Arkansas. He is 25 years old and married to Sophrona, with children: Laura and Martha, and a 45 year old female in the household, Lucinda P. Morgan (who was born 1835 in Mississippi).
1870 - Doing a search of all the Willis households in 1870 Red Hill, Ouachita, Arkansas, I found a household with a MH Willis, age 16 in 1870. This is likely our Mark in the 1880 census. This household is headed by a WH Willis, married to Martha (later find out her maiden name is Hale) and with 8 children. Mark is the second oldest.
1860 - William Willis and Martha Hale are living with her parents down in Dade, Ga. Mark is age 5, so this fits.
1851 - William Willis is married to Martha Hale in Jan 1851 in McMinn Co, Tenn.
Going back and looking at the possible households in McMinn Co to which William could belong, there were no Willis families in the 1820 Census. There are 3 possibilities in the 1830 census:
Samuel pg 139
2 males under 5
1 male 20-29
1 female under 5
1 female 5-9
1 female 20-29
William pg 138
1 male under 5
1 male 20-29
1 female under 5
1 female 20-29
James pg 150
1 male 5-9
1 male 10-14
1 male 50-59
2 females 10-14
1 female 20-29
1 female 50-59
This is just an educated guess on my part, but James is clearly older than William and Samuel, by at least 20 years. It is highly possible that these 3 Willis men are of the same family, with James being the father of both Samuel and William. However, this information does not help us understand to which of these households our William Harmon Willis is attached. If the William above is the son of James, then James would likely not have another male child in his household named William. So, most likely, William Harmon Willis (about 5 yrs old in 1830) is either in the household of William, or Samuel above.
In the 1840 household of Samuel, there are 4 males in the 1840 census. Through work with other DNA matches to this Willis group, we have already identified 3 of these males: Jessee, John and Griffin. We know there are at least two William Willis that may trace back to this McMinn Willis group: William Stephen Willis and William Harmon Willis. Which one is in the household of Samuel, and which one is in the household of the William, in the 1830 Census, is uncertain.
At this point, we are just going to make an educated guess. We are going to assume that William Harmon Willis is of the Samuel Willis household. William Stephen Willis is of the William Willis in the 1830 census household. We will monitor the DNA results of the descendants of these men, over time, and look for additional clarifying information, then make adjustments if we find better info in the future.
Therefore, the lineage of Mark Harmon Willis is:
William Harmon Willis
Samuel Willis (although, possibly another William Willis)
James Willis (brother to Jacob Willis)
William Willis Jr
William Willis Sr
Andrew Willis
John Willis 1660-1712 of Dorchester County, Maryland. (THE MARYLAND GROUP)
See also: THIS POST
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