DNA Confirmation on William John Willis to San Saba, Texas and James Willis to McMinn, Tennessee

Well,  it finally happened.  On March 24,  2017 we received DNA Confirmation of two key migration patterns of the 1700s Rutherford County, NC Willis clan. We received a DNA Circle around our ancestor William Willis Jr 1740-1793.  This confirms that William John Willis 1789-1866 and James Willis abt 1780-aft 1830 (and sons Samuel and William) are of our late 1700s Willis clan in Rutherford County,  North Carolina.  Both William John Willis and James Willis are sons of William Willis Jr 1740-1793. The descendants coming together to form this DNA bond,  from three different Willis groups,  include:

1. William John Willis 1789 - 1866 migrating to Tennessee, Alabama and finally landing in San Saba, Texas - Oscar Elmore Faver Family Group and William Alexander Oliver Family Group.
2. James Willis abt 1780 - aft 1730 migrating to McMinn County, Tennessee - Jim Melton
3. Jacob Willis 1780 - 1828 staying put in North Carolina - Hartford Talmadge Willis Family Group and Nancy Catherine Eaker Family Group.

Although I have known for over a year that we were related to William John Willis,  I had trouble convincing his descendants to reflect this in their trees.  Only a few did.  Until they updated their trees and put their DNA in the testing pool,  we weren't going to get confirmation.  Fortunately, a few believed enough in my information to make the update,  which put their DNA on the line to confirm our ties.  Hat tip to delobar1 and jaduncan801 for following my lead in this effort.  And, hat tip to Doris and Jim Melton too. They were nice enough to share access to Jim's DNA results,  which is helping uncover much info about our Tennessee cousins.  Without help from all these fine folks,  we would never have known.  Thank you.

It was obvious to me though that we were related to William John Willis.  He had a daughter,  Elizabeth Betsey Willis 1824-1855, and grand-daughter, Cynthia Ann Faver 1843-1920.  Various members of my family (descendants of Jacob Willis) had sufficient DNA segment matches to descendants of Elizabeth and Cynthia Ann,  that we had both of them recommended to us as New Ancestor Discoveries.  This would not have been possible,  unless we were related to William John Willis.

The real break-through came about two or three weeks ago. After reviewing my DNA matches,  I got in touch with Doris Melton. Her husband,  Jim,  had a dead-end on a Sarah Willis, born 1820 in McMinn County,  Tennessee.  They graciously agreed to share access to Jim's DNA results with me. After reviewing Jim's results, it was obvious that he also was a descendant of our Rutherford Willis clan.  Jim had Elizabeth Betsey Willis suggested as a New Ancestor Discovery too.  We worked together to determine his path back to late 1700s  Rutherford County.  When Jim updated his tree, DNA segment matches,  coming from 3 different directions (William John, James, Jacob),  then gave us the DNA confirmation needed to form a DNA Circle around William Willis 1740-1793.

We are making great progress in flushing out all the various sub-branches of Willis who got their start when William Willis Sr 1712-1764 migrated from Dorchester County, Maryland and landed in western North Carolina in 1764. If you would like to share access to your DNA results with me,  I will do everything I can to use those results to help us find and confirm even more of our Willis cousins.  In turn,  I am happy to share results from any of my 10 family kits with you. Just ask.  Directions on how to share are at this link.

If you'd like a top level view of how this is all coming together,  and how our entire MARYLAND WILLIS GROUP appears from a DNA Confirmation standpoint,  then take some time to review our group's DNA Confirmation Chart.

Finally,  here's our newly formed Willis DNA Circle around our ancestor William Willis Jr 1740-1793 (click to enlarge):