General Overview of THE MARYLAND GROUP

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General Outline.   Everyone with Y-DNA test results placing them into THE MARYLAND GROUP at the  Willis Y-DNA Project,  at Family Tree DNA,  should be able to trace their Willis lineage back to John Willis 1667-1712.  John was our first Willis ancestor to arrive in the colonies,  migrating from Wantage, UK at some point in the 1680s,  and settling in Dorchester County,  Maryland.  The first two generations of our family stayed around Dorchester and Caroline Counties, Maryland.  In generations 3 and 4,  some family members began migrations to other states,  including:  North Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky.   From there,  they pushed deeper into the South:  Alabama, Texas, Arkansas.   And, also throughout the Midwest:  Illinois, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma.  Willis descendants of John 1667-1712 are now spread throughout the U.S.  

Our Branches.  The primary branches we have uncovered thus far:

CORE MARYLAND.   Y-DNA test kits of Gary (10590, brother 508395, brother 508627) and Sandra (90447).   There is a core group of Willis who started in Dorchester County, Maryland in generation 1,  then spread into the neighboring counties of Caroline and Talbot.   This is Gary’s research focus.  He is combing through land, court, church records to uncover the earliest details of our Willis group. There are a significant number of people on Ancestry.com, with our Willis lineage, who can take their trees back a couple generations in Maryland,  but things fall apart in the early to mid 1800s for them.  So,  they just don’t make the connection back to our earliest 1600s roots.  We are just now having some decent success with autosomal DNA matching efforts to help these users get their trees corrected and extended back to our John 1667-1712.  We are having some difficulty because of the numerous Willis ancestors unrelated to our group who also lived in the area,  and the lack of Dorchester Co WILLs in the 1776 to 1852 period.   Those records were destroyed in a fire.

ALABAMA.   Y-DNA test kits of Mark (B9291), John (56029), Vern (201363), and Brice (20484).  This group began when a 4th generation Jarvis 1758-1850 left Dorchester in the late 1700s.  He located first to Stokes County,  NC.  Then to Franklin, Tenn and finally to Lawrence,  Alabama.   Later generations migrated over to Texas and into New Mexico, Arizona,  and beyond.  Thanks to Carol’s work (wife of Brice - see below),  some of the branches here are well documented.  Many fall apart entirely when the Civil War scattered families in the deep south.   Its been very tough to pull this together.   And,  we still have a number of problems down in 1840-1870 Alabama, Mississippi with broken branches, no records to guide,  confusing DNA matching results.

NORTH CAROLINA.  Y-DNA test kits of Me (423854),  Jeff Davis (655491) and Ron (148947).  Our lineage started when 3rd generation William 1712-1782 migrated from Dorchester County, MD to Western North Carolina,  to an area that later became Rutherford County.  My lineage (Jacob 1782-1828) stayed put in NC.  Ron’s branched from there with a late 1700s migration (William 1775-1866) from Western NC,  into Kentucky,  then up to Illinois and finally throughout the Midwest.   Jeff’s branched from there with an early 1800s migration (James 1780-1830) to McMinn Co, Tenn, then down into Alabama, with later generations moving across to Texas.  In addition,  through autosomal DNA matching,  we confirmed another major migration away from NC in the mid 1800s,  to Arkansas, then Texas and Oklahoma.   While I have a good handle on my lineage,  its been a challenge to uncover much of the rest.  Records fall apart in Kentucky and Tennessee in the late 1700s, early 1800s,  making DNA matching our best bet in piecing this together.   

INDIANA.  Y-DNA test kits of Gregg (785030, brother 908578), Lyle (50374) and Jim (426414).  This group began when a 3rd or 4th generation, William 1750-1823,  left Caroline County and went to Guilford Co,  NC,  in the late 1700s.  They were Quakers and stayed in the Guilford area for a little more than a decade.  They left there and went west to Indiana before 1810.  Gregg and Lyle's branch (William 1780-bef 1840) of this group stayed in Warren County, Ohio, temporarily, before later moving up into Berrien Co, Michigan. At some point of this westward migration,  Jim's branch (Robert Lee 1799-1892) went down to Caddo, LA first,  then to Cass, TX.   Most of the others of this Willis migration eventually settled in Union Co,  Indiana.  Another spur of this group left Indiana in the late 1800s and wound up in Washington State.  Others of this group later settled in Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota.

IOWA.  3 Y-DNA test kits (MK47481, MK60331, MK60332).  We are in the very initial stages of trying to understand the earliest roots of this branch.  Their earliest identified ancestor is Andrew Willis “of Dorchester County, Planter,” who in 1753 bought a 28-acre tract in Dorchester called Friendship.  His descendants were Quaker,  spelled their surname with a double s,  Williss.  They migrated away from Maryland in the late 1700s,  early 1800s,  moving directly to the mid-west.  Most modern day descendants of this branch now live in Iowa and Nebraska.

MISSOURI.  We know there is at least one, 5th generation,  Willis male,  John 1808-1881,  who migrated into Lafayette Co, Missouri,  from Maryland.  And,  in the mid 1800s migration away from Western NC of the North Carolina branch,  some relocated to Missouri.   But,  I am not picking up many autosomal DNA matches from people with Willis in their trees in Missouri.  Although,  I keep an eye out for this branch to eventually come to light.

OHIO.  We are still investigating a 4th generation Andrew Willis 1764-1823.  There is an Andrew Willis who appears with Jarvis (above) in the land and census records of 1790s Stokes County,  NC.,  then disappears.  Then,  an Andrew shows up in early 1800s Washington County,  Maryland on land obtained from a grant for Revolutionary War Service.  Most of his children,  including one male,  Isaac,  eventually migrate into Guernsey Co,  Ohio.  We are keeping our eyes open for DNA results that might confirm this branch.

Research History.  Sandra Willis (relative of Kit 90447) was our group’s first serious researcher.  She often collaborated with Carol,  the wife of Brice Willis (Kit 20484).   There are many early 2000s documented interactions between Sandra and Carol on the message boards on Ancestry.com.  They uncovered some of the earliest info about the origins of our group.  Sandra has since passed away.  A website with significant info from her work is located HERE.  Carol is no longer active in family research.  Gary Willis (Kit 10590) became active in the early 2000s,  crossing paths with Sandra and comparing notes.  Gary currently remains our group's primary researcher and has published research papers, outlining all his findings on the first 2 generations of our group and their migration into surrounding counties.   About 3 years ago,  my father’s kit hit our group's results. I started coordinating with Gary so we don’t overlap our efforts.   Gary is working on generations 1-4 in Maryland.   My focus is on DNA analyses, via Ancestry autosomal test kits, to uncover the various branches in generations 3 forward,  as they migrate away from Maryland.   Using DNA match info,  I help people get their trees straight,  and document how our Maryland Willis family ties together, (click HERE).

Master Tree:  My tree out on Ancestry.com acts as a master tree for our group.   I do everything I can to keep it up to date, with all the branches of our Willis group, from John Willis 1667-1712, to about 1900, with the most accurate info possible.  I frequently align it to Gary's research,  and to what I discover in analyzing auDNA matches through Ancestry.com.   If you believe one of your Willis ancestors might be of our group,  then go to my tree,  click on "Find Person" in the top right-hand corner.  From there,  you should be able to find their path back to John Willis 1667-1712.  Message me via Ancestry if you need help.  

Access to autosomal DNA results:  If you have a tree with Willis ancestors that may be of our Maryland Group,  it would help tremendously if you’d give me access to your autosomal Ancestry.com DNA results.  I will search your match list on the surname Willis,  and send you a list of all the people I recognized as belonging to our group.   I have 8 family kits on Ancestry,  and access to the results of another 25+ with our Willis lineage,  including to those of Jeff, Vern, Mark, Gregg, Gary who have also Y-DNA tested.   I am constantly looking through their results to spot a combination of matches that appear to be originating from our Willis DNA.  When I find people who dead-end their Willis lineage for lack of info,  I contact them,  provide info,  get them to expand their trees.  In doing so,  this makes the DNA matching significantly more accurate,  and enables DNA Circles to form around our Willis ancestors,  verifying them from a DNA matching perspective.   If you're interested in helping, HERE are the steps.

Effectiveness of autosomal DNA matching:   DNA matching with autosomal test kit results is only good going back about 6 generations,  7 at most.  So,  that takes us back to the mid to late 1700s.   Using your Ancestry match list,  its possible we can uncover and DNA verify your Willis ancestors back to the mid to late 1700s.   From there,  you will need to leverage off the Y-DNA results of members of our Maryland Group to determine how it is that your Willis lineage tracks back to our John 1667-1712.

If you have any questions,  or I can help you in any manner in getting your Willis lineage straight,  please message me through Ancestry.  My user name there is MySNPs.   Or,  email me at the inbox I use for family research,  larger63712(insert @)mypacks.net.

Jeff

November 2018
updated May 2019