William John Willis 1789-1866

If I have referred you to this blog post,  it is because you have a tree showing that William John Willis 1789-1866 is the son of Joseph Willis 1754-1854.  I'm sorry,  but that's just not scientifically possible.  In this blog post,  I will explain why.

The quick answer is that William John Willis is of THE MARYLAND GROUP in the Willis Y-DNA Project.  Joseph Willis is of the AGGERTON WILLIS GROUP.   These two groups are not related.  That's clearly evident in noting that the Y-DNA markers for the members of these two groups are not even close.  So,  these groups don't share a common male ancestor in their lineage after arriving in the colonies.  Therefore, it is just not scientifically possible for William John Willis to be the son of Joseph Willis.  

As a result of court and and land records research,  and analyzing autosomal (atDNA) matches at Ancestry.com,  we do know the likely lineage of William John Willis though:

William William Jr abt 1744-1793
William Willis Sr abt 1717-1782 
Andrew Willis 1690-1738
John Willis 1667-1712 

These are all male ancestors of THE MARYLAND GROUP within the Willis Y-DNA Project at Family Tree DNA.   Our original ancestor, John Willis,  migrated from Wantage, England and landed in Dorchester County,  Maryland.  His grandson,  William Sr,  left Dorchester County at some point prior to 1764.  It was then that William Sr received his first land grant in what was Mecklenburg County, North Carolina at the time.  His farm became a part of Tryon County in 1769 and then Rutherford County in 1779.  William Sr died in 1782 and left a detailed WILL outlining much of the family structure.

William Sr's oldest son was William Jr,  who in turn,  had sons:  

Henry - Likely moved up into the Mountains of Cherokee County,  NC

James - With his sons Samuel and William,  moved to McMinn County,  Tennessee in the 1820s. Later generations went to Alabama and then Texas.

Jacob - Remained in Rutherford County,  NC until his death in 1828.  While some of his children stayed in the area,  many others migrated to Arkansas in the 1850s.

John - Married Ann Johnson,  sold his land in 1816 and moved first to Tennessee,  then Alabama,  and finally to San Saba, Texas.  While he was noted just as "John Willis" in most records,  in later life,  and on his tombstone,  he is indicated as William John Willis.

William - Remained in Rutherford County,  NC,  which eventually became Cleveland County,  NC around 1846.

I am an ancestor of Jacob Willis.  My Ancestry username is MySNPs.  Both my mother and father are descendants of Jacob (4th cousins through this Willis line).  So,  all 9 of my family kits on Ancestry.com are of this Willis lineage.  Any kits you find on your DNA match list indicated as (administered by MySNPs) are members of my family,  descendants of Jacob Willis.

We have a DNA Circle around Jacob Willis, which currently has 31 members.

My father has done a Y-DNA test at Family Tree DNA.  He is kit #423854 in THE MARYLAND GROUP.  All the members of our MARYLAND GROUP have trees that eventually end with John Willis 1660-1712 in Dorchester County,  Maryland.  In addition to my father,  there are two other kits in our group with lineage that traces through our late 1700s Rutherford Willis clan,  kit #655491 coming through James Willis,  and kit #148947 coming through Jacob Sr,  the youngest son of William Sr. 

So,  beyond the Y-DNA results,  why is it that I am so sure that William John Willis is of my Rutherford Willis clan (part of THE MARYLAND GROUP)?  A number of reasons:

1. There is a 2 Jul 1812 Rutherford County marriage record for John Willis marrying Ann Jonston (Johnston).
2.  I have examined all the court and land records up to 1820 for Tryon and Rutherford Counties.  There is no evidence of any member of the AGGERTON WILLIS GROUP in these records.   There were only Willis from my MARYLAND GROUP,  THE NORTH CAROLINA GROUP,  and THE SOUTHERN GROUP.   I identified every male Willis in Rutherford and know their lineage and which group they belong to.

So, if you have William John Willis 1789-1866 in your tree,  his father needs to be William Willis Jr 1744-1793.  Then,  back from there,  you eventually trace back to John Willis 1667-1712.

If you have access to Ancestry.com,  go here in my tree to find your William John Willis.  And,  message me through Ancestry if you need help.