Francis French of Derby not related to William French of Billerica

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I'm pretty sure there are other descendants of  Francis French of Derby on Wikitree and think you should know about this  before I make these changes

On 1 Apr 2023 Anne B wrote on French-1835:

As I read the recent article in the NEHGR titled "The English Origins and Family of Brothers William1 French and John1 French of Cambridge, Massachusetts" it was brought to my attention that DNA testing has now resolved that this Francis of Derby is not related to William French (abt.1606-1681). Francis of Derby is part of Haplogroup R-M269 and William d. 1681 is Haplogroup G-M201. The author of the article believes the Francis who came in the Defense with William must have died early. This makes Francis' attached parents incorrect. It also means that Francis was probably not PGM since except the entry on the Defense Francis is not found in records until 1650ish.

Given the DNA information, Parents should be disconnected. Objections? Thoughts? Comments?

In addition, I will rewrite some parts of the bio to reflect the current thought on his parental situation (unknown), and immigration (unknown). I'm thinking I'll create a section in Research notes, covering previous thought on these subjects. Thoughts?

When done, he can be removed from PGM and added to Connecticut.

WikiTree profile: Francis French
in Genealogy Help by Anne B G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)

(for those with AmericanAncestors subscription, the new article, by Kory L. Meyerink, is in the Winter 2023 NEHGR at https://www.americanancestors.org/sites/default/files/2023-03/nehgr-register-177-1-winter-2023-entire.pdf ).

First -- I think your plans regarding Francis sound reasonable, and thanks for bringing this new research into Wikitree.

Second -- I have a few comments, one about the NEHGR article and second about my own French ancestor, who is a bit of a stray --

a) Is a genetic distance of 5 at 67 markers really close enough to conclude that the testers common ancestor could be Jacob French, b abt. 1555? Could we say that such a distance would lead to an expectation of a common ancestor from around that period, or that we can't rule out such a period for the common ancestor? I guess the question is really, "I thought a genetic distance of 5 at 67 markers suggested a common ancestor who would likely be earlier than b abt 1555... primarily because of how one of the Y surname projects I follow on FTDNA seems to be handled...

b) I'm descended from Samuel French and Sarah Cummings. Beyer inserts Samuel (her own ancestor, as well) as a second son so-named after William's first son Samuel died, but does so with no evidence other than that he is supposed to have come from Billerica ( https://archive.org/details/genealogicalhist00byubeye/page/62/mode/2up?view=theater ). This relationship is the state of affairs on WIkitree right now.

PGM does not offer that conclusion, but on page 2:593 has a note propounding two theories -- (a) that Richard French of Cambridge who had land at Billerica was "probably related... in some way" to William and John French; and (b) that his son Samuel was the same as Samuel who married Sarah Cummings in Chelmsford ( https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/great-migration-immigrants-to-new-england-1634-1635-volume-ii-c-f/image?volumeId=7373&pageName=593&rId=22175530 ).

Meyerink's article has a footnote which states "Y-DNA tests from some of his alleged descendants do not match those of Jacob and William French’s descendants."

Is there any other good research on the matters of Richard and Samuel French? It appears to me that Mara French has more records on them than anyone else does ( http://www.frenchfamilyassoc.com/FFA/DNA/xrefChartTestShort.htm and http://www.frenchfamilyassoc.com/FFA/CHARTS/Chart006/ ).

If the above represents all we know about Richard and Samuel, is it time to (a) create a profile for Richard and Martha of Cambridge (I don't see one here on WT) and (b) detach Samuel from his current parents and make him a child theirs?

Profiles for Richard https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/French-6658 and Martha.

Samuel married to Sarah Cummings https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/French-1833. If Anderson says he is son of Richard, French family agrees and this new article doesn't list this child as son William[1], then yes he needs to be moved.  You need to communicate with the managers of the appropriate profiles.

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