Seeking descendants of Bender families from Philadelphia (and South NJ) who have DNA tested.
I am working on a long term project utilizing DNA matching and triangulation to determine the following:
1. Bust the family brick wall - figuring out the origins and ancestry of Sarah E. Tuttle, wife of Philip H. Bender, Sr.
2. Prove that Charles Bender was the son of Gottfried (Godfrey) Bender.
3. Determine if/how the Jacob Painter/Bender family connects to other early (18th century) Painter/Bender families from Philadelphia.
If you are a Bender descendant who has DNA tested, would you please help expand this project by uploading your DNA data (and any others in your family who have tested) to both GEDmatch and MyHeritage? Both are free.
If you haven't yet DNA tested, would you please consider testing yourself and/or asking the oldest living descendant in your family to do so?
My own earliest known Bender ancestor is Johann Jacob Bender who was born circa 1724 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His four sons all served in the Revolutionary War.
Youngest son, Gottfried (Godfrey) Bender was married twice. His two eldest surviving sons, Charles and Henry were born to Godfrey's first wife. Much circumstantial paper trail evidence connects these two brothers to their numerous half siblings, however definitive evidence (baptismal or confirmation records) does not exist. A few descendants of these half-siblings are among my aunt's AncestryDNA matches. However, without a proper chromosome browser and/or triangulation tool, I cannot confirm the relationship.
Nothing is known about the origins or family of Sarah E. Tuttle, wife of Philip H. Bender, Sr. It is as if she materialized in the mid-1800s like an Aphrodite emerging from the sea on a clam shell. She is the family brick wall.
