Our Colonial Ancestors from England

I am often asked, "How can you have so many ancestors?" The short answer is that the number of direct answers doubles with every generation. By the 10th generation, we have 1024 direct ancestors. We each have 2 grandparents, 4 great-grandparents, 8 gg-grandparents, etc. On our paternal Jones side of the family, we have deep roots going back to the early 1600s in this country.

Since so much of my ancestral DNA is attributed to England, I decided to go through our family tree and identify our earliest ancestors who immigrated to the U.S. from England. Although this is not a comprehensive list, you can see we have quite a few. The numbered locations in the map below correspond with the list of our ancestors, their relationship to me, and their approximate date of arrival. With this information, you should be able to determine how they are related to you.

Number	Location	Ancestor	Relationship to Me	Approximate Date in U.S.
1	Leicestershire	William Lynn Almy	8 X Great-Grandfather	1628-31
1	Leicestershire	Audrey Barlowe Almy	8 X Great-Grandmother	1635
1	Leicestershire	Elizabeth Dillingham	8 X Great-Grandmother	Bef. 1645
2	Derbyshire	Emmanuel Woolley	7 X Great-Grandfather	Abt. 1652
3	England	Mary Sarah Brown	9 X Great-Grandmother	Bef. 1639
4	Sheffield, Yorkshire	John Worthley	9 X Great-Grandfather	1638
4	Sheffield, Yorkshire	Nicholas Wainwright	9 X Great-Grandfather	Bef. 1647
4	Sheffield, Yorkshire	Elyzabeth Chapman	9 X Great-Grandmother	Bef. 1647
4	Sheffield, Yorkshire	Elizabeth Offerton	8 X Great-Grandmother	Bef. 1647
4	Sheffield, Yorkshire	Thomas Wainwright	8 X Great-Grandfather	Bef. 1647
5	Gloucestershire	William Twining	8 X Great-Grandfather	Bef. 1649
6	East Grimstead, Wiltshire	Robert Tucker	7 X Great-Grandfather	Bef. 1651
6	Wiltshire	Thomas Mayhew, Sr.	9 X Great- Grandfather	Bef. 1648
6	Wiltshire	Rev. Thomas Mayhew	8 X Great- Grandfather	Bef. 1648
7	Southwark, Surrey	Stephen Deane	9 X Great-Grandfather	1621
8	Deal, Kent, England	Thomas White	8 X Great-Grandfather	Bef. 1658
8	Sandwich, Kent, England	John Wing	8 X Great-Grandfather	Bef. 1645
9	Woodbridge, Suffolk	Elizabeth Ring (wife of Stephen Deane)	9 X Great-Grandmother	Abt. 1628
10	London, Middlesex	Jane Paine	8 X Great-Grandmother	Bef. 1648
11	Buckinghamshire	Matthew West	8 X Great-Grandfather	1636
12	Wherwell, Hampshire	Deborah Batchiler	9 X Great-Grandmother	1632

I counted twenty-one 7th through 9th Great-Grandparents who emigrated from England in the 17th Century. The first arrived in 1621 and the last in 1658. These are all DIRECT ANCESTORS! Recall that the Mayflower and its 102 passengers came to America in 1620 -- and half of them died that first winter.

So Joneses, Scardinas, and Brevings, we have deep roots in this country. There should be no surprise that a large percentage of our DNA comes to us by way of England. And now for the stories. The next several posts will discuss some of the amazing things I discovered about many of our ancestors in the New World. I hope you come along for the ride.

Who Are We?

Several years ago, I sent a sample of my DNA to 23andme and had some surprises in my ethnicity estimates. (For the uninitiated, one must remember that these are ESTIMATES in an ever-evolving science). I was not surprised that I was classified as 99.7% European, (just look at me), but I was surprised that such a large percentage was designated as "British and Irish."

Over the past couple of years, I have spent a lot of time researching our paternal colonial ancestors. I had no idea that so many of my ancestors arrived here from England in the 1600s! Some of our English surnames include: Almy, Bickerdyke, Chambers, Darby, Havens, Wainwright and West. Many settled in Monmouth County, New Jersey where they intermarried. This concentrated that English DNA. Many started out as Quakers but soon included Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians.

Vincent Wainwright, our 4th great-grandfather, fought in the Revolutionary War. A cousin of Vincent was killed in a battle at Toms River, New Jersey. So our very diverse Jones family of Germans, Irish, Welsh and Scots has roots that extend back to the 1600s in America. It is these colonial ancestors that I hope to share over the next few months.