4 Matching participants

Our latest DNA participant, 276174 (names held for privacy reasons), has stirred up a great deal of excitement. His DNA and that of 40218 and 192656 match 67 markers exactly. But then the mystery begins.

40218 is documented to having ancestor Thomas Winder, born in 1814 in Ohio, parents unknown.

276174 is documented back to Henderson Winder (born ca 1813 in Coshocton, Ohio) and Charity Meeks. Henderson's father was apparently James Winders, born somewhere between 1776 and 1794 in Pennsylvania. His mother would then be Lucinda Taylor. The two were married in 1813 in Coshocton, Ohio.

192656, however, is documented back to James G. Winder, born 1794 in Pennsylvania. The descendants of James G. hung around in Kentucky and Indiana, far from Coshocton, Ohio. And yet the DNA results show that all three participants have the same Most Recent Common Ancestor.

There is a fourth participant, 174650, who matches 66 of 67 markers of the three we just detailed. He is documented back to Samuel Winders, born about 1780. Samuel lived all over the place, being born in Virginia, lived in Kentucky and Indiana and died finally at his sister's house in West Virginia... not far from Coshocton, for what it is worth.

Somehow, all four of these have to be related to the same MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor). Which brings us to a most interesting piece of information: the estate of one Marsham Winder, born about 1795 and died 1833 in Indiana. Marsham died intestate.  The court divided his estate equally to each of 8 individuals. Since the amounts were all equal, we assume that those 8 individuals were his siblings.

So now we have:

MRCA, born somewhere around 1750, who had sons

James Winder (born between 1776 and 1794), who married Lucinda Taylor

     son Henderson

           son ancestor of 276174

           perhaps son ancestor of 40218

            son Unknown

                        David Winder

Marsham Winder

Samuel Winder

John B. Winder

James G. Winder ancestor of 192656

It is quite possible that the James who fathered Henderson also fathered Marsham and his siblings by an earlier marriage. BUT. The Samuel Winder, son of Unknown, seems to be the son of Samuel Winder and wife Rebecca. Perhaps James and Unknown were brothers.  We don't know.

So we are searching for some documentation. The individuals mentioned in Marsham's will are described in the page labeled Marsham Estate. Any help in this matter would be appreciated!