Godwin DNA - 2 new participants!

Often in our research, we run across families matching our surname of interest that we do not connect to at first. I for one, like to know about all of that surname's families in a particular location of interest so that I can eliminate certain family members as belonging to my own family. Confirming that one does NOT belong to my family is just as important as comfirming one DOES belong to my family. Before long, you become a walking database of all that surname's families, in my case, it would be the Godwins of AR, NC, IN, IA, and IL. Eventually a pattern arises. For instance, most of the Godwins of NC, IN, IA, and IL trace their oldest ancestors back to NC. So do I! It would then seem logical that maybe these families are more closely related to mine than believed at first. This is when the DNA testing comes in. In the 4 or 5 years I've been researching the Godwin family, I have come across many other younger lines who believe they are some how connected to my older line from NC. What better way to determine if this is true than by DNA testing! The nice thing about DNA testing is that it can represent several generations of one family. My grandfather's DNA for example, represents the DNA of all of the descendants of Elijah Godwin. With one simple test!

The following are 2 updates to an earlier post about some elusive Godwin/Godden family lines that we are trying to connect to through DNA testing:

• Descendants of Jonathan and Sarah (Godwin) Godden of IN and IA
• Etheldred Godwin of Putnam Co., IN
• Wilkinson Godwin of Union Co., IL
• Wilson Ulysses Godwin of AR and IL
• Nathan Godwin (1760-1823) of Sampson Co., NC

Update (Feb 2009):
# 1
We have found a descendant of Jonathan Godden and Sarah Godwin to participate in the Godwin DNA project. Sarah Godwin was possibly the daughter of Enos Godden, who was possibly the son of Etheldred/Netheldred “Dred” Godwin of Putnam Co., Indiana. Sarah’s husband, Jonathan Godden was probably the son of Enoch Godden, who was possibly the brother of Dred and Nathan Godwin. Enoch, Nathan, and Dred Godwin have paper trails from Sampson and Randolph Counties, North Carolina to Putnam and Clay Counties, Indiana. This participant's DNA will only represent Jonathan Godden’s heritage (and not Sarah’s), but it will also represent the DNA and heritage of all male descendants of Jonathan and Sarah Godden of Boone Co., Iowa!!! We are very excited to have him join the project. He will be submitting a 37 marker test that will be compared to my own family’s DNA. If they are a 100% match, then there is a high probability that our two families – Enoch/Dred and Nathan Godwin are closely related.

Click here to see the results of this test!

# 2
We have also found a participant from the family of Wilson Ulysses Godwin. Wilson was born about 1806 in North Carolina. He lived with his family in IL and AR, in which both areas my ancestor, Elijah Godwin also lived. Wilson and Elijah were fairly close in age, so it is possible that they were brothers.
We are looking forward to seeing the results of these two DNA tests!!

Click here to see the results of this test!

Side note: We also had a descendant of Nathan Godwin of Sampson Co., NC lined up to submit his DNA. However, it was determined that his ancestor was born to a Godwin female out of wedlock and it has not been determined who his father was at this time. Therefore, his results can not help us determine if his ancestor is connected to our line. Read more about it here.