Confirmed DNA Connections – Dyers and Youngbloods

My 6^th great-grandfather on my father’s father’s side was John Dyer. He was married to Mary Youngblood and their daughter Sally Elvira Dyer was married to my 5^th great-grandfather, Charles C Burton. I knew about John Dyer previously because my grandfather Darrel had included him in his Family Tree File that I inherited back in 2005. 

Although I was aware of these ancestors and knew they were listed in my grandfather’s family history file, I did not put much stock in them as I had yet to “prove” them…or at a minimum, find some evidence to their existence, and more importantly, to their relationship status.

I usually only refer to my grandfather’s family history file as a guide. Is it sourced? Mostly, no. But it’s still useful to me as a guide.  I have it saved as a separate file that can be easily accessed. I have only included those ancestors that I have found evidence for in my own personal working genealogy file.

I had seen DYER pop up in several surname lists of my grandfather’s DNA matches, so it’s been on my radar lately. Before I managed to follow up on my grandfather’s Dyer matches, I received an email from one of his DNA matches who suggested that our connection was the Youngblood family.

My John Dyer had married Mary Youngblood. I had no other information about this couple, other than they were the parents of my 5^th great-grandmother, Sally Elvira Dyer who married Charles C Burton.

This match is a descendant of Jeremiah Youngblood and Susannah Birgit. According to her, Jeremiah was born on July 22^nd, 1765 in Johnston County, North Carolina. Evidently, he served in the War of 1812 and while he was on furlough, he left his camp in Mississippi to return to his home in Tennessee and while he was travelling, he died suddenly. He died on the 6^th of December, 1814 somewhere in Alabama. He was buried where he died in Alabama, but the whereabouts of his burial place are unknown at this time. He had no will.

                Although Jeremiah did not leave a will, it is believed he and Susannah were the parents of nine known children: James, William, Ambrose, Jeremiah, Susannah, George Bradley, John Fanning, Theodrick Birgit, and another daughter, believed to have been called “Polly.” [1]

                I did not find any more evidence that my Mary Polly Youngblood was the daughter of Jeremiah Youngblood and Susannah Birgit. However, my grandfather being a DNA match to a Youngblood descendant was evidence to me that this relationship was probable. Not only was he a match to this descendant, but he was also a match to her mother.

On top of being a DNA match to this woman and her mother, my grandfather was also a match to this person’s cousin (and several of her family members) who also descends from Jeremiah Youngblood, Jr. Both of these Youngblood descendants descend from Jeremiah Youngblood Jr’s son John Hampton Youngblood – one descends from he and his first wife and one descends from he and his second wife.

After I finished adding my grandfather’s new cousins to our family tree, I got an email from another one of my grandfather’s matches who has been trying to find a connection with us for 2 or 3 years. I had decided that the connection was via our West line, though I had not yet determined how.

Out of the blue she asked me if I descended from Mary Polly Youngblood and John Dyer. Of course I got all excited because we had finally found the connection! Now here’s where some DNA sleuthing comes into play. I asked her if she matched any of the Youngblood descendants that my grandfather matched to and she said “no.” Because this new match does not match any of the other Youngblood descendants, we can conclude that our connection is on the DYER side of the family and not the Youngblood side.

With the previous matches, our common ancestors were Jeremiah Youngblood and Susannah Birgit. The shared DNA came from either the Youngblood or Birgit line. This could be confirmed by comparing our DNA to some Birgit descendants or by comparing our DNA to other Youngblood descendants who descend from a different Youngblood line (further back than Jeremiah).

In the meantime, we now have a confirmed match with our common ancestor, John Dyer, in addition to our previously confirmed match with Jeremiah Youngblood and Susannah Birgit. I can now go back and look at the segments that these descendants match my grandfather on to see if there are any other matches on these segments who might also be descended from these ancestors. So far, this is a great success story!

Here is my descendancy from John Dyer and Mary Youngblood:

Sally Elvira Dyer (1823-xxxx) & Charles C Burton (1813-1864)

Mahala Angeline Burton (1844-1882) & Ezekiel Maynard (1843-1907)

Saphronia Maynard (1867-1917) & John A Fox (1861-1922)

Fred Fox (1884-1974) & Anna Melvina West (1882-1978)

Reba Fox (1920-2003) & Claude Rual Smith (1919-1996)

My Grandfather

My Father

Me

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Sources: 

[1] Quaife, Dorothy Morris. Jeremiah Youngblood: A Genealogy. 1991. (American Press : Fountain Valley, CA). Book. p. 20.