The Winter 2002 edition of the Wingfield Family Society’s newsletter
contains a very interesting story. It seems that DNA has been used to confirm
descent from a certain ancestor even though traditional documentation has been
missing.
Thomas Wingfield (1664 -1720) lived in St. Peters Parish, New
Kent County, Virginia in the 1690s and early 1700s. The baptisms of several
of his children are recorded in the parish register of St. Peter’s Church. Those
records cover from 1684 through 1786 with one exception: the years 1691 through
1702 are missing. Unfortunately, those years are important to many Wingfield
descendants.
The parish records list the baptisms of three daughters: Ruth,
18 Oct. 1691; Mary, 25 Feb. 1699/1700 and Elizabeth, 12 July 1702. However,
records in later years indicated that three Wingfield men, Thomas, John and
Robert, all came from the same area of Virginia and were of the appropriate
ages to have been baptized in the years of the missing records, 1691 through
1702. Wingfield genealogists have always assumed that these three were sons
of Thomas Wingfield, but documentation has been lacking.
Genealogist Lee Preston conducted an intensive study of the records
in and around St. Peters Parish but found no mention of the three that could
link them to Thomas. However, no mention was found of any other possible father.
In fact, he found no other Wingfield families in the area.
In July 2000, the Wingfield Family Society learned of the BYU
DNA project. Five Wingfield descendants were carefully chosen to supply DNA
samples:
Middleton Barnett Wingfield of Tennessee, a documented descendent
of Thomas Wingfield II, suspected to be the son of Thomas of York River.
James Reuben Wingfield III of Illinois, a documented descendant
of John Wingfield
Dr. Billy Hillman Wingfield of Virginia, a documented descendant
of John Wingfield
Louis Henry Wingfield of Arizona, another documented descendant
of John Wingfield
Lancelot Hugh Wingfield, formerly of South Africa but now
living in New Jersey. Lance has documentation to prove that he is not descended
from Thomas of York River. He is, however, descended from Sir John Wingfield
of Tickencote (died 1631) in England, the grandfather of the study’s primary
subject: Thomas Wingfield of York River.
In addition, Sara Garrett, the Wingfield Family Society’s Computer
Genealogy Chairman, prepared lineage charts from the society’s database showing
the proven lineage of each person in the study. Researchers at Brigham Young
University then conducted DNA studies on each of the five samples.
In September 2001, the reports came back: each of the five volunteers’
DNA matched that of Lance Wingfield, thereby proving Thomas Wingfield of York
River as the father of Thomas, John and Robert.
The above is a brief synopsis of a much longer story in the Wingfield
Family Society’s newsletter. For details, see the newsletter which, unfortunately,
is not available online. You can purchase a single edition of the newsletter
for $3 from the Wingfield Family Society, 301 Belleview Blvd., Belleair, FL
33756. The Wingfield Family Society also maintains an excellent Web site at:
www.wingfield.org
My thanks to Bob Carr, President of the Wingfield Family Society,
for letting me know about this interesting story.
Dick Eastman Online
