Are McDonalds actually Jeffers?
Mary Hubbell - Mar 21, 2012
I WAS CONSIDERING DELETING THIS BUT BILLIE SUGGESTED WE KEEP IT SINCE OTHER INFORMATION WAS DISCUSSED.
HOWEVER - FURTHER DISCUSSION SHOWS NO DNA CONNECTION BETWEEN THE MCDONALDS AND THE JEFFERS. The McDonald yDNA has only been added to the Jeffers site for research.
SO REMEMBER - THIS ISN'T FACT - JUST KEPT FOR THE COLLATERAL DISCUSSION!!
-Mary Ann Hubbell
For those of you who descend through Nancy McDonald who married Anderson Lewellen...
Something popped up today that caught my eye. I thought I'd check some of my surnames to see what sort of DNA results had been turned in.
While checking Jeffers DNA results I was surprised to see the name James McDonald staring back at me. There were also two Jeffers in the small group but neither look like they lived in the general area of our Jeffers family, suggesting it isn't their lines that should be McDonalds.
We know that James' son, Alan had a thing for Jeffers girls. In addition to his wife, he had children with two others (sisters?) AND after Lacie died, married her niece whose mother was a Jeffers. This suggests these two families have lived near each other for a long time and migrated to TN together.
Maybe this is why we hit a brick wall about this time. We need to start looking for areas of NC and VA where McDonalds and Jeffers both live.
Exciting ! Well, other than our family tree has become more of a family stick.
Larry White - Mar 22, 2012
When I was in the Oneida library a few years back I came across an account of (sheriff) John Lewallen arresting Alan McDonald for "bastardy". I remember the librarian's quip, "I wonder if that was because he had one or was one?"
Sue Cooper - Mar 23, 2012
It means he fathered one. Most of the time, the Court Minutes will name the Mother of the child, but unfortunately, not always. It might be worth taking a look at again, if you didn't copy it while you were there. The County doesn't want to have to pay for the upkeep of a fatherless child and will often bring suit against the father to make him responsible. Looks as though he was interested in populating Scott County with a variety of women, so he may have been one as well! :)
Billie Harris - Mar 23, 2012
I'm sure everyone has this but here's some information we have on here for Allen/Alan McDonald:
John Lewallen married Delilah Reed. She was the daughter of Isaac and Phariba (Hatfield) Reed. They were the parents of, among others, Anderson S. (Cash-Up) Lewallen born June 1836 in Tn and died 1912 Texas. Cash-Up married 1857 Sarah (Sally) McDonald (1833-1869). Her parents were ALLEN MCDONALD and Lakie Jeffers and Allen's parents were James and Sarah McDonald. On Nov. 14, 1869, Anderson married Nancy McDonald, sister of Sarah. In 1902 he married Sallie Boyce.
So James (1758-1848) and Sarah McDonald had:
1. Allen McDonald who married Lakie Jeffers. They had:
A. Sarah (Sally) McDonald (1833-1869) She married ANDERSON (Cash-Up) LEWALLEN
2. Nancy McDonald (1818-1896) who married ZACHARIAH DAVID LEWALLEN (1822-1910). Zach was the son of JOEL and Rachel (Taylor) LEWALLEN and Joel was the son of Anderson and Lucy (Rice) Lewallen.
Mary Hubbell - Mar 24, 2012
Allen was quite the roamer and seemed to prefer Jeffers women. He not only had children with Lakie but the same month Lakie died he married her niece, Christeen/Christina Lawson (whose mother was Nancy Jeffers. While married to Lakie he fathered Daniel Jeffers with Pherbie Smith. Smith was Pherbie's married name - she was a Jeffers but unknown connection. He also had a son named Emerson/Emsley Jeffers, whose mother was Judee/Judy Jeffers - one of Lakie's sisters.
Here's the court info:
Another interesting tidbit is this 1851 court order:
State of Tennessee, Scott County, County Court May term 1851 and present Justices C. Duncan, Pleasant Chambers and Amos McDonald who were legally authorized to hold said Court and the following Trustee were had. It is ordered by the Court that Daniel Jeffers a mail child of Pheba Jeffers now Pheba Smith be bound unto Allen McDonald until the said Daniel Jeffers is twenty-one years of age and the said Allen McDonald is and do bind himself to give the said Daniel Jeffers one good sound fifty dollar horse and one mans saddell and bridle and two suits of clothes and one years schooling, the horse bridle and saddle and clothing to be paid when the said Daniel Jeffers arrives to the age of twenty-one years and the said schooling is to be given on or before that time.
Title: Scott County, Tennessee County Court Minutes 1850-1855 Mountain Press; Page: 39 Text: P-118
Some researchers believe this is a paternity decision. The timing is interesting – after Laky's death. If this is the court telling Allen that he's responsible for his son, perhaps it was Pherbie who waited until Laky was no longer around to know of the child. Also of interest is this result of the August 1851 court. It is unknown if this concerns Daniel or another child.
Page 44 Text: P-118:
State of Tennessee vs Allen McDonald. Bastardy. This day come the person and open court and after hearing the proof and papers in his course and the Court being satisfied that the defendant is not guilty as charged in the warrant it is therefore ordered by the court that the defendant be and he is hereby discharged.
The two DNA results that are close matches to his are:
Washington Jeffers b. circa 1780 VA. His son lived in KY.
RD Jeffers - no other info known.
The date for Washington suggests that James is older so he could be James' son - but they didn't live in the same state as far as we know.
More research is needed to figure out if the Jeffers should actually be McDonalds or vice versa. But it is interesting that DNA has matched these two names.
Allen was also the father of Daniel Jeffers by Pherbie Jeffers, and Emsley
Jeffers by Judy Jeffers. He was the son of James McDonald (1758-1848) and
Sarah Cox (1776-1873).
Billie Harris - Mar 26, 2012
WOW! Thanks for posting that.
Sue Cooper - Mar 26, 2012
"It is ordered by the Court that Daniel Jeffers a mail child of Pheba Jeffers now Pheba Smith be bound unto Allen McDonald until the said Daniel Jeffers is twenty-one years of age and the said Allen McDonald is and do bind himself to give the said Daniel Jeffers one good sound fifty dollar horse and one mans saddell and bridle and two suits of clothes and one years schooling, the horse bridle and saddle and clothing to be paid when the said Daniel Jeffers arrives to the age of twenty-one years and the said schooling is to be given on or before that time." Most likely this is an order for Daniel Jeffers to be bound to Allen McDonald so that he could receive some "schooling" because he did not have a father. It was common for fatherless male children to be bound out to learn a trade until the age of 18 sometimes 21. "State of Tennessee vs Allen McDonald. Bastardy. This day come the person and open court and after hearing the proof and papers in his course and the Court being satisfied that the defendant is not guilty as charged in the warrant it is therefore ordered by the court that the defendant be and he is hereby discharged." This one, of course, is self explanatory, being a bastardy case. However, the court found Allen was not the father of this child.
Billie Harris - Mar 27, 2012
Thanks, Sue. Nice to have a pro researcher on the site who's willing to share what she has. I really appreciate you, girl !
Do you have the dates of those court cases?
Billie Harris - Mar 22, 2012
Scott County, Tennessee, mentioning Jeffers, not that this helps with the question.:
1850 -"Ordered by the court that John JEFFERS be appointed overseer of a second class road from Samuel Lawsons to the James Town road and have isac Reed, JOHN LEWALLEN, Isac JEFFERS, ZACHARIAH LEWALLEN, Jacob Aron Philips, Nathan Bowlin, MATHEW LEWALLEN and he have said hand to keep same in repair."
April 1852, Ordered by the court that Berry Duncan be appointed overseer of a third class road in room and stead of Thomas "Griffis" from the "fork" of the river near Pleasant Chambers "to the oak tree near Aron Philips" and that he have "SHADRICH" SEXTON, "John JEFFERS," JOHN LEWALLEN, Jessie Hix, "ZACHARIAH" LEWALLEN to work on said road.
Mary Hubbell - Mar 28, 2012
If you check the same court entries I posted earlier on March 23 about the two cases, you'll notice that the dates are included on them. The first, dated May 1851 and the second, August 1851. In the book I wrote about the family, I stated that some researcher believe the March court includes a paternity decision but there was no way to know if the 2nd case had anything to do with the first.
I just did a quick online search about Daniel Jeffers. He was a self taught lawyer. In addition to Allen McDonald being recorded as his father, I found pedigrees listing David Jeffers/Pherba Yancey and James Chambers Jeffers/Oma Boshears as his parents. However, no 'in depth' info pops out about those parents - most of the time their info is blank. The only dates I managed to dig up make both sets of parents younger than Daniel. So I'm wondering if those are "One World Family Tree" computer generated connections?
No parents are listed on Daniel's death certificate.
So, was he Allen McDonald's son? Only DNA will verify the fact. It seems strange that nothing is mentioned until the boy is @ 14 years old unless you take into consideration that Allen's wife, Lacy died in 1849. Did Pheraba not want to hurt her by mentioning it?
The census tells us a little. The 1850 Smith family census shows Daniel as a Jeffers living in the Smith household. There is an 8 years old boy named Harmon Smith but no clue if Phareba is his mother (she is listed as being 25). An interesting note is that Allen was Scott County's census taker. Did this stir up old memories and bring the claim to light? The 1860 Smith family census lists more children not mentioned in the 1850 census and gives her age as 40. The 1880 Smith family census has her living with a daughter and g.dau. and gives her age as 64. So she's born sometime between 1820 and 1825 (that would make her between 12 and 17 when Daniel was born).
Daniel is listed as his son in the 1937 notebook Egbert McDonald used to record family history. I have no idea if Egbert was taking notes or writing memoirs. Is that notebook posted here? If not, and anyone is interested, I have a copy and the transcription I made for it that I can post.
Steve McDonald - Jul 27, 2012
For Mary Hubbell,
Daniel Jeffers was Allen McDonald's son. In "Scott County Tennessee and it's Families" page 92, "Daniel, still in his teens went to live with his sister, Mrs. Almira Carroll." She taught him to read and write. She was the daughter of Allen and Lakie Jeffers McDonald, born in 1838.
No male line descendent of Allens has taken a yDNA test yet that I know of. Only 2 of James and Sarah Cox McDonald's male line have tested, myself and Doug McDonald. There has been some DNA progress lately, several close matches in Scotland.
I think Egbert might have been copying another source, as he wrote "and etc" a few times as if leaving something out. I photocopied the notebook in 1981 in Tennessee. I think it is the only copy out there on the internet, and probably the source of yours.
I would like to find out more about your DNA research.
Thank you,
Steve McDonald
Mary Hubbell - Jul 29, 2012
I'd have to go digging through old emails Steve but I wonder if you sent me the copy of the notebook?
Now that I've looked at the 'numbers' involved in the yDNA research, there doesn't appear to be much of a relationship however I'd like to know why someone put the two names together in a group if the numbers didn't match. I'm going to go check that out, see what I find and get back with you.
Mary Hubbell - Jul 29, 2012
I finally had some time to look at the DNA page a bit closer. It isn't a yDNA comparison page it is a haplogroup comparison page. But that said, I'm still confused why the website would combine the McDonald results with Jeffers unless asked to do so. I see other non-Jeffers surnames in other groupings. Perhaps they grabbed the surname of he wife's family to compare?
[NOTE: broken link]
Mary Hubbell - Jul 29, 2012
Steve - found the email you sent in 2008 that included the notebook.
What did your yDNA say about your genetic make up? I just took a mtDNA test and will share the results when they finally come in. Maybe we'll find some more answers comparing those since it will include Nancy McDonald and Lakie Jeffers.
Steve McDonald - Jul 29, 2012
The website compared James McDonald's DNA with a Jeffers because I joined the Jeffers project at FTDNA in case a Jeffers descendent of Allen McDonald ever tested there. I also joined the Newport project in case a Newport descendent of Sterling McDonald were to test.
There is a possible link for my DNA to a cluster centered around Glenmoriston Scotland, which is pretty exciting.