No Convergence

I've been going back over my Ancestry DNA matches lately.  I just can't help but think that there should be a clue there somewhere.

Below are some of my closest matches, and a bit about their ancestry, and where their trails go cold.

* R Bedford (MRCA 1: All Markers Match)  This one is an odd one.  I've been contacted by the owner of this test before.  There are no Pittmans in their tree.  So either an adoption or some funny business is going on.

* Everett Pittman (MRCA 1: All Markers Match)  Everett (1807 - 1879) is hypothesized to have been Jacob's brother.  But that's just a hypothesis (by the world's foremost experts on both Everett and Jacob)  Little is known about him other than he was probably born in NC and settled in LA.  He seems to have lived very near to my ancestors for most all of his life.

* L Pittman (MRCA 1: All Markers Match)  These guys end with Joseph Berry Pittman (1849 - 1934) who was born in TN.  he was born well after Jacob and even some of his children.  This simply isn't far enough back.  A cursory search shows that JB's father may have been Joel Pittman (1804 - ?) also born in TN.  They were living in Alabama in 1860 if so.  This is a lead to follow up.

* R Pittman (MRCA 7: 1 Differing Marker)  This tree ends with James M Pittman (1847 - ~1910) who was born in AL.  He also lived in Sumner MS which is a long way from Marion Co.  In the 1900 Census, his father's birthplace is listed as South Carolina

* J Pittman (MRCA 8: 1 Differing Marker)  This tree is quite a mess.  It starts with a group of Pittmans (Pittmen?) that settled in Kentucky, and goes through North Carolina all of the way to Thomas Pittman of Virginia.  I'm not sure that I trust the tree, but it does have the most leads (as well as red herrings) in it.

* J A Pittman (MRCA 15: 3 Differing markers)  At 15 generations back, it is now officially silly to be comparing these trees.  This group starts in Arkansas and goes back through Georga to Virginia.

More About DNA

I was recently put in touch with Dan from the Pittman Family DNA site, and he was a tremendous help in understanding some of the things that can be interpolated from my DNA results.

Below are selections from the things that he said in the course of several emails.

In comparing your results (Ancestry) with those in the Pittman DNA Project (through Family Tree DNA),
we can only compare on 34 markers out of the 46.  You match exactly on 32 markers with 18 different men who have submitted saliva samples.  Three of these men have good records (and the family was in the right place at the right time / family  traditions are strong) that lead conclusively back to (Capt.) Thomas Pitman (bc 1614) of Surrey / Isle of Wight Co. VA.

One marker - DYS442 - had a value of 5 lower thatn what is posted in our Project.  Another marker - Y-GATA-H4 - you is a value of one lower.  The other markers are apples and oranges.  (I have some experience checking with FTDNA when someone wants to compare Ancestry or Relative Genetics results with a group of people in my Project.

All in all - with an exact match of 32 markers - plus knowing that direct blood line descendants of (Capt.) Thomas did move to Robeson Co., it is a safe bet that both of you [sic. a cousin and myself] are descended from Thomas.  I am also related, but like you, have not discovered the missing link or 2 that would time me directly into his line.

Also:

Both Ancestry and FTDNA test many similar markers but they also test markers
that are unique to their own program.  Also, FTDNA has a person's saliva sample tested by the
Univ. of Arizona and Ancestry, I'm sure, uses some other group.  I have found in some instances,
even when testing the same marker, such as DYS442, they interpret the results differently.

And finally:

There are people in the Project who are connected to Thomas' line by a genetic distance of '1' and '2'.  I can go back far enough in there lines to know they probably are related but somewhere in England and perhaps descend from an uncle or great uncle of Thomas.  But that is really stretching my limits of understanding this DNA stuff.

As an example we have a family with a strong tradition that they came from Lancashire, England and migrated to the American colonies in 1765-1766.  Yet they are a perfect match with Thomas' descendants.

The tradition / common story  in my line is that I probably descend from Samuel Pitman Sr. who shows up in 1766 Granville Co. NC and the 1790 SC Federal Census.  My proven ancestors were living in the same
area of SC in 1805 (Tygerville Baptist Church Minutes).  But the common thought is that Samuel was born in England about 1740.

Thomas came over about 1650 as a bonded person to Robert Hutcinson.  Approximately that same time, a
Joseph Pitman came over and settled in Accomac Co. VA.  I have proven descendants of both in the Project.  Descendants of both migrated to NC about the same time.  But there is no indication that they knew each other.  Yet, at the Y-37 level, all markers match exactly.  That's enough to know that they relate by blood very, very closely.  Brothers? Cousins?  We don't know.
One of the things that makes it hard is that in England - before about 1837 - you almost have to know the parish / church that the family attended in order to get earlier information.  that's the problem I'm having researching UK records.

So thanks so much for the edification Dan.  Surely, one day we'll find what we are looking for.