mtDNA Ties to Naomi Jackson Oxendine ~1790

One of the biggest challenges we have had with this line is to prove we are actually connected to Naomi Oxendine -

Naomi Jackson Oxendine, born ~1790-1794 (wife of David)

The issue is that the birth records at this time were very spotty and because of the whole indian / black / white situation, people often hid their past. Even talking to older relatives, they were not exactly forthcoming about who was related to who and gave conflicting information.

Finally we had to resort to DNA testing as our last resort. We had two males at the end of female lines, meaning we went for mtDNA testing. Learn about mtDNA testing. For this test we in fact weren't even trying to go "all the way back" to Naomi. We just wanted to get as far back as Elizabeth Oxendine, her granddaughter -

Elizabeth Oxendine, born 1840, TN

So on our side, we had

Elizabeth Oxendine -> Nancy Jane Hunter -> Ora Belle Warren -> Jane Waller -> George Waller (my father)

To compare with, we had a descendant down the line of Elizabeth's sister, Ailsey Jane. This line went:

Ailsey Jane Oxendine -> Susan Tibbett -> Alberta Gallagher -> Presley Gallagher

Both girls had (hopefully, obviously), a common mother. We don't know who that mother IS, the mother is MIA in our records :) But we see her as a "woman in her 20s" in the census records.

So Presley was my father's "uncle" many times removed. Or something :) In any case, we sent the two DNA samples (cheek scrapings) off for DNA testing. This testing could both see how similar the two samples were to each other and also see what "halpogroup" or general master-migration-grouping they belonged to. We were expecting one of the four main groups of the native americans.

So we were in for a BIG surprise. First, yes the two men did match up exactly, 100%. I had paid for the "dual" test which tested two different regions, and both regions matched 100%. So this was a rather good sign that they both did come from a common mother, the wife of Hilson Oxendine. Of course we don't know WHO the wife of Hilson Oxendine was. She is a complete mystery. But whoever she was, both men had her as a common ancestor.

The SECOND surprise is that that woman, whoever she was, was *European*. Both men's mtDNA tests clearly showed that she was of European, not Indian, descent. The way mtDNA works is that it's only passed down from the mother. Sperm do NOT carry mtDNA. So this record is never altered or "changed" by the guy. It is solely about the mother - and her mother - and her mother. So even if Hilson Oxendine (the father of Elizabeth and Ailsey) was 100% Indian, the wife's "European ancestry" came shining through unaltered.

The actual results were:
HVR1 Haplogroup: T
HVR1 Mutations: 16126C, 16294T, 16296T, 16519C

The T means we are from the "European / Irish" group of Europeans, called the Tara Group. The first two mutations from the "base reference" for all humans is what puts us into the T group. The other two are sort of miscellaneous mutations :)

If we can find other matches to our HVR-2 mutations, maybe we can trace this woman back a bit and figure out who she is!

High Level DNA Matches
Here are the details of others who have shown up with high level DNA matches to George and Presley.

Erik Bjarling - no females in TN in time frame
Robert Hill - 1830s in North Carolina
Christine Johns - 1790s in South Carolina

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