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JACKSON LINE
Wiley Quitman Jackson b.~1812 SC – d.1881 SC
m. Elizabeth Hydrick (1811-1880)
Since 2017 I have reached out to many Jackson men regarding Y-DNA testing, and I am so, so grateful for the one cousin who was willing to test for me. Obviously, he descends from Wiley Quitman Jackson (b.~1812) in the direct male paternal line.
Luckily for WQJ descendants, there were two Jackson matches waiting for us. But, they were both at the 37 marker test level. One test could not be upgraded to a higher level, but the other one was upgraded to 67 markers. Now we had two Y-67 test results but each line represented a brick wall. At this point, the autosomal DNA (atDNA) deemed to be more useful, and we were pretty sure we were Jacksons. There was some uncertainty because our little subgroup of three Jackson Y-DNA testers did not match any of the other testers in the Jackson Surname Project, This was a little unsettling, and it didn’t seem impossible since there we had a few other Y-DNA matches with different surnames. In any case, eventually the project admins confirmed that our Jackson subgroup was not a match to the others, and an admin of another surname project confirmed it was well after his analysis.
I continued working with atDNA and the matches in order to find answers. I could not find a clear and certain Jackson path to our Wiley’s father. But, my family’s kits on Ancestry matched many people who descended from Nimrod Jackson (1795). You can find some excellent research notes for Nimrod on the Houston County, GA, portion of this site. I’m not suggesting that Nimrod is the father of Wiley, but I believe a close relative is. Nimrod also had a couple of uncles in the Orangeburg area at one time. It seems odd to me that there actually are records for these men. So, why not our Wiley? At one point, I thought maybe Wiley (1812) he was illegitimate or raised by another family. Or, maybe Wiley is just a nickname for William. But, there are other Wiley’s in the distant DNA matches that I believe I can connect to ours. So, maybe Wiley is actually a family name and not a nickname.
Adding to the frustration, there are LOTS of Jackson atDNA matches whose lines are English, Irish, and Scottish. That’s no surprise with such a prolific surname. But, it is not helpful when other Jackson Y-DNA testers with the same Earliest Known Ancestor have a different halpogroup. This was confusing, so I thought it was time to upgrade to BigY testing to see what the SNPs would indicate. While waiting for the results, a DNA match on Ancestry graciously agreed to test her father for me. That line turned out to be Irish, and he did not match our family line. That’s helpful. Then, our BigY results posted by mid-2019, and advanced analysis indicated that our line is English, having a strong connection to Yorkshire, England.
With this new information, I had more confidence in which research avenues to pursue for our Jackson family. Then, in December 2019, our first BigY-700 match showed up…..and he had a different surname! For such a high level match, this could be even more problematic. The surname is McDonald. Geez, I thought our Jackson surname was English. In brief, this year an admin with the Clan Donald Project analyzed our results for us, and he concluded that we definitely are not McDonalds, not having the signature markers for the clan. Furthermore, he added that the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) between our WQJ descendant and those in the clan Donald project would have lived about 3,000 years ago. Whew!
After all that, we can confirm with BigY-700 testing the statement made about Wiley Quitman Jackson‘s ancestry in volume 5 of Snowden’s History of South Carolina series. In this biography about Thomas Braxton Bryant (1861), Snowden writes that Angeline Jackson (Wiley Quitman Jackson’s daughter) “descended from a South Carolina family of Revolutionary stock and of English descent.” I assume this Revolutionary War ancestor is John Warren Jackson (1713) m Lydia Walker. John’s brother Henry also served in the war. We just need more DNA evidence and documents to prove from which line Wiley descends. I would think that the paper trail exists for this statement to be included in the biography. If you descend from Wiley Quitman Jackson (1812), please go check your attics for any relevant paperwork. 🙂
Regarding Y-DNA testing, this is where we are now. This is the current SNP Path for Wiley Quitman Jackson’s line. Basically, once we have more closely related BigY-700 matches, this result will be refined and brought down into the Modern era. This map was generated by Scaled Innovation. For a quick overview about this tool, see this page.
We definitely need more Y-DNA testers to help prove and disprove theories. Specifically, I would like to see more results for Jackson cousins in South Carolina. Within the past couple of years, more Jackson descendants have tested on Ancestry which is great. We even have atDNA matches that line up with the Y-DNA findings and the accepted genealogy for this line. But still, there is no DNA nor records, to my knowledge, to confirm who is Wiley’s father. I suggest that we further develop our Jackson subgroup to help in these efforts. A few strategically chosen tests for certain lines might be all we need. Additionally, these results may help with the confusion between the different Jackson lines in the Orangeburg, Lexington, Aiken, and Edgefield areas. These areas appear to have genetically different Jackson lines, and I’m of the opinion that Y-DNA testing will be a tremendous help in sorting them out.
Therefore, I am Actively Searching for Y-DNA testers who descend from John Jackson 1765 (m Jeffcoat), another descendant from Wiley Quitman Jackson (m Hydrick), Matthew Jackson 1783 (m White) and his brother (?) Daniel Jackson 1789 (m Melton), Henry Jackson (1803), Nimrod Jackson 1795 (m Busby), John Jackson 1713 (m Elizabeth Lloyd), Tandy “Little Deer” Jackson 1775 (m Smith), John Jackson 1779 (m Sarah Howard, and James Robert Jackson 1733 who lived in Orangeburg at one time. Please feel free to contact me with questions.
In the meantime, here is a basic graphic to show you the line with the most atDNA matches and the Y-DNA connections.
Downloadable version:
Wiley Quitman Jackson Basic DNA Findings Chart 090920
Thanks for taking the time to read through this. Let me know if you’d like to collaborate. Any help with research efforts would be greatly appreciated. I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have. And, don’t forget to ask your Jackson cousins if they would be willing to take a Y-DNA test! I’m willing to cover the cost for some of these tests.
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Julia Wannamaker
SC > NYC
JuliaWannamaker@gmail.com
http://www.WannamakerGenealogy.com
Ancestry Profile Page
Public Tree Link on Ancestry – Bryant, Jackson, and Ray brick walls
September 2020
Wannamaker Genealogy 