More DNA - Edward Campbell (1746) of North Carolina and Tennessee

A previous blog discussed the Y-DNA signature of a common male ancestor shared by all paternal descendants of Joel Campbell.  Joel was born in about 1735 and is the grandson of Robert Campbell who was banished from Scotland to New Jersey in 1685.

Another previous blog discussed a possible relationship with an Aaron Campbell of Alabama based on the Y-DNA signature of one of his descendants.

This blog discusses another possible relationship based on Y-DNA.

Background:
The Campbell Y-DNA Project contains data from a participant that differs from ours (Joel Campbell - 1735) in three out of the 37 markers tested.  Officially the difference is a "genetic distance of four," which is not that close of a match.  Their most distant known ancestor is "Edward Campbell (1746)."

The software at FamilyTreeDNA puts the probability of  Robert (Joel's grandfather) being a common ancestor at 31% and the probability of Archibald (Joel's great grandfather) being a common ancestor at 44%.

FamilyTreeDNA TiP comparison of "Jay" (8 generations from Joel) with descendant of Edward Campbell (1746)

As a comparison, Aaron Campbell, who was discussed in a previous post, has descendants with whom we have a 52% chance of sharing Robert as a common ancestor, and a 67% of sharing Archibald as a common ancestor.

That said, Edward's descendant shares the unique DYS447 marker with us and perhaps for that reason is grouped with us in the Campbell DNA Project spreadsheet.

Edward's Line

I attempted to contact the descendant of "Edward Campbell (1746)" three years ago.  My e-mail must have been lost into the ether.  When I resent the note a few days ago he responded immediately.

Edward (1746) is located in Cumberland, NC in the 1790 census.  You can see his public ancestry page here:  http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/10174202/person/37920623 From there he moves with his large family to Tennessee in about 1805.  

Edward's whereabouts prior to 1790 is not as clear.  Although ancestry.com  indicates his birthplace as Cumberland, there is conflicting information.  Some of his children state their father was born in NC, others in Scotland.

An Archibald Campbell who is living in Cumberland, NC in 1760, leaves a will in 1763 that names wife Mary, children Alexander, Edward, and Katherine.  This makes it likely that this line goes through Archibald.  

Archibald Campbell is believed to have come from Virginia.  A "Tax Poll" of 1750 in Augusta Co., VA lists the names "Archibald, Alexander, and Edward Campbell."  They match the family described in the 1763 will..

The probability that a Virginia line of 1750 is an offshoot of our Robert Campbell is very low.  We have no evidence that any of Robert's sons moved out of NJ prior to 1750. 

Edward Campbell of New Jersey

There is good justification that we are related to an Edward Campbell who was born in New Jersey and lived in Hanover, NY (now Montgomery) with all of our known Campbell ancestors (who were also born in NJ).  He is not a brother of Joel.  His likely relationship is "cousin to Joel."

Edward served in the local militia along side Joel and Joel's known brothers and sons.  It is believed that he is the Edward Campbell who resided in Wallkill, NY in the 1790 and 1800 census.  [Note that this Wallkill is not the same as the "Wallkill" where Joel lived in 1767.  See my blog on this topic:  http://joelcampbell1735.blogspot.com/2014/05/are-wallkill-hanover-and-montgomery.html]

In the 1810 census only his wife, Mary, is listed.  It is presumed that he died between 1800 and 1810 in Wallkill.  My public ancestry.com page for him is here:  http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/5558856/person/24214566397

Therefore, this Edward is not the same Edward that was living in North Carolina from 1790 to 1805.  

Nonetheless, there could still be a common ancestor between these two lines in the recent past based on the Y-DNA similarities.