I've been puzzling for years over all the early Worcester County Bradfords, including my own ancestor Samuel, as well as Purnell, Avery, and others. Purnell poses the most problems. There simply aren't many records at all that mention him. About the only clue is his name, which indicates there was probably a marriage to a Purnell in one of the previous generations. Yet, in the case of almost all the early male Bradfords of Worcester, the identity of their wives is completely unknown - so his name turns out to be small help. From what I understand, Purnell's oldest male child was named Jacob. No Jacobs at all in Worcester, though there was one in Accomack. This is the real problem with Purnell - almost all we have to go are names. And apart from these names, there just aren't many clues. A prevailing theory among many on this board with Worcester roots is that all the Bradfords of worcester descend from Nathaniel of Accomack. Nathaniel's son John moved to Worcester in the 1720s, and he had three sons - Nathaniel, William, and John. (An Adam Bradford, also of unknown parentage, shows up briefly in tax records from the 1730s and 1740s, but disappears without a trace.) These are the only known Bradfords in Worcester before 1760. Of the three sons of John, only Nathaniel left a will, and none of Nathaniel's sons left wills - at least not in Worcester. As descendants of Worcester Bradfords we're plagued by a lack of probate records. Some, if not all, of the Bradfords who show up later in Worcester are undoubtedly descended from the original John Bradford who came over from Accomack. But which ones? I am hoping to test my theory of descent from Nathaniel of Accomack by getting descendants of all the Worcester Bradfords DNA tested and comparing them with the DNA of a descendant of Nathaniel of Accomack. So far, I've had myself tested, and also descendants of both Purnell and Avery tested. None of us match. The thing is, to really confirm that our DNA represents our ancestor's DNA, we each need a matching descendant from a different son of our ancestor. This is the only way to rule out such things as hidden adoptions, infidelity, and the like. That hasn't happened yet. Another big lack in this area is that we have yet to find a living direct male descendant of Nathaniel of Accomack for DNA testing. If any are around, one thing's for sure - they are not active in internet genealogy. On 9 Mar 2006 17:11:40 -0700, m_m_grandma@yahoo.com <m_m_grandma@yahoo.com> wrote: > This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. > > Surnames: Bradford/Robinson/Reese/Williams/ Schaeffer/Rothwell > Classification: Query > > Message Board URL: > > http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/3YF.2ACIB/1973 > > Message Board Post: > > What is the mystery about this guy?? I'm related, as probably alot of you are, but nobody can find out who his folks were??? This guy is driving me bonkers trying to find out anything. Is purnell his middle name and if so, what the heck is his first name??? Marr. to Edith(Eda) Robinson(robertson) Wonder if our ancestors will have this much trouble sorting out our lives??? Anyway, help me if you can with ANYTHING!! Thanks > > > ==== BRADFORD Mailing List ==== > Looking for a genealogy chat? Come check out Genealogy Chats, Inc. at http://www.genealogyforum.org > >