This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: stephwm1 Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.winn/1661.2.1.1.1.1.1.2/mb.ashx Message Board Post: In response to Larry Guinn's inquiry about the name of the company doing DNA tests for descendants of Minor Winn & Margaret Conner of VA: The company most often used by those and other members of the Winn DNA Project is Family Tree DNA. In response to earlier discussion on this feed, it is my understanding that Minor Winn is the first known generation for that line. No established paper trail exists between Minor Winn and Richard Winn of Middlesex Co. VA (or any other progenitor), as Minor Winn first appeared in Caroline Co. VA c1732 and was last recorded in Fauquier County. Richard Winn of Middlesex County had two sons named Richard and John, christened in Christ's Church of Middlesex Co. VA in 1701 and 1705, respectively. No further records of positive identification have been found for the two sons. This brings me to comment on a topic that I've studied for some time. In 1932. "Ancestors and Descendants of John Quarles Winn and his wife Mary Lipscomb Jarvis" was published as a book of genealogy for a Winn family with roots in Hanover County, Virginia. A descendant chart for Richard Winn of Middlesex County was included, and it listed Richard's two sons as John Winn and Richard Winn of Hanover County. Richard and John, bearing those common given names, were an easy match for the names of Richard Winn's sons on the Middlesex christening records. Presumably, that was the basis upon which the authors charted the two as sons of Richard Winn of Middlesex. The Winn/Jarvis descendant chart is problematic for us today because the authors posed no additional proofs that Richard Winn and John Winn in Hanover County were the same persons as the infants by those names christened in Middlesex County. Richard Winn and John Winn showed up in Hanover County in 1733, nearly thirty years ! after the Middlesex christening records. No records from the intervening years between 1705 and 1733 have been found to document a family tie between Winn groups in Middlesex and Hanover, but burned records in those two counties and surrounding counties have decimated paper trails of Wynne/Wynn/Winn families in tidewater Virginia. By current genealogy standards, further proof would be needed to show that Richard Winn and John Winn in Hanover County were the same persons as the infants bearing those names christened in Middlesex County. Only then could the parent/child determination be made. The authors of Winn/Jarvis can hardly be faulted for their work --as all genealogists know, the next generation back from the brick wall is always conjecture. The sketchy history of Winns in early Hanover County, Virginia, reveals three families. John Winn and wife, Elizabeth; Richard Winn and wife, Phebe, widow of Pledger; and John Winn and wife, Mary Pledger. In 1733, set of Hanover County deeds were transacted between John Winn (& wife Elizabeth) and Richard Winn (& wife Phebe, widow of Pledger); and both deeds were witnessed by the as-yet-unmarried pair, John Winn and Mary Pledger. The set of deeds offers tangible evidence that John Winn and wife Elizabeth were a third Winn couple living in Hanover County. Were they the rightful parents of Richard Winn (m. Phebe, widow of Pledger) and John Winn (m. Mary Pledger), or is there another explanation for their relationship? Later records of Hanover & Amelia Counties provide evidence that Richard Winn & Phebe Pledger produced several children born c1730-1740, and John Winn & Mary Pledger produced a family of children born c1738-1755. Any information that would shed light on the abo! ve family relationships is welcome. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.