I'm thinking of doing this. I can get the results for around $130.00. One of my Distant relatives did this, descended from the same line as I am, and here is a message they put up.
blueraine2
08-24-2009, 11:47 AM
I am descended through the Aaron Freeman and Mary Bentley family lines through 2 of their sons, Aaron Posey Freeman & Rev. Moses Freeman. My lines go like this:
Aaron Freeman + Mary Bentley
-Rev. Moses Freeman + Fanny Ball
-Tabitha Freeman + John Jackson Rees
-Eliza Rees
-Aaron Posey Freeman + Elsie Ball (1st wife)
-Green Freeman + Nancy (currently last name unknown)
-Humphrey Posey Freeman
Humphrey Posey Freeman married his 2nd cousin Eliza Rees
-Mary Freeman (b. 1850 NC) + Charles Jackson Johnston
-Laura Belle Johnston + Fred Cox
Laura & Fred Cox were my great grandparents.
Recently, a fellow "cousin" (male Freeman) of mine through Humphrey Posey Freeman & Eliza Rees (their first son Moses K. Freeman) had DNA testing done through the Family Tree DNA website and the freeman DNA project (http://www.carnicle.com/DNA_Project/) and the results came back Q1a3a for the y-line, meaning that our Freeman line began with a Native American male, not a European male like so many researchers have tried to make fit. This also goes along with what my ancestors passed down regarding Green Freeman, who they claimed was 19/32nds Native American, a little more than half, meaning both parents would have likely had some Native American ancestry.
We have little data beyond Aaron Freeman and Mary Bentley, but most reasearchers have tied him back through the following ancestry:
John Freeman of Norfolk Virginia line
-- William Freeman and Mary Cording, Chowan Co.
--John Freeman + Tabitha Hoyter (daughter of Thomas Hoyter,
(chief member of the Chowan tribe)
--John Freeman + possibly Sarah Winbourne
-- Aaron Freeman + Mary Bentley.
However, the links in this family line beyond Aaron and Mary Freeman are not clear, and there is conflicting information amongst researchers. I do know through reading historical texts on the colonial history of Virginia and North Carolina that a series of families show up in Chowan Co. NC records that seem to either intermarry throughout generations and/or follow each other across country, names like: FREEMAN, BALL, BENTLEY, ROUNDTREE, JARVIS, CRAWFORD, PHELPS, BLOUNT, PATTERSON, HINTON, OUTLAW, VINSON, HOWARD, WARD, & WOODWARD (plus more). Some of these families actually bought land from the remaining Chowan Indians in 1722. It leaves one to wonder how many of these families had Native American ties.
So, ultimately I am looking for a definitive line back past Aaron and Mary. I am also looking for that first Freeman male in our line, a Native American male who likely adopted the name Freeman at some point, probably prior to 1722. Other's have tested positive for Q1a3a dna in this line as well, so we know it goes back past at least to Aaron Freeman Sr.
I have lots of infromation on the Aaron Posey Freeman family through both his wives (Elsie Ball & Allabeth Ball) and am also working on unraveling the Ball family mystery as well. At some point it was suggested to me that Allabeth (Ball) Freeman might have been Saponi, but now I also have to question if Aaron Posey Freeman might have been Saponi -- Lumbee has also been suggested, although John H. Bennight, grandson of Aaron and Allabeth through their daughter Mary Freeman, claimed Cherokee ancestry through his grandfather Aaron Posey Freeman when he filed his Dawes application. John H. Bennight never knew his mother's family as she died when he was a small boy, and was unaware of Allabeth's claim to being half Choctaw. John H. Bennight's application was later consolidated with over 250 family names listed, all of which were denied. However, I've also heard that later that decision was reversed, at least in some cases where evidence was resubmitted -- I have not yet found proof of this.
Any information is welcome, and I'm more than happy to share what I have as well.
Thanks much,
Kim Archer
