Burgess Surname DNA Project--Report #13, Dec. 2005

Dear Burgess Cousins,

I'm happy to report that we now have 71 participants in the Burgess Surname DNA Project. We also have several major new DNA matches.

Just in the last month, we've received three new additions to the connected lines of Edward Burgess of Pittsylvania Co., Virginia, and William Burgess of Montgomery Co., Maryland. One of these results, descending from Samuel H. Burgess (b. 1795) of North Carolina, cannot be readily connected to the other two lines, and may represent an entirely new branch of this family; there's no doubt whatever of the relationship, however. Two of the three new matches in this family arrived through the Genographic Project sponsored by National Geographic Magazine.

We also have three new matches in the conjoined lines of William Burgess of King George Co., Virginia, and William Burgess of Bedford Co., Virginia, including a first for the project. We had a random match this past month for a descendant of Joseph A. Davidson (b. 1802) of Lawrence Co., Kentucky; he matched 36 out 37 markers with the William of Bedford family. Davidson married a granddaughter of William in the 1820s. Since Y-chromosome DNA can't be inherited through the female line, there had to be some other connection here. We've decided that he must have been an illegitimate son of one of her male Burgess uncles.

Finally, we have our first random match between an old British Burgess family and an American Burgess line of Colonial times. A descendant of William Burgess of Hartford Co., Connecticut has matched with an offshoot of Ralph Burges (b. 1555) of Cheshire, England. Either William is descended from Ralph (the likeliest prospect), or the two had a common ancestor living before Ralph's time.

My personal website, www.millefleurs.tv (under the "Burgess Genealogy" link) has just been updated to reflect the new information; please check it out.