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This is a copy of an email I sent out at the start of the Bennett of Somerset, England DNA Project at FTDNA.com and the Bennett Y-DNA Research Project at Facebook. A great deal has been learned that has busted the lineage of John Bennett. There is no record of him being the father of William Bennett I, no record of him being the son of Thomas Bennett and Agnes Beard of Wiveliscombe (although there were dozens of John Bennetts born in England at the time), and this Thomas is proved not to be the son of Robert Bennett, the successful tanner of Wiveliscombe. Furthermore, Robert's own father isn't proved and the John Bennett of Wiveliscombe was not a scion of the Lords of Tankerville. The lineage is a complete bust. See my other articles for more information about that. The earliest this family can be reasonably taken back is to Christchurch, Middlesex, Virginia and the marriage of William Bennett to Mary Smith. Therefore, the project is now referring to this group as the Christchurch Bennetts.
On another note, a Mary Bennett married at the same place a bit later to a William Johnson. She is described as being from West Chester, England. For now, we might assume that William and Mary were siblings and follow that lead as a lead. However, it could well prove to be nothing. There were already a lot of unrelated Bennetts in Virginia by this time.
Michael Cooley, BA, MA – 4 June 2022
Hello, folks. I'll try to make this brief.
I'm descended from Governor Richard Bennett, born in Wiveliscombe by April 1608 (per Virginia Colony records). I'm a member of the International Society of Genetic Genealogists and the administrator (or co-admin) of 20 FTDNA Projects.
My understanding is that you're of the Wiveliscombe, Somerset Bennetts and, therefore, related to Richard. There are, as you know, no male Bennetts descended from him. His son, Richard Bennett Jr, died young and had one daughter and one son. Richard Bennett III died in Maryland in 1745 with no children. (His will is 20 pages long and lists a fairly large number of cousins and other relations.) I have needed, then, to search upstream and back down again in order to find testers who might share his Y-DNA. (Indeed, all men who share a straight-male lineage to a common male ancestor — no matter how far back — will have the same Y, if with some small modifications.)
Those of you who have researched this lineage will know that several Virginia Bennett families believe they're of the Governor's family. But no records have been put forward to prove these linkages. However, inside the Y chromosome is an archive of the genetic history of every paternal lineage and that goes back at least thousands upon thousands of years. By comparing the markers between lineages we can determine the degrees of relationship among them.
For example, I've been working over the last week with testers presumed to descended from the "Blackwater" Bennetts and of Thomas Bennett who is thought to have arrived at Jamestown in 1619. These Bennetts are of Y-DNA haplogroup R1b-BY172987 whereas you're of R1b-FTA7413. As you see in this table, the two lines are separated by about 6,000 years. Next to it, merely for the sake of full disclosure (I believe in that) is my lineage from Richard — each generation proved my public record.
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The question at hand is, Does this SNP tree belong to Richard? We can find out. Indeed, all Bennetts of Virginia and of Somerset, England can be compared, and sorted out, in this same way.
I can go on and on. Instead, here are a couple of links. The first one will take you to the report I wrote for the Blackwater Bennetts. It better details my experience and discusses, in part, more of the ins and outs of Y-DNA interpretation. The second link is to my website for the Governor. It's by no means complete. However, I'm working on a book for this remarkable man. Take what data that helps you, but please no plagiarizing. :-) Frankly, his wife might have been even more remarkable than him. I may even name the book after her!
The third link goes to my Y-DNA Groups Pages, and the fourth to my blog page where I've written nearly 100 articles for the benefit of members of my projects (those official and those otherwise).
There are a number of mysteries tied into these families that, at this point, only the Y-DNA can resolve. Indeed, in many instances, biology trumps the paper trail. And we have so much to share and so much to analyze! But please note, more than one of you will want to take the Big Y as it's through the comparison of the data between multiple tests that real, usable facts emerge. I hope you will contact me at my server.
Blackwater Bennetts
Governor Richard Bennett
Y-DNA Groups Pages
Michael Cooley's Genetic Genealogy Blog
Best Regards,
Michael Cooley, BA, MA
Member, International Society of Genetic Genealogists
