DNA - Bigby (Chapman)

3rd Great Grandfather - Paternal Side

Yes, it is like trying to nail Jello to a tree. Rather than bore you with all the statics involved I hope you will bare with me as I try to explain. I have been working with DNA for about 2 years and am far from any expert on the subject. I thought it would be fairly easy to find Clara Chapman's parents since there doesn't seem to be a record of the 3 Chapman kids until they got married. It would be very easy if all of my siblings and cousins had taken a DNA test, but instead I have relied on mine & Hank's. This has opened some mysterious  doors one of them being a family by the last name of Bigby. I am fairly certain that Clara's grandfather was Thomas Wilson Bigby (1806-1861) though I am not 100% certain who her grandmother is.

The bigger the number of matching centimorgans (cMs) and segments usually tells you how closely you are related, then by traditional genealogy you can find the common ancestor. Most of my "New Ancestor Discoveries" not already listed in my tree are distant aunts and uncles. I thought that was the case with Thomas Bigby and didn't pay much attention to it until he kept coming up in "Shared Matches" with known relatives of the Hembree's. My "AH HA!" moment happened when a descendant of Uncle Johnny's and also a descendant of Aunt Belle's kept pulling up matches with the Bigby Clan. These same matches did not come up under Hembree.

Here are my match numbers:

1. J.C. - 2,637 cMs/across 63 segments
2. D.B - 338/14 Matches up through Clara Chapman (Uncle Johnny's son)
3. L.D. - 76/17 Matches up through Thomas Whitfield Bigby & David Taylor Bigby, sons of Thomas Wilson Bigby
4. A.D. - 65/3 Matches up through David Taylor Bigby, son of Thomas Wilson Bigby
5. A.B. - 50/3 Matches up through David Taylor Bigby, son of Thomas Wilson Bigby
6. J.R. - 33/3 Matches through Belle Chapman
7. W.S. - 36/3 Matches through Thomas Whitfield Bigby, son of Thomas Wilson Bigby

There are others who match but to a lesser degree through Thomas Wilson Bigby's father which is what is expected. This is still a work in progress and as other relatives test their DNA it will give a clearer picture.

Thomas Wilson Bigby was born February 22, 1806 in Tennessee as part of a large Cherokee family. He married Margaret Catherine Adair about 1830. They were removed from Tennessee to Adair County, Oklahoma during the Trail of Tears though they came by train in the early part of the removal process.

By the 1851 Miller Roll, Thomas and Catherine had 10 children, one of which was our grandparent though I have not been able to nail down. Thomas died on October 16, 1861 in Stillwell, Oklahoma.

Sources:
Ancestry.com
Family Tree DNA