Digging into Clark’s ancestry was easy as his lineage is already known in the Tree. So, Glenn Franklin Babb/Earls is a descendant of Benjamin Babb of Middletown, CT (2). I had previously thought this line had died out altogether and that a Y-DNA candidate would be impossible to find. That was pretty close to the truth, but it was obscured by a surname change, and I wasn’t able to see it without help from the Earls family and their query.

A short history lesson on this line. Babb Family Association founder and 1st genealogist Jean A. Sargent couldn’t find a paper trail supporting the theory. So, she created a new line to track Benjamin’s descendants. She named this line #2 in her books and records, with Phillip of the Isles of Shoals being at the head of line #1. Often, you’ll see me post a number after certain names to indicate their place in the tree (i.e. (2)).

Remember that Glenn’s Y-DNA shows a relation to all ten descendants of Phillip Babb of the Isles of Shoals (1) who have also been tested. He shows as further away from some than others genetically. After looking at how the candidates are spread out across Phillip’s tree, we can successfully eliminate him coming from Phillip’s sons, William (1-1) Thomas (1-2), Sampson (1-5). The genetic distance is clear evidence that they are NOT the line he belongs to.

However, we’ve yet to test known descendants of Philip (1-3) and Sampson (1-4). This never occurred to me until today, so I went and looked it up. Testing descendants of those lines will help to form a more complete picture and it would also help out the Newfoundland Babbs who’ve been in the same boat for a while now and not able to be grafted back into the tree.

Next, I turned back to the book I wrote in 2015 entitled Breaking Down Benjamin Babb of Middletown, CT (2) and Jean A. Sargent’s notes contained in Babb Families of America, 3rd Edition (1994). Jean posed with this same dilemma identified two potential Benjamin’s that she thought showed promise. I eliminated one of those options in 2015 as more information had become available after Jean’s death that excluded him from the list.

In both books Jean and I identified who Benjamin would likely be if he descended from one of the other Babb lines. We could not discount the possibility that he might have emigrated from England on his own and net be related at all. We both came to the conclusion that the only viable candidate was Benjamin Babb (1-4-10), son of Sampson (1-4). So, far this lines up and is consistent with the Genetic Blueprint.

Looking at our prospective match Benjamin Babb (1-4-10) we find that his father died in 1739 leaving him 20 Shillings (roughly £60 today). It was equivalent to 10 days of pay for a skilled worker and certainly not a fortune. He was the last of 16 total children and only the first son gets the land and bulk of the inheritance. The additional children were expected to find their own way in life and regularly broke away for new territories.

Benjamin (1-4-10) is the only child born to both Sampson and Grace. Grace would have been 46 by the time of his birth not leaving much room for others to follow. The other children are from previous marriages on both sides.

The Last Will & Testament of Sampson Babb (1-4)

At the time of Sampson’s (1-4) death Benjamin (1-4-10) would have been just 16 years old. He likely continued to live with his mother until her death before striking out on his own. It is unknown when she died, but it is likely between 1739-1746 when Benjamin appears in Middletown, CT. There are no newspapers in that timeframe to rely upon and no Will for her is on record.

Next, I return to Benjamin’s (2) paper trail. Jean mentions that Benjamin appears out of nowhere in 1746 and marries Mary Blake. In 1747 they purchased about 6 acres of land in Middletown from land at the Parsonage and start their household.

What all this means

By connecting the Benjamins to the main tree, we are able to put to rest almost 50 years of speculation regarding who he was and where he came from. It also takes Phillip’s (1) line, which was already by far the largest, up to almost 10,000 descendants.

If we can collect Y-DNA test takers from Philip (1-3) and Sampson (1-4) descendants, we will be better able to triangulate results for newcomers. If you are a descendant of one of these lines, please reach out to me and let’s see about getting you tested.

The Scoreboard of the 7 lines in Jean’s book now looks like this. Just one line remains to be tested. They came much later to the US and are of English Origin, but no living descendants have been identified. It’s a small tree so we will just have to wait for a candidate to come forward.

Lions of the Sea (Genetically Proven)	1. Phillip Babb of the Isles of Shoals 2. Merged into Benjamin Babb (1-4-10) and retired
Green men of Maryland (Genetically Proven)	3. Maryland Babbs
White Stags of Eastern VA & NC (Genetically Proven)	4. Eastern Virginia Babbs 5. North Carolina Babbs
Blue Panthers of Bavaria (Genetically Proven)	6. Bavarian Babbs
No test candidates yet	7. New York/New Jersey Babbs