In pursuit of his Theorem, our friend Travis has identified a descendant of the “other” Babbs family that crossed paths in Clay County, Indiana. After conducting extensive research to validate that their paper trail leads to the tree we know as the Green Men of Maryland we are now going to put his theory to the test. Travis’ Y-DNA is already established as a member of the White Stags of VA/NC.
A Y-DNA test that is!
My research on the paper trail indicates little chance of a cross-over between these two lines. It’s an easy path to follow, but thus far it has led nowhere.
Please read this article from 2019, before continuing with this post on the previous failed attempts of trying to establish a connection between the two.
The next failed attempt came in January of 2023 with this new information on a likely Immigrant Ancestor of the White Stags lineage.
I oft see people trying to cross-over the records from one lineage to the other and have almost become numb to these attempts over the years. 70% of the country came through Virginia on their way to points unknown. Maryland is a very small state with a long border with Virginia and thus it is easy to assume that a mistake was made on the birthplace claimed in the paper trail. But it is a big state, and one must take care of examine the localities discussed in each and every record. But for each established paper trail there are a dozen outlier records that throw shade on any clear path forward.
The Fly in the Ointment
At the highest level of these two genetic lineages trees we currently have a total of 20 top-level progenitors that we cannot connect via a paper trail. A number of those lines have been Y-DNA tested and we make an assumption regarding the remainder due to their proximity to the tested lineages.
I recognize that the only way we will ever know is to test descendants of each and every one of those lineages. That will give us greater certainty of who belongs with whom. But even then, there will always be outliers who only continue to add to the fabric of the Babb legend, through adoption, infidelity, inter-marriage or other ways that I’ve not yet even imagined.
It does seem at this time that the paper trail has been lost and we may never understand the full connection. However, I also believed that with Phillip of the Isles of Shoals and somehow, we found a way. With 20 billion records coming online every year, anything could happen!
So, Travis wants to be known as “The Tree Wrecker” if his theory is proven correct. To which, my answer is, “Not so fast!” It’s a battle for the ages, quite literally.
In my experience, Y-DNA returns one of three responses:
A. Confirmed
B. Denied
C. None of the Above
DNA has a way of slapping down your expectations and shaking its finger at you with a disapproving look. I’ve been there many times, especially in the early days of testing. We aren’t yet done being surprised!
I checked with Vegas and currently the odds are 1:1. So, place your bets. You have nothing to lose but everything to win. After all, knowledge is power!