If I'm not a Williams but a Davis, How can I find my ancestry?

Question

I have been searching for 14 years trying to find my surname (Williams) roots beyond my 4 x GGF William Micajah Williams born Abt. 1740 in ? Died 1802 in Brittons Neck, Marion County, SC, USA. I have had ever DNA test that FTDNA offers with no success. I did the FTDNA BIGY Test (four of the top five matches were either Davis or Davies) and sent the RAW Data to Y-Full in Russia and their response was that I share a twig on the tree of life with a Duane Davis ". I am at a loss. Is there anything I can do to find my surname heritage?

 

Comments

I don't have a good answer for you, but I know it will be much easier for people to help you if you post a link to one of your profiles.

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https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/120196110/family

That is my Ancestry.com family tree site

https://www.myheritage.com/site-family-tree-438103/williams

 That is My MyHeritage Site

Answer 1

Some possible leads? The middle name Micajah is worth searching for as a first name as well. Assuming this is the profile [[Williams-32083]]

1. William Williams, Revolutionary War Rolls 1775-1783

2. The 1790 Census in South Carolina lists a few "William Williams": St. Thomas-Cheraws District; Union; Spartanburg;Pendleton District; York District; Liberty-Marion District; Edgefield; Prince Georges; St. Philip., I think you've already run those leads down.

5. There is a "Micajah Williams" in the 1800 Census living in Darlington, with 7 other members of the family. Might be worth a look.

6. Find-a-grave has Micajah Williams here: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/111633697/micajah-williams, possibly related nephew?

7. Some online records suggest William Micajah (Micajai) Williams (1740-1802) immigrated from England, but no records cited. I guess you've run those leads down already. http://williamsgenealogy.org/lineages.php?pageNum_lineages=20&totalRows_lineages=1067

Comments

He is the William Williams listed under Liberty, Marion District. That entry and a document where he and his first wife Agnes Avant bought 91 acres in the same district are the only records I have been able to find on him

Answer 2

Joseph, have you uploaded your dna results to gedmatch.com? It's a free upload and it will provide email addresses of those that match you. Some of them will have trees attached or links to WikiTree.

Answer 3

Have you found other male-line descendants of William through tracing the paper trails? If so, does their Y-DNA match yours, or is it different? It's entirely possible that William has a Davis father or grandfather, but of course it's also possible that there's a non-paternal event somewhere on that line and that William isn't actually your patrilineal ancestor.

Comments

There's a separate  group of Williams in Georgetown County, SC that we are related to but how we are connected is questionable. I had one of their male off springs do the Y-111 DNA Test and we;re closer related than I thought and much closer than what they thought

Answer 4

I have Davis in my family Tree. Trogstad-3