Unknown (Unknown) Yates (abt. 1783 - abt. 1845)

Born about 1783 in Virginia, United States

Wife of Benjamin W. Yates — married about 1798 in Grainger, Tennessee, United States

Descendants

Died about 1845 at about age 62 in Missouri, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: John Yates [send private message]

Biography

She was the wife of [[Yates-7942|Benjamin Yates (~1783-1845). It is very tempting now to conclude that she was a daughter of James Arnwine and Rosanna Beeler. This much is certain. Chromosome analysis tells us that she was very closely related to three families, Arnwine (aka Arwine), Beeler, and Cabbage, “Shenandoah German” families ^[1] who had settled in Grainger, Tennessee in the late 1700s. A young Benjamin Yates came to live among them and by 1799 had married one of their young daughters. See the attached portion of the reconstructed 1810 census. The simplest explanation would be that Benjamin’s wife was a daughter of James Arnwine and Rosanna Beeler, because this is a known union. Clearly one of her parents was a Beeler, and the other was an Arnwine/Cabbage. (It turns out that the Arnwine and Cabbage families of Grainger were related very closely to each other.) See DNA evidence, Research Note 1. And after this, Arwine was a popular given name in branches descending from Benjamin Yates's children, suggesting that Mrs. Yates had been Miss Arwine.

Although James Arnwine and Rosanna Beeler as parents fit the data, it’s possible that unknown people were the parents. Because conclusive evidence might turn up, it’s best to use Unknown for now as her last name. The last name on a Wikitree profile cannot be changed once entered, unless the name is "Unknown."

It probably wasn't long after 1810 when the family moved to new land that had opened in White County, Tennessee. Mrs. Yates may then have spoken with longing and admiration for her old home and family, because in 1815 they named their next son Arwine. Years later, their oldest daughter, Rachel, born in 1802 in Grainger, named a son Arwine, as did a later son, English Lafayette. Arwine had become a family given name.

The family moved to Warren County in the mid 1820s and then to Gasconade Co, Missouri, before 1840. Thanks to the Shenandoah German chromosomes carried by Mrs. Benjamin Yates, it was possible to identify eleven of her ~14 children. It is very clear that all of Benjamin Yates’s children, from Washington, born around 1799, to English Lafayette, born in 1827, had the same mother. The children fit well with Benjamin’s census listings of 1810, 1820, 1830, and 1840, which show Benjamin and his wife aging together. We have no record of either of them after 1840. Life expectancy was not high for frontier people, particularly in Missouri where malaria took a toll.

Children of Benjamin Yates and his Arwine/Cabbage-Beeler Wife

Sources

1. ↑ Shenandoah Germans at Wikipedia.

• Reconstructed 1810 U.S. Census, Grainger, Tennessee. See attached portion.
• Genetic evidence from a large study will be published by the end of 2021. A preliminary report is under Research Note 1 of the profile of E.L. Yates, here.

Research Notes

1. DNA Evidence

A large genetic study to be published by the end of 2021 is summarized here, under Research Note 1. Over 230 cousins of Arnwine, Cabbage, or Beeler ancestry were found to match cousins of the Yates branch at 16 segments on 11 different chromosomes, all apparently from the wife of Benjamin Yates. 75 cousins are descendants of James Arnwine & Rosanna Beeler. Nearly 90 Beeler cousins and 25 cousins from other Arwines/Arnwines (not James Arnwine) define Beeler and Arnwine chromosome segments. The simplest solution would be to conclude that Benjamin’s wife was a daughter of James Arnwine and Rosanna Beeler. Indeed, on two chromosomes we found recombination junctions that were created for E.L.Y.’s conception, meaning that they fused DNA segments from two grandparents on one side, his maternal side. In both cases, a segment matching Beeler became joined to a segment matching Arnwine. The trouble is that our Cabbage cousins, 92 of them, match the “Arnwine side” as well or in some cases better than Arnwine cousins do. The Arnwines and Cabbages of Grainger, Tn were closely related, somehow. If Benjamin’s wife had one Cabbage parent and one Beeler parent, the genetic results would be explained as well. (The fondness for the name Arwine would need another explanation.) The problem isn’t beyond hope. The joining of chromosomes from different ancestors leaves strong clues, as described in this study. Perhaps more tests at GEDmatch will provide a resolution.