Solving a 250 year old Mystery with DNA testing

One really exciting event going on this year is the launch of the Milstead DNA project.  We are going to use DNA testing to peer back in time to about 1750 to try to solve a longstanding mystery that we have not been able to crack using the available public records.  We know that Matthew Milstead was born in the early 1700s in Charles County Maryland, and that he had several sons: Samuel, Absalom, Thomas, Walter, John A. and Noah.  Circumstantial evidence points strongly to Walter being the father of a gent named William Milstead who was born in 1797, but there is no paper record to prove this.  Which leaves a whole pile of Milsteads (including yours truly) officially disconnected from the main Milstead tree going back to Edward Milstead b. 1656 in Kent, England. 

The DNA project will test three people, each purportedly descended from one of Matthew's sons:  We believe that each of the people being tested are 5th cousins from each other and all descended from Matthew through three different sons of Matthew.  The tests should allow us to "triangulate" on Matthew and prove the Walter/William connection once and for all, if we are correct.  We will collect the DNA samples at the family reunion at the end of the month and post the results here.

If your are a male, with the last name of Milstead, and you would like to get tested to figure out how you link in and to help others have enough data to draw their conclusions you can do it at the Milstead DNA Site. The cost for the recommended 37 marker test is $189 plus $2 shipping.  It is just a cotton swab inside your check that gets mailed back to the lab.

You can also make contributions there to help us get more people tested. Even a few dollars helps.

Here are the ancestries of the people being tested that we hope will prove out our theory.

Edward Milstead b: 1656 Bethersden, Kent, England m. Elizabeth 'Eliza' Ward

0 Edward Milstead b: 1695 Charles County, MD m. Catherine Barker

1 Matthew Milstead b: Abt. Jan 1740/41 Charles County, MD m. Anne Warder

2 Thomas Milstead b: Abt. 1755 Charles County, MD m. Elizabeth Ratcliff

3 Matthew Milstead b: Abt. 1787 Charles County, MD m. Susan Bland

4 Walter Warren Milstead b: 11 Jun 1825 Charles County, MD m. Theodocia Ann Speake

5 Roderick Gerome Milstead b: 18 Nov 1855 Charles County, MD m. Eliza Jane Rison

6 John Jacob Milstead b: 17 Jun 1890 Charles County, MD m. Viola Sympronia Wheeler

2 Walter Milstead b: Bet. 1760 – 1770 Charles County, MD m. Unknown

3 William Milstead b. 1797 Charles County, MD m. Lydia Verlinda Luckett

4 Josias Henry Milstead b: Bef. 21 Jun 1829 Charles County, MD m. Julia Kelly Nash

5 Joseph Tilden Milstead b: 13 Aug 1876 Charles County, MD m. Lucy Maude Thompson

2 Noah Milstead b: Aft. 1760 Charles County, MD m. Catherine Unknown

3 Noah Milstead b: Abt. 1802 Virginia m. Susan Davis

4 Townsend Milstead b: Abt. 1830 Virginia m. Delia Catherine Havener

5 James Edgar Milstead b: Oct 1854 Virginia m. Margeret Ellen Thomas

6 John Henry Milstead b: 25 Nov 1887 Virginia