Allen R Davis (1821-1902) Paternal Line

Although we know quite a bit about Allen R Davis and his descendants, we've never been able to identify his parents or ancestors. Thanks to five Davis Big Y-500 tests and many AncestryDNA tests, that's starting to change. My hope is to strengthen or confirm my theories, assist other Y-DNA Davis matches to determine how their line links in, collect and share Davis family stories, and ultimately share our findings with hundreds of related Davis descendants.

Help Needed

Related Davis descendants can assist in this project in the following ways:

• If you're a Y-DNA match to Stephen Davis, please send me as much as you know about your Davis-side line. Include as much as you know for each generation: full name, date/place of birth, date/place of death, spouse full name, any details about the marriage, and spouse birth/death info.
• If you're a Y-DNA match to Stephen Davis and you've already taken an AncestryDNA test, please provide me with "viewer" access to your list of matches (instructions below). Thank you to JHD and JMD for having done so. If you've taken a FTDNA Family Finder test, please share your list of matches. If you haven't taken an autosomal DNA test, please consider taking an AncestryDNA test. Your matches will provide many new data points to help determine how the different Davis lines are connected.
• If you're an Allen R Davis descendant, especially a second-great-grandchild of his, please take an AncestryDNA test. (I don't think any living first-great-granchildren remain, but they would be an even bigger help.) AncestryDNA is diluted by about 50% every generation, so older people's tests are often most useful. Unless your Davis-line parent or grandparent has already tested, your test will help.
• If you've already taken an AncestryDNA test, please provide me with "viewer" access to your list of matches.

For information on how to share your list of AncestryDNA matches, go to http://irelanddavis.com/AncestryDNA/sharematches/Default.aspx. My email address is .

Davis Line: Working Theory

Steve has four strong Davis Big Y-500 matches. Thanks to years of traditional genealogy research, they believe they know their Davis ancestral lines back to the mid-1600s in Maryland. The following chart shows how they're related, and includes the current working theory of how Stephen Davis and his family may fit in.

Click on the following image if needed to enlarge:

1821 Allen R Davis is now believed to be the grandson of 1749 Thomas Davis - and 1821 Allen's father was probably 1780 Allen. AncestryDNA results seem to confirm this, but we haven't yet found a supporting paper trail.