Edwards who were born in VA and/or NC in 1700s
By DNA through Familytreedna.com it has been proven that John Edwards, born 1752 in Culpeper Co., VA and Reuben Edwards, born 1759 in NC are closely related; they were brothers or first cousins as the DNA Y chromosomes of the descendants of these two are a perfect match. Both moved to GA after the Rev. War. John moved to AL in 1820 but Reuben remained in GA.
The author of the book, 22 Southern Families, indicated that they were brothers but offered no proof. The author of the book, Trailing Our Ancestors, indicated that James Edwards who married Martha "Patsey" Hamilton was the son of John Edwards and Ellen Pryor. That is totally false. In the first place, I have NEVER found anything on an Ellen Pryor EXCEPT that information that came from her book. DNA has proven that he had to be the son of Reuben. The author of that book combined three different John Edwards to make one that fit her theory. I know because I chased every John Edwards from GA during the late 1700s; I wasted one year of research attempting to prove what was written in that book before asking my brother to do the DNA test (my maiden name is Edwards).
After EXTENSIVE research, I have still been unable to learn who the father of John and Reuben was. The names James, Reuben, John, Simeon, Joel, William, and Henry appear over and over in the extended families of John and Reuben. IF you are a descendant of any of these Edwards who were in NC in the late 1700s and early 1800s, AND you are a male with the surname Edwards, I implore you to do the DNA test so that we can determine which Edwards families were linked that lived in the NC counties of Granville, Bute, Franklin, Wake, Warren, Orange, Northampton and surrounding areas. The test for 37 markers, which is needed to find a real match, costs less than $200. Only the Y chromosomes are checked, so there is no way that a DNA test sent to familytreedna could be used for any other purpose. The Y chromosomes are passed from father to son generation after generation, so if there is a match, you can be sure that your ancestors were related to the person you match.
There has been a lot of misinformation published both in books and the on the internet about various Edwards lines. If you are a male with the surname Edwards and want to know which Edwards line you really come from, do the DNA test for genealogy. I must warn you, however, that you may get a surprise. My Edwards line worked our perfect, but a May line and a Payne line also match my Edwards, indicating that an Edwards got into a May and Payne henhouses, most likely in TN or KY. My Gregory line was a total disaster; my cousin matched 11 different surnames with NONE of them being Gregory, which I thought was impossible. However they all linked back to the Barlow line, whose males apparently were spreading their seeds everywhere! Even though this was a total disappointment, it was entertaining. We were able to find the correct Gregory line through the descendants of the brother of my Gregory ancestor; he was total Gregory with no matches to any other surname.
I have come to the conclusion that the ONLY way I will ever be able to go back any further than John and Reuben is through DNA. There was a Reuben Edwards on the Louisa Co., VA 1790 census. If you are related to this Reuben, could you contact me?
Marilyn Edwards Wetherington