Jane Billings born 1806 TNN - undocumented daugher of John Pennington

I believe that Jane or Nancy Jane, born March 13, 1806, TNN, marrying John Billings, was an undocumented daughter of John Pennington, died 10 Aug 1863 in White County, Tennessee and Nancy Jane Harris.

Most family trees posted on the internet state that the Jane born 13 of March, 1806, TNN, died 1873 Smiley, Gonzales, TX and who married John Billings, was born a Zumwalt.

They state that her parents were Jacob Zumwalt and Frances Price. This couple lived in MO at the time our Jane was born in TNN and there are no indications that they sojourned to TNN for the birth of this one child only, all of their other children being born in MO.

I think that the idea that Jane was a Zumwalt originates in the fact that the Billings family she married into did have many marriages with the Zumwalts, but all of these occured in Texas, none of them occured in TNN. There are no signs of any Zumwalts living in TNN around the time of Jane's birth. Residual members of the KY/MO/TX Zumwalt family still living in KY at the time of Jane's birth show no record of any "Jane" being born in 1806. I have searched, for years, consulting extensive Zumwalt records re this mysterious "Jane" with absolutely no clue regarding her possible existance.

One of Jane's grandaughters, Mary Jane Burton, told her grandaughters that her grandmother's maiden name was "Pendleton."

As I could find no records of any Pendletons in TNN with daughters around Jane's age in TNN, early 1800s, I considered names similar to Pendleton. There was a Pennington family living in the same county as Peter Billings at this time with census data indicating that there could have been a dtr. born in 1806, TNN.Most trees do not list this daughter but if you examine the census data and compare that with the usually listed dtrs, you will see that there is a dtr missing, with an 1806 birthdate.

I located a living, female line descendant of the John Pennington family and asked them to have their mtDNA tested. This individual turned out to be a perfect match to my mtDNA - DNA that I inherited from Jane ? Billings 1806 TNN.

Another well-documented daughter of this Pennington family married a brother of Jane's husband. Lydia Ann Pennington born 1805, TNN, married Bird Franklin Billings. Even more interesting: Lydia married Bird, not in TNN but in Indiana, in 1830!

Jane's daughter Nancy Billings was born in Indiana in 1828. Between 1828 and 1831, several of Peter Billings sons appear on census records in Indiana. After 1828 they reappear in White County TNN. But, why was Lydia Pennington in Indiana at this time? Had she traveled North to help her younger sister Jane with her new baby? While there, deciding to marry the brother of Jane's husband?

At any rate, there were close, ongoing, relationships between the Penningtons and Billings of White County TNN.

I believe that the mtDNA data combined with family anecdotes, geographic proximity and other contiguous and contemporaneous family ties, and the equally important lack of equivalent data on the Zumwalt side, strongly suggest that Jane Billings was born a Pennington and not a Zumwalt.