A descendant of Darling Lee is of haplogroup I1 and is grouped under Randaulph Lee in the Lee DNA Genealogy Project at ancestry.com The descendant has a genetic distance of 1 from a descendant of Samuel Leigh who is believed to have the same Y-DNA marker values as Ralph Leigh. There were 43 markers compared between the two men. The descendant of Samuel Leigh was tested by Ancestry as well as by FamilyTree.
The genetic distance of 1 is a very close relationship and indicates there is likely a common ancestor for the two donors within a genealogical time frame from the donors. However, Darling lived in the United States while Ralph Leigh was likely born in England and lived most of his life in Wales. Information about the ancestor of Darling Lee who immigrated to the United States is unknown at this time.
The Possible Immigrants page of the Welsh Leigh site that documents Ralph Leigh lists 21 places in the Leigh Descendancy Chart where side lines could have furnished immigrants to the United States. In addition, the sidelines could have been created prior to the birth of Ralph Leigh.
I am a gr gr granddaughter of Darling Lee and Clarissa Hair Lee. He was born Aug. 1, 1811, according to the census in SC, his parents being born in NC. He married Clarissa Hair Sept 22, 1838. They had 11 children, 10 of whom lived to adulthood and reared this family on land bordering the Rosemary Creek in Barnwell County, South Carolina. He died there Oct 28, 1885.
ReplyDeleteAfter many years of research, I have never been able to establish who his parents were nor to locate any of his siblings. A direct male line descendant of Darling Lee is a participant in the Ancestry Lee DNA project. His DNA matches 100% with about fifteen other participants in the Haplogroup I1.
Thanks,Betty, for posting about Darling Lee.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, people interested in this line will contact the descendant of Darling Lee who had his Y-DNA tested. They can do this by going the the Home page of the Lee DNA Genealogy Project, clicking on the People link, and then clicking on the entry for Desc of Darling Lee b 1811 SC d 1885 Barnwell Co SC. You apparently know this descendant, so interested people can contact you through him.
That descendant of Darling Lee has a genetic distance of 1 with the descendant of Samuel Leigh. This implies there is a common ancestor of the two descendants. Because the genetic distance of the two descendants is small, it is likely the common ancestor lived within 5-10 or so generations of the two descendants. This means the common ancestor could have lived in Wales or in England. The Possible Immigrants, page that is linked in my original post about Darling Lee, gives 21 places where a side-line to the line from Samuel Leigh back to Ralph Leigh could have been started. In fact the 15 or so participants in the Lee DNA Genealogy Project who match the descendant of Darling Lee could have the same common ancestor if there was just one immigrant from Wales or England to the United States. Or, if there were several immigrants, there could be several common ancestors for these descendants of Lee men.
Additional genealogical research will be needed to solve questions about the early Lees in the Atlantic Seaboard, but Y-DNA testing has opened the door to research in Welsh records, and the 21 links to Possible Immigrants gives clues about times and places that should be searched for immigration of Lee men.
There is some misinformation among some researchers about the Darling Lee line. There was a Darling Peeples Lee, son of Lewis Lee, son of Godfrey, who was born in GA, lived in GA, married Margaret Farrell in GA, and died in a hospital in GA. Some researchers have taken the birth and death dates of the Barnwell County, SC, Darling Lee for Darling Peeples Lee, even given him both wives. There is proof in census records, tombstone records, family records, and a published book, The Black Book of Georgia, that these are two very different men, even living and dieing in different states. If a researcher has this error in their files, I hope they will look into these records and correct their information.
ReplyDeletelooking for date/place divorce of Ben (Benjamin) Raymond Leigh and Margaret Ruth MCGuire sometime after 1939 possibly IL. Would appreciate any info. thanks
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