While I am waiting and hoping for some information from the federal archives about the Mexican War and the U. S. Civil War concerning my Fite and Attebery ancestors I have decided to take some time to summarize a mystery which occurred in 1846 in Weakley County, Tennessee. It first came to light about ten years ago, and although I can't declare it solved a few pieces of the puzzle have come together.
Several years ago I accidentally discovered a lawyer (who is now a judge) in Dresden, TN whose name is Brent Bradberry. I believe his full name is John Brent Bradberry, but he usually goes by J. Brent Bradberry or simply Brent Bradberry. Dresden is the county seat of Weakley County where my greatgrandfather George McClure Bradberry was born in 1846, so it seemed likely that "Judge" Bradberry is a cousin of mine. At about this time I was corresponding with my second cousin Ben (Benton Lawrence Bradberry) and exchanging family history tidbits. Ben and I never met face to face, and I'm sorry that he is now deceased, but our lives had parallel paths in some ways. We had both been career Naval officers; he was a helicopter pilot and I was a destroyer sailor. More than once our mail got crossed, especially during the Vietnam era. Both Ben and I had tested our DNA and they were close matches as would be expected. Genetic genealogists group DNA into three types: Y DNA passed down from father to son; Mitochondrial DNA passed down from mother to both sons and daughters; and all the rest which are more or less randomly mixed. Comparing 37 standard Y DNA markers between Ben and me, our Y DNA were perfect matches. Although my Dad Winsel and Ben's Dad Lawrence never had their DNA tested, their 37 Y DNA markers were obviously identical. Continuing up the family tree, Winsel's Dad George Dee and Lawrence's Dad Charlie who were both sons of George McClure Bradberry also had identical Y DNA markers. So the conclusion is that George McClure Bradberry had the same Y DNA as does all his male descendants, which we now know. (Every once in a long while, there can be mutations in DNA - but they are very far between and can usually be accounted for).
Now back to determining how I may be related to Judge Brent Bradberry. The records show that a Richard Bradberry was a farmer in King William county, VA, in the early 1800s. He had several sons, and after he died in 1826 some of his sons moved to Weakley county, TN. In particular the brothers John, Henry, Richard and James Bradberry married and established farms near Dresden. There are now some male descendents of Henry, Richard and James still in northwest Tennessee who have analyzed their Y DNA. They are close matches to each other and are in the category of "R" Y DNA which has roots in western europe and the British Isles. Their brother John may have had only one child (or none at all!), since census data shows that John and his wife Sarah Ann McClure had only one child - namely George McClure Bradberry, born in 1846. But George McClure Bradberry and all his male descendants have Y DNA in category "I" which has roots in Scandinavia and around the Baltic (one colorful theory to explain why "I" Y DNA occurs some in the British Isles is that Vikings spread "I" Y DNA as well as pillaging). So I am not at all related to Judge Bradberry. So far there are two reasonable possibilities: Perhaps John Bradberry himself had been adopted, or that John Bradberry was indeed one of the brothers and his only child George McClure Bradberry was not his natural son. It is not yet conclusive but there are indications that George McClure Bradberry was adopted.
John Bradberry married Sarah Ann McClure and had only one child (TO BE CONTINUED...)
