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Hi Polk researchers,
If you descend from John Polk who m. Eleanor Shelby, said John Polk who supposedly was a son of William Polk/Margaret Taylor, President Polk's greatgrandparents, then you may have to rethink your ancestry, as do I, since John Polk/Eleanor Shelby are my 4th greatgrandparents. Read on.
Recently, John F. Polk of Havre de Grace, MD., long a well-known and respected Polk researcher and one with whom I have corresponded for over ten years, had his paternal DNA test done and there are some very surprising results, as compared to my own DNA test done some months ago. John's results show that he and I are not as closely connected as we had believed (Based on everything we have found in many years, it seemed almost certain that the John Polk of York Co., SC., who m. Eleanor Shelby, was Thomas Polk's brother, both being sons of William Polk/Margaret Taylor, or so we believed, and available evidence seemed to validate to some degree). This sibling relationship appears to not be true, as our most recent common ancestor, per the DNA tests, is 22 generations back, not eight generations back, as it should be, if William Polk (Margaret Taylor)were our common ancestor. As some of you who have followed the Polks know, I have long had some doubts about the John Polks of the Mecklenburg area, have had a real fun time trying to assign various records to given John Polks of that area, and I published in various forums my findings on all these John Polks some time ago. But, despite my doubts, I always was fairly well convinced that the John Polk who m. Eleanor Shelby was the brother of the aforementioned Thomas Polk, and was a son of William Polk/Margaret Taylor. Now it seems that my doubts about the parents/son connection of my John Polk have been proven valid by John F. Polk's DNA test. This really opens a can of worms for my own ancestry and that of many, many people who descend from this John Polk who m. Eleanor Shelby. As many of you know, both John F. Polk and I have long believed that William Polk who m. Margaret Taylor was not descended from the Somerset Co., MD., Polks; now those of us who, accepting that William Polk/Margaret Taylor was as far back as we could prove our Polk ancestry, have another cross to bear, we can trace our ancestry only to John Polk/Eleanor Shelby, this assuming the accuracy of the DNA tests (and I have no real reason to question these).
I am unsure at this point how I will proceed on my ancestry, possibly I will have another DNA test with another company, a test with more markers than the 33 marker test that I took.
I suggest that male Polk descendants of John Polk/Eleanor Shelby may want to have their DNA tested. At least with such tests, we may be able to come up with our common ancestor, or at least reduce the generations back to that common ancestor, whoever he may be.
Many years ago, I believed I was related to Robert Polk/Magdalen Tasker Porter, Somerset Co., MD. and I accepted that the said Robert Polk was descended from the royal lines of England and Scotland. Not so; so, I gave up my royal kinship. Then, we came to the conclusion that our William Polk who m. Margaret Taylor could not possibly be related, as published, to the Somerset, MD., Polks, thus I gave up two more older generations before William Polk. But, I still could claim kinship to President Polk, or so I thought, until these DNA tests. Now it seems I have to give up my kinship to President Polk, too. Just goes to show you that if there are kinks/doubts in your family line, you better get those straightened out and you may wind up with a big surprise.
I welcome comments, questions, suggestions. Anyone know who John Polk's parents are? Bill Polk, Kansas City, MO.
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