This is a story of how DNA can help to confirm or correct questionable assumptions about family trees.  Stephen Douglas Chadwell was born in the 1860s.  That much is certain.   Most seem to believe that he was the son of William Weakley Chadwell and his wife, Sarah.  As of this writing, Find-A-Grave reflects that, as do most public trees posted on ancestry websites.  Find-A-Grave and most public trees indicate Stephen was born in either Iowa or Minnesota on 27 Apr 1866 or possibly Apr 1862.  Stephen’s death certificate (below) and his memorial tombstone both say he was born 27 Apr 1866.

It's well documented that William Weakley Chadwell is a descendant of George Chadwell of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, b. abt 1700 ("George of Pittsylvania").  So far, all Chadwells descended from George of Pittsylvania have a distinguishing "19" in marker DYS576 of their y-DNA results.   One of our Chadwell Project members is descended from Stephen Douglas Chadwell, so we were surprised when he had an “18” instead of a "19" for marker DYS576.  The “18” suggested our Project member was most likely descended from John Chadwell of Stafford County, Virginia b. 1658  (“John of Stafford”), not George of Pittsylvania as was assumed.

We decided we needed to do a thorough review of the paper trail.  Our review showed that Stephen Douglas Chadwell’s father was not William Weakley Chadwell b. 1839 in Tennessee; but actually was William Chadwell, b. abt 1816 in Virginia, died sometime after 1870, probably in Iowa, and his wife Mehitable Tallman.  We also found that Stephen Douglas Chadwell was actually born in Minnesota in Apr 1860. Stephen appears in the 8 Jun 1860 census for Mantorville, Dodge County, Minnesota (below) where he was reported to be only two months old, so he was most likely born there.

That census refers to him as “Douglas,” a name he apparently often went by.  (We found that the death certificates for two of his three children referred to him as “Douglas” - see example below.)  What we didn’t find was any evidence that William Weakley Chadwell was Stephen’s father.

We believe that DNA results and paper trails must be used together for good genealogy, so we’ll be doing more DNA testing to confirm the results of our paper trail review. Our Chadwell Project member who descends from Stephen Douglas Chadwell has already ordered a Family Finder test to see if he matches other distant cousins of William Weakley Chadwell who have taken the Family Finder test.  Based on the y-DNA results, we expect he won't match them.  (Both men and women can take the Family Finder test.  For those who have tested elsewhere, in most cases you can easily upload your results to Family Finder.)

We would also like to compare our Project member's DNA results to descendants of William Chadwell of Iowa, b 1816.  Unfortunately, we haven’t yet identified any other descendants of William Chadwell of Iowa who have already taken DNA tests. If you are a male or female descendant of William Chadwell of Iowa and have taken a DNA test, please let us know!  If you are a Chadwell male and are a descendant of another one of William Chadwell of Iowa’s sons, the Chadwell Project will pay for your DNA testing if you would be willing to help us solve this mystery.  (William Chadwell of Iowa had three other sons:  George Tallman Chadwell, b. 1849 in Iowa; Ryland Chadwell b. abt 1852 in Iowa; and Henry Clay Chadwell b. 1854 in Iowa.)  Thank you!

Our next goal will be to try to confirm this lineage back to John Chadwell of Stafford County, Virginia.  Stay tuned for our findings.

If you would like to learn more about your Chadwell lineage, we encourage you to have a male Chadwell from your line submit a y-DNA sample and join the Chadwell Project too!

UPDATE:  A descendant of William Chadwell of Iowa volunteered for y-DNA testing, and his results are in.  His closest match is the descendant of Stephen Douglas Chadwell!  They match almost identically.  Our theory that Stephen Douglas Chadwell was the son of William Chadwell of Iowa (not William Weakley Chadwell) was correct.  Thanks to the clear message from the y-DNA results, we were able to correct an erroneous tree.

If you're a Chadwell and have questions about your tree, y-DNA testing can probably help you too.