I unfortunately don’t have the exact data concerning the first part of this, my sister Sula had all the info. She always thought that the Richard line went back to Edward Richards (1678 Manchester, Lancashire, England – 1755 Hampstead, Carroll, Maryland, USA) but she didn’t have enough proof to for her to believe it. She was a stickler for proof and needed x number of documents to prove something.

A couple of years before she passed, she received a message from a gentleman who said that he was an illegitimate descendant of Edward and wanted to know if any of us had had our DNA ran. At that point we had not, but she talked our brother Cecil into it. The results showed that we were related and from that contact she got the final proof she needed to claim Edward. This was the final link, taking the Richard line back to its beginnings in America. 

At a later date I also had my DNA ran. We always felt we had Cherokee blood but mine did not show any. Cecil’s did. So, one of two things, either he received the Cherokee from his mother (we have different mothers) or since DNA is NOT 50/50 from each parent, I didn’t get any from our Dad and he did.

I had always believed that I was probably 99% English, so the results at first surprised me. 40% English, 38% Scottish, 15% Germanic Europe and 7% Ireland. 

The Germanic Europe ties into modern day Netherlands, so maybe I am a little bit Viking?

The Irish surprised me until I understood that the Cary line most probably ended up in England from Ireland. So now I can celebrate St Patrick’s day with true Irish blood.