For many years Jernigan researchers have been trying to unravel the mystery of the origins of James Silas Jernigan, who was my great-great grandfather. In fact he IS my brick wall. There is no credible tangible documentation of the identity of his father. All of the evidence so far indicates his mother was probably Hannah Jernigan, the eldest daughter of Clement Jernigan and Drucilla Terry of the 1840 and 1850 censuses of Sevier Co, TN.

I recently submitted samples of my DNA to Family Tree DNA for a 37 marker Y-chromosome test. As I understand it the Y-chromosome (or rather a copy of it) is passed only from father to son on down the line. So, for the most part, with a possible slight mutation through the generations, I have a Y-chromosome just like my father's father's father's father's father's father's father's...etc etc etc all the way back to the first male human in my direct paternal line. And it is certain that I have the same one as James Silas Jernigan.

Other men with the surname Jernigan have had this test done and have submitted their results to the Jernigan DNA Project. I have only received the results of the identity of the first 12 markers of my Y-chromosome, but, already it is evident that I (nor my gg-grandfather) have a shred of direct paternal ancestry to any other Jernigans. The first 12 markers are NOT the same as those of the vast majority of other Jernigan men in the project and not similar to any other men (with different surnames like Knowles and Rawls) who have matches that coincide with the numbers submitted by most of the Jernigan men in the project.

I haven't received the test results of the remaining 25 markers yet and will hopefully find some matches with others that share those same numbers (or 90% of them, which, I understand is the percentage necessary to establish credible evidence of the same ancestor). So far the first 12 markers are the same as several men whose surname is Chandler. I'm not going to contact any of them until I get the rest of the test results and see how much more it narrows down the possible candidates for those with whom I share direct paternal ancestry.

Feel free to contact me and to give my email to other descendants of James Silas Jernigan who wish to contact me concerning these test results and future test results if they want to be kept informed of those as well. Or any other Jernigan researchers, Chandler researchers or any other researchers interested in these results.

Barry Jernigan
College Grove, TN

bjernigan7040@bellsouth.net

I now have the test results of all 37 markers. There are no matches with any Jernigan test results. There are strong matches (36 out of 37 in some cases) with individuals with the surname Chandler. A strong case can be made that James Silas Jernigan's father may have been a Chandler. More info when I get it from the Chandler DNA project.

Barry Jernigan
College Grove, TN

I now have 67 markers of my Y-chromosome identified and there is no doubt that my direct paternal ancestry is Group 7A of the Chandler DNA Project. My direct paternal ancestor is Robert Chandler of Elizabeth City County, Virginia. The CFA (Chandler Family Association) strongly believes Robert to have been a grandson of John Chandler who came to Jamestown, Virginia in 1610 on the ship, "Hercules".

So now the task is to try to find out at what point the family name was changed from Chandler to Jernigan

Latest research indicates that Group 7A Chandlers may have been living near the Jernigans at the time that they lived in Sevier County, Tennessee. The Chandlers of Boyd's Creek owned one of the largest plantations in Sevier County -- Wheatlands. One of the Chandler males could conceivably have had an affair with Hannah Jernigan and my great-great grandfather, James Silas Jernigan (born about 1850-1855 in probably either Tennessee or Alabama) could have been a result of that relationship. I'm currently researching records of the Chandler and associated families in Sevier Count, TN and will probably eventually take a research trip there as well.