Author: ancestorquests

The document titled Profile of Richard Mills , shows what was found for him in the Sherington and Newport Pagnell area of Buckinghamshire and for his adult life in Enfield, Middlesex. His children are included as are some of his grandchildren. His will is also in the document.

It’s important to keep in mind that research on Richard was not intensive and no attempt was made to document every descendant or event in his life. It’s possible some of his children were christened or buried outside Enfield. He likely had children who moved away from Enfield and had their families in other parishes. Working with the surname Mills in the London area generates a lot of finds even in the 1600s, so other than the more obvious possibilities for Richard’s family no further attempt was made to follow this line any farther.

John Kendall alias Mills Sr. lived from 1623-1666. He fathered only one known child, but may have had other children. He died during an outbreak of plague that hit Newport Pagnell particularly hard. He had at least two wives, but despite knowing the name of the second wife, no marriage has been found for either marriage. For a more complete description of his life, property transactions, will, burial, and more follow this link.

How did Y-DNA help determine the parentage of Francis Kendall? For the answer to that question to make sense, some basic knowledge of Y-DNA is required.

What is Y-DNA?

Y-DNA is passed down only by males to males.[1] It is a direct father to son transmission for every generation in a paternal line. Women do not carry Y-DNA, not even from their fathers. It is part of the Y chromosome, which women do not get. Y-DNA changes only a little over many generations so a father’s or even a great grandfather’s Y-DNA may be identical to a son’s or great grandson’s. Or it may change, but minute differences can only be detected by a specific Y-DNA test.

Y-DNA vs atDNA

Y-DNA, as stated, changes little over multiple generations of males, but autosomal DNA (atDNA) changes a lot with every generation.[2] Autosomal DNA is the test most of us are familiar with, being done by Ancestry, 23 and Me, FamilyTreeDNA, My Heritage and others. Male and female children in any given family can make use of autosomal testing because every person inherits approximately half their autosomal DNA from each parent and every succeeding generation does the same. Autosomal DNA is quickly watered down as it passes through multiple generations, so a great grandparent and a great grandchild share only 12.5% (or less) of their DNA. That is a large difference from the 100% or nearly 100% inheritance of Y-DNA over the same number of paternal generations.

Y-DNA and surnames

Typically, Y-DNA goes hand in hand with the transmission of a surname in European/European-settled cultures (like North and South America) and in many Asian countries. However, surnames and Y-DNA do not always go hand in hand because of NPEs.[3] Whether the acronym stands for Non-Paternity (or Non-Parental) Event, or Not the Parent Expected, the meaning of the term is that the paper trail and DNA results are not a match. This may happen for several reasons including illegitimacy, adoption, use of alias surnames and the fluidity of surnames, intentional name changes, and more. When using Y-DNA as evidence to build a family tree, caution about what to expect should always be exercised.

Before reading this, please read the post titled Why Y-DNA? if you are not already familiar with Y-DNA testing for genealogy. It will explain how Y-DNA can be used for genealogical research.

Kendall testing

My husband took a Big-Y 700 DNA test in February 2023. His test matched that of another man with the surname Mills in the same haplogroup on all but 13 out of 700 markers. Genetically speaking, that is a paternal line relationship. However, Y-DNA changes very little and very slowly, so even close Y-DNA cousins may have a most recent common ancestor (MRCA) born before church or vital records were commonly kept. FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA), a well-known testing company for Y-DNA, hosts the Kendall Y-DNA project and many others. FTDNA has estimated the common ancestor for my husband and the other tester was living between 1450 and 1800, with the greatest likelihood around 1600 to 1650.[1] With a connection that early, finding an MRCA might not be possible, but there were other clues we could use.

Colonial America Kendalls

Many Kendall family histories, including a number of those for the Francis Kendall family, state he and his brother, Thomas, came from either Cambridgeshire or Norfolk in England. None provided original documentation for those statements. Generations of Francis and Thomas Kendall descendants have combed Cambridgeshire and Norfolk without success for a family of Kendalls with sons named Thomas and Francis (born about 1616 and 1620).  

Failure to find Francis and Thomas in either Cambridgeshire or Norfolk told us one of two things. Either they were from one of those counties but lived in a parish without records in the early 1600s, or researchers were looking in the wrong places. Without an additional clue, a different location for their origin would have been hard to determine.

The clue that sent research in the right direction was the Y-DNA testing. It also proved Kendall Y-DNA testers are in many different haplogroups (about 20 so far). Therefore, Kendalls are not all closely related and did not all come from the same place. This is a shout-out to Scott Kendall for all the work he has done on the Kendall DNA project and to all those who have joined the project. Without his project and chart, it would be difficult to make Y-DNA comparisons.

Besides the family of Rafe Mills alias Kendall, there were others in Newport Pagnell and the local area using the alias surname from the 1560s through the 1750s. The alias surname is unique, so these others MUST have been related to Rafe, whether by marriage, adoption or blood. But it’s tough to establish exactly HOW they all relate. This post sets out what we know and what we theorise about them.

The earliest Kendalls, Millses and aliases

Newport Pagnell PRs start in 1550 and provide our earliest evidence of Kendalls and Mylls there in the records for just two families.[1]

1. Hewgh Kendall with a wife probably named Margery was having children in Newport from 1560 to 1570, all recorded or known solely as Kendall. Hewgh was possibly born c1535 and buried on 4 January 1595/6, giving a rough age at death of 60ish. He did not leave a Will. The family group:

Hewgh Kendall Family [wife possibly Margery buried 27 Oct 1604]

Hewgh born c1535, buried 27 Oct 1604

1560, 8 Dec – Joan dau of Hewgh Kendall bap [buried 11 Dec 1560]

1561/2, 15 Jan – Andrew son of Hewgh Kendall buried

1561/2, 15 Jan – Ann dau of Hewgh Kendall buried

c1563 – Anthony Kendall [no baptism found, known as Kendall in adult records]

c1564-5 – Elizabeth Kendall [no baptism found, married John Kyght in Newport 5 Dec 1586]

1566, 2 May – John Kendall (no father named – as a Kendall more likely to be Hewgh, but could be Thomas – fate unknown unless he was the eldest son John named in Thomas’ 1605 Will, see below)

1570 – Agnes dau of Hewgh Kendall bap [possibly buried 7 May 1594]

Possibly a dau Isabell buried as an older child or adult on 29 September 1584.

Of Hewgh’s sons, only Anthony is known for sure to have survived and had descendants in Newport, all named Kendall, none using the alias surname.

Can more research be done on the Kendall alias Mills family? Of course. That’s always the answer when it comes to genealogical research. We try to exhaust available sources, but most of the time we are exhausted (time-wise and/or funding) before they are. As I write this last instalment in the Mills alias Kendall story, I am moving on to other lines and ancestors, but if anyone wants to pick up this baton there is more searching and analyzing to do.

A lot of big questions about the ancestry of Francis and Thomas Kendall have been answered. Due to the unique alias surname that Francis used (Kendall alias Mills) and a lot of supporting evidence (see the many posts written about the research finds), we have added quite a lot to the family saga. We have found where Francis and Thomas came from in England (Sherington/Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire), who the father of Francis and Thomas was (Ralph), the names of their siblings (John, Richard, Elizabeth, Mary, and Susan), what their general economic status was (well enough off to own a little land), and what occupations the family had (mostly carpenters). However, there are still a few “holes” in our knowledge of the Kendall alias Mills family and their connections. These form suggestions for future research. I have grouped the biggest remaining questions into three categories based on place and time.

Pedigree research:

• Who are Ralph Kendall alias Mills’ descendants today? Research may trace the progeny of Richard and John (brothers of Francis) who had known descendants, and perhaps also find family ties through Ralph’s daughters, Elizabeth, Susan, and Mary.
• Who are the descendants of John Mills & Ann Dancer and their son, James Mills, the ancestors of the Mills DNA tester? Finding living descendants of James Mills (see post titled How Y-DNA helped identify Francis Kendall alias Miles/Mills) will give us a better chance of finding how the ancestors of James Mills connect to the Ralph Kendall alias Mills family.