Puckett Y-DNA Testing

Puckett Research Main Page

Short Version:  Y-DNA testing for Puckett surname men shows there was a NPE (non-paternal event).  The MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) of the "Y-DNA Profile: B" was William Puckett, born circa 1682, and given ID 'C7' in Gee's book.  The Y-DNA testing through three of this William's sons - Thomas, William and Douglass - shows a different Y-DNA profile than other testers with documented Puckett lines back to Puckett ancestors in Virginia and South Carolina.  Likely, William Puckett (C7) was adopted, and not the biological son of William Puckett (B2).

Puckett Y-DNA testing (click here) was done about 15 years ago by several Puckett men.  View with caution the conclusions of author, Gary Curtis Puckett, now deceased.   Gary's Puckett line.

All of the Puckett lines tested appear to come from the original John Puckett of Virginia (there by 1665), or from Timothy Puckett of South Carolina (there by 1736).

Interestingly, there are obviously two distinct Puckett Y-DNA lines, meaning two distinct paternal-line ancestors.  Gary Curtis Puckett thought that meant there were two Puckett ancestors in colonial Virginia, but after correcting the lineages of the testers as Gary presented them, all the lines, by "paper descent" (traced by documentation, not DNA), come from either John Puckett (1665 Virginia land patent) or Timothy Puckett (1736 South Carolina land grant).

The lineages as presented by Gary Puckett are incorrect in some cases, and some contain imaginary ancestors with no documentation whatsoever.

Corrections on the Y-DNA Study page from left to right:

In my opinion, what this DNA study shows is that that the descendants of William Puckett (C7 in Gee's book) and his wife Mary are from a different Y-DNA lineage than other Puckett lines in colonial Virginia and South Carolina.  This would mean William Puckett (C7) was not the biological son of William Puckett (B2 in Gee's book).  Perhaps he was adopted; there were certainly many orphans in the late 1600s in Virginia.    Alternatively, Ann (who I am not convinced was a Womack) may have had a husband before William Puckett (B2), and had William (C7) by this first husband who subsequently died, and then Ann married William Puckett (B2) and her son William (C7) by her first husband took the Puckett name.  There are other alternative scenarios, but adoption seems most likely.

In Womack genealogy, three Womacks men who called themselves brothers in multiple records of early Henrico Co, VA were in fact the biological sons of three different men from the Womack DNA Study; they were likely brothers in the sense they had the same mother and two of them were adopted by  William Womack Sr when their mother married him, and these boys took the Womack name.

The linkage between Puckett lines in colonial South Carolina and Virginia is intriguing.  Certainly, Puckett families from Virginia were migrating to SC in the 1770s, and possibly in the 1760s.  However, Timothy Puckett was in SC by 1736, and apparently had a son named Ephraim Puckett.  The Biblical name Ephraim was not common, and the fact it ran in both the SC and VA families is likely not a coincidence.  I think it likely that Timothy Puckett (C2 in Gee's book), son of John Puckett and Elizabeth Allen, moved to SC sometime after his last known record in VA in 1724.  The Y-DNA matches may simply indicate a common Puckett ancestor in England, but I think they show Timothy Puckett in SC in 1736 was the same as Timothy Puckett (C2), son of John Puckett and Elizabeth Allen.

The difference in Y-DNA between descendants of William Puckett (C7) and other Puckett lines is useful for sorting these Puckett families.  

More Y-DNA testers are needed.  Testers need to be males with the Puckett surname, since Y-DNA is passed father to son.  

There is a Puckett DNA group at FamilyTree DNA:  Puckett DNA Group

Testers need to be sure to get the Y-DNA test.  Autosomal DNA tests do not help with paternal lineages beyond a few generations (7 generations is really pushing the upper limit of what autosomal DNA can prove), and most living Puckett individual are 12 or more generations beyond the original John Puckett of Henrico, Co, VA.  Ancestry.com has not offered Y-DNA tests for many years; they only do autosomal DNA tests now.

I would be happy to help with interpretation of Puckett Y-DNA results:  My Contact Info

Corrected Lineages

Note:  Includes name, year of birth (c for approximate), place of birth, and additional info.  The additional info can be their ID from Gee's book, or a census record they appear in.

Lineage #1 - Y-DNA Profile: B

Lineage #2 - Y-DNA Profile: A

Lineage #3 - Y-DNA Profile: A

Lineage #4 - Y-DNA Profile: A

Lineage #5 - Y-DNA Profile: A

Lineage #6 - Y-DNA Profile: B

Lineage #7 - Y-DNA Profile: B

Lineage #8 - Y-DNA Profile: B