Sunday, May 31, 2009

Wicker Roots, Part Two


Fast forward to recently. . .the internet and DNA have helped genealogy tremendously. A cousin, Ricky, referred me to his cousin's wife Leigh who was interested in genealogy. She had written R. Fenton Wicker (author of the Wicker Book and the one who had told me we were Newberry Wickers) to find out if we were related. She was not aware of the amount of research I had already done on the family. I became frustrated just hearing about it again, and then recalled a letter R. Fenton had written me indicating there was a possibility we were related. Ambrose Wicker (whom I'd always thought we were related to) had a son named Hugh Mack (my ancestor Hugh M. was my "brick wall") and R. Fenton gave me the name of one of Ambrose's descendents---G. E. Wicker.I wrote G. E. a letter; we traded e-mail addresses and photos. Seeing his photo made me more interested in finding out the truth, and I knew that was DNA. Ricky contacted his cousin Kevin (Leigh's husband) and I contacted G. E. (it needed to be someone with the surname WICKER). They agreed to scrape their cheeks. The results after 25 markers is that we are related. But, can't you tell by the photos below that Ricky and G. E. share some genes?
Thanks to Ricky, Kevin, Leigh and G. E., we now know a little bit more about our heritage. First, we are North Carolina Wickers. Also, we are Il (that's not I1) Look below at the population densities of those who are Il. If you double click on the photo to make it larger, we are M253 positive.
Basically, this tells us that our WICKER ancestors were probably Vikings originating in Denmark, Sweden or Norway. 22% of the British are Il or Wodan (the name assigned by Bryan Sykes in his book Saxon, Vikings, Celts); 64% of the British are R1 (Sykes' name for that is Oisin) like my LONG family.
If we are indeed of Viking DNA, this chart indicates it was probably in the 11th century and involved settlement not just raids. Our family was from the yellow area in England; green are Viking raiders; burgundy 8th century settlement; red 9th century settlement; orange 10th century settlement.

Although we still aren't in the Wicker book, I think I can make that dotted line on my chart solid. And, the R. Fenton Wicker book? Well, it went from $27.95 to around $80.00 on the secondary book market.

2 comments:

Mizzou81 said...

I am so relieved to know we are NOT a Newberry Wicker. With my new glasses though I do see myself as a Burberry Wicker.

signed - James Edward (should have been Wesley...Ambrose would have immortalized me) bloodline of Hugh M. Wicker.

Hopefully the Book of Wicker will revised shortly to include one of the more prominent lines of Wickers.

Mizzou81 said...

Actually the New Wicker - Whicker Family, revised and enlarged
by Richard Fenton Wicker, Jr. 839p. 1989, 1997.is up to $111.00 BUY