unknown father of Josiah Churchill of Wethersfield

Unidentified. Possibly Devon and common ancestry with the Duke of Marlborough line. Not Rev. John Churchill & Sarah who had only daughters. DNA testing reveals I-1 haplotype & suggests possible distant cousin to John Churchill of Plymouth Colony, but cannot be brothers.

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From Churchill Y-DNA Project DNA Match 2006 (msg from Bill Churchill)

An important Churchill Y- DNA Project Report for those who have an
interest:

Over the last year our Churchill Y-DNA Project has been actively searching for Churchills in England who descend from known 17th Century English family groups. About two months ago we made contact with Churchill descendants of the 17th Century Wareham, Dorset Churchill family and the nearby 17th Century Colliton Churchills of the Dorchester area. Y-DNA Signatures for the men who tested have now been determined and evaluated.

The Wareham Churchill was an EXACT MATCH to the American Plymouth family Haplotype (Y-DNA signature) indicating that John Churchill the progenitor of the American Plymouth Churchill family was a very close relative to a 17th Century common ancestor of the Wareham family.

I should caution that this does not mean that John Churchill of the Plymouth Colony was himself from the Wareham area since the origin of the Wareham progenitor is unknown. What it means is that the John Churchill who first appeared in American Plymouth Colony records August of 1643 and the English John Churchill who came to settle at Wareham after 1637 were from the same family group and that they could (likely?)have had a common grandfather.

Since project inception we have tested Churchills:

From all four Colonial period American Churchill families,
From the ancient English Oxfordshire family,
From the Devon Harpford family, and
From the Dorset Colliton and Wareham families.

This testing of Churchill males both in the U.S., in Scotland and in England has yielded the following results:

1. The Haplotypes (Y-DNA signatures) of the four earliest American Churchill families - the American Colonial period Connecticut, Plymouth and Manhattan Churchills have been positively determined. The resulting DNA Signatures tell us that the American progenitors of the Plymouth family (John Churchill of Plymouth Colony) and the Manhattan family (William Churchill of Manhattan) were likely removed cousins.

The Connecticut progenitor (Josiah Churchill of Wethersfield) may have been slightly more removed but all were of the same family group in England circa 17th Century.

For information Connecticut, Plymouth and Manhattan Churchills all turn out to be in Haplogroup I -1a with one exception. The I -1a lineage indicates Viking or Norseman origin.

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From DEVON-L Archives 2009 (msg from Bill Churchill)

John Churchill who is said by LDS records to be the son of this John and Sarah Churchill is listed as born in 1620 at Muston. This birth information was submitted on IGI F500506, Sheet 27 by a Fred E. Sawyer. Mr. Sawyer lists The Churchill Family in America, other unspecified IGIs and something called T.I.B as his sources. The only information Mr. Sawyer could have obtained from The Churchill Family in America would have been its conjecture to the effect that John of Plymouth may have descended in some way from John and Eleanor (Miller) Churchill. John and Eleanor were the Reverend John’s parents. The only other IGI information that has been verified as valid is the Steeple infant baptism records for the daughters of John and Sarah. All other dates were provided by IGI “submitters” who did not provide valid sources.

Assuming there was a John Churchill born in 1620 in the Muston area, he was not the son of the Reverend John Churchill, the Rector of Stinsford and Steeple and his wife Sarah. There is no evidence to suggest that this 1620 John Churchill was John of Plymouth, MA. No actual parish register entry in Dorset has been found for any John Churchill born or baptized in 1620. We have only an unverified LDS submitter record. This 1620 John Churchill probably did not exist.

Sources 

1. THE CHURCHILL FAMILY.; Wharton Dickinson Upsets a Blue Book Genealogy. 1912