Thomas Plummer II - Children of Thomas Plummer Ii and Elizabeth Smith

Familysearch.org is a bit iffy prior to the institution of the US census (1790), and depends on surviving records and on information compiled by both professional and amateur - sometimes *very* amateur - genealogists.

Considering that they are run by the LDS, they have a vested interest in making as many connections as possible, whether valid or not. (Disagreement in the records is usually an indication of inferior or sloppy research.)

This particular Plummer line is especially popular because they can be traced back (through Elizabeth Plummer Yate/Stockett) to distant royal ancestors - and whenever that happens, there is a likelihood of people latching onto it because they want to believe their ancestors were royal. Such lines need especially careful verification because of the human tendency toward wishful thinking ("Great-grandpa was a William Plummer, he must have been *this* William Plummer").

Y-DNA research has revealed "wishful thinking" in several lines that were supposed to have been descended from the Anne Arundel Plummers - the progenitor, Thomas Plummer I Thomas Plummer, of Anne Arundel , had a very unusual haplotype: G, probably G2a3b1.

The Bourbon royal family of France (and consequently of Spain, currently represented by King Juan Carlos) also belonged to this haplotype, and it is thought that the early Capet kings of France did too. Samples of it have been found in Merovingian-era graves, so although it is not common, it has been established in northwestern Europe for a very long time.

Several lines of supposed descendants tested R1b1a2, which is the haplotype that the Massachusetts Plummers (descendants of Francis Plummer, of Newbury ) belonged to...but so did others. R1b1a2 is so common that deep-testing is recommended to find out exactly which variant is involved.

In the face of all this, maybe a new site should be established......... " get yourOWNlife.com " ;)

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

Update on the Bourbons: Y-DNA testing of descendants of Louis XIV and his brother Philippe shows that, at least since them, the actual haplotype is one of the zillions of R1b1a2 variants (specifically, R-Z381*).

It is now very strongly suspected that the gourd containing the "blood of Louis XVI" was a pious fraud perpetrated by persons unknown - not only is there a major haplotype mismatch, but the genotype doesn't match either.

As for the "head of Henri IV", the jury is still out - the original lab results were pretty sketchy, and recent retesting has not clarified the picture very much. That the chain of possession was broken several times is another suspicious circumstance.

Someone whose Y-DNA *was* found to belong to haplotype G2a was Richard III - but there isn't a close match with the Plummer version, so they aren't "lost Plantagenets".