Joshua Poythress

Joshua Poythress born 1588 in London could not have been the son of William Poythress born 1695 in Virginia. Profile locked until proper place in tree is found. Maria Edmonds-Zediker, April 6, 2014

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Joshua married Peachy /Unknown/ about 1607 in , Middlesex, England. (Peachy /Unknown/ was born about 1582 in , , England.)

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Poythress/Poytress Surname Y-DNA Study

Note: This Study is an all volunteer effort; it is not a commercial entity. Barbara Poythress Neal serves as the volunteer Group Administrator of the Project; she does not receive any funds for coordinating participants' DNA results. She has no connection or affiliation with the company being used for the testing.

General Background on Surname Study

Our surname is a relatively rare one. In England, the POYTRESS surname has been around for more than 400 years. In America, people of the POYTHRESS surname have been here for almost 400 years. In America, the earliest of the name we have found is Francis Poythress, who came prior to 9 Feb 1632 , when he was in James City County, Virginia. We know he served as a factor (or an agent) for a London merchant, Lawrence Evans, in the year prior to Sep 1637, and served as a Burgess representing Charles City County, Virginia in 1644 and later. (See citations for these and more early information at our website's "17th Century Records" section)

The christening that researchers have found in England (apparently for this man), was that of Francis POYTHRESS, christened on 12 July 1609 at Newent, in Gloucestershire, a son of John PEWDREIES (who owned nearby Ploddy House until 1647/48). Another son of John PEWDREIES of Newent, Christopher POYDRAS, was christened in early Sep 1616, according to St. Swithun's Parish Register, Worcester. Christopher did not leave England and left many descendants there who spelled the surname POYTRESS.

To better determine whether the current POYTHRESS and POYTRESS surnamed people indeed descend from one progenitor, this Surname DNA Study Project was launched in June 2003. It is open to any male, in any country, born of a father who was surnamed Poythress, Poytress, or other possible spelling variations. As of January 2009, we have 16 participants surnamed Poythress/Poytress. We would welcome more.

DNA Testing as a Genealogical Research Tool

More detailed information regarding DNA for genealogy purposes is available at the website of the company (Family Tree DNA) being used for this Study: www.familytreedna.com

For Surname Y-DNA Studies, the company gives a discount from the price that would be charged to an individual not affiliated with a Surname Study. Using the Y-DNA test kit is similar to using a toothbrush. The kit does not test for any disease, or hereditary condition.

To join the project, go to our Study's page at: Family Tree DNA Poythress Project

Or if you are interested in participating in our Study, and need assistance in affording it, please privately contact our volunteer Group Administrator, Barbara Poythress Neal: barbpoy.neal@gmail.com

Anyone interested in helping to sponsor a participant (perhaps the father, brother, or uncle of an interested female) can also contact Barbara to discuss how this can be accomplished. 

The Y-DNA test looks only at specific markers within the man's Y Chromosome, that are passed from father to son. When testing a number of men of the same surname (or variant), results begin to show sub-groups of men develop, who are more closely related within various branches of the same surname line.

Findings

Poythress/Poytress Y-DNA results can be viewed at the website www.ysearch.org. Ysearch is a huge public DNA database where individuals' Y-DNA results can be easily compared between those having the same surname, or even can be compared with people having other surnames. Privacy is available in Ysearch, even when DNA numerical results are listed.

One participant is known to be descended from the above-mentioned John who owned Ploddy House in Gloucestershire in the 1600s, through John's son Christopher. Our other participants to date are Americans, many of whom had ancestors known to have lived in Virginia before most of their family lines moved further south to North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississipp. The results of almost all participants are close enough to assure they are related.

We continue to work with more customary genealogical source materials (including census, tax, land, Bible, etc records) and to look for such source materials that are harder to find, in our effort to better determine how the various branches relate to each other.

If you have further questions, please personally contact our volunteer Group Administrator, Barbara Poythress Neal: barbpoy.neal@gmail.com