William Fitz James Thiers

William Fitz James Thiers was supposedly born in Paris and related to Adolphe Thiers, However, Y-DNA testing indicates that he is likely to be the grandson of Benjamin Ruggles (1713-1790) and his first wife, Alice Merrick.

The way the story went, William Fitz James Thiers and his brother came to the United States from France through New Orleans. On the ship on the way over, they had an argument. His brother headed to St. Louis and William FJ headed to Maryland. William FJ ended up in New York City.

My father searched ship manifests in New Orleans and never found a record of his immigration there or anywhere else. His death record does not list the names of his parents or his place of birth. Following his arrest in New York City where he was using an assumed name of Dr. DuBois, it was reported that he was a native of New Orleans.

In a Y-DNA test, my father matched people whose surname was Ruggles and Lewis, with Ruggles being the most closely related. From what I can piece together from Y-DNA and autosomal DNA test results, "William Fitz James Thiers" was probably the grandson of Benjamin Ruggles (1713-1790) and his first wife, Alice Merrick.

Automsomal DNA tests results indicate that my father and his sister are full siblings. His father had siblings. His grandfather had no siblings and his great-grandfather (the son of WIlliam Fitz James Thiers) had no siblings. While a non-paternal event is a possibility, it is more likely that William Fitz James Thiers was using an assumed name.

Further research is needed.

Jan Thiers Rohn, updated 8/2/2022