By BJ Neel Blizzard
email: [email protected]
Administrator of New York State DNA at FamilyTreeDNA
Where you can see the results of our Headley family cousins: #275726; #184197; #51883.
Also at the Hadley Project
Admiral Sir Francis Drake of Devon, never had children, but he may be related to you and me.
Click his image for a picture of William Shakespeare underneath it.
Drake y-DNA project at Family Tree DNA
FTDNA test for y-DNA, mt-DNA and Autosomal/Family Finder DNA.
Hadley/Headley DNA project
On Headley y-DNA at FTDNA, my first cousin Mike Hadley and second cousin Glenn Headley, are an exact match with #51883. We descend from Joshua M. Headlee and wife Susanna. Joshua descends from Richard Headley and Mary Drake.
Plymouth actually celebrates our Thanksgiving because of the locals who took the voyage and moved to the new world, according to my daughter, Eliza who went to University of Plymouth, England, her junior year of college and brought back the atlas with these maps pictured below. All three towns named Headley in England are located just north of the southern seaport, Portsmouth, except Hedley-on-the-Hill. Two are in County Hampshire, and a third in County Surrey, not too far from Esher where the heir of Sir Francis Drake the Navagitor lived. However, it is possible our ancestor Richard Headley was born north-east of Hedley-on-the-Hill at Ryton, County Durham (now County Tyne & Wear) which you will find in the last map below. Samuel Drake probably took orphan Richard into the family, as was the custom in the Colonies. Samuel and Richard moved from place to place with John Drake's community.
John Drake first married Lettice Shakespeare, first cousin of playwright William Shakespeare who looks suspiciously like Sir Francis Drake. This John Drake, many state, was born 1589 in Devon, England and died 17 Aug 1659 in a brutal cart related accident in Windsor, CT. The rest of them state he was born in Hampton-in-Arden, or around Warwickshire, England. He married Lettice Shakespeare 25 Jun 1616 in Hampton-in-Arden, Warwickshire, which is north-west of London, England. They were the parents of John, Esther, Job, and at least one more son whom some say was Samuel. I always believed Job and Samuel were brothers, because I was a DNA match with Job's descendant years ago. If Lettice died giving birth to Samuel, he may have been more of a burden than a treasure, as he was not mentioned in this John Drake's will. Lettice was the daughter of Henry Shakespeare and his wife Margaret. Lettice was the first cousin of playwright William Shakespeare. I would like to be related to William Shakespeare, but there is no legal proof that Samuel was the son of this John Drake or any other John Drake. However, I have a small degree of a match with Annette Shakespeare #F376615. Annette and I match on chromosomes 3,6,8,10, & 12: [#3, (764 SNPS) #6, (722 SNPS) #8, (808 SNPS) #10 (722 SNPS) and #12 (808 SNPS)] a total of 15.7cM. My aunt Geri Hadley, cousin Ron Potter (descendant of George W. Headley and Caroline Smith) and Merle Drake match at cM 4 and 8, but more of that match below. (My cousin Mike Hadley has not taken the atDNA test, just the y-DNA.)
In favor of our Drake lineage is the fact that I have about one hundred atDNA matches who have Drake ancestry in their trees. Lowering the search to 2cM and matching with John Drake's descendants: Merle Drake #163777 matches my aunt Geri Hadley Schmidt, at chromosomes 4 & 8 (total 8.9cM); cousins Glenn Headley at 12 (3.9cM); Ron Potter also at 4 & 8 (7.3cM); and myself at chromosomes 1, 6, 8, 11 and 15 (10.8cM). Ron Potter, Geri Hadley and Merle Drake share some of the same segments at chromosomes 4 & 8, so that is a three-way match! Also we share DNA with Merle Drake's sister Phillys Drake. Of Merle's matches, he has Annette Shakespeare #376616 and we also match with her. These matches lead me to believe we may descend from John Drake d. 1659 and Lettice Shakespeare who probably died when Samuel was born, however, I don't think this John whose descendants are T-y-DNA, descended from the Drakes of Ashe and Shardelos, or Prospect, whose descendants are R-y-DNA. As far as I know, his descendants Merle Drake A196640, and Merle's sister Phyllis Drake F163777, are my only surnamed Drake matches that I am aware of, and I had to lower the bar to find them, and they are new research for me. Phyllis' son Dean Williows is also my DNA match, and the cause of me looking at the Drakes with new dementions. We also share to a small degree, other Drake related cousins in common.
John's second wife was Elizabeth Rogers. Their children were Elizabeth, Mary, Jacob and another son, some other people assume to be Samuel.
Samuel Drake, born November 1623, in England, lived in Connecticut and moved with Richard in towe from location to location, finally settling in East Chester, Westchester County, New York, where Samuel died in 1686. Many early researchers claim Richard was born at Hedley-on-the-Hill, County Northumberland, which is in north-eastern England and seen on map #41 below. Four miles away, a Richard Hedlaye was born 6 February 1642, in Ryton, old County Durham, England. Different counties, same map.
Richard Headley, Sr. married two daughters of Samuel Drake, Hannah and Mary. Hannah Drake, was the mother of Robert and Samuel. After his father-in-law died, Richard married the younger daughter, Mary Drake who had Joseph, Richard, Jr. and John. Richard Headley, Jr. married Mary b. 1690. In early family histories the narative of this Richard Headley states he was in the British navy seven years when he went absent without leave. He was found by a team of twenty soldiers, and impressed into military service against his will. He escaped four years later and made his way back to his family. Richard was the father of John, who was the father of Joshua M. Headlee.
There are many different people named Joshua M. Headley/Headlee listed at Brigham Young University's new Relative Finder..... Trees are made up from records and other sources, but some of our relative's trees are mixed-up with the unrelated families of a Joshua Moses Headlee m. Jerusha Susannah Mann, son of Samuel Headley b.1690, and Mary Foster; son of Thomas Headley 1664-1739 and Mary Parker; son of Leonard Headley d.3 Feb 1683 and Sarah Diamond/Diament/Dimon.
They are not our family.
Our line is verified by Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) and Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) that Joshua M. Headlee was the son of John Headlee, Sr. and Jerusha Mann, son of Richard and Mary born 1690, through multi applications, the latter two generations are also on some of the records. As DAR member #824214 who has been through the process, I believe the SAR and DAR lineages are correct, that we descend from Richard Headley, b. 1691 d. 1770, father of John Headley who married Jerusha Mann, parents of Joshua M. Headlee.
Not all of my DNA.Ancestry Drake matches are related to me through Mary Drake. Some of those are Dratz/Drake of New Amsterdam, New York. While some descend from John Drake d. 1659, many are of unknown lineage with one female ancestor named Drake in their trees. Some descend from John Headley of the American Revolution, documented at SAR and DAR from Richard, Jr. and John Headley down through Joshua M. Headlee.
Our Drake and Headley ancestors moved with the same group in New England, and we descend from Mayflower passengers who intermarried with other New England colonists, so they are bound to be mixed in trees that have nothing to do with our actual blood lines.
To recap: John Drake of Plymouth, County Devon, England, was the son of William Drake and Philippa Dennys of Wiscombe, also in County Devon.(See maps #6 below) This John Drake was a member of the original Plymouth Company of 1606, but they didn't arrive in the new world until after 1620. John came to the colonies and died while scouting the area, according to some traditions. John Drake of Wiscombe was listed in the will of his cousin, Sir Francis Drake of Esher, written in 1633, when Samuel was nine years old. The town of Esher, just a few miles north of Headley, County Hampshire, is on the yellow boundry line of maps #9 & 17 on the first image, and you can see it just above map #9.
No one knows for sure where Richard Headley, Sr. was born. We can't ignore the birth record of Richard Headley in a town near Hedley-on-the-Hill. If he was born near Hedley-on-the-Hill, he is probably related to those Headleys who lived in Yorkshire, of which many were documented as favoring the name Samuel. With T-y-DNA, John Drake d. 1659 was probably born near the Yorkshire Drakes, as well.
East of Plymouth is a seaport called Portsmouth. Just north of Portsmouth there are two towns named Headley, and northeast of Portsmouth is another town named Headley. These three towns are all in the southern area of England, and nowhere near Hedley-on-the-Hill. The Samuel Drake of Yorkshire born about 1625 is well known but he never left England.
And so, with an open mind, I give you these maps of England to review.
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The towns named Headley are marked with a yellow circle.
Map Location Grid of England. Plymouth is map #3. Portsmouth is map #9.
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North of Plymouth, is Buckland Monachorum and Tavistock, home of Edmond Drake, his son Thomas and his son Sir Francis Drake, 1st. Bart. of Buckland who inherited the title from Admir. Sir Francis Drake pictured above. Edmond Drake was the son of Capt.John Drake and Margery Hawkins, sister of Capt.William Hawkins of Plymouth, pirate and confidant of King Henry VIII.
However, in the Visitations of Devon by Vivian there were no Headley families.
Capt. Francis Drake of Piscataway, New Jersey was not too far from descendants of Samuel Drake.
Our Richard Headley, Jr. died in Hunterdon, New Jersey. Richard named his first son Francis. It would really help if a proven direct descendant of Samuel Drake were y-DNA tested at FTDNA.
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Map #6; Wiscomb Park, Southleigh, in eastern County Devon, was the home of William and Philippa Dennys Drake, parents of John Drake of the original Plymouth Company formed in 1606. There are too many Drake home locations on this map to list.
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Map #8 and #9 of towns named Headley north of Portsmouth, England in County Hampshire. The first town in the upper left corner is map #8. The town marked in yellow on the right is the same town as the in map #9.
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Map #9 includes two Headley towns, upper right corner and center. At the top of the right side of the yellow line is Esher, home of Sir Francis Drake who mentioned his cousin John as being in the new world when he wrote his will in 1633. This John Drake of Plymouth is believed to be the father of our Samuel Drake d. 1686.
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Here is a close-up of the upper right corner of the Portsmouth map #9. On the right is Headley, and you will find Esher on the yellow line for map 17 above that. This was the home of Sir Frances Drake of Esher in County Surrey, who mentioned his cousin John Drake had gone to the American colonies in Sir Frances' will, written in 1633.
This Headley village was here before 1066, and while it is listed in the modern Doomsday Book as Headley the original spelling mentioned on page 123, is Hallege. This Headley is the oldest of three villages in the south of England of that name and has gone through a number of name spellings, but was first noted in the Domesday Book 1080-1090, as being owned by Count Eustace, Headley Mill Farms. From: The Doomsday Book, England's Heritage, Then and Now, Edited by Thomas Hide, 1995, CLB Publishing.
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Hampton-in-Arden, home of John Drake and Lettice Shakespeare. This John Drake d. 1659 lived in Hampton-in-Arden between Birmingham and Coventry. Lettice Shakespeare was the first cousin of playwright William Shakespeare, and Hampton-in-Arden was the heart of Shakespeare heritage. His second wife Elizabeth Rogers, was the daughter of Thomas Rogers and Margaret Pace of Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England.
Map location of Hedley-on-the-Hill is in northern England with the town name circled in pencil.
The Yorkshire Samuel Drake, whom people confuse with our Samuel, was a man of importance, had a large family, but he never left England.
Ryton, County "Durham" Tyne & Wear, is only about four miles north-east of Hedley-on-the-Hill, and has been obsorbed by County Tyne & Wear. Ryton is due west of Newcastle Upon Tyne. The birth record of Richard Hedlaye in Ryton, so close to Hedley-on-the-Hill, lends support to the fact that the Richard Hedlaye, born 6 Feb 1642, may be our Richard Headley. If that is so, then our Richard's father's name was Robert Hedlaye, as noted by our cousin Glenn Headley.
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