DNA Testing

In 2012 I submitted a saliva sample for DNA testing to determine where my ancestors had lived.  I used the service offered to Ancestry.com members and here are the results.  I was at first surprised at the Scandinavian dominance until I read more about the Vikings exploration of Europe.  It now makes sense knowing that the Scandinavians were in Ireland and the UK and established civilizations there.    The disappointment was the absence of Native American. I hold out hope that my uncertain 5% may have some Native American or African American connection.

Genetic Ethnicity Summary

Your genetic ethnicity reveals where your ancestors lived hundreds—perhaps even thousands—of years ago.

• Scandinavian
   42%
• British Isles
   21%
• Southern European
   18%
• Finnish/Volga-Ural
   14%
• Uncertain
   5%

About Scandinavian Ethnicity

Modern Day Location
Norway, Sweden, Denmark

Looks like you may have some Viking blood in you. Your genetic ethnicity ties you to Scandinavia, which includes the modern-day nations of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. While the Vikings were feared by the coastal towns of medieval Europe as seaborne raiders and violent pillagers, they were also well-travelled merchants and ambitious explorers. They raided the Mediterranean coast of Africa, settled areas as far south as the Black Sea, and traded with the Byzantine Empire. And it was a Norse sailor, Leif Ericson, who is credited with being the first European to travel to North America—500 years before Columbus.

And it wasn't just the Vikings who had an irrepressible urge for adventure. In the days of the mighty Roman Empire, the Goths, originally from Sweden, wandered south and settled in what is now eastern Germany. In the year 410, they invaded and sacked Rome, setting the stage for the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Migrations into this region
As the glaciers retreated from Northern Europe, roaming groups of hunter-gatherers from Southern Europe followed reindeer herds inland and marine resources along the Scandinavian coast. Neolithic farmers eventually settled the region beginning about 6,000 years ago. However, the tradition of hunting and reindeer-herding remains among the Sami people of northern Scandinavia. The Sami formerly occupied much of northern Scandinavia and Russia, and likely had connections with the Volga-Ural region (where there are other languages similar to Finnish and Sami).

Migrations from this region
The rise of the Viking culture spread Scandinavian ancestry far throughout Europe. Their earliest coastal voyages took them to Scotland, northeastern England and established the settlement of Dublin, Ireland. As their power continued to grow, the Vikings spread farther afield, down the Volga River in Russia, to the coast of France and Spain. But perhaps their most famous accomplishments were the oceanic voyages across the Atlantic, establishing villages in Iceland and Greenland and exploring the northern coast of Canada. Few, if any of the early Scandinavian settlers, are thought to have survived in the Americas. However, Iceland remains a flourishing post of Scandinavian language and culture.

Albert Allen Wilkins & Mary Chase Wilkins

Obediah and Celia's second son was my great grandfather, Albert Allen Andrew Jackson "Bud" Wilkins born in 1852 in Mississippi.  In 1875 he married Mary Chase also born in Mississippi in 1852 the daughter of John Chase and Mary Trotter.  Albert died in 1906 in Grant, OK.  Mary died in 1928 in Hugo, OK where she had been living with her daughter Adeline Wilkins Schroeder.  My aunts Mary Edd and Jo Ella had dim memories of their paternal grandmother, Mary Chase.

This image and many more I will soon post were in the collection of Addie Wilkins Schroeder.  In late 2011 through Ancestry.com I was contacted by Kathleen Wilkins of Dallas TX.  Kathleen is a family researcher who is married to a another descendant of Obediah and Celia.  She provided me with the name and phone number of Joe Wilkins now living in New Orleans. After several phone calls and lengthy conversations with Joe we established our genealogical relationship.

Albert Allen "Bud" Wilkins

Mary Chase Wilkins

Since beginning this hobby I had been challenged with finding my Wilkins roots.  My mother and her three sisters were able to give me names and locations from their memories and a few pictures mainly from their childhood but very little about their grandparents.

They knew their father, Granville Cylvesta Wilkins had two brothers (Ellis and Jim) and one sister Addie.  They knew they lived in Hugo, OK in the 1940's.  They also knew that Ellis married an "indian woman" and they had two sons, their only first cousins, Lloyd and Lucian.  They knew that Lucian had been killed in World War II.  My aunt Mary Ed Wilkins Ryan, before her death in 1975 had sent me all the family photos she had.  I put my Wilkins research on the back burner and pursued the Grove line.

After speaking with Joe Wilkins we both realized that we had reconnected the descendants of Albert Allen and Mary Chase Wilkins.  He immediately knew of my grandfather, Granville.

Mary Chase Wilkins and her daughter Adeline Wilkins Schroeder

Joe grew up in Hugo, OK.  His paternal grandmother, Minnie Wood (Ellis' wife) was indeed part Choctaw and she had died at the age of 25 leaving their two sons (Lloyd and Lucian) in the care of their aunt Addie and uncle Frank.  Joe and his brother, Robert grew up viewing Addie and her husband Frank as "grandparents" since Addie and Frank were stand-in parents to their father Lloyd.

Lloyd Wilkins, Auntie Addie, Lucian Wilkins

Joe was the "gold mine" of Wilkins family lore, pictures, and data about my missing Wilkins ancestors. He too had an interest in family history and had documented all the details immediately filling in my Wilkins research.

I will soon post pictures and stories that Joe has shared with me.  Especially interesting are the story of Lucian Wilkins World War II bravery and the continuing mystery of Granville and Ellis' brother, Jim.

Obediah Wilkins & Celia Strickland Wilkins

My great great grandparents on my mother's side were Obediah and Celia Strickland Wilkins.  Obediah was born in Georgia in 1810.  His wife Celia Strickland was also born in Georgia in 1823.  My great grandfather, Albert Allen Wilkins was one of their eight children.  Before their deaths in Honey Grove Texas in the early part of the 20th century they lived in Mississippi.  There is some evidence that Obediah may have served in the Confederate Army.  I am researching this further.  This is the earliest Wilkins image I have found. It was in the Addie Schroeder Collection in possession of Addie's great nephew, Joe Wilkins.

Wilkins Family Research

The video titled Wilkins Sisters Reunion was created in 2011 by Christopher Grove with images I had gathered from family members.  The video was debuted at the Wilkins Sisters Reunion in July 2011 in Wichita, KS.  Everyone in attendance got a DVD of this video but until now I had not posted it.  So here it is.

In coming posts I will identify many of the Wilkins ancestors that are seen in this video and upload some of the breakthroughs I have made in our Wilkins family research.  For many years I had thought my Wilkins family research was at a dead end.  But thanks to Ancestry.com I made contact with another researcher in Texas, Kathleen Wilkins, whose husband David is a distant cousin.  Kathleen connected me to Joe Wilkins in New Orleans who is in our line.  Joe is the son of Lloyd Wilkins who is the son of Ellis Wilkins.  My grandfather, Granville Wilkins and Ellis were brothers.  Joe is the source of many of the photos I will be posting.  He too is a genealogist and has kept all the Wilkins lore passed to him by his aunt Addie Wilkins Schroeder who was the sister of Ellis and Granville.  Through Joe I have learned more about his uncle, Lucian Wilkins, a WWII hero who died in combat and yet another cousin Mattie Bell living in Hugo, OK.  Future posts will elaborate on what I have learned and a mystery Wilkins ancestor that I am trying to find.

Wilkins Sisters Reunion 2011

Grove Genealogical Fanchart

Grove Genealogical Fanchart

The names in red are ancestors I have researched for this trip.