The Tatum who wasn't a Tatum

[btatum]

I am descended from Samuel A. Tatum (b: 1805), son of John Tatum, and Lucinda Tatum (b: 1810), daughter of Nicholas Seawood Tatum (b: 1786) - who was the son of Samuel Tatum (b: c. 1746).  

Recently I participated in the DNA project and found out that I was descended from the Key family on my paternal side and not the Tatum familly.  I confirmed this same result with another Tatum descendant from this same family line who also turned up as a Key after DNA testing. This would appear to mean that my ancestor John Tatum was adopted by a Tatum (but who??) and married a Tatum - which explains why a Tatum married a Tatum.  This John Tatum also seems to be associated with the Fulliloves that married into the Tatum family.

Has anyone else had this experience?  Also, have any descendants of Samuel Tatum's sons participated in the DNA project?

I look forward to hearing from a cousin.....

Bill Tatum
Lebanon, KY
btatum@vol.com

[William J. Tatom]

This sort of thing usually happened with a relative, possibly a brother or nephew of a spouse.  If we assume that is the case here and not a completely new Tatum family (there seems to be too many for the time period anyway), then the most likely candidate would be Reuben and Ann Crafton Tatum.  Unfortunatley, there seem to be no unaccounted for boys in the Crafton family.  Given the proximity of John's home and Crafton's in Madison County, KY, he seems to be the best bet for a connection,..but how?

[William J. Tatom]

Have you tried searching th entire data base and not just Tatums?

[Ronnie Tatum]

I'm not surprised that we had other folks with the Tatum name that were not directly related. But I was surprised at how many groups we have and there are probably others more to come. Hopefully, as more men join the project we can figure out the starting point for the groups within our surname.

As you have probably heard by now, FTDNA has started a new project called the Family Finder. This test will compare family members by the Y-DNA and MTDNA markers up to the 4th cousin and possibily the 5th. The members markers will be compared to their data base and you'll be notified when there is a match. This could help many members connect with others that are doing the same search.

Keep this thread going, hopefully as others find something, it could help someone else.

Ronnie Tatum
Tatum DNA Project Administrator