James K. Polk, 11th President of the USA - Polk and diferent yDNA results

Tagging curator Kris Hewitt 🧬

Genetic genealogy disproving a presidential pedigree ! Fun times

OK, guys, this is going to be a lengthy discussion and a huge amount of reading. To begin: Let's look at the work of a well-known authority and his work of many years. This work is based on written documentation and is well documented. We will then get into the DNA test results of proven descendants of both William Polk and Margaret Taylor Polk, and William Bruce Polk... Please read the entire content of Bill Polk's earlier posts on Geni, and we can solve and correct this major error that almost everyone has in their family tree..

The link to Bill Polk's post on Geni is :

William Polk

I know you will find it interesting.

my connection to polk is thru his mother
Jane Gracie Polks according to Wikipedia James K Polks Parents are Samuel Polk and Jane Polk who named her firstborn after her father, James Knox

My latest correspondence with Bill Polk and the group's work on Polk yDNA. Posted with permission:

From: Bill Polk
bapokc@gmail.com

Yes, if I can figure out how to do it, I would join a discussion on the Polk ancestry. The DNA we have done since 2009 proves beyond doubt that the old Polk genealogy is wrong. And, I might add, anyone who tries to take the Robert Polk/Magdalen (Tasker) Porter back to Scotland and shows a connection to the royal lines of England, Scotland and etc., my response to them would be to prove it (and using an undocumented ancestry is not proof). At present, we continue to get DNA sampling from Polks, Pollocks, Poage, Pogue and variations, trying to get enough to come up with a family in Ireland and/or Scotland who matches up with what we have. Our DNA results for male Y DNA tests are shown in our Polk-Pollock-Poage chart at World Families, URL https://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/polk/results. This chart has several family lines, but the two main ones are of our interest. The first one, Haplogroup R-M269 (R1b1a2) - Lineage 1, shows only descendants of the William Polk/Margaret Taylor family.

The second one, Haplogroup I-M223 (12b1) - Lineage 1, shows only descendants of Robert Polk/Magdalen Tasker Porter family.
In addition, we have hundreds of people who have had the autosomal DNA test given by Ancestry.com and by FTDNA, and a few other companites, and we are able
to match many of these people with the Polk families to which they belong, both from William Polk/Margaret Taylor and Robert Polk/Magdalen (Tasker) Porter.
Bottom line here is that DNA does not lie, and the DNA results, coupled with the research that I and a few others have done over the past 20+ years, such research
which I outlined in my 2005 writing, and continues, proves beyond doubt that the ancestry of President James Knox Polk as has been published is wrong. Anyone who

wishes to contact me at bapokc@gmail.com can do so, I will be happy to discuss anything Polk. Feel free to post this response to the discussion, Bob. Later, Bill

Just starting to look into this now....it will take me a bit to finish reading!

I gave all the notes a quick read, I will have more comments soon, and we can start to make corrections as appropriate.

Thanks for looking, Kris. I have been working, part time, with Bill Polk and John Polk for a few years. We have known for some time that the two Polk families were not related, but Bill and John wanted proof via DNA before they tried to 'convince the world' that a President's genealogy was wrong.

"Beyond Damned Quarter The Polk/Pollock Family of the Chesapeake Eastern Shore in the Colonial Era." is a book by John Polk and Bill Polk that is the latest authority on both Polk families. It is available online and most libraries. Highly recommended.

Let me clarify something that Bob Johnson reported about the book "Byond Damned Quarter..... John F. Polk is the author of this book; I edited the book. John F. Polk and I have worked together for somewhere around 20 years on Polks and we both concluded, separately, that the connections between the Polks of Somerset and the Polks of Mecklenburg do not exist. You cannot go wrong by getting this book, absolutely full of details and sources; you can take this info to the bank.

Just for all's info - This is not new; we have known since we first started doing DNA in 2009 that the Polk genealogies were wrong. The word is just seemingly getting around. If you want background, please be sure to read my 2005 writing, which can help with how this change of ancestry came to be.

Another thing that would be helpful to all and perhaps especially to people struggling to understand and come to terms with this huge break in what has been assumed to be correct, re the ancestry of William Polk/Margaret Taylor (great- grandparents of President Polk) is for any Polk descendant in Geni who has had a DNA test done at FTDNA and/or Ancestry.com to transfer the data to Geni so the curator trying to work with this knowledge can see the DNA results.

Please do not hesitate to contact me, Bill Polk, at bapokc@gmail.com with any questions, comments. I would be happy to talk Polk with you. Bill Polk, Kansas City

Kris Hewitt 🧬 this looks to be an exciting project and right up your genetic genealogy alley. Just let me know how I can assist.

Private User thank you for getting this going on Geni

Thank you Erica. But all credit should go to my friend Bob Johnson who first brought it to my attention :) Bob is from my hometown and my Dad taught him. Great guy. Glad that everyone can help out.

Is there more proof needed to separate the two Polk.Polke families? To me, it seems that Bill Polk has presented absolute proof.

What do you think?

Comments, please.

I think I have already separated the two families. Please send me links to any errors I missed. I was working with Bill in direct Geni messages.

Thanks Kris. Bill is a great guy. So glad he was able to join in the conversation here. I highly recommend anyone interested in Polk genealogy to contact him at his published email posted above.

Hilarious! Love reading this blog, love DNA trials, paper trails vs DNA :) albeit my families lineage is so crossed paternal and maternal for generations and centuries we probably match everyone with our convoluted mtDNA and yDNA :)

Bill Polk is your third great uncle's third cousin thrice removed.
You
→ Ruth Gene Martin
your mother → Julia Eugenia Stephens
her mother → Mary Rebecca Lancaster
her mother → Frances Russell Trigg
her mother → Mary Virginia Mc Neal
her sister → Thomas McNeal
her husband → William Wallace Mcneal
his father → Clarissa Adeline McNeal
his mother → Ezekiel Franklin Polk, I
her father → Captain William John Polk
his brother → Taylor Polk, I
his son → Benjamin Polk
his son → Benjamin Polk
his son → James Franklin Polk
his son → Benjamin Franklin Polk
his son → Bill Polk
his son

He's my 11th cousin and the 11th President! through my Trigg lineage- many of the cousin's related though go through my Nixon- Kendrick- Harris- lineage which I beleive may be related in some way :)

Hello my several generations back Polk Family Barbara Polk 1812 married Alexander carruth her father was Ezekiel Elijah Polk wife Elizabeth Phillips from that it does not make right connections any help would be appreciated.

Ezekiel (I have no proof of middle name Elijah) Polk, 1782-7 Jan 1856, Jackson Co., GA., m. Elizabeth "Betsy" Phillips on 14 July 1804, Oglethorpe Co., GA. Ezekiel Polk was the son of William Wesley? (? on middle name) Polk, and his wife Mary (probably surnamed Ross), he b. 1759-1760, NC., likely in Anson Co., and d. 1839-40, MO., probably in Madison Co. Said William Polk was a son of William Polk, Jr., and unknown wife (possibly Sarah Weatherford) and William Polk, Jr., was the eldest son of William Polk/Margaret Taylor, progenitors of the Polks stemming from Mecklenburg Co., NC., and said couple the great grandparents of President James Knox Polk. This William Polk Jr. lineage is the least proven of all the children's lines descending from William Polk/Margaret Taylor. And William and Margaret are the end as far as proven ancestry. Anyone want to discuss, send me an email at bapokc@gmail.com. Bill Polk

Hello, I started searching ancestry and my heritage a few months ago Really don’t have information on Polk Family any information appreciated Barbara Polk married Lawrence Carruth looking at thruline it says her Father could be Ezekiel Elijah Polk on Geni it’s list him as her father she would be my sixth generation grandmother so excited to find this group

I would like to submit my Dna from both my heritage and ancestry information on how to do this
Thank you !

Linda, this info may not be current, but what I have read is that you have to go through FTDNA to upload Ancestry DNA to Geni. I was going to recommend that you join our Polk group at FTDNA, anyway, and transfer your Ancestry DNA to FTDNA. If you then decide to also upload to Geni, you will have access to all three databases of cousins, those at Ancestry, those at FTDNA, those at Geni. So, if you want to join us at FTDNA and do this process, go to URL https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/polk/about/background and see the tab up to your left "UPLOAD DNA DATA" and follow those instructions. I do not do genealogy via a website like Geni; my postings here are just to supply info so that people can reach me at bapokc@gmail.com. I do know your Polk ancestry back from Barbara Polk who m. Alexander L. Carruth.... I do not have the descendants past their several Carruth children, just have not worked out those descendant lines, so you may be able to help me with that, I can help you with the ancestry. Send me an email with what you are trying to accomplish, your needs. Bill Polk, bapokc@gmail.com

FYI: To effectively use DNA test information on Geni, one does have to add their ancestors enough to "get connected" into Geni's shared World Family Tree (so that the DNA information can propagate through explicit relationship links). That allows one to also identify mis-connected lineages (e.g. where there are conflicting DNA results).