Family:Davis Stockton and Sarah Goudelock (1)

Issues

1. Original source documentation is needed to confirm the identify of the wife of Davis Stockton. Davis apparently died intestate; some of those researching this line have made extensive collections of original source records for Davis, and include an inventory of his estate, but no will that might identify his wife. Land records in the area after Davis' death mention a "Sarah Stockton", but this appears to be a daughter and not a wife.

2. Child lists for this couple are also hampered by the lack of a will for Davis. Several Stockton's appear in the land records for the area about this time, and some have (apparently) used them as the basis for identifying his sons.

3. Woods, 1901 discusses the Stockton family in some detail, as early settlers in Albemarle County. He describes (but apparently does not believe) that Davis Stockton and Person:Michael Woods (1) "landed in Virginia" and came overland together to Albemarle County. It can be clearly shown that Michael Woods (1) came to Albemarle from Pennsylvania, passing down the Cumberland Valley into the Shannandoah, and then passing eastward over the Blue Ridge to settle in Albemarle. Thus the idea that he immigrated to America through Virginia is not easily supported. We have no direct evidence, however, for where Davis Stockton was living prior to his appearance in Albemarle. It is not inconceivable that he immigrated through Virginia, and by chance happened to settle near Michael Woods. On the other hand, marriages between the Woods family and several other family lines (i.e., Campbell's, Wallace', Cowan's, Gass) prior to their appearance in Albemarle, suggest that there were a fairly large group of families that came with Michael Woods from PA. It is possible that the Stockton's were among those families. This would point to an entry of the Stockton's into America through Pennsylvania.

In this regard, a Robert Stockton appears in Lancaster County about the time of that Davis Stockton appears in Albemarle County. YDNA evidence for descendants of Robert and Davis Given suggest that they were kinsmen. Given a matching YDNA signature, and the fact that Robert and Davis were exact contemporaries of each other, its possible that they were brothers, though other relationships are possible. This, in turn, suggest that Davis may have immigrated into Albemarle through Pennsylvania. That's consistent with a migration in the company of the extended family of Michael Woods, but does not preclude that Davis arrived independently in Albemarle.

The POB of Davis Stockton is sometimes identified as Cheshire, England, and sometimes as Durham, England. The 1841 census of England identifies no Stockton's as then living in Durham County. [Wrong, the 1841 census shows several Stockton families living in County Durham. There are also church records of over 60 Stocktons living in County Durham before 1690 with some of the records dating back to the 1500s. Jerry J. Stockton] It also shows that Cheshire was the center of the Stockton distribution in England (32% of all Stockton's in England 1841 lived in Cheshire. While this does not preclude the possibility that Davis was in fact from Durham County, and that all Stocktons living there in the latter part of the 17th century and early 18th century, left for other areas [Wrong, over 70 Stocktons are found in church records living in County Durham between 1690 and 1900, Jerry J. Stockton], Cheshire still seems like the more likely POB for Davis. [Strongly disagree, Jerry J. Stockton]

5. A Stockton YDNA project was established through FTDNA. A summary of the results of this project are shown at YDNA. Stockton Surname. This project shows descendants of Robert Stockton of Lancaster and Davis Stockton of Albemarle, as sharing a common YDNA signature. An issue for this is the fact that the Davis Stockton YDNA test was reported at 12 and 25 markers. Low marker tests (12 and 25 markers) generate frequent false positive results, and also frequent false negative results. While it is likely that the conclusion that Robert and Davis are closely related is probably accurate, expanding one of the Davis Stockton kits to at least 37 markers would provide much greater confidence in these results. [There are 9 Y-DNA tests of at least 67 markers, 4 are for 111 markers, and 1 is for 700 markers. Jerry J. Stockton]

6. The Stockton YDNA project examined a number of Stockton lineages, identifying four main independent lines, along with numerous unrelated Stockton lineages with only a single kit. Such a result is fairly typical of most YDNA surname projects. The project also provides near complete lineages for many of these kits (something not common among YDNA projects). While many of the kits show no lineage information at all, those that do facilitate useful comparison with the many lineages provided for Stockton lines though such sources as Ancestry Public Member Trees. Comparing those lineages suggests that many of the public lineages include ancestors that belong to different YDNA lines. This is particularly problematic in the lines descended from Richard Stockton of Burlington County New Jersey (Cheshire G Group in the Stockton Project). Comparing Ancestry lineages for the four major lines of Stocktons shows that data from the Cheshire Group G line has been interspersed among the genealogies of some of the other lines. This may be because a grandson of this Richard Stockton of the Group G line, figures prominently in the history of the American Revolution (he was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. As a result, some genealogists may have "claimed him" as an ancestor, even though there is no genealogical connection. While the lineages of the Stockton YDNA project do not show direct evidence of this, it is possible that some confusion remains. A detailed examination of the supporting evidence for at least one line of the four major groups is needed to sort this out.