121Edith's parentage is a particularly challenging research question that cannot be solved with typical, traditional paper-trail evidence alone. Below I present two different solutions, broadly speaking: one based on phenotypic similarities, and another based on genotypic similarities. Some relevant, accompanying paper-trail evidence is also noted or presented.

Phenotypic similarities (based on GeLee Corley Hendrix's research)

In the late 1980's GeLee Corley Hendrix, C.G., was hired to investigate 121Edith's parentage. A copy of her research report is on file at the DAR Library as manuscript collection 461. To spare future researchers the humiliation of visiting the DAR Library,* I have a copy of most of her report, which you can download here. There are two noteworthy problems with my copy: (1) Folder 5, images 4-5 show a genograph. This genograph is critically important to Hendrix's report, and it uses color-coded lines to represent the heritability of certain phenotypes. Unfortunately, however, the DAR Library's obstinate staff impeded me from obtaining a proper, colorized copy of the genograph, even after I explained the importance of the colors. Therefore, I did my best to trace the colored lines using letter abbreviations. I had to do the same on a few other, less important pages, too. (2) Folder 2 is essentially just a copy of Hendrix's book Alexander Reid, c 1700-1777, and His Descendants, albeit with a few slight differences in the book's front matter. This book is freely available online, so I didn't make copies of all the pages from the DAR Library's manuscript collection 461.

Hendrix's research pursues two different lines of inquiry to prove that 121Edith's parents are 242Henry Reid and 243Edith Harrison:

I refer you to Hendrix's report itself for further review. One criticism I have, however, is that Hendrix fails to provide adequate proof—at least in much of an explicit, organized manner—that 121Edith's alleged siblings are in fact themselves children of 242Henry Reid and 243Edith Harrison. While some can be proven as their children quite easily (Indeed, I take advantage of this fact in the discussion below.), others can't, yet Hendrix largely takes those relationships for granted, merely referring back to the McPhersons' book The Brotherhood of Man, which likewise provides minimal evidence/explication for the relationships. Although Hendrix does index some pertinent land transactions, she doesn't follow with an explicit rationalization for why these records help to prove the relationships. This failure greatly undermines the foundation on which Hendrix builds the rest of her rationale.

Genotypic similarities

Below I argue that:

The 1850 census shows 242Henry and 243Edith living with a young man named T. H. Reid.3

1850: 242Henry and 243Edith live with T. H. Reid in Carroll County, Georgia. Full page.3

Although their co-habitation alone strongly suggests T. H. Reid is a son of 242Henry and 243Edith, we find further evidence from T. H.'s fuller name, which is shown in his marriage record to be Teunis H. Reid.4 As is proven elsewhere on this website, 243Edith's maternal grandfather was named 974Tunis Hood.

Teunis H. Reid's marriage certificate4

Due to their co-habitation and the repetition of the name Tunis, we can be very confident that Teunis H. Reid is a son of 242Henry and 243Edith.

On 3 January 1850, Teunis purchased Carroll County's district 7, lot 256 from a man named Ruben Reid.5

Opening lines of the January 1850 deed by which Teunis purchased district 7 lot 256 from Ruben Reid. Full page.5

The lot number (256) mentioned later in the same deed. Full page.5

Reuben was born circa 1808,6 when his proposed mother 243Edith was about 26 years old.3 Compare with Teunis H. Reid, born circa 1822, when 243Edith was about 40.3 Reuben's children included Henry (cf. 242Henry Reid), Edith (cf. 243Edith Harrison), Davis (cf. 486Davis Harrison), Phebe (cf. 487Phoebe Hood), George (cf. 484George Reid), and Alexander (cf. 968Alexander Reid).6

Reuben's land sale to Teunis, their comparable ages, and Reuben's children's names very strongly suggest that Reuben is a brother of Teunis and son of 242Henry and 243Edith.

Although no deed seems to exist (or if it did exist, at least wasn't registered with the county), Teunis must have sold at least part of lot 256 to Robert Reid, since on 5 October 1855 Robert Reid sold 50 acres of it to James H. Stedham.7

Robert Reid sold part of lot 256 in 1855. Full page.7

Robert Reid was born 24 December 1817,8 thus between Reuben (born circa 1808)6 and Teunis (circa 1822).3 Robert only had one child, named Henry9 (cf. 242Henry Reid, i.e. Robert's proposed father). In 1850 Robert lived in Carroll County, Georgia, as did Reuben, Teunis, 242Henry, and 243Edith. The apparent lack of a deed registration from Teunis Reid to Robert Reid for lot 256—property that previously had already been transferred between two men (Reuben and Teunis) who were almost certainly brothers—suggests that Teunis and Robert had a more informal, trusting relationship like one might expect among family members. Based on these considerations, I'm confident that Robert Reid was a brother of Reuben and Teunis, and thus also a son of 242Henry and 243Edith.

An Ancestry.com autosomal DNA sample from my maternal grandmother shares 60 cM on four segments with a sample from Wanda Stamps (née Reid),10 a descendant of Robert Reid. I've prepared a sketch of Wanda's lineage, including links to some relevant evidence. Wanda and my maternal grandmother are (proposed) 4th cousins. BanyanDNA simulations show that 60 cM is 1.6 standard deviations above the expected average for such a relationship (average 9, common range 0-35).

Since (1) my maternal grandmother shares a considerable amount of autosomal DNA with Wanda Stamps, an easily proven descendant of Robert Reid; (2) since a sibling relationship between 121Edith and Robert would be most consistent with the paper-trail evidence; (3) and since Robert very much seems to be a son of 242Henry Reid and 243Edith Harrison (as explained above), I therefore conclude that 121Edith is a daughter of the same 242Henry Reid and 243Edith Harrison.