Research to Identify the Father of 22Charlie Black

This page will assume that you have already read 22Charlie Black's main profile page, but to recap, some relevant facts about 22Charlie include:

He was born in east central Georgia in the early to mid-1890's. However, records that provide more specific details about his birth differ in bizarre ways. Johnson County seems to be his most likely birthplace, although Laurens and Montgomery counties are also mentioned.
His mother is 45Julia (or Julianna or Judia) Black, daughter of 90Benjamin Burton Black and 91Elizabeth Sutton.

Review of Prior Paper-Trail Evidence

The available paper-trail evidence suggests that 22Charlie Black may not have known who his own father was: His Social Security application, which he signed and likely filled out by his own hand, does name a father Burton Black,1 but the 1900 census explicitly describes 22Charlie as 90Burton's grandson, not son.2 Perhaps 22Charlie genuinely didn't know his father and simply chose his maternal grandfather to fill in the blank on the application. Alternatively, he may have known his father but was too embarrassed to identify him; recall that 22Charlie provided a false maiden name—probably knowingly so—for his mother on the same application, as explained on his main profile page.

22Charlie's death certificate merely identifies his father as "Dont know." 3 His widow Malisa4 was the informant.

22Charlie was presumably born illegitimate. Johnson County, Georgia does have a bastardy bonds book for the years 1884-1915, but most of the pages are lost, and 22Charlie and 45Julia aren't mentioned on the surviving pages. The Georgia Archives does not have contemporary bastardy bonds for either Laurens or Montgomery counties.

With nowhere else to turn, I next looked for DNA evidence.

Lack of Y-DNA

A Y-DNA test from a male-line descendant of 22Charlie might help to identify his father. So far, however, I've been unable to find any such descendant. Charlie did have a son Marvin,5,6 who in turn had six sons, described in 2000 as "Phillip Black, Okeechobee, Fla., Ronald Gene Black, Homerville, Gary Black, Eddie Black, Kenny Black and Daryl Black, Stuart, Fla." Marvin's obituary also names "four daughters, Lawanna Walker, Hobe Sound, Fla., Glenda Segasser, West Palm Beach, Pasty Zidek, Port Slaerno, Fla., and Debra K. Delk, Homerville." (See a copy of Marvin's obituary.7)

Although I've had difficulty finding Marvin's sons directly, I did find contact information (with high confidence that it's correct and up-to-date) for his daughter Lawanna Walker, whom I thus attempted to contact in June 2025. Unfortunately, Lawanna did not respond.

My need for Y-DNA results from a patrilineal descendant of 22Charlie is noted on my "how can you can help" page.

Autosomal DNA: Round 1

I broke up the analysis of my father's relevant autosomal DNA matches into several steps or "rounds." The goal of round 1 was to identify some plausible MRCA couples who could be related to 22Charlie's unidentified father.

MyHeritage

In February 2025 I attempted to organize my father's autosomal DNA matches on MyHeritage.com to identify the matches most likely to share ancestry with 22Charlie's unknown father. A "short list" of those matches is below; I describe how I derived the list in a footnote near the end of this page.* I ruled out as many irrelevant matches as possible, but due to a limited selection of suitable comparator matches, I was unable to rule out all such matches, and no doubt at least some of the matches below do not have DNA reflective of 22Charlie's father.

MyHeritage User Shared
DNA (cM)
Segments MyHeritage
AutoCluster
Group #
Tree
Elizabeth King7031link
Jade McKenzie Brown50.41link
Nancy Jefferson52.845link
William Strickland52.53link
Edward Hense59.248link
ALVIN ANDERSON62.549link
Jean "Roy Jean Hooks" Hooks75.1310link
Samantha Janoski102.56link
Mikal Chad Johnson55.1312link
Lily Bonaventure54114link
Janet Pauline Maness (Crame)51.5416link
ROBERT JACKSON50.7318link
Rebecca Noonan58.83link
Wilson Michael Fountain55.8321link
Nancy Barlow71.9322link
Virginia Smith59.13link
Daniel Edenfield58.61link
Michelle Crews Pou64.4328link

Upon further inspection of these matches, I found only one instance of a common ancestor: Both Jean Hooks and Daniel Edenfield allegedly descend from Frederick Tyson (ca. 1754 - ca. 1833) and his wife Bridget Justice (ca. 1754 - ca. 1796). Their alleged lineages are:

Jean HooksOllie Mae HooksManning HooksDennis J. HooksSarah Anne HutchesonMartha Patsy TysonStephen TysonFrederick Tyson and Bridget Justice
Daniel Edenfield ← [Private] Edenfield ← Daniel EdenfieldMartha McCretha RinerDaniel Elijah RinerAmos Jasper RinerHenrietta MeeksSusannah TysonFrederick Tyson and Bridget Justice

Continuing on, I found other, lower-cM matches on MyHeritage with other descendants of Frederick Tyson and Bridget Justice:

MyHeritage User Shared
DNA (cM)
Segments Alleged Lineage
Jerri Rush23.32Jerri Rush ← Joyce Scott (1949-2010) ← William Scott (1908-1963)Zilpha Marintha RinerWilliam Merritt RinerAmos Jasper RinerHenrietta MeeksSusannah TysonFrederick Tyson and Bridget Justice
Paul Wright26.22Paul Wright ← Dorthy Nell LoveJohnnie Gordon LoveJohn LoveWilliam Norris LoveMary Louisa TisonStephen TysonFrederick Tyson and Bridget Justice
John Foskey17.91 John Foskey ← Dorman Wayne FoskeyJames Arthur FoskeyJohn Robert FoskeyJulia Ann TysonNoah Daniel TysonFrederick Tyson and Bridget Justice
"DWH"17.51 DWH ← Johnnie Lois YoungbloodMatilda Ann DurdenJohn Dennis DurdenDelila HutchesonMartha Patsy TysonStephen TysonFrederick Tyson and Bridget Justice

Since lower-cM matches sometimes reflect remote MRCA's or general endogamy rather than more recent, genealogically relevant MRCA's, to help address this concern I compared the above-named, lower-cM subjects to five other, well-identified comparator subjects who collectively bear DNA from the vast majority of my father's somewhat recent ancestors other than his 22Charlie Black branch. (Further details about these five comparator subjects are in the footnote below.*) Of these, Jerri Rush, John Foskey, and DWH had no matches >15 cM with any of the five comparators. Paul Wright, however, shares 21.5 cM with comparator Austin Davis and 17.3 cM with comparator Betty Jo Black, and I was unable to find common ancestors to otherwise explain those matches, so Paul's usefulness as a match for my research question is somewhat weakened.

Ancestry.com

Using a very similar method, I next searched for relevant matches on Ancestry.com. Because Ancestry had closer, more suitable comparator matches, I could rule out irrelevant matches more reliably, and therefore the matches listed below should reflect 22Charlie's unidentified father fairly well. (I describe how I derived the list in a footnote near the end of this page.†) To help affirm my selection, notice that Ancestry.com user shawnslg4012, who is my father's first cousin once removed and likewise a descendant of 11Mary Clyde Black (i.e., 22Charlie's daughter) and 10Curtis Geiger, shares many of the same matches, just as one would expect.

Ancestry User cM of DNA Shared with ... Tree Screenshot(s)
on Ancestry.com
Ancestry Pro Tools:
First 40+ Matches
Sorted by Closeness to ...
My Father shawnslg4012 My Father This User
Melissa Kirkland98-n/alinklink
Garry Morgan63-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7linklink
Ronald Carlson57-linklinklink
Timothy Hall55-n/alinklink
John Peeler55-linklinklink
wmatt_snellgrove5335linklinklink
Billy Kight managed by joshua_kight53-linklinklink
Roberta Mondelli52-privatelinklink
Jesse Hamilton5136linklinklink
laclay4451-n/alinklink
April Stillwagner5140linklinklink
hudsonrobert805045linklinklink
P.F. managed by realcowgirl3150-linklinklink
Jean Boyd50-privatelinklink
mmmbydesign50-n/alinklink
Joe Rowland49-n/alinklink
sgk3798649-linklinklink
BETTY Johnson49-linklinklink
S.C. managed by James Burnett48-n/alinklink
mataylor644727linklinklink
Eric Hudson4637n/alinklink
Lauren Geiger45-linklinklink
V.H. managed by hallrkcj4531link (unlinked tree)linklink
Virginia Lee Hall-Cliver4525linklinklink
Bailey Chalmers-Vuorensyrja4331linklinklink
rabunj3442-n/alinklink
Shelley Miller42-privatelinklink
Janice EVANS42-n/alinklink
J.A. managed by John Anders41-linklinklink
JILL MASTERS4125linklinklink
pawebb04224124n/alinklink
M.M. managed by Brachs941-link (unlinked tree)linklink
David Powell4126n/alinklink
Mary Swearingen41-privatelinklink

Further analysis of these matches† revealed two notable match clusters: (1) a cluster that I've named "Cluster 1" consisting of Eric Hudson, Garry Morgan, hudsonrobert80, mataylor64, Roberta Mondelli, Shelley Miller, Timothy Hall, and Virginia Lee Hall-Cliver; and (2) a cluster that I've named "Cluster 2" consisting of April Stillwagner, Bailey Chalmers-Vuorensyrja, Janice EVANS, Jesse Hamilton, JILL MASTERS, pawebb0422, rabunj34, V.H. managed by hallrkcj, and wmatt_snellgrove.

For Cluster 1, unfortunately five of the eight members had little or no genealogical information available about themselves. I've messaged these five, requesting further assistance, but I haven't received a reply. Of the three remaining subjects, two subjects—hudsonrobert80 and Virginia Lee Hall-Cliver—had a clear alleged MRCA couple: Francis Marion Silas and his wife Martha Elizabeth Blankenship. I couldn't identify a relationship between these two subjects and the third subject, Garry Morgan, with much certainty, but Garry does have an alleged ancestor with the surname Nichols, and Francis Marion Silas' maternal grandmother was Lettie Nichols, so perhaps the MRCA is another generation or so back. The relevant alleged lineages are summarized below.

Ancestry User Relevant Alleged Lineages
hudsonrobert80"hudsonrobert80" ← Omie Lavonia GrahamCarrie Elizabeth SilasFrancis Marion Silas and Martha Elizabeth Blankenship
Virginia Lee Hall-CliverVirginia ← private father ← Nancy Louise SilasFrancis Marion Silas and Martha Elizabeth Blankenship
Garry MorganGarry Morgan ← Charlie GreerEdna Lucille ParkerSamuel C. ParkerLeonidus ParkerElizabeth Nichols

For Cluster 2, Bailey Chalmers-Vuorensyrja, April Stillwagner, Jesse Hamilton, and wmatt_snellgrove all share a MRCA couple: Calvin Green Powell and his wife Maryann Serena Derriso. Jesse Hamilton also descends from Frederick Tyson and his wife Bridget Justice, discussed earlier for the MyHeritage matches. rabunj34 shares several MRCA's with my father (i.e., 170Renson Rabun, 171Elizabeth Martin, 326John C. Everett, and 327Elizabeth Ellis), so he should be removed from consideration. I was unable to identify a MRCA for JILL MASTERS and pawebb0422, and Janice EVANS and V.H. managed by hallrkcj had insufficient genealogical information available.

Ancestry User Alleged Lineages
Bailey Chalmers-VuorensyrjaBailey ← Patty Crosby Chalmers ← Betty Jo Armstrong CrosbyClara Mae BrownElbert D. BrownVandella PowellCalvin Green Powell and Maryann Serena Derriso
April StillwagnerApril ← private mother ← Elsie P. ColemanDayton PowellManson L. PowellCalvin Green Powell and Maryann Serena Derriso
Jesse HamiltonJesse ← private father ← Cora LamppHouston M. LamppSylvannah/Savannah PowellCalvin Green Powell and Maryann Serena Derriso

Jesse ← private father ← Cora LamppAvie EnnisMary Celia HutchensonZilphia MeeksCelia TysonFrederick Tyson and Bridget Justice
wmatt_snellgrovewmatt_snellgrove ← William Lovette SnellgroveRose Mae BrownVandella PowellCalvin Green Powell and Maryann Serena Derriso

Conclusions for autosomal DNA round 1

Calvin Green Powell and his wife Maryann Serena Derriso are the couple most likely related to 22Charlie's unidentified father. Their identification is supported by a robust number of common matches.

As noted above, Frederick Tyson and Bridget Justice emerged as a possible candidate couple, but their identification is significantly weakened by the lack of adequate comparator matches on MyHeritage. It's very possible that they instead reflect some not-yet-identified ancestry for any of several other ancestral branches (as explained in the footnote below*). Furthermore, they did not emerge firmly in subsequent, better-tailored Ancestry.com matches.‡

Francis Marion Silas and Martha Elizabeth Blankenship were weakly identified from just two matches. I see little reason to consider them further. (Indeed, due to a lack of responses from other matches within their cluster, further analysis is effectively impossible anyhow.)

I was unable to identify a common descendant for any two of the three abovenamed couples who would've been born around the same time as 22Charlie's mother 45Julia (i.e., roughly circa 1858).

Autosomal DNA: Round 2

Since round 1 pointed most strongly to Calvin Green Powell and Maryann Serena Derriso as a likely ancestral couple for 22Charlie's unidentified father, the goal of round 2 was to test this possible relationship more thoroughly. To do so, I hoped to cross-compare three different groups:

descendants of Calvin Green Powell (or his siblings);
descendants of 90Benjamin Burton Black who are not also descended from 22Charlie Black; and
descendants of 90Benjamin Burton Black who are also descended from 22Charlie Black.

With enough such matches to compare, one might reliably associate Calvin Green Powell with Charlie Black's ancestral line alone.

Unfortunately, however, for the third intended group (i.e., descendants of both 90Benjamin Burton Black and 22Charlie Black), there was only one such match (other than my father): the aforementioned shawnslg4012, who is my father's first cousin once removed and likewise a descendant of 11Mary Clyde Black (22Charlie's daughter) and 10Curtis Geiger.

Since shawnslg4012 isn't a sufficiently distant match, it's plausible that any Calvin Green Powell association might instead arise from 10Curtis Geiger's ancestral line rather than 11Mary Clyde's and 22Charlie Black's. To address this concern, I did a separate cross-comparison for descendants of 20Joseph Preston Geiger and 21Mattie Copeland (who are not also descended from 22Charlie Black).

I organized the results of these cross-comparisons in this spreadsheet file, which includes separate tabs for each cross-comparison. Details about the subjects included in my analysis are in a footnote below.§

As you can see on the spreadsheet, most of the descendants of 90Benjamin Burton Black alone (i.e., those who are not also descended from 22Charlie Black) do not share autosomal DNA with the descendants of Calvin Green Powell. For the few who do, the amount of shared DNA is low and may be explained by other MRCA's. User Timothy Jones is perhaps the only notable outlier: He does share DNA with a few Calvin Green Powell descendants, but less consistently and more weakly than my father or even shawnslg4012, despite shawnslg4012's being one generation further removed from 90Benjamin Black. The DNA evidence thus suggests that Timothy Jones may have some weak relation to Calvin Green Powell, but I suspect to a more remote, unidentified MRCA on some other ancestral line of his. My cross-comparison includes numerous descendants of 46Rhoden Tant (who married 90Benjamin's daughter 47Narcissa), so 46Rhoden's ancestral line would not explain any DNA association between the descendants of 90Benjamin Burton Black and Calvin Green Powell. By comparison, those who descend from both 90Benjamin and 22Charlie have more and stronger autosomal DNA matches with Calvin Green Powell's descendants (albeit with one exception for one low-cM match that can be otherwise explained; see notes on the the spreadsheet).

Similarly, cross-comparison of the 20Joseph Preston Geiger/21Mattie Copeland descendants and the Calvin Green Powell descendants shows no shared autosomal DNA, except for one low-level match that I was unable to otherwise explain.

Conclusions for autosomal DNA round 2

Comparing the amounts of shared autosomal DNA among descendant groups representing Calvin Green Powell (or his siblings), 90Benjamin Burton Black (± 22Charlie Black), and 20Joseph Preston Geiger strongly suggests that 22Charlie Black's unidentified father was closely related to Calvin Green Powell.

Although one cannot completely dismiss the possibility that some other, overlooked relationship or misanalysis might explain the DNA association with Calvin Green Powell's descendants, this round 2 analysis greatly reduces the plausibility of any such oversight or misanalysis.

Paper-Trail Evidence Linking the Powell and Black Families

Since we have evidence to suspect that Calvin Green Powell may be closely related to 22Charlie's unidentified father, let's look for paper-trail evidence to see whether this hypothesis seems plausible, and to see whether there's any evidence of a connection between the Powell and Black families.

Living within Calvin Green Powell's household in 1860 in Johnson County, Georgia was a certain James Black, age 50, noted to be "insane." 8 In 1863 James was described as "a poor man," and the county paid Calvin to be his agent.9 In 1866 he was described as "pauper," and a different man was his agent.10 In 1867 he was ordered committed to a lunatic asylum.11

James Black was actually 45Julia Black's great-uncle and Calvin Powell's stepfather-in-law. The following diagram illustrates their relationships. The yellow letters are citation references; you can see the corresponding citations here. Several of these sources are also cited in the following discussion and/or elsewhere on this website.

As such, 45Julia likely would have been at least somewhat acquainted with Calvin Powell's family. Furthermore, in 1890 (not long before 22Charlie Black was born), both 45Julia's father 90Benjamin Black and Calvin Powell were in Johnson County, albeit in non-adjacent militia districts.12,13

I had hoped to search for DNA matches with any potential Derouzeaux/Deriso siblings of Calvin's wife Serena, but (1) it's not clear that such siblings even exist, and more importantly (2) there is disconcerting evidence that Serena may not have been Stephen Derouzeaux's biological daughter, even though she used Deriso as her maiden name:14 On or before 14 March 1833 Stephen had petitioned for divorce due to Piety's "adulterous connections with divers men of evil fame." 15 Serena was born just a few months later.16 Based on Stephen's complaint, one strongly suspects that Serena's father may not have been Stephen but someone else altogether ... potentially even James J. Black, whom Piety married17 soon after Stephen's death.18 If so, this could explain the infrequent, low-level DNA matches between the descendants of Calvin Powell and 90Benjamin Burton Black.

The Match with Amber Wooldridge

As you can see, endogamy (or the plausibility of endogamy) frustrated much of the autosomal DNA analysis presented above. Fortunately, I later found one match for whom the endogamy problem is minimal:

My father shares 46.1 cM on two segments with MyHeritage user Amber Wooldridge (DNA details; Amber's tree). Of Amber's four grandparents, only one has Georgia-based ancestry, and her three other grandparents are from far away (viz: Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Miami and south Florida, and Cuba; see my scratch notes to confirm these ancestors' geographic distance). Importantly, Amber does not match with any of the MyHeritage comparators that I previously chose to reflect my father's ancestors other than Charlie Black, as identified in the first footnote below* (shared match list here).

Amber's Georgia-based grandparent, John White Wheeler (1905-1999), had a mother who allegedly descends from two of Calvin Green Powell's siblings/cousins. John's father descends from a line that is unrelated to me, as best as I can tell (I contacted a known Wheeler descendant requesting access to her DNA results, which might allow me to more confidently rule out the Wheeler line. Unfortunately, I received no response).

I next ran BanyanDNA simulations to find the most likely explanation for the relationship between Amber and my father. The first simulation assumes that 22Charlie Black's unknown father is not descended from the Powell line. The tree and calculation results are shown below.


A BanyanDNA simulation that 22Charlie is not a Powell descendant

As you can see, the hypothesis that 22Charlie is not a Powell descendant is three standard deviations above the mean—very low odds. Therefore, it's nearly certain that 22Charlie is a Powell descendant, but from whom, exactly? (Although not shown above, I also ran an "incest" simulation identical to the one shown above except that 90Benjamin Burton Black is both 22Charlie's father and maternal grandfather. Even this far-fetched scenario results as 2.1 standard deviations above the mean—still unlikely, so we can be confident that 22Charlie is a Powell descendant.)

In the next simulation I assumed that 22Charlie descends from an unspecified son of Calvin Green Powell:


A BanyanDNA simulation that 22Charlie is a grandson of Calvin Green Powell

The hypothesis that 22Charlie's father is a grandson of Calvin Green Powell is two standard deviations above the mean—much more plausible but still low odds. Although not shown above, I also ran a simulation using the assumption that Calvin's wife Maryann Serena Derriso is a daughter of James J. Black (based on the adultery accusation discussed in the previous section15), but this edit only reduced the standard deviations to 1.9 above the mean.

My last simulation assumes that 22Charlie is a son of Bennett Powell (whose wife Calcy Fortner died young in 187619; the couple seems to have had no sons):


A BanyanDNA simulation that 22Charlie is a son of Bennett Powell

The hypothesis that 22Charlie's father was Bennett Powell is only 0.6 standard deviation above the mean—very possible.

Conclusions from the match with Amber Wooldridge

My father's match with Amber proves beyond a reasonable doubt that 22Charlie is a Powell descendant, although which Powell and 22Charlie's specific lineage remain unclear.

Although still within the realm of possibility, my earlier hypothesis that 22Charlie is Calvin Green Powell's grandson is more questionable, and 22Charlie's possible descent via certain of Calvin's siblings/cousins deserves closer consideration. As discussed in the preceding section, however, Calvin's wife Maryann Serena Derisso could be a descendant of 360Robert Black; if so, the number of centimorgans that my father shares with Calvin's descendants would be inflated, and this possibility complicates further analysis.

Powells Near 90Benjamin Burton Black in 1890

I've never found 22Charlie's mother 45Julia in the 1880 census. By 1900 she was back in her father's (90Benjamin Burton Black's) household,2 and one record insinuates that she may have been there in 1896.20 As noted previously, 22Charlie was born sometime in the early to mid-1890's. The 1900 census also shows two other young children (i.e., James L. Black and Velmer Black),2 presumably also 45Julia's, so 45Julia likely had an ongoing relationship with the man who fathered 22Charlie. As such, whoever he is, he probably lived near 90Benjamin Burton Black in the 1890's. Johnson County's 1890 tax digest is extant, so we can consider Powell taxpayers therein as possible candidates to be 22Charlie's father. In 1890 90Benjamin Burton Black lived in militia district 1201.21 In the table below I've highlighted adjacent districts. (Note that militia districts 89, 91, and 1345 in Washington County are also adjacent to Johnson County's militia district 1201, but these districts had no Powell taxpayers in 1890.)

PowellMilitia
District
Ancestry.com
Image #
External ProfilesFatherMotherWife
Aden Powell132676FamilySearchSampson Powell (1788-1843)Latisha BarfieldAnn Eliza Whitfield
Aden B. Powell139690FamilySearchCrayton Lafayette PowellSarah GibbsRhoda "Fady" Anderson
Augustus G. Powell139692FamilySearchElias PowellTeresa Harriet BlackElizabeth "Lizzie" Fulford
Augustus Powell Jr139692uncertain
Ben J. Powell132676FamilySearchElias PowellTeresa Harriet BlackSarah Lampp
Benagy B. Powell120384FamilySearchLynear PowellMylie RossLincy Cecilia Claxton
Bennett E. Powell132676FamilySearch
FindAGrave
Elias PowellTeresa Harriet BlackCalcy Fortner and
Louisa Jane Wheeler
Binto Powell132676uncertain
C. L. Powell agt wife139690FamilySearchSampson Powell (1788-1843)Latisha BarfieldSarah Gibbs and
Mary Jane Glisson
Calvin G. Powell Jr132676FamilySearchCalvin G. Powell SrMaryann Serena DerrisoExie Kight,
Van Dilla Powell,
Martha Jane Knight,
Beulah Leola Stephens
Calvin G. Powell Sr132676FamilySearchSampson Powell (1788-1843)Latisha BarfieldMaryann Serena Derriso
Elbert Powell132676FamilySearchCalvin G. Powell SrMaryann Serena DerrisoSarah Jane Anderson
J.B. Powell agt children
[James Bennett Powell]
120384FamilySearchLynear PowellMylie RossEdmonia Virginia Perry
Jack Powell132676uncertain
James[?] M. Powell120384FamilySearchJames Bennett PowellEdmonia Virginia PerryElizabeth Virginia Tapley
Leastan S. Powell120384FamilySearchSilas Leaston PowellMartha Tabitha WebbLatisha W. Powell
Linneas[?] Powell120384uncertain
Loranza Powell, agt wife132676FamilySearchElias PowellTeresa Harriet BlackPriscilla Page
Mandal A. Powell132676FamilySearchCalvin G. Powell SrMaryann Serena DerrisoVirginia Price
Manson L. Powell120384FamilySearchCalvin G. Powell SrMaryann Serena DerrisoMary Mahalie Toler and
Hannah Lou Rountree
Natanael L. Powell132676FamilySearchCalvin G. Powell SrMaryann Serena Derrisonone
Robert L. Powell agt wife139692FamilySearchElias PowellTeresa Harriet BlackTemperance Powell
Robt B Powell132676FamilySearchRobert L. PowellTemperance PowellMatilda Williams
S. Powell agt for Martin Moley's children120384uncertain
Stephen T. Powell132676FamilySearchCalvin G. Powell SrMaryann Serena DerrisoDeborah Anderson

After looking over each of the above men, their wives, and their parents, unfortunately I found little that might help to identify which man (if any of the above) might be 22Charlie's father. I did, however, discover that in September 1883 Mandel Powell was charged with adultery and fornication.22 In September 1884 he married the woman involved (the former Mrs. Jennie Perry)23 in order to avoid prosecution.24 As such, we can surmise that the marriage was not a happy one, and it's plausible that Mandel may have committed adultery again later with other women. I was unable to find DNA evidence to corroborate this theory, however.

Chromosome 4

Based on match data from MyHeritage and GEDMatch, DNA from 22Charlie Black's still unidentified father seems to be abundant near the end of my father's 4th chromosome. My father matched with two other self-identified Powell descendants on chromosome 7, but these segments seem to be noise from a shared Thigpen MRCA.

GEDMatch Matches with Powell Descendants
DNA kit One-to-One cM total Chromosome of Longest Segment Tree Snippet of Relevant 19th-Century Lineage Notes
A148500 link;
back-up copy
33.2 4 4585956;
back-up copy
Elias Powell (1810-1887) (+ Teresa Black) → Temperance Powell (1836-1906)

Lynear Powell (1816-1884) (+ Mylie Ross) → James Bennett Powell (1848-1906)
M296042 link;
back-up copy
27.8 7 2785651;
back-up copy
Manson Lafayette Powell (+ Mahala Toler) Both share ancestor 288Travis Thigpen.
MyHeritage Matches with Powell Descendants
User cM total Chromosome of Longest Segment Tree Snippet of Relevant 19th-Century Lineage Notes
Sharon Chamberlain 29.8 4 link;
screenshot

(Elmae Powell's FamilySearch profile)
Elias Powell (1810-1887) (+ Teresa Black) → Erastus Powell (1825-1881)

Deborah Powell (1823-1908) (+ Joel Anderson) → Mary "Polly" Powell (1854-1919)
Michael Wright 26.7 7 link;
screenshot

(Rosa Lee Thigpen's FamilySearch profile)
Manson Lafayette Powell (+ Mahala Toler) Both share ancestors 144Melancton Thigpen and 145Barbara Ricks.

Ancestry.com's ThruLines feature shows numerous matches to Powell descendants, but sadly Ancestry conceals chromosome and segment data from its users. Due to endogamy and intermarriages between the Black and Powell families, this data would have been useful to help eliminate inappropriate/irrelevant matches.

Conclusions & Future Research

The available evidence proves beyond a reasonable doubt that 22Charlie Black's unidentified father descends from 176xSampson Powell and 177xLetitia Barfield, although unfortunately his line of descent thereafter remains unclear. Based on DNA trends, I suspect—but cannot be certain—that he descends via either Elias Powell or (perhaps slightly less likely) Calvin Green Powell, both of whom are sons of 176xSampson and 177xLetitia.

Future Y-DNA results from a 22Charlie Black male-line descendant would help to identify 22Charlie's father. So far, however, I've been unable to find any such descendant (at least not one who will respond to outreach).

Additional autosomal DNA results from someone who descends from 22Charlie Black via someone other than his daughter 11Mary Clyde Black might also be helpful.

Footnotes:

*To derive the table of likely matches for MyHeritage, I began with MyHeritage's AutoClusters table for my father's matches. The password to open the 7Z file is open. As you can see, MyHeritage sorted 106 matches into 28 clusters.

Next I used a multi-step process to rule out clusters that are unlikely to reflect 22Charlie's ancestors. The first step was to select a few matches with easily identifiable most recent common ancestors (MRCA's) not in 22Charlie's line; I chose:

MyHeritage User MRCA's Shared with My Father
Crystal Lancaster 8Bryant Knight, 9Julia Thigpen
Sarah Pohler 80Washington L. Geiger, 81Catherine Tillman
Austin Davis 82Thomas A. Davis, 83Penelope Gillis
Betty Jo Black 90Benjamin Burton Black, 91Elizabeth Sutton
Teresa Cureton 170Renson Rabun, 171Elizabeth Martin

Considered together, these subjects have many of the same ancestors as my father. (Indeed, they inherited DNA from or otherwise share DNA with the vast majority of my father's known ancestors. The exceptions—i.e., my father's known ancestors whose DNA is not reflected in any of these subjects—are 43Sarah Elizabeth Love and her ancestors, 46Rhoden Tant and his ancestors, and 84James H. Copeland and his ancestor.) Importantly, however, these subjects do not descend from 22Charlie's unidentified father.

For each of the above-named subjects, I next made a list of all of their matches that (1) shared at least 50 cM; and (2) were also matches to my father (of any cM). After making such lists, I then combined them into a "Combined" master list of matches who are likely not related to 22Charlie's unidentified father.

I next looked through each of the 28 clusters, and I excluded any cluster that included any subject from the "Combined" list. This left 16 clusters of interest.

Lastly, I looked for all of my father's matches who met the following criteria: (1) >50 cM of shared DNA; (2) not on the "Combined" list; and (3) not in a cluster that had been ruled out.

You can see my working spreadsheet here.

To derive the table of likely matches for Ancestry, first I used Ancestry's auto-sort feature to show my father's maternal line only, then I made a list of all such matches down to 41 cM. There were 150 such matches.

Next I selected a few matches with easily identifiable most recent common ancestors (MRCA's) not in 22Charlie's line; I chose:

MyHeritage User MRCA's Shared with My Father
BEvans3567 (managed by liz248) 90Benjamin Burton Black, 91Elizabeth Sutton
Cathy Geiger 20Joseph Preston Geiger, 21Mattie Copeland
Gloria Perry 20Joseph Preston Geiger, 21Mattie Copeland
rick_lockhart56 21Mattie Copeland
stbnorth 92John G. Tant, 93Rebecca Hill

For each of the 150 matches, I next used Ancestry Pro Tools to chart how many centimorgans each shared with the five abovenamed comparators.

The matches that shared 0 cM with all five comparators were then separated into a new list, and again I used Ancestry Pro Tools to chart how many centimorgans each of these matches shared with each other.

Lastly I sorted the resulting data, resulting in two main groups of matches, plus numerous "loner" matches that had few or no other matches.

You can see my working spreadsheet here.

except for Jesse Hamilton, who descends from both Calvin Green Powell and Frederick Tyson, as noted previously
§The autosomal DNA round 2 results spreadsheet names the subjects included in my analysis. If you want more information about these subjects or want to audit my work, the following tables can guide you to the information that I used to prepare the spreadsheet.

Descendants of Calvin Green Powell or His Siblings
Ancestry User cM of DNA Shared with ... Tree Screenshot(s)
on Ancestry.com
Ancestry Pro Tools:
First 40+ Matches
Sorted by Closeness to ...
My Father shawnslg4012 My Father This User
wmatt_snellgrove5335linklinklink
April Stillwagner5140linklinklink
Jesse Hamilton5136linklinklink
Bailey Chalmers-Vuorensyrja4331linklinklink
donnie morris37-linklinklink
melaniebolson3633linklinklink
Glenda Nadine Powell3221linklinklink
johnskipper6731-linklinklink
1203GREY30-linklinklink
tapowell197529-linklinklink
Descendants of 90Benjamin Burton Black and 91Elizabeth Sutton
Ancestry User Tree Screenshot
on Ancestry.com
ThruLines Screenshot
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My Father This User
Alice Carawaylinklinklinklink
Ashley Muirlinklinklinklink
Ashley Powelllinklinklinklink
bandh28linklinklinklink
BEvans3567
(managed by liz248)
linklinklinklink
D.R.
(managed by reckde)
linklinklinklink
dvrclabornlinklinklinklink
Kenyahtah Pattersonlinklinklinklink
K.R.
(managed by Christopher Ryle)
linklinklinklink
Lisa Keytonlinklinklinklink
liz248linklinklinklink
marian thomaslinklinklinklink
Mark Evanslinklinklinklink
paigan9linklinklinklink
Patricia Goblelinklinklinklink
Pepper Mcgilllinklinklinklink
Samantha Thomaslinklinklinklink
stbnorthlinklinklinklink
Timothy Joneslink
(unlinked)
n/alinklink
Virginia Joseylinklinklinklink
Descendants of 20Joseph Preston Geiger and 21Mattie Copeland
Ancestry User Tree Screenshot
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My Father This User
Laura Hernandezlinklinklinklink
KRISTIE ROBINSONlinklinklinklink
Cathy Geigerlinklinklinklink
Kaylee Geigerlinklinklinklink
Ashley Geigerlinklinklinklink
Caleigh Andersonlinklinklinklink
paigan9linklinklinklink
Pepper Mcgilllinklinklinklink
Jason Mosleylinklinklinklink
Tiffany Lampplinklinklinklink
P.J.
(managed by Presley Banderas)
linklinklinklink
Descendants of Both 90Benjamin Burton Black and 22Charlie Black
Ancestry User Tree Screenshot
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My Father This User
shawnslg4012linklinklink
Alternatively, one could propose that 22Charlie's father was a brother of Calcy Fortner, and thus 22Charlie would be a descendant not of 176xSampson Powell, but instead of his brother Silas Leaston Powell. However, this hypothesis seems false on its face, and it results in impossibly high standard deviations for some of my father's matches to descendants of Calvin Green Powell: See, for example, my father's 51-cM match with April Stillwagner, a descendant of Calvin Green Powell via his son Manson Lafayette Powell with somewhat low endogamy risk. BanyanDNA simulations show that if an unspecified Fortner (brother of Calcy Fortner) were 22Charlie's father, then my father's match to April Stillwagner would be 3.5 standard deviations above the mean (BanyanDNA tree; results)—essentially impossible.
No document explicitly states that 176xSampson Powell and 177xLetitia Barfield are the parents of Elias Powell and Calvin Green Powell. However, consider the following:
Sampson Powell and Tishia Barfield married on 26 July 1810.25 Elias' tombstone shows that he was born on the exact same date.26
Tishy, Elias, and Calvin G. Powell lived relatively near each other in 1850 (household numbers 168, 211, and 214, respectively).27-29
In 1850 Tishia's household still included her children Bennett, Etheldred, Stephen, and Claton [Crayton].27 Etheldred and Stephen died in the Civil War,30,31 but later records show that Calvin kept in close contact with Bennett and Crayton: On 3 April 1852 Calvin sold Bennett some land,32 and on 6 March 1889 Calvin and Bennett are mentioned as adjoining land-owners.33 An 1898/1899 voter register shows that Calvin G. Powell, Bennett Powell, and Crayton L. Powell all lived in the same militia district.34

As you can see, the above evidence strongly suggests that Calvin and Elias are sons of Sampson Powell and Letitia Barfield.

Sources Cited:

1: NARA record group 47 / series "Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT)" (identifier 12004494) / file unit "Application (SS-5) Files" (identifier 23845613) / entry for Charlie Black, born 25 December 1893, SSN 260149743 (reference number 65308528062). NARA Access to Archival Databases (AAD), <https://aad.archives.gov/aad/print-record-detail.jsp?dt=3059&mtch=8&cat=all&tf=F&sc=29592,29578,29580,29596,29583,29584,29585,29608,29612&bc=sl,fd&txt_29578=charlie&op_29578=0&nfo_29578=V,15,1900&txt_29596=black&op_29596=0&nfo_29596=V,20,1900&cl_29612=GA&op_29612=null&nfo_29612=V,3,1900&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=3235246&rlst=3125395,3152941,3184030,3184031,3203760,3233477,3235246,5687410>, accessed 20 January 2025.

2: 1900 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Johnson County, Georgia. Enumeration district 53, sheets 41B and 42A, dwelling 752, family 776, Burton B Black household. NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 207. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-D1K9-F1K?i=81&cc=1325221&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AM3J8-FMP>.

3: Treutlen County, Georgia death certificate 10802 for Charlie Black, who died 11 May 1946. You can see a copy of the document here.

4: 1940 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Lothair (militia district 1221), Treutlen County, Georgia. Enumeration district 140-1, sheet 6B, family 94, Charlie Black household. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9M1-HJPQ?i=11&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AK7PR-84W>.

5: 1930 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Lothair (militia district 1221), Treutlen County, Georgia. Enumeration district 142-1, sheet 12B, dwelling 211, family 211, Charlie Black household. NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 388. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9R48-275?i=24&cc=1810731&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A3ZCB-K6Z>.

6: "Black Funeral at Red Bluff," The Soperton News (Soperton, Georgia), Thursday 16 May 1946, page 1

7: "Marvin E. Black," Clinch County News, Wednesday 23 February 2000, page 4. The obituary names survivors, including "six sons, Phillip Black, Okeechobee, Fla., Ronald Gene Black, Homerville, Gary Black, Eddie Black, Kenny Black and Daryl Black, Stuart, Fla."

8: 1860 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Johnson County, Georgia. Page 14, dwelling 89, family 88, line 9, James Black, age 50. NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 128. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYBT-WR1>, accessed 28 May 2025.

9: Johnson County, Georgia. Inferior and ordinary court minutes book for the years 1859-1873, page 72. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QZ-B9P9-J>, accessed 28 May 2025.

10: Johnson County, Georgia. Inferior and ordinary court minutes book for the years 1859-1873, page 106. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QZ-B9P4-N?lang=en&i=63>, accessed 28 May 2025.

11: Johnson County, Georgia. Inferior and ordinary court minutes book for the years 1859-1873, page 121. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QZ-B9P8-2>, accessed 28 May 2025.

12: Johnson County, Georgia. Tax digest for 1890, militia district 1201, entry for B. B. Black. Ancestry.com (“Georgia Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892” / Johnson / 1890 / images 5 and 6 of 142), accessed 28 May 2025.

13: Johnson County, Georgia. Tax digest for 1890, militia district 1326, entry for Calvin G. Powell Sr. Ancestry.com (“Georgia Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892” / Johnson / 1890 / images 76 and 77 of 142), accessed 28 May 2025.

14: Emanuel County, Georgia. Marriages book A (1817-1860), page 15, entry for Calvin Powell and Sarena Deriso. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BK-YBBD>, accessed 28 May 2025.

15: Jefferson County, Georgia. Superior court records for the years 1823-1837, pages 307-308. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSYZ-W9QC-Q?lang=en&i=186>, accessed 28 May 2025. This is Stephen's petition for divorce, followed by a few related court orders, etc. I've transcribed the petition here.

16: The tombstone of Serena D. Powell (born 3 July 1833, died 7 July 1905), Oaky Grove Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, Johnson County, Georgia. FindAGrave, <https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69736375/maryann-serena-powell>.

17: Jefferson County, Georgia. Marriages White book A, page 238, entry for James J. Black and Piety Dursezeaux. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GPPX-992B>, accessed 28 May 2025.

18: Jefferson County, Georgia. Inventories and appraisements book E (1832-1842), page 50. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L93L-RKVQ?lang=en&i=377>, accessed 28 May 2025.

19: The tombstone of Calcy Fortner Powell (born 9 April 1852, died 24 May 1876), Oaky Grove Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, Johnson County, Georgia. FindAGrave, <https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/51498062/calcy-powell.

20: Georgia Confederate pension office, RG 58-1-1. Application for B. B. Black, page 2. Georgia Archives Virtual Vault record ID USAMILCONFEDGA_182689-00461, <https://vault.georgiaarchives.org/digital/collection/TestApps/id/93149/rec/4545>, accessed 27 January 2020.

21: Johnson County, Georgia. Tax digest for 1890, militia district 1201, pages 2 and 3, B. B. Black. Ancestry.com (“Georgia Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892” / Johnson / 1890 / images 5 and 6 of 142), accessed 3 February 2026.

22: Johnson County, Georgia. Superior court minutes book B (1874-1886), page 474. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-D3C4-Z94R-6>, accessed 3 February 2026.

23: Johnson County, Georgia. Marriages book for the years 1877-1889, page 221. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-8BZN-9VJ>, accessed 3 February 2026.

24: The Wrightsville Recorder (Wrightsville, Georgia), 27 September 1884, page 3, column 1, bottom of the page. Georgia Historic Newspapers, https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn90052204/1884-09-27/ed-1/seq-3/#words=adultery+Powell.

25: Montgomery County, Georgia. Marriages book A (1811-1850), n.p., entry for the marriage of Sampson Powell and Tishia Barfield on 26 July 1810. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GBZ3-D4M>, accessed 3 February 2026.

26: Tombstone of Elias Powell (born 26 July 1810, died 8 April 1887), Oaky Grove Cemetery, Johnson County, Georgia. FindAGrave, <https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/54144911/elias-powell>.

27: 1850 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). 28th District, Emanuel County, Georgia. Page 908 (handwritten) or 455b (stamped), line 17, household 168, Tishy Powell household. NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 68. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/7thcensus0056unit/page/n439/mode/1up.

28: 1850 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). 28th District, Emanuel County, Georgia. Page 914 (handwritten) or 458b (stamped), line 32, household 211, Elias Powell household. NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 68. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/7thcensus0056unit/page/n445/mode/1up.

29: 1850 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). 28th District, Emanuel County, Georgia. Page 915 (handwritten) or 459 (stamped), line 13, household 214, Calvin G. Powell household. NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 68. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/7thcensus0056unit/page/n446/mode/1up.

30: Compiled Confederate service record of Private Stephen Powell of Company F, 48th Georgia Infantry, image 8. NARA microfilm publication M266, roll 495. National Archives Catalog, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/78890959?objectPage=8, accessed 3 February 2026.

31: Compiled Confederate service record of Private E L D Powell of Company F, 48th Georgia Infantry, image 2. NARA microfilm publication M266, roll 495. National Archives Catalog, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/78890840?objectPage=2, accessed 3 February 2026.

32: Johnson County, Georgia. Deeds book A (1859-1872), page 83. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-R9J2-9>, accessed 3 February 2026.

33: Johnson County, Georgia. Deeds book J (1897-1897, 1900, and 1901),page 129. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-ZHHB>, accessed 3 February 2026.

34: Johnson County, Georgia. Register of voters for 1898, section for Powers district (1326), n.p., page for P-surname entries. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-83C4-Z98W-6>, accessed 3 February 2026.