Ebenezer "Eben" Vick

In Joseph Vick of Lower Parish, Isle of Wight County, Virginia and His Descendants John D. Beatty and Di Ann Vick wrote on page 380 that Ebenezer “Eben” Vick might be a descendant of either John4 (Benjamin3, Robert2, Joseph1) or Benjamin3’s son Josiah4. Eben was born on 31 Mar 1792, in North Carolina, and died on 27 Feb 1860, in Logan County, Kentucky.

The authors also said on page 381 “Some have even suggested that Eben was the illegitimate son of Presley Nelms and an unknown Vick woman. That seems extremely unlikely. Not only have no bastardy bonds been found in North Carolina to support this assertion, but, more importantly, if he were illegitimate, naming his children after the Nelms would flaunt his illegitimacy before both his wife and his middle-class associates…proof of Eben’s parentage will probably never be found.”

The one thing a Y-DNA test can do is show whether two men share a recent common patrilineal ancestor. A descendant of Eben’s son Presely William VICK had his Y-DNA tested at Family Tree DNA. The results showed that this descendant did not have Joseph1’s Y-DNA signature and that he did not share a common patrilineal ancestor with the proven Joseph1 descendants for thousands of years. Recently, a descendant of Eben’s son James Council also had his Y-DNA tested. His results also show that his line does not share a common patrilineal ancestor with the proven Joseph1 descendants for thousands of years. So it is highly likely that none of Eben’s descendants are patrilineal descendants of Joseph1.

Another descendant of Eben’s son Presley William has submitted a DNA sample for testing as part of the VICK and Allied Families DNA Project at 23andMe. His results might shed some light on whether an “unknown Vick woman” was Eben’s mother.

If you are a male VICK and you are interested in joining our VICK Y-DNA Surname Project (or know one who is interested in joining), Family Tree DNA has just announced its Holiday Sale. You can take advantage of FTDNA’s reduced prices for surname project participants by ordering at this link

http://www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=Vick

FTDNA says “Our Holiday Season promotion will bring back the discount that we offered this summer for the Y-DNA37, since this has been requested by many of our project administrators.

Y-DNA37 – promotion price $119 (reg. price $149)
Y-DNA67 – promotional price $209 (reg. price $239)”

Hopefully, 23andMe will also announce a holiday sale for those who would like to be tested as part of our VICK and Allied Families DNA Project at 23andMe.