YDNA results of a second Virginia Updike
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In reply to:
Smith Newton Updike (1832-1917) of VA and OH
bryan godfrey 12/02/07
I now have YDNA results for two descendants of John Updike (ca. 1717-1801) of Loudoun Co., VA, one for a descendant of his son Amon by his first marriage, and one for a patrilineal descendant of his son Daniel by his second marriage. I am still waiting on more markers to be tested to prove for sure that they match one another, but in comparing the exact matches of one to someone with a different surname, those markers appear to match. Neither of these Updikes match the proven descendants of Louris and Johannes Opdyck, so this seems to prove that the two families are not related in spite of what Charles Wilson Opdyke concluded in his 1889 Opdyck Genealogy, unless of course John were an illegitimate child of a daughter of Johannes Opdyck instead, which does not seem likely. Though we may never be able to prove it since Lodowick Updike's male line appears to be extinct, I think the results likely indicate there was some truth to what John's grandson, Daniel Updike, Jr., said in a letter to Charles W. Opdyke, that his grandfather was born in Rhode Island. Mr. Opdyke dismissed any notion of the Virginians descending from the Rhode Island Updikes because he said Lodowick Updike's descendants were accounted for and John Updike was known to have lived and married in New Jersey, but it is possible he was descended from one of Lodowick's brothers who were believed to have died young and unmarried.
The closest matches to the Virginia Updikes have patrilineal origins in Germany too, whereas the closest matches to the Louris and Johannes Opdyck line are centered around Denmark and The Netherlands.