Hello cousins,
1. We have not yet found the genetic connection between American Milams and English Milams. It is proving to be very elusive. So far, we have Y-DNA tested 8 UK-"Milams"........ 3 Milams, 2 Milehams, 1 Mylam, 1 Milum, 1 Millam. Interestingly, the 2 Milehams are in separate and distinct family trees and Haplogroups. Initially, it looked as if the Mileham with Norfolk ancestors was going to partially match up with us American Milams, but once the full test result was in, he did not match. :-(( So, the quest goes on. Do what you can do to help.

Currently, the primary focus is on locating Milehams, in both UK & US, for DNA testing. They seem to be the most fertile area for finding new information needed to better understand our Milam ancestry. FYI: there was a Mileham family in Delaware in mid-1700s, possibly earlier. Some of them migrated to NC, AL, KY, and points west. It's very possible they have living descendants today. DNA testing of their living male descendants could prove vitally important to us.

Remember, besides these Delaware Milehams, there was the well-known marriage of Samuel Mileham to Martha Gardner on September 8, 1724 in Christ Church Parish, Lancaster County, Virginia. There was even a Mileham in Plymouth Colony about 1675, as well as records of other early American Milehams. There is even an Allen Mileham (b. 1800), and his descendants, found in Tazewell & Lee Counties of Virginia, and our family trees. Allen Mileham is believed to be the g-grandson of John Milam of Halifax County. In other words, any number of these early Milehams could have become Milams in later generations. Who can say what the original spelling was, especially considering how many different spellings are often encountered in records regarding the same persons. We may have been Milehams originally, as has been often speculated.

In other words, some Milehams and Milams could very well be related, and DNA testing could prove it, or at least shed great light upon understanding the Mileham-Milam relationship.

So, again, the current focus is on locating Milehams, in both the UK & US, for DNA testing. Do what you can do to help locate Milehams for DNA testing..... for instance, look for them in your local phone book, call and discuss this with them. "There's GOLD in them there hills!".... help find it!

2. We have DNA testing underway for a new 2nd generation Milam Family of America branch.... Zachariah Milam's branch. recall: Zachariah is believed to be the son of patriarch Thomas Milam of Bedford County, Virginia. This very good news! We still have a few branches which have not been tested yet.... help find them. We need to verify them all.


3. Recently, we did SNP tests on a diverse group of American Milams in our DNA database to see if we could nail down more specifically where our Milams originated geographically. Prior to these SNP tests, our Haplogroup was only "predicted" to be R1b1c..... which is found in Western Europe, and predominately in the British Isles. The SNP tests VERIFIED our Haplogroup as: R1b1c. Recall, there have been rumors/speculation in the past that our Milams were from Wales, and Scotland, and Ireland. I was hoping to pinpoint the specific area of the British Isles, but that didn't happen. None of our 5 SNP test results provided that level of detail for some reason.

So, I guess we will have to discover that by comparison of Y-DNA testing results and traditional genealogy research.

More later. Do what you can to help. (I'm wearing down.)

See the latest Milam Family DNA Project overview at: http://www.milamroots.com/dna/index.html

Take care,
Oliver