Since my last post, there has been a new discovery in my research for Amy (Collins) Willis.
Two of the people I have been corresponding with on this research are Homer Rogers and Shannon Holliday, since they are both related to their respective Collins families. They have been a great source of information during my research for these posts regarding Amy Willis and the Collins family that I have come to believe that Amy belongs to. Well, they helped in a way that put the following question to rest…
Is this Amy’s family?
You know those moments when the stars align, and all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place?
Well, Cheryl and I had another one of those moments.
Last year, I gave my wife the AncestryDNA kit as a gift.
After my last post, I decided to give her DNA matches on Ancestry another look…I’m so glad I did. There were two matches that came up as 4th cousins, among many others for the Collins name…
Homer Rogers and Shannon Holliday.
Homer is descended from John Henry Collins and Eliza Ann Waugh and Shannon is descended from Amy Collins Willis and Perry Willis.
Now, there can be no doubt…Homer, Shannon and my wife, Cheryl share the same DNA.
So, has the story of Amy (Collins) Willis come to a conclusion?
In a way, yes…since we now can settle the question in our minds as to the validity of who Amy’s family really is, we can move forward with making other discoveries in the Collins family.
Can there ever really be a conclusion when researching any family?
No…
I believe we can now begin a new chapter in the life of Amy (Collins) Willis, and try to discover the answers to the plaguing questions and mysteries that still remain about Amy’s mother and father, and the other folktales and family lore surrounding Amy’s parents and grandparents.
Brian S. Miller
Special thanks to the following individuals who helped and supported me along this journey.
Homer Rogers
Shannon Holliday
Melissa Fizer Conley
Becky Fox Shuff
Daniel Hay
Marlene Clausing Robinson
Kap Willis
Cathy Meder-Dempsey
My wife, Cheryl…this one’s for you Sweetie!
Your Ancestors Demystified 
I’m sure your sweetie Cheryl is so proud of you for the work you’ve done on proving Amy Willis. One question I have is, since the tests were on AncestryDNA which doesn’t have a chromosome browser, have the three tests been compared on Gedmatch or one of the companies (FTDNA and MyHeritage)which allow you to upload the raw DNA file to see if the match is on the same chromosome segment?
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Cathy,
I have Cheryl’s uploaded to GEDMatch already. There was a Fizer match on Ancestry for Cheryl, so I could do a comparison between Melissa Fizer Conley and Cheryl. The results were as I suspected. No DNA matches. The Fizer match must be a coincidence. I am getting the AncestryDNA files from the other cousins to upload to GEDMatch to see the results. I suspect those results will be more positive. I’ll let you know. Should be interesting.
Brian
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Thank you, Brian. DNA is not easy and keeping up with the matches and trying to figure them out takes time. I hope you do get positive results.
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