The James River Davenports are a group of Davenports with the same Y-DNA that resided in the same area in Virginia along the James River. Lancelot Davenport, who was born about 1594 in England, was perhaps the first Davenport in the Colonies, arriving in same area of Virginia in 1621. Whether Lancelot was married or had children is unknown. and one whose Davenport ancestor was born in Ireland. And their Y-DNA is different that the main Cheshire line. However, their Y-DNA does match three Davenports of Cheshire England descent, so they have found a home.
The connection between the American James River line and the main Davenport Cheshire line is still a work in progress. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, check out the James River Davenport Page for more information.
But here is what we do know. Lancelot arrived in the colonies long before the other reported Davenports in the area. When he arrived in Jamestown in 1620 he is listed as 29 years old, placing his birthdate to about 1691. The last record of Lancelot is in 1639 which is likely close to when he died. He is not mentioned with any other Davenports during that time period. Meanwhile, a George Davenport was born about 1680 in Virgina. Descendants of his great-grandson Samual (b.1793} represent three of the James River participants. Since Lancelot probably died in 1639 and George wasn’t born for another 41 years, then if there was a connection, it would be one or probably two generations later.
The Haplogroup of the James River line along with their English ancestors begins, for our purposes, with M243 > L23 > P310 > L151 just line the majority of the Davenport lines. But at this point it takes another direction in about 2900 BCE. It continues with U106 > Z381 >L48. The U106 is indicative of Anglo-Saxon ancestry. The main Cheshire line indicates Roman ancestry. The American Newberry line also share ancestry up to this pint, plus another three SNP’s Z9 >Z30 > Z27 > Z2 (1800 BCE). After that point, the two Anglo-Saxon branches split and go their own way.