Hello Ken,

I took the liberty of looking at your ancestry as given by you in both Rootsweb WorldConnect and Ancestry "Search" databases and was able to confirm part of what you have lisred below.

Of note : In the Ancestry 1860 census William is listed with the surname Asbill so you need to be aware that all deviations of your Asbell surname need to be viewed carefully when searching.

I also found where several other researchers have connected your William Asbell b. 1817, GA back to Martin Asbell who came to VA ~ 1700.

It is interesting to note that of 20 participants in a Y-DNA surname test group we have found eight separate Asbill/Asbell/etc lines that do not appear to be closely related at all - only one of these lines appears to have a nearly verified connection back to Martin Asbell.

It appears the documentation of many of our Asbill/Asbell genealogies has been contrived by well-meaning researchers to fit the book published by George Bennett in the 1950/1960 era - which said book has been proved many times over to have false connections which in turn has been a severe disservice to our genealogy community. My own Asbell line is a prime example of this having occurred!

There is a Y-DNA connected Asbell line with two participants that has a history of having Georgia origins. Your line may or may not be connected to them.

If you are interested in discussing this further you can contact me through clicking on my name in this message heading which should show you my e-mail address.

Bill Harvey
Co-administrator of Asbill/Asbell Y-DNA surname Project
a completely voluntary effort with no remuneration or benefits adherent