Who Was William Munford Stubbs’ Father?

I have recently been participating in a Research Like a Pro with DNA Study Group offered by Diana Elder and Nicole Dyer of FamilyLocket. My objective for the study group has been to further my work on a long-standing family history mystery, discovering the identity of William Munford Stubbs’ father. While a William Stubbs Sr. has been added as William’s father on the FamilySearch tree, family lore suggests that Stubbs was a surname that William adopted later in life, and that his father had a completely different–and unknown–surname. I worked on this project in a prior RLP with DNA study group. You can read the report from I wrote about that first iteration of the project here.

For a DNA project involving unknown parentage, locating two people in the same time and place is essential.  By determining the location of William Munford Stubbs’ mother Ann Munford at the time her son William was conceived, DNA connections can be correlated with the geographical location of possible fathers to narrow down likely candidates. To try to pinpoint Ann’s place in 1857, I studied records created for her in England and made a timeline. Below is a summary of some important life events for both Ann and her son William. Each record used to create the timeline and all records discussed in the text below have been attached either to Ann’s FamilySearch profile or William’s FamilySearch profile.

Placing Ann in an exact place at the time of William’s conception in 1857 was not possible with the records I have discovered for Ann. Her parents probably lived in Wymondham at that time. Ann was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Wymondham in 1851.¹ Shortly after Ann’s baptism, her church records were transferred to Kennington, in the London Conference, indicating her move to that location.² In 1854, Ann’s records were moved back to the Norwich Conference, of which Wymondham is a part.³ The next record for her was in 1858, when William was born in the neighboring parish of Hethel.⁴ I have hypothesized that Ann was living in the Wymondham-Hethel area at the time William was conceived.

One important item to note from existing records is William’s surname.  On his birth record, no surname is listed for William.  No father is listed either, but Ann Munford of Hethel is listed as his mother. On the 1861 England and Wales census, William’s surname is listed as Munford.⁵ When immigrating to the United States, Ann was listed as a spinster, and her son William was listed with her surname, Mumford [sic.].⁶

The 1880 U.S. census is the first record on which William’s surname is listed as Stubbs, or Stubs, as it is spelled on this record.⁷  In 1870, William was enumerated with the surname of his stepfather, George Gunn.⁸ The sudden appearance of the surname Stubbs in 1880 fits with family lore that William may have adopted that surname later in life.  So, the identification of William’s unknown father will involve identifying a possible surname and then narrowing down potential candidates with that surname.

For the first iteration of the project, I had DNA from one test taker, William’s great-grandson. Prior to continuing the research, I was able to gain access to the Ancestry DNA test results for two additional great-grandsons. One of them was a Y-DNA candidate, and he graciously took a Y-DNA test and shared his results with me.

Over the next few weeks, I will post the methodology I used to work through a second iteration of this project. If you’ve ever been interested in how to utilize DNA in family history research, I hope you will glean some helpful tips and strategies as you follow along with this series.

1. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Minnie Margett’s File,” card file arranged alphabetically, entry for Ann Munford; image in locked collection, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/261771 : accessed 22 February 2023), digital film #8085971.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. General Register Office, United Kingdom, Hethel, Humble Yard, Henstead, Norfolk, no. 241, birth registration for William Munford, 23 June 1858; digital copy held by Alice Childs, Highland, Utah.
5. “1861 England and Wales Census,” digital image, FindMyPast (https://findmypast.com : accessed 5 April 2020), Wimbledon, p. 11, William Munford in the household of Robert Munford; citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
6. “New York, Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957,” database with images, Ancestry (https://ancestry.com : accessed 25 September 2020), entry for Wm. Mumford, age 4, arrived New York, New York, 1863 on SS Amazon from London; Date > 1863 > July > 20 > image 5, line 201.
7. 1880 U.S. Census, Iron County, Utah, population schedule, Parowan, enumeration district (E.D.) 21, page 358 (stamped), page 11 (penned), dwelling 102, family 102, M. William Stubs; digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 16November 2020); citing NARA microfilm publication T9, Roll 1336.
8.  1870 U.S. Census, Iron County, Utah, population schedule, Parowan, page 291 (stamped), page 17 (penned), dwelling 124, family 122, William Gunn in the household of George Gunn; digital image, Ancestry (https://ancestry.com : accessed 25 September 2020); citing NARA microfilm publication M593, Roll 1610.