Looking for information about my African American grandfather, William Parks, born a slave in 1846 in Georgia.

Question

Specifically, I am trying to find the location in Georgia where William Parks was born and any information about his parents.  Family lore says his father was Native American but I am not sure of that.  He died in 1919.

Answer 1

If you have a living male relative with the Parks surname then I highly recommend going to  

http://www.familytreedna.com/cj.aspx?ftdna_ref=600

and pay for him to take the Y-DNA37 test.  It will tell you which Parks he does and does not share ancestry with.  It may reveal direct paternal line cousins who adopted different surnames.  It will likely reveal the origin of this direct paternal line prior to slavery.

If the Parks tester is found to belong to Y haplogroup Q-M242 (or one of its subclades [sub groups]) then the origin of that paternal line is Native American.

Sincerely,