This sometimes detailed ancestry summary, with some historical background, is primarily intended to assist future generations of the lineage to quickly pickup, verify and continue the family history.

The lineage is difficult to research. The spelling of names [i.e., Clements, Clemens, Clemmons, Clemons derivatives] is subject to the ear and hand of census takers, records keepers and our ancestors' and future descendants' desires.  The spelling of "Mozingo" in the lineage also makes research extremely more difficult [about 16 variations, really limitless beyond imagination].  The use of nicknames, especially in females, also presents another unique challenge.  Examples found in this lineage include:  Nelly = Ellen, Polly = Mary, Milly = Amelia, Sally = Sarah, Peggy = Margaret.

Please excuse "my spellings" of Clemons throughout this text.

Some general conclusions about the origins of this lineage:

a)  On 5 December 2006, I received the 1911 official obituary for Thomas Marion Mozingo [of Henry Mozingo of Spencer Mozingo] where the writer of the obituary clearly stated a French origin for this Mozingo line.  So all, except the William T. Clemons line, could have at least half French heritage since four-to-four of the two original families inter-married [Mozingo to Clements / Clemmons / Clemons].

b) On 3 June 2007, I happily found our John Milton Clemons listed on the 1906 and 1911 Canadian Census Records.  In 1911, the Canadian government asked each household for their tribe of origin.  Despite, being born in America, living with many French in Canada, John Milton chose to claim a German descent.  His wife claimed Dutch.  So he "thought" he was really of German descent.  Looking back at the history of Europe, it would seem unlikely that a German family would choose to marry into a French family [Clemens to Mozingo].  The answer could be that they knew each other for years in the tobacco fields of America and had a mutual respect and understanding of each other in their New World.  The Germans immigrates were in our Orange / Culpeper Counties [Germanna] in the early 1700s and it is recorded that the Lt. Governor of Virginia  had many Germans as indentured servants [to pay their voyage] for extremely extended periods of time.  However, the only known "Clem..." was Christian Clements who moved further south in Virginia down the Cumberland Valley.  He had no known son named Henry.  Its just possible our Henry was just an indentured servant [explaining the lack of official records] and gaining freedom, just popped up in 1800 Orange County, Virginia and just had one of his daughters suddenly marry into the Spencer Mozingo family who had been there for years.  I cannot accept the sudden marriage.  Additional background of John Milton Clemons:  Born in Harrison County, Kentucky in 1849.  Son of William Clemons born 1819 in Harrison County, Kentucky who was the son of Thomas Clemmons who was the son of Henry Clements.  The family migrated to Decatur County, Indiana, then later the children went to Missouri and Arkansas, then to Washington State [gold rush] and in 1906 entered Canada, naturalized in 1910, some probably left Canada 1914 - 1919 [border crossings of daughter Zella Z. Hodson and husband], then found in Idaho by 1920 and later Oregon in 1930.

c)  William T. Clemons [of Henry] always listed Maryland as his place of birth.  However, I could not find the family there.  Please take special note that the very large and old Clements line of Charles County, Maryland was very British and very much so devote Catholics.  So perhaps our Henry Clements' family was indentured servants in Maryland first and then got transplanted [perhaps their employer relocated] to Orange County, Virginia in the middle of the tobacco belt, French and German settlements.

So, help us prove the above incidents right or wrong, kindly submit your "male" Clemons DNA samples to the link on the left site menu.  The William T. and James Clemmons lines, both generation two, would be the best tests as Thomas Clemmons [also generation two] died young with only one known legitimate son [that survived to adulthood - William] and his widow probably had two additional sons [James and Thomas].  The last mentioned two will probably prove not to be of Clemons DNA.  I being of the later... I seem to be an exact match [12 marker test] for some branches of the Lewis, Turner, and Carter surnames [and others].  These mentioned three happened to have resided in Harrison County, KY on the E. Licking River during the 1820s.  However, I need the 37 marker test to be more certain.  Either I am a descendant of one of the above or we simply shared a common ancestor 3,000 years ago before surnames were adopted.  They suspect I am from Halogroup R1a which is described as follows:

The R1a lineage is believed to have originated in the Eurasian Steppes north of the Black & Caspian Seas. This lineage is thought to descend from a population of the Kurgan culture, known for the domestication of the horse (circa 3000 B.C.E.). These people were also believed to be the first speakers of the Indo-European language group. This lineage is found in central & western Asia, India, and in Slavic populations of Europe.

Getting back to my general comments, you already know or should know, this Clemons line, with a long farming tradition [and true survivorship skills] are a private and reserved folk...   Isn’t that typical for many Americans?