I see that I accidently stated "Smith" where I should have stated "Jones" in 
my last post.  Sorry about that.

Bill Davidson


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Davidson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2012 6:16 PM
Subject: Re: Is there a way to leave your DNA for the future.....


> Aurelia,
>
> If you want to research a particular Jones family, for example, then you 
> need a male Jones from that family to take the Y chromosome DNA test. 
> That test will be "representative" of Mr. Jones, Mr. Jones' father, his 
> father's father, his father's father's father, etc. (i.e., all of those 
> men would have the surname of "Jones," assuming that there were no 
> "adoptions" or "out of wedlock births").  That test will not be 
> representative of ANY other "biological line," and it will not "reflect" 
> anything about the wives or mothers of any of those Smith men.  That test 
> WILL be "representative," however, of all of the "Jones brothers" of all 
> of those Jones men in each generation in that line (since the "Jones 
> brothers" in each generation would share the same Jones father).  Bottom 
> line, the Y chromosome is passed from father to son, and it is not 
> "influenced by"....nor is it "reflective of"....the mothers and/or wives 
> in any generation.
>
> I wanted a DNA test on my mother's Brown family.  As such, I had to have 
> one of her/my male Brown cousins take the DNA test for me (and I paid for 
> it). So....I now have my own Y chromosome DNA test for my paternal 
> Davidson family, and have his Y chromosome DNA test for my maternal Brown 
> family.
>
> Note: The DNA test on my "Brown" cousin showed that he....and hence, my 
> mother....were actually "biological Smiths" versus a "biological Browns," 
> and I now know that my maternal gg-grandfather named Smith W. Brown was 
> actually a "Smith infant" who was taken-in, named and reared by a Brown 
> family in Middlesex Co., VA around 1817.  I have now "traced" my 
> biological Smith family back to Lancaster Co., VA by at least the 1650s 
> (ditto the Brown family that took-in my maternal gg-grandfather).
>
> The above is just the way that the Y chromosome DNA test works (and just 
> the way that God made us).  I know a lot of people who are "into 
> genealogy" who would give almost anything to find a living male with the 
> surname of interest (and, of course, in the specific family of interest) 
> who would take the Y chromosome DNA test for them.  If a particular 
> "biological line" should eventually "daughter-out" (i.e, where there are 
> no living males left in that "surname line" of interest), then the above Y 
> chromosome DNA test becomes "unavailable" (unless you exhume a man from 
> his grave).  I know some "family researchers" who are, unfortunately, 
> faced with that reality today.
>
> Note: For those who question the true value of the Y chromosome DNA test, 
> it has shown us that there were at least a DOZEN UNRELATED 
> Davidson/Davison/Davisson families in just VA alone in the 1700s (and 
> thanks to DNA testing, we can now "define and segregate" most of them). 
> It has also shown us that there were at least FIVE UNRELATED Brown 
> families in just Culpeper Co., VA alone in the 1700s.  These types of 
> discoveries were absolutely IMPOSSIBLE using "conventional documentation." 
> As I like to say, "if the necessary document does not exist, then it does 
> not exist"....and as any genealogist worth his/her salt knows, there are a 
> lot of "wished-for" documents that obviously "do not exist" (if they ever 
> did "exist").
>
> Bill Davidson
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