This process (finding male descendants of a proven son) does work very well.
As an example, the Dugger line in VA begins before 1717 with the marriage of
Daniel Dugger and Mary Scarborough. So far, most Dugger descendants who were
in the U.S. by 1750 can be traced to this couple.   They had 8 children, 5
boys and 3 girls.  Only one line, Richard's, can be proved by paper
documentation.  By finding a descendant of Richard and comparing his DNA
with the DNA of male descendants in the lines of the other boys, we were
able to prove that the other four sons were also descendants of Daniel
Dugger and Mary Scarborough.  

Likewise, there was an documented indication (but not proof) in the paper
documentation that at least one of the sons of Lydia (a daughter of Daniel
and Mary) was the son of a neighboring family, the Cheathams.  This also was
proved by DNA and verified that her other son was also a Cheatham even
though both used the Dugger surname.  It did not provide the actual father
so we are guessing about whether it was the elder Cheatham, Marmaduke, or
one of his sons.  Most of us believe that it was Marmaduke because he
referred in his will to an inheritance to John Dugger, "the son of Lydia
Dugger," and an inheritance to his wife, Susanna, if she would return to
live in his house. The phrasing thereby implying that she may have left
because of Marmaduke's affair with Lydia.   

Likewise, DNA shows that the 2 sons of the second daughter of Daniel and
Mary, Elizabeth, are McClains.  

Thus, you can see that DNA has greatly benefited the documentation of the
Dugger line.  But the effectiveness of DNA depends upon the number of DNA
samples.  The Dugger line lists 142 samples at
http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/dugger/results.  In comparison, the
Scarborough patriarch page which should have more descendants than the
Dugger line lists only 11 samples at
http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/scarborough/results. 

There should be more descendants in the Scarborough line because the
earliest known Scarboroughs in the U.S. were there between 1630 and 1650,
about 90 years earlier than the Duggers, and because they are at least as
prolific as the Duggers.  Paper document shows that at a time (c 1730) when
there were 9 people using the Dugger surname, there were more than 200 using
the Scarborough surname in America.   

Thus, the lack of data on the Scarboroughs prevents researchers from making
connections to each other similar to those found in the Dugger line.  

Cynthia McDaniel 


-----Original Message-----
From: Research and writing about Virginia genealogy and family history.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, June 10, 2013 7:35 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] DNA Criteria [finding yDNA candidates for testing]

Dusty:

Your sister's son doesn't work for your father's yDNA direct male line test,
because your nephew doesn't carry your father's yDNA. You need to look for
the son of your Dad's brother or the son's son's son of your Dad's paternal
grandfather, usually of the same surname as your father unless an adoption
or some other non-paternity event intervened to change the surname of the
direct male line.

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