Vicki,

DNA, taken alone, has value for genealogy only in that it can provide your 
haplotype.  The "experts" can use this to show the general area on earth 
where your early ancestors were "roaming around" thousands of years ago.  My 
haplotype is "I," and this shows a likely connection to the Vikings (which 
is one of the more unusual "connections" for the Davidson surname).  Without 
some traditional "documentation research" and/or oral family history, that 
is about all that DNA can provide.

In my case, I knew that the David and/or William Davidson, who both died in 
James City Co., VA (JCCo) in 1687, were almost certainly the ancestors of 
the David, Edward and William Davidson who were in Goochland in the 1740s 
(based on extensive "traditional research").  My ggggg-grandfather was 
Hezekiah Davidson (circa 1720-1793), and he was in Albemarle Co., VA in the 
1740s.  He then bought land in Cumberland Co., VA in 1760, and his son was 
named Philemon Davidson (died 1810 in Cumberland Co., VA).  The Davidson 
land back in JCCo (just west of the Chicahominy River) became part of 
Charles City Co., VA (CCCo) in 1720, and the Davidsons who appeared in CCCo 
later included David Davidson (a son of the older David, per a deed 
record.....this second David died in CCCo in 1756), Ezekiel Davidson (wrote 
his will in CCCo in 1762), Stephen Davidson (was the executor of the will of 
the second David in 1756 and was sued in chancery court by Ezekiel in 1762), 
Solomon Davidson and a Philemon Davidson (died 1773; Philemon was the 
executor of Ezekiel's will in 1762).  There was also an Edward Davidson who 
was a witness on the will for a Mary Davidson in CCCo in the 1780s/1790s, 
and a book on CCCo land records shows that in 1815, there was a living 
Edward Davidson who owned land there, and that a deceased Edward Davidson 
had owned land in CCCo earlier.

I always suspected that "my" Hezekiah Davidson was out of the above group 
(partially based on the extensive use of Biblical names in the JCCo/CCCo 
group, and also based on the Philemon Davidson name in both 
families....though Hezekiah's wife Tabitha Childers had a man named Philemon 
Childers in her family, so the second Philemon Davidson COULD have been 
named for him, versus for the Philemon Davidson back in CCCo).  A living 
male Davidson from this JCCo/CCCo group finally took the DNA test (at first, 
my DNA results had matched no one).  The DNA results show that we have a 
99+% chance of sharing a common male Davidson ancestor within the last 16 
generations.  Based on my "traditional research," it appears that the most 
recent common ancestor was the second David Davidson mentioned above (died 
1756 in CCCo).

DNA is always given in percentages.  That is why you will hear in court 
cases that "there is only a one in one billion chance that this person was 
not at the crime scene."  It is not a "100% science," and perhaps that is 
one of the reasons that some people won't accept the results.  The counter 
to that is, of course, "what are the odds that a researcher will always come 
to 100% correct conclusions when reviewing the old records at the library or 
courthouse?"  I suspect that almost every "genealogy document" over 50 pages 
that has ever been written has at least a 50% chance of having something in 
it that is wrong (and that is probably being very generous).  DNA is just 
one more tool in the "genealogy toolbox," so I say, "use it if you can."

Bill 

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