While it is only part of the solution, I wish that more people would have a 
man....with the surname of interest....take the DNA test.  DNA has already 
shown that some "approved" DAR lineages are "flat wrong," and many such 
other "myths" have also been "busted" by this technology.  It is not an "end 
all/be all answer," but to not take advantage of it, where such a male with 
the correct surname can be found, is a huge omission in most cases.  It 
amazes me that people will spend thousand of hours (and who knows how much 
money?) researching in courthouses and libraries (and Ancestry.com) for 
years and years, but they won't spend a few minutes and $150 for a 37 marker 
DNA test.

My own DNA test confirmed that my Davidson family in Cumberland Co.,  VA was 
part of the same Davidson family as the one in Buckingham Co., VA....and 
that helped me to "trace" the overall family back to James City Co., VA by 
at least the 1680s.  I also learned that I have a "Viking heritage" versus 
the more common "Celtic heritage" for my surname.  I never could find 
anything in "conventional documentation" that proved a "connection" between 
the families in those two counties in VA.

My mother's family had even more interesting results.  Her male cousin with 
the surname of "Brown" took the DNA test, and we found that he was actually 
a "blood Smith" versus a "blood Brown."  Since my maternal gg-grandfather 
was named Smith W. Brown, I guess that we should not have been too surprised 
by that result....but nothing other than the DNA test would have ever shown 
this.  My "biological maternal Smith family" has been in VA since at least 
the 1650s, and I am proud to be a member of that family (and I am happy to 
finally know the truth....that only DNA testing could have provided).

In closing, when I get frustrated with all of the bad data that is "out 
there," I remind myself that it is "just genealogy."  Compared to what is 
going on in the world these days (like in Japan), trying to prove who my 
gggggggg-grandfather was seems far less critical.

Bill Davidson 

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html