I haven't read all of the threads to this topic. The problem that has confronted me with DNA is the fact that my paternal grandmother had 3 boys and 1 girl.. All of them have passed on. All of the boys i.e. my father and his brothers had one girl. The daughter had 3 boys and one girl. With my last name of "Cox" with my gggg-grandfather living in Buckingham County and married to Rachel Watkins, I have wished upon all wishes that I could trace my paternal DNA... My maternal line is Hastings out of Nottoway County..I haven't traced that yet; but I had better get on the stick. As far as DAR...I am with you, Bill. I started to join the DAR and my gut told me to investigate and confirm my own lineage first. The DAR listings are a nice little hint (like Ancestry.com); but nothing is better than DNA and a little shoe leather.. On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 12:06 PM, Bill Davidson <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > 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 > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html