What I have learned from doing Genetic Genealogy

1) It is easier to get Y DNA donors than to get mtDNA donors. 2) The person you want to test will not test. My two maternal Uncles refuse to test. This means I can't verify my Mother's paternal line. My half-cousin will not test. This means I can't verify my Father's maternal line. 3) Creating lists of mtDNA bearing descendants of target females is difficult to do. 4) I believe I know 14 Y DNA signatures from my 16 GGG-Grandfathers. I only know 3 mtDNA signatures of my 16 GGG-Grandmothers. 5) At 12 markers, three of my Y DNA lines are exact matches. They vary considerably when taken out to 37 markers. 6) My line of Perkins ancestors is closely related to the line of Somerled, King of the Isles. 7) Genetic Genealogist need to be more careful in the methodology used to support the assignment of a haplotype and a haplogroup to an ancestral line. 8) By itself, genetic genealogy, can not prove a relationship, but it can definitely prove that two people of the same surname are NOT related.

My surname studies: Ball, Creekmore, Kidd, Manning, Parkins and Perkins, Phipps, Strunk, Swain, Whitecotton, and Wyatt.

I am the moderator or co-moderator of 10 surname genetic genealogy studies. The surnames are Ball, Creekmore/Crickmer, Kidd, Manning, Parkins and Perkins, Phipps, Strunk, Swain, Whitecotton, and Wyatt. These are all families of my direct ancestors. A goal of all these studies is to try to connect the immigrant families to their homelands in the British Isles or elsewhere.

Mike Ball and I both contacted FTDNA about starting a Ball Y chromosome DNA study. In this study we have established the Y DNA signature of Col William Ball of Millenbeck Plantation, a maternal grandfather of President George Washington, as being in Y haplogroup I. We have also been able to determine the Y DNA signature of several other Ball families, including that of John Ball of Fairfax and Stafford counties VA. Many people thought that John Ball was a relative of George Washington's mother, Mary Ball. The Y DNA testing has shown that this is not correct since they do not have the same haplotype or haplogroup. The results are on this web page: http://www.ftdna.com/public/Ball/

In the Creekmore Y chomosome DNA study, we have tested peple named Creekmore, Crickman, Crickmer, and Crick/Creek, in order to determine their possible genetic connections. The Creekmore subjects in America and the Crickmer subject from Norfolk Co., England match and are in Y Haplogroup R1a1. The American Crickman subject does not match them. The Crick/Creek subjects match eachother but none of the others. Edmund Crickmon of Norfolk Co., VA is the putative ancestor we are working from. He is believed to be the Edmund Crickman baptised at St Mary Coslany in Norwich, Norfolk Co., England, in the early 1600s, son of George Crickmer and Agnes Roo. That the Crickmer from England and the Creekmores of America match seems to lend weight to that belief. The problem is that the Crickman did not match. This family has been in Norfolk Co., VA since the 1600s and the person tested was born there. The Crick/Creek subjects were tested to see if there might be some connection between the Creek and Creekmore families. Results are here: http://www.ftdna.com/public/Creekmore/

The Kidd Y chromosome DNA study was started to determine the Y DNA signature of Thomas Kidd an immigrant to colonial Virginia supposedly from Soham Parish, Cambridgeshire, England. We have been able to determine connections between a number of Virginia Kidd families as well as confirm a non-paternity event for another family. One Kidd from Soham has been tested, but there was no match between him and the Virginia Kidd. My co-moderator in the Kidd study is Sandra Kidd. The results are here: http://www.ftdna.com/public/Kidd/

The Manning Y chromosome DNA study was started to determine if there are genetic connections between the various Manning families of New England, Maryland, and Virginia, and those anywhere else in the world. A number of names are under the Manning umbrella, Manin, Manon, Mannin, Mannon, etc. and there are a number of haplogroups represented in the results. The results are here: http://www.ftdna.com/public/Manning/

The Parkins and Perkins Y DNA study was started to determine if the two names are genetically related and to determine the genetic relationships among the various Perkins immigrants to colonial America. Judge Paul M. Perkins spent years researching various Perkins immigrants and published a study purporting to show how a number were related: Genealogy and history of one branch of the Perkins family in America, originating with Edward Perkins, immigrant to America and to New Haven, Connecticut, before 1646. There were several revisions which he deposited in a number of major genealogical libraries. The study has tried to find descendants from those families and compare their DNA results. The current results show that several of the families thought to be related based on documents and physical proximity, are not genetically related. The results are here: http://www.ftdna.com/public/Parkins-Perkins/