Well, we finally have a definitive answer on which group is related to Big John Coate of SC in our DNA project. John Coats was able to find a descendant of Wright Coate who is clearly named as the son of Big John in his will. John did so much to finally help us know, and we thank you much John!!! Kudos goes to that participant too. What Wright Coat's DNA tells us is that Big John is related to all the people in Marmaduke's group that believed they were related to Big John. As a descendant of Marmaduke, I had people write me from Big John's line that had the tradition that he was Marmaduke's brother. I didn't believe it likely till now. The only strange connection I had to him was that Big John's descendant's wife in the early 1900's received all the family information for my Marmaduke and I always wondered why. So, for all of you who've been pondering your relationship to Big John, we just had a big piece of the puzzle drop into place. I've placed the new DNA evidence up and renamed the Marmaduke group to Big John and Marmaduke Coate because there are more people currently in the group with ties to Big John than Marmaduke. We've also received back 2 more kits evidence who are waiting for more persons to join to find cousins. We've had another new member sign up this week. We are going to town people. Who would have ever thought we were such a diverse group? Linda Coate P.S. The info is up at http://www.ancestrees.com/dna/family.html Enjoy.

Unfortunately, the descendant of Wright Coate tested only the first 12 markers. And as it turns out, this result is one of the most common if you just look at the first 12 numbers. It matches to a lot of people. My cousin, who is a descendant of William Coats, d. 1812, Halifax County, VA, also matched to the Marmaduke on the first 12 numbers (kit 7658 in the DNA chart). We were an exact match when we took the 12 marker test. Because that particular set of numbers is so common, it would have mistakenly led us to start researching in SC for possible leads. But before doing that, we upgraded the test to 37 markers and found out that we are not at all related - at least not in the past 200 or 300 years which is the time period we are interested in for genealogy. We are related, but from MUCH further than that to go back to find a common ancestor. It may indeed be true that the Big John and Marmaduke Coats families are related and it may be that DNA will give you support for that belief. But before saying that, you need to upgrade the test for the descendant of Wright Coate to 37 markers to see if it still matches when looking at more markers. I would encourage others in this group who have only 12 markers tested to also upgrade to 37 markers. You might turn out to match William Coats of VA when looking at 37 markers instead of thinking that you belong to the SC group. But then again it might be a match on all 37 markers to the Marmaduke Coats descendants - and then you would have better proof. Kathryn Hamilton > Well, we finally have a definitive answer on which group is related to > Big John Coate of SC in our DNA project. John Coats was able to find a > descendant of Wright Coate who is clearly named as the son of Big John > in his will. John did so much to finally help us know, and we thank you > much John!!! Kudos goes to that participant too. What Wright Coat's > DNA tells us is that Big John is related to all the people in > Marmaduke's group that believed they were related to Big John. As a > descendant of Marmaduke, I had people write me from Big John's line > that had the tradition that he was Marmaduke's brother. I didn't > believe it likely till now. The only strange connection I had to him > was that Big John's descendant's wife in the early 1900's received all > the family information for my Marmaduke and I always wondered why. > So, for all of you who've been pondering your relationship to Big John, > we just had a big piece of the puzzle drop into place. I've placed the > new DNA evidence up and renamed the Marmaduke group to Big John and > Marmaduke Coate because there are more people currently in the group > with ties to Big John than Marmaduke. We've also received back 2 more > kits evidence who are waiting for more persons to join to find cousins. > We've had another new member sign up this week. We are going to town > people. Who would have ever thought we were such a diverse group? > Linda Coate P.S. The info is up at > http://www.ancestrees.com/dna/family.html Enjoy. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > COATES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >