You are absolutely right. In the Marmaduke group, it is very important to extend the DNA matches from 12 to 25 or 37. That is because it's such a common set of 12 points. It does make it more likely that it's Big John because five members had traced their genealogy back to Big John (though the sons they went through were only listed as his sons in 2nd hand sources until this DNA match of Wright Coats). What I recommend is that those of you who descend from Big John donate what you can in the way of cash to our group so that his descendant can get the 37 points tested. It is not something he can afford himself - but it certainly would put this good point to rest one way or the other. How about it? It wouldn't be a lot between 5 people to help with that. Thanks everyone for your assistance. Linda Coate On 3/1/2009 3:02 PM, K Hamilton wrote: > 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 >> >> > > > > ------------------------------- > 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 > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 8.0.237 / Virus Database: 270.11.5/1978 - Release Date: 03/01/09 07:04:00 > >