I would like to know the price, since I will have to pay a male Hamilton to do I need to convince him. One site I'm on the price is 99.00 and another is 150.00-up. Pat > > From: "Charlie Hamilton" <chamilton6@triad.rr.com> > Date: 2003/01/27 Mon AM 11:42:58 EST > To: HAMILTON-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: RE: [HAM] Hamilton DNA Project > > Gordon, > Question: since there are several DNA labs, is there an interchange of > information between them? Or, how would one DNA sample be known among others > who were tested? Or, how would one compare his DBA results with results from > other labs/ > Thanx, Charlie Hamilton > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Gordon Hamilton [mailto:gah4@psu.edu] > Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 5:43 AM > To: HAMILTON-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [HAM] Hamilton DNA Project > > As announced on this list last October, the Hamilton National Genealogical > Society has initiated a Hamilton surname DNA project for which I am the > contact person and coordinator. At this point we have already collected > several samples and sent them off to Family Tree DNA, the company that is > doing the analyses for this study. Currently we are awaiting the initial > results from the study. > > The purpose of the present note is to attempt to articulate why each of you > should consider having a DNA analysis done for your Hamilton line and how > the results could assist you in tracing your family history. This note is > necessarily rather lengthy but I hope you will bear with me. First a little > background will be given on the analysis that is being done in the Hamilton > DNA project. > > In this study either 12 or 25 markers (the results will be more definitive > with the 25 marker test) in the DNA of the Y-chromosome of each sample are > examined. The Y-chromosome is unique in human DNA in that it is only found > in males and is passed down from father to son virtually unchanged. The > term 'virtually' is used because there is a small probability (less than 1 > %) that a mutation will occur in the markers each generation. The net > result then is that the markers being examined will have essentially the > same (or very similar) values for you, your father, grandfather, great > grandfather, etc., back many generations (10 to 50 or more). Obviously one > cannot directly analyze such DNA back more than 2 or 3 generations because > earlier ancestors have passed on. However, the power of the technique is > that one does not have to analyze the DNA of ancestors; one can obtain > meaningful genealogical information by comparing the results from your DNA > analysis with the results from others. Consider, for example, that your > direct male ancestor of say 10 generations ago had 2 sons, one of whom you > are descended from, and the other who is the ancestor of another group of > Hamiltons. The Y-chromosomal DNA from a living direct male descendant of > the second son should be identical or very similar to your Y-chromosomal > DNA. The corollary of course is that, if neither you nor the other Hamilton > knew your lines back that far, finding your DNAs to be so closely matched > would indicate that you have a common ancestor. That could open up new > avenues for both of you to explore. Of course, if you find that your > Y-chromosomal DNA does not match that of another Hamilton one could > conclude that you are not closely related (at least through the Hamilton > male line). > > It should be emphasized that the analyses for this study can only be done > on samples collected from males since they are the only ones with the > Y-chromosome. Furthermore, because the Y-chromosome is passed from father > to son the study can only find relationships that occur through direct male > lines. Since surnames usually follow direct male lines, our study has the > potential to find many relationships among various Hamiltons. Those of you > who are females with Hamilton ancestors can still participate in the study > if you find a male relative (father, brother, uncle, male cousin, etc.) who > is willing to supply a sample for analysis. By the way, sample collection > is painless; it involves merely rubbing the inside of the cheek with a > brush collector. > > One should point out that there are several situations where the DNA > analysis might give an unexpected result. These are sometimes referred to > euphemistically as 'non-parental' events. Some examples of such situations > are: an unknown adoption in your line, an illegitimate birth or conception > out of wedlock, some ancestor taking the surname of a stepfather, etc. Of > course, if you have suspicions that one of these might have occurred in > your line, obtaining a DNA analysis and comparing the results to those of > presumed relatives where it is unlikely such an event happened could > provide evidence whether such an event has occurred in your line. > > Many of us have been able to determine our Hamilton lines back to the 18th > or 19th century (4 to 8 generations or so) but have been stymied in trying > to trace our lines back further. Using DNA analyses one has the potential > to be able to obtain information about earlier generations. For example, > suppose you have a well documented Hamilton line back to about 1830 in > Tennessee. You suspect that your earliest known Hamilton ancestor migrated > to Tennessee from either Virginia or North Carolina but have not been able > to make the connection. You know that there are several known Hamilton > lines in Virginia and North Carolina so it seems a reasonable possibility. > By having the DNA from one of your Tennessee Hamiltons analyzed and > comparing the results to those obtained from the various Virginia and North > Carolina Hamilton lines, one would obtain evidence which one is the most > likely to be related to your line, and thus you would know where to focus > further traditional genealogical research. > > One of the general questions the Hamilton DNA study will also be able to > address is whether virtually all Hamiltons come from a common ancestor (say > 500 to 1500 years ago) or whether there were several different initiating > ancestors. It is believed that most Hamiltons originated in Scotland, > although, prior to emigrating to the new world, many had previously > migrated to England or been transplanted from Scotland to Ireland, > especially in the 17th century. In early Scotland there is a very well > documented Hamilton lineage starting with Walter Fitzgilbert in the late > 13th century. This line led to many Dukes, Earls, Barons, etc. and for that > reason is well documented. Undoubtedly many other Hamiltons, including many > who ultimately emigrated to the new world, are unknowingly derived from > this line. By comparing the Y-chromosomal DNA of such individuals with the > DNA from well documented descendants of the ducal line one could conclude > with a high degree of certainty whether they come from the same line or > not. Personally I think that there are too many people with the Hamilton > surname in the world for us all to be derived from the Walter Fitzgilbert > line. Walter Fitzgilbert's main seat of power was in an area near Glasgow, > Scotland and surnames did not come into common use in that area of Scotland > until the 14th or 15th century. About that time the descendants of Walter > Fitzgilbert came to be known as Hamiltons and the town (now a city) that > grew up around their castle (or palace) was given the name of Hamilton. I > suspect that when surnames came into common use some of the retainers or > servants who lived in Hamilton and worked for the ducal Hamilton line just > took the surname Hamilton. If that is the case then there will be several > initiating ancestors who gave rise to the various current Hamilton lines. > In any event, the DNA study will be able to clarify that point if various > Hamilton lines have the same or similar DNA markers within their line but > the markers are different from line to line. > > In order to answer the question whether there is mainly one, or there are > many initiating Hamilton ancestors, one will need broad participation by > many Hamilton lines. For this reason alone, I would like to encourage as > many of you as possible to participate in this study. However, a potential > added benefit from participation is that some more immediate questions may > be resolved in your line (see earlier discussion) and that you may find > totally unexpected relationships with other Hamilton lines. > > Some further information about the Hamilton DNA project can be found at the > web site of the Hamilton National Genealogical Society at > http://www.hamiltongensociety.org/dnaproject.htm > > To participate in the study you need to fill out an application form that > can be downloaded from that site (or I can mail you a copy). The completed > application along with a pedigree chart giving your earliest known Hamilton > ancestor should then be sent to me at: > > Gordon Hamilton > 806 McCormick Ave > State College, PA 16801-6527 > Telephone: 814-238-5695 > Email: gah4@psu.edu > > For those of you who would like to obtain more information on DNA surname > studies in general, the following are a few web sites that contain > additional information. > > http://www.familytreedna.com/; this is the company we are using for the > Hamilton surname study > http://www.duerinck.com/project.html; a specific project with links to many > others > http://www.blairgenealogy.com/dna/; another specific project whose > procedures we will follow closely in our study > > > ==== HAMILTON Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe write an email with just the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the text > Hamilton-L-Request@RootsWeb.com for mail mode in plain text > Hamilton-D-Request@RootsWeb.com for digest mode in plain text > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go > to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > > > > > ==== HAMILTON Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe write an email with just the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the text > Hamilton-L-Request@RootsWeb.com for mail mode in plain text > Hamilton-D-Request@RootsWeb.com for digest mode in plain text > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >