Little Egypt Heritage Articles Stories of Southern Illinois (c) Bill Oliver 14 March 2004 Vol 3 Issue: #11 ISBN: pending Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, A reader of these articles commented on the Woodmen of the World marker article and sent me into a [re]searching frenzy. The question asked was perhaps a common one: "Is DNA testing a good thing?" On the surface it seems just an ordinary simple question which deserved a simple "yes" or "no". However, it is a subject about which I have only a surface knowledge. Three very popular Television shows have exploded the American consciousness about DNA analysis. These are CSI, CSI Miami, and NCIS. All three deal with criminal forensics. However, I suspect the person questioning me was not thinking entirely about this aspect, for I read recently about DNA being matched to a child that was presumed dead in a fire some years ago. This case brings up many facets, but it is not my purpose here to attempt any judgment in this particular case. On a much brighter note concerning DNA testing ... it has proven a valuable tool for attaching both blame and innocence to crimes. Many convicted felons are grateful to be declared innocent of the crime in which they were found guilty. The area which is probably of interest to family researchers and genealogists is the DNA testing of either the Y-Chromosome or the X-Chromosome being promoted by family groups. I am only looking at the DNA in the Y-chromosome within males, which can be complicated enough. This is one of the sex chromosomes and is responsible for maleness. All males have one in each cell and copies are passed down, discounting occasional mutations, unchanged from father to son every generation. Therefore, the Y-chromosome test is solely for males, and can point toward a cousin, brother or other male relative. This was the case when some males were tested for Thomas Jefferson's descendants ... there was no conclusive proof the relationship could not be from some other closely related Jefferson. If one end of the Y-chromosome is pulled it can start to unravel into the familiar double-helix structure of DNA. This is made up of two corkscrew-like structures connected by lots of smaller cross-links. If they are untwisted and flattened onto a flat surface it would resemble a simple ladder-like structure. When DNA is studied, it is only the rungs of the ladder which are looked at, and then only one side of the ladder is written out because rungs compliment each other. So we can rewrite the DNA in a form such as: A G A C G A T C T G T A C C T C T etc. When it is said that the Y-chromosome is passed from father to son, this actually means the sequence of letters remain the same. From this point of getting results to comparing them with others of the same surname, it becomes much more complicated [in my opinion]. There is just not enough room in these short articles to discuss it all. Plus, since we often have no DNA from any of our ancestors, comparing DNAs of two people can answer the question that they are indeed related and have a common ancestor somewhere in the past. This does become useful in comparing research data to trace people and locations to a logical common source. Still, without an actual DNA report of an ancestor, we are still, to some degree, speculating. DNA testing could work for me. For example, my Father's family came from Williamson and Johnson counties, Illinois, arriving there about 1850s. They migrated from Christian county, Kentucky and were known to be there before 1820. It is suspected that they were in the Pendleton District of South Carolina prior to this. There is another Kentucky OLIVER researcher whose family was in Kentucky about the same time in a more western county. His ancestors migrated from Fauquier County, VA (and Maryland before that). I have absolutely no knowledge that our ancestors were related. However, it might assist us both to know that answer. Y-DNA testing would confirm or eliminate the idea of these two families being related. And if OLIVER males in America would do likewise and add their results to an Oliver Y-DNA Surname Project, that would serve the grouping of other Oliver lines in America in the late 1700s. One of the downsides of these projects is the cost of testing. For a twenty-five marker analysis cost a bit more than $150.00. Then there are X-DNA tests available for both males and females. All in all, I can honestly say that I'm pleased for the reality that DNA is not the final answer to genealogical research. I would not want to give up the totally absorbing hobby that allows for accurate research in some of the most fascinating places. To wit: dusty, moldy courthouse basements and attics and cemeteries overgrown with vines and briars. Or, the absorbing logic necessary to piece together [human] jig-saw-puzzles. In short, I like to reconstruct the "meat on the bones", and I meet some of the most wonderful people in the process. e-la-di-e-das-di ha-wi nv-wa-do-hi-ya nv-wa-to-hi-ya-da. (May you walk in peace and harmony) Wado, Bill -=- PostScript: Other sites worth visiting: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/SOIL http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ILMASSAC http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/state/BillsArticles/LittleEgypt/intro.html