I am one of the "silent" members but enjoy all the postings - My families hail primarily from Lincoln and Macon counties here in NC The reason they trace the male line has to do with genetics. As simply as I can say, Men are XY and Women are XX. When a child is born, they inherit one from each parent. From the Mother, this is always an X, as women are XX. If the child inherits an X from the Father, the child is female. If the child inherits a Y, which only the Father has, the child is born male. So, in male children, this paternal line can be traced with a certainty that is not available with females. Also as to the "Indian Capture" line the first thing I noticed is that the dates this seem to occur are almost identical to the forcible removal of the Cherokee from NC on "The Trail of Tears". The Cherokee were a very civilized tribe with their own newspapers and adopted quite well to the new culture of the whites and many are of mixed blood. I know they were very prominent in western NC, but uncertain if the removal was affected as far east as Lincoln County. My guess is this "capture" may have been exaggerated up the line somewhere and that if they had Cherokee blood were removed from this area at that time. I would recommend the person go to Cherokee, NC to visit the eastern band and also the western band in Oklahoma and can review the tribal roles to look for possible clues. Sincerely, Jeffrey ----- Original Message ----- From: "Agnes" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 10:39 AM Subject: [NCLINCOLN] Re: NCLINCOL-D Digest V04 #199 > How is it that this test can be accurate and apply only to the males - I > realize I have little or no knowledge about how DNA testing results are > judged but it seems a bit ridiculous to pursue this down through the males > when no matter what the surname no one can be absolutely sure the person he > knows as a male parent is actually the one who impregnated the mother. > It does not seem possible to me for a strictly male line to be always pure. > > The surname has nothing to do with it either, I have family members who > carry the surname but were adopted, we know that but not everyone does. We > have others who use the surname of the mother because they were born > out-of-wedlock but who's bloodline information is just as reliable as if > they were carrying the surname of the biological father. > > I do know that orthodox Jews do not use the bloodline of the male parent to > trace their lineage, but instead use the bloodline of the mother. One has > only to look at the lineage of Mary's son Jesus in the Bible to see that > line is traced through her, not through any male parent, the possibility > that the male parent is not the biological father is accepted as fact. > > Please refrain from starting a big controversy here, I am just trying to > understand the reasoning. > > Agnes C. > > > > On 12/15/04 1:04 AM, "[email protected]" > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > From: "Mary Harbinson" <[email protected]> > > Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 12:46:04 -0800 > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: Only Males > > > > This can only be done by a Male in the family. It is said they tried to keep > > this gene pure and were very selective as to whom they married. I am just > > getting more info on this myself. I was not expecting to find this at all. > > > > ______________________________ > > > ==== NCLINCOL Mailing List ==== > ==== LINCOLN Co., NC Mailing List ==== > Sharing information on Historic Lincoln Co., NC > For further info, see www.rootsweb.com/~nclincol/nclincoln.htm > Our thanks to RootsWeb for hosting this list and web page > >