Hi Folks, I have a few more test results to report: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gbonner/newtondna/ When tested at 12 markers the Y-chromosomes of those claiming descent from the Duplin County batch of NEWTONs was divergent, indicating that they may not all be from one genetic family. But the divergence was small enough that it could have been due to sampling error. Therefore a couple of participants were generous enough to upgrade their testing to more (25) markers. Building upon an existing 25-marker sample from one who claims descent from Isaac Newton (b. 1735), we gathered 25-marker results for two men who claim descent from George Newton (b. 1742). For all markers numbered 13-25, the three samples match exactly. It now looks like all the samples do come from one genetic family, after all. In fact, one of our "George" samples (63438) and our "Isaac" sample (46029) match at 24 of the 25 markers. I think it can be said that the DNA type of George Newton himself (as opposed to just that of his purely paternal descendants) is now essentially known. The two samples for George at 25 markers match at 24 of them (though a different overlap of 24 matching markers compared to the Isaac descendant). There is only one marker that still seems ambiguous, with 2 samples having a value of 10, and 2 samples having a value of 11. The other mutation in sample 36426 seems particular to that line and is likely recent. The DNA type of Isaac is probably the same as George, but I don't like making such statements generally when the sample size is only one. So it would appear that we now have our 3rd litmus test for NEWTON descent. The first was the "J" type DNA representing Richard Newton of Sudbury/Marlboro, and the second was the "D/L" type of John Newton of Cumberland/Buckingham. The Duplin County folks should all have DNA very close to "M/O2/W". I suggest people interested in this genealogy should recruit European samples in an attempt to match, and/or samples with very early American roots. Best, Gregg Bonner NEWTON Surname DNA Project Group Administrator ____________________________________________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. http://new.mail.yahoo.com