Renee, I have an adopted daughter, so I work on the theory that one can research (if possible) both families and give her two family trees, one her genetic tree and the other that of her adoptive family. As far as I PERSONALLY am concerned, when we adopted her, she was 'grafted' on to our genetic family tree became one of us, and can lay claim to our genetic tree. But if one chooses, efforts can be made (where possible due to current laws ) to work on the genetic family tree as well. The problem comes if you are researching a family and discover that somewhere back along the line, someone doesn't fit in genetically. Does that mean they were adopted (and only recently were adoptions made common knowledge--in the old days, children were usually not told they were adopted) or does that mean they were born "on the wrong side of the blanket" as our ancestors used to euphemistically phrase it? Kay -----Original Message----- From: Renee L. Dauven <promine@web-ster.com> To: njhunter <njhunter@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sat, Mar 31, 2012 3:07 pm Subject: Re: [NJHUNTER] Y chromosome DNA I'm glad you asked that question because it has been bothering me. nly I phrase it differently: Where is the line between "family history" nd genetics? Is there a point where one says that it is family that is mportant, not genetics, or does one stick strictly to a genetic line? This seems particularly troublesome in instances of adoption because he insistence on genetic tracing undercuts the entire purpose of doption which is to create family and to continue a family into the uture. Why bother to adopt if that child will not be viewed as a ember of the family by future generations? So what is really being studied? enee L. Dauven n 3/31/2012 11:41 AM, kaysfo@aol.com wrote: It wouldn't in a sense bother me either. The nasty surprise is in thinking hat one has everything nailed down with a well -documented paper trail, and hen finding out that a whole line of your family isn't your family. And where o you start to redo a whole line. Can you tell how far back the "non-parental pisode" happened. If ggg-grandma had a child that did not belong to gg-grandpa, how could you ell if it was the butcher, the baker, or the candlestick maker? isit the Hunterdon County GenWeb page at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~njhunter ------------------------------ o unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NJHUNTER-request@rootsweb.com ith the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of he message

 I have a friend whose grandfather was never formally adopted but they know he came from an entirely different family; we have no idea  why he was taken in by the adopting family.  I also have family members back a generation who were raised by others when they were made orphans.  My two grandchildren are adopted and I have researched their individual backgrounds as well as the tree they share with us. On an even  more personal note, I didn't know the family of my biological mother (except for one cousin) as she died when I was a baby.  Years later I was explaining to that cousin that I was baking my usual gingerbread house and ornaments that I had made annually for many years.  My cousin said I had "the gingergread gene" as our common grandmother said she was descended from a Hessian soldier and she always made gingerbread houses!  I had no way of knowing that.  I still haven't found the Hessian soldier connection, either!  

In my projects, I take people with both the yDNA and the surname. If a man's yDNA matches an identified family with that projects surname, I accept him into the project, not matter what his surname is. By the same token, if a man has the surname, and does not biologically match anyone else in the project, I consider this a new family line for the project, because his male descendants will have his surname and his yDNA. In the case of stranger yDNA being transferred to a family with another surname, the genealogist has to come to grips with the fact that this transfer can have taken place for socially good reasons, or for absolutely unacceptable social reasons. A yDNA transfer is often the result of an undocumented adoption. If a child was an orphan with no assets, not much attention was paid to who raises them, as long as they did not become a financial burden on the community. These adoptions seldom got documented. It also depended on how socially developed was the area where the adoption happened. Parents living on the frontier often adopted the children of their married daughter who died in childbirth. Survivors adopted the children of people who died in epidemics. These children were often raised with the surnames of the adoptive parents. Our family histories are not pure as the driven snow, as far as socially acceptable goes. Women became pregnant and married a man other than the father of the child. How they became pregnant is another matter. It could have been incest, rape or hanky panky. The point to all this is that since the beginning to time the conception of children has resulted from as many circumstances as are imaginable, and that will continue to happen until the end of species. All children are entitled to know their biological histories as well as their social family histories. In my opinion, they are the richer for knowing both. Marleen Van Horne Marleen Van Horne

I have a similar situation with my family tree. My surname was Wells, father was Wells, grandfather was Wells. I have no further proven info after my grandfather who was from the Chester Co., PA area. My brother did the DNA test for the Wells Family Research Association to see who we may possibly connect to. We matched no Wells that have been tested, however when I put his DNA numbers on Sorenson we matched within 3 markers of a Mormon Chatwin family in Santaquin, Utah. While there is extensive info on this family, none of it has a recorded history in Pennsylvania, and there are no Wells surnames in the tree, however there is one James Chatwin in Philadelphia with his sister Elizabeth in the 1880 census. I have been unable to connect this James with the Chatwin family in Utah and census records stated that James was single so no testing there! Whatever the story is about my grandfather we are what we are. My father was orphaned at the age of 6 so he had no knowledge of his family history except his mother and father's name. I was able to piece together his mother's Durling line, but his (may or may not be) Wells line is unknown before my grandfather Harry Wells from Chester County. His 4 siblings, although older, never knew, and apparently never asked either. DNA testing will give us the genetic answer, but I still consider family the foster couple that raised my father from the age of 6 to 22. Genetics is only part of the story. Jackie Wells Lubinski -----Original Message----- From: njhunter-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:njhunter-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of kaysfo@aol.com Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2012 3:49 PM To: njhunter@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [NJHUNTER] Y chromosome DNA Renee, I have an adopted daughter, so I work on the theory that one can research (if possible) both families and give her two family trees, one her genetic tree and the other that of her adoptive family. As far as I PERSONALLY am concerned, when we adopted her, she was 'grafted' on to our genetic family tree became one of us, and can lay claim to our genetic tree. But if one chooses, efforts can be made (where possible due to current laws ) to work on the genetic family tree as well. The problem comes if you are researching a family and discover that somewhere back along the line, someone doesn't fit in genetically. Does that mean they were adopted (and only recently were adoptions made common knowledge--in the old days, children were usually not told they were adopted) or does that mean they were born "on the wrong side of the blanket" as our ancestors used to euphemistically phrase it? Kay