Elaine, Ask either Bill or Cleve Powell. One of them has Powells going to Preston. On Sep 14, 2012, at 4:33 PM, Elaine wrote: > Alan, thanks for this very understandable explanation--Well written and covers key concepts. > > Now if you could only help me figure out how to find ancestors of my earliest known Powell! It's Nicholas Powell, who according to US census info was born about 1790 in Ireland (so he may be part of the misnamed Scotch-Irish who came to the western PA/Virginia/West Virginia area). He married a woman from Greene County PA about 1835, and died about 1862. They lived in the Preston County WV area, and the court house burned, so no records are available from there. And to top it all off, my brother's DNA test isn't close to any of the Powells in this group--in fact, Jim B recommended that I check the Powers family....! > > Any thoughts? > > Many thanks! > > Elaine > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Sep 13, 2012, at 9:04 AM, Alan Powell <rippleish20@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I apologize for jumping into this discussion, but I think there is a >> better explanation. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong. >> >> There are two factors which we are using to determine (male) "common >> ancestors" for genealogical purposes - Y Chromosome Haplogroup and the >> 12-111 "Markers". >> >> The general theory of how this works is that there originally was a common >> male ancestor for all males in existence today (a "Y-chromosomal Adam" if >> you would, thousands and thousands of years ago), presumably in Africa. >> So, first of all, we (the males in this group) DO HAVE A COMMON MALE >> ANCESTOR. The issue from a genealogical point of view is that this common >> ancestor may be so far back as to be useless for our purposes. As the >> tribe/small group/whatever which included the Y-chromosomal Adam migrated >> out of Africa, one of his descendants had a single nucleotide polymorphism >> (SNP) mutation in his Y-DNA. The Y-DNA of all males who are descendants >> of the male born with the mutation would now be distinguishable from males >> who are not his descendants. Over time, more of these mutations occurred >> and we now recognize that there is a hierarchy of these mutations. This >> hierarchy can be used to determine how far back, at a minimum, a common >> male ancestor would be. So, for example, we have Haplogroup T and R >> represented in the Powell Surname. These two Haplogroups have a common >> Haplogroup called K. The split in K may have occurred 10000 years ago, >> however, so, practically speaking, these two groups have no common >> ancestor for our purposes. It is incorrect, however, to say that they >> don't or probably don't have a common male ancestor - they do! Also, once >> you get to males within a spcific Haplogroup, you can then use the markers >> to determine the statistical likihood of a common ancestor in a more >> specific time period. >> >> What Jim is trying to point out, I believe, is that if a male Powell is >> found to be Haplogroup T and another in Haplogroup R, the markers are >> irrelevant for determining how long ago they had a common male ancestor. I >> don't know the specific details of how long ago these two groups had a >> common ancestor, but lets call it 10000 years. That means that the two >> Powell males in each of these groups could not possibly have had a common >> ancestor for at least 10000 years. >> >> >> >> Alan >> >> >> On 9/12/12 5:31 PM, "mgpage@att.net" <mgpage@att.net> wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: powell-dna-bounces@rootsweb.com >>> [mailto:powell-dna-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Jim Barrett >>> Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2012 9:04 AM >>> To: POWELL-DNA-L >>> Subject: [POWELL-DNA] Haplogroup - Relationship Misunderstanding >>> >>> I have been telling you, for a long time, that two people in different >>> Paternal Haplogroups (tested to the same level at the same time) can not >>> share a common paternal ancestor. I stand by that statement. >>> >>> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POWELL-DNA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POWELL-DNA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message