Barton and Joyce: Isn't it also very likely that Joyce's Walker is, as she says, simply from a different line having the same surname? Walker is a fairly common name. Couldn't someone have linked a family member in error somewhere along the line? If her living Walker's yDNA test does happen to match a Harrelson group does that necessarily mean that he stems from a Harrelson clan? I ask because in our Markle surname group there is a man who matches many other Markle descendants but his surname is Long. Of course it could be the result of a non-paternity event, but couldn't it also mean that this man's Long family hasn't yet been identified in yDNA testing? Kirsten -----Original Message----- From: BARTON LEWIS Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2012 7:36 AM To: bjreece@bellsouth.net Cc: roots-l@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [ROOTS-L] DNA It's most likely there was a non-paternity event (NPE) somewhere along the line. This most often occurs as an unacknowledged adoption, out of wedlock birth where the male took his mother's name or the mother had a child by a man other than her husband, but there are other scenarios. This is not at all an infrequent occurrence, but it is often hard to determine where the NPE occurred. Barton On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 5:56 AM, Joyce Gaston Reece wrote: > I have someone who is surnamed Walker and we have a firm paper trail > back to Mordecai born 1805. He's had a 67 marker test. He does not > match any of the Walker's currently tested. The family has been told > that they match a group of Harrelson's. Now here's the question. > With a 67 marker test does this mean anything? Am I dealing with a > line of Walker's that just hasn't been delved into thus far or should > I be looking at Harrelson's? > > > > Joyce Gaston Reece

Kirsten, DNA results from any type of test is like a finger print. It identifies your family grouping. First men must match their Y Haplogroup. Y haplogroups are basically used for population migration. Then you test for current genealogy this uses the STR marker. These results can be dated from current to 2,000 to 10,000 or so years ago. Depending when your haplogroup developed from the parent haplogroup, tells you when your branch of that group developed. But as this happens you also develop changes in your STRs. So, this is why a man normally has lots of matches at 12 markers, but as you test more markers you have fewer matches, at FTDNA we project admins like to see a male tested to at least 37 markers. This gives enough fast and slow mutating markers to identify family groupings. Can a man who genetically matches another man close enough to be considered related, actually be from a different genetic lineage. Anything is possible, but is it likely? Maybe 1 in a few hundred million. I sugest that you join the DNA Newbie list and ask Dr. Ann Turner or CeCe for a better explanation. At least their advise can't be questioned by any one. nelda and these are my website I created... Nelda L. Percival, Administrator of Y-DNA surname projects Gilpin, Cupp, Bonstein and Gillock My Genealogy - http://freepages.folklore.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bonsteinandgilpin/index.htm GeneticGenealogy - http://www.geneticsand.us Blog - http://aircastles-lets-talk.blogspot.com/ GilpinGenetics: http://www.gilpingenetics.us/ Web Mistress for LCRG - http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~molcgdrg > From: viking@rvi.net > To: bartonlewis@optonline.net; bjreece@bellsouth.net > Date: Thu, 17 May 2012 18:29:26 -0700 > CC: roots-l@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [ROOTS-L] DNA > > Barton and Joyce: > > Isn't it also very likely that Joyce's Walker is, as she says, simply from a > different line having the same surname? Walker is a fairly common name. > Couldn't someone have linked a family member in error somewhere along the > line? If her living Walker's yDNA test does happen to match a Harrelson > group does that necessarily mean that he stems from a Harrelson clan? > > I ask because in our Markle surname group there is a man who matches many > other Markle descendants but his surname is Long. Of course it could be the > result of a non-paternity event, but couldn't it also mean that this man's > Long family hasn't yet been identified in yDNA testing? > > Kirsten