Marleen, You prompt a question: I'm a Sharpton descendant. It appears that there is no written data to link Enoch Sharpton (my 2nd great grandfather) to other Sharpton's of his time (Alexander, his father, Jeptha, etc.). If various members of the Sharpton families had their DNA tested, could this be used to establish a link? What about costs to do individual tests? Is this something affordable? Thanks for your post. I found it interesting and informative. Don Wilson Marietta, GA. -----Original Message----- From: Marleen Van Horne [mailto:msvnhrn@jps.net] Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 10:05 PM To: SCEDGEFI-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [SCEDGEFI] Genealogy and Genetics Genealogy and Genetics Genetics is the newest genealogical tool and it is the only genealogical tool that provides a definitive answer. The birth, marriage, death records, wills and deeds that we use to find our ancestors all need to be interpreted and verified without prejudice. In genetics, you either have a match, or you do not have a match. If you do not match, there is no biological/genetic relationship. Genetic testing can establish relationships. Once the definitive nature of genetic testing was established by researches at the University of Leicester in the 1980s, it quickly became a tool used by the courts and law enforcement to establish relationship and match criminals to crime scenes. In the first instance, many families immigrating to Britain were forced by circumstances beyond their control to leave children behind in the care other family members. When they were able to send for the children, the British immigration courts were unwilling to accept these left behind children as natural born members of the immigrant families. Genetic testing was used to prove the family relationship and the immigration courts no longer had reason deny admission of the children to Britain. In the second instance, a young girl was murdered and raped in a community near Leicester. The police investigating the crime had exhausted all their resources. One of the investigators had read about the research being done at the university. With the help of the researchers, over 1,000 dna samples were taken from men in the community---no match. It was later determined that one of the men who was supposed to be tested, had had a mate provide the sample. When an actual sample was taken from the man on the list, his dna matched the dna left by the murderer on the girls body. He was subsequently convicted of the crime. We now hear almost daily about the use of dna testing to match criminals to crime scenes. We are also hearing about individuals being released from prison and for that matter from death row, having been proved innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted. We also heard recently of a man in Virginia who was executed some years ago, claiming to be innocent. Recent dna testing showed that he was in fact the murderer. By this time, you will have noticed that, in dna testing, you have to have something to compare to. In genealogy, the dna of two individuals, who have established by paper documentation, descent from a common ancestor is compared. The dna of the markers on the Y chromosome of descendants in the male line is what is usually tested. This test provides definitive proof of continuity of surname. For example, if you have two males who claim descent from a common ancestor and the documentary proof supports the claim, Y-dna testing will either confirm the relationship, or refute it. If the test confirms the Y-dna of the two men matches, they definitely have a common male ancestor. If it does not match, within a certain percentage, there is no biological/genetic match. I state the last sentence that way, because there are several possibilities, a difference of a few percentage points can be accounted for by mutation, or in cases where no biological/genetic relationship exists, the supporting documentation is faulty, or the line of descent has been interrupted by hanky-panky. Genetic testing for proof of surname, or male line of descent becomes more certain when the maximum number of markers are compared, and more males agree to be tested. In women, mt-dna can also but used to determine parentage and ancestral relationships, but it is more difficult, because the surname changes with each generation. A woman passes her mt-dna to all her children, male and female, but only the daughters pass on their mt-dna to their children. Public Television is airing a program this month on how the ancestry of 8 prominent African Americans was traced using conventional research and genetic testing. If you have an opportunity to see it, I highly recommend it. The first February issue of Newsweek has a cover story on the use of genetic testing in genealogy. The December 2005 issue of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly is devoted to the subject of Genealogy and Genetics. The reason for this long essay is that I want to convey to you that genetic testing for genealogical purposes is a legitimate tool. It is not a scam. It provides definitive information on our ancestor. Genetic testing can prove our researched pedigrees, and it can disprove them. My next message to this list will be analysis of the genetic testing results recently completed by four descendants of the Oden family that lived in Edgefield County, South Carolina, between 1770 and 1820, please stay tuned for my report. If something is this message is not clear, please ask questions. Marleen Van Horne descendant of Alexander Oden Edgefield County List Manager ==== SCEDGEFI Mailing List ==== Visit The Ancestors of Nancy Oden at: http://home.jps.net/~msvnhrn/White/oden.html