Hi Ellie, it has to be a male relative with the right surname because he would have a Y chromosome inherited from the male ancestor with the surname. See www.familytreedna.com for more information. Good luck with the husband. Linda Merle ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ellie Dowling" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 11:55:07 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [S-I] a question about a possible Scotch-Irish migration from NH toPA in 1719 Hi Linda, Oh I would love to go the DNA route!!!! And maybe someday I will be able to ... It is on my wish list ... Why does it have to be a male relative with the surname??? Why can't it just be a male with the McCleary genes in him??? Keeping in mind that my husband is Scotch-Irish, maybe it doesn't always fit, but talking my husband into the desire to pay for DNA testing will be a real adventure..... LOL, Thanks Ellie -------------------------------------------------- From: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 9:14 AM To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [S-I] a question about a possible Scotch-Irish migration from NH toPA in 1719 > Hi Ellen, > > The burnt courthouse scenario is an all too familiar one. It is the > subject of endless lectures, articles, and even books. You need to stop > using it as an excuse (like the rest of us <grin>) and get past it using > good genealogical methodologies. Such an event can be overcome. You just > need to know how. > > The first thing to do is google. In this case for things like burnt > courthouse genealogy. I did that and came up with several things including > http://inman.surnameweb.org/documents/looking.htm . > > The bottom line with burnt courthouses is that sooner or later some > government comes along and wants to collect taxes. Unless they can figure > out who is responsible for paying the taxes, many are likely to avoid it. > So reconstruction of land records occurs rather fast. Assisting are > families who want to inherit or continue with their high place in the > social order as well as those whose enemies see the chaos as a chance to > dispossess those families of their property. > > There was NOT a law in place (that I am aware of) requiring that property > sales (deeds) be registered at the courthouse. I am not a North Carolina > expert; I may be wrong, but I doubt it seriously. You COULD register the > deed but you didn't have to. Eventually due to the difficulties of > collecting taxes, etc, the states applied much pressure to get the court > house used. But that's later on. The way you proved you owned property is > you produced the deed. The real deed. The deed was copied into the > courthouse records -- maybe. The real deed is the one your ancestor had. > To prove he owned it after the fire, he showed up at the courthouse and > had it recorded again. > > If he didn't have the deed (house burnt too, goat ate it, Uncle Bob used > it for TP (toilet paper)), then you got some witnesses who swore an oath > and testified. There are a zillion of these kinda cases all over the USA > in court records. If the courthouse burnt up, it started again. > > There are also grants -- made by the colony. NC grants are a huge huge > topic. I once encountered them in a project in Tennessee....They're not > kept at the courthouse. Maybe it had some copies but those are state > records and I do know they survive. Ditto for Virginia, PA, Maryland and > all the places to the north where you should be looking. There are all > kinds of records that are not kept at the county courthouse you can use > and lots of articles and books that explain what they are and how to find > them. > > However this is a heck of a lot of work. If you want fast results, then > it's simple. Catch a male relative with the surname and test his Y > chromosome. He has to have the Y chromosome of the early family, so make > sure he descends on the male line. Don't have one, you say? Hogwash. Do > some genealogy and FIND one! That's what we do <grin>. Genealogy! It costs > $300 unless you hit on a sale. Test at www.familytreedna.com (largest > database). You can join free as many projects as you want. Maybe the > Ireland one. When the results arrive, the admins can usually figure out > what quad of Ireland they're from. If Ulster, you are shuffled off to the > Ulster Heritage project. Then you look for matches in that project, in NC > projects, in family projects, etc. > > When you find matches, you can then look for the paper trail from A to B. > Eliminates a lot of vacuuming up of records in places your ancestors never > were. > > You can spend 20 years vacuuming records and copying them at 25 cents or > more per page and not get anywhere, so you hire someone for the minimum > amount -- which now is about $300 and they may or may not find something > (toss the dice). Or you can do DNA testing NOW. You spend $300. You save > money photocopying every piece of paper in the original colonies, and > eventually, maybe in six weeks, maybe in a year, you will have a match and > can start figuring out how they got from A to B. Even if you never get a > match in the USA, you know your ancestor didn't match those guys. He's not > a McCleary. But you'll know what he was and can work with those people to > figure out who the Indian in the wood pile was. THAT you'll never learn > any other way. > > Because the truth is even if all the courthouses hadn't burnt down, there > could have never been a record made of where your ancestors came from, so > sifting through records, will not solve this problem. Most colonial > immigrations are NOT documented. They were not documented in 1719 when > they hopped off the boat nor any other time unless by chance in oral or > county histories, obits of pioneers, etc. > > So forget the courthouse and go track down a cousin. In six weeks, when > your DNA results come in, you could know which family groups you match and > which you don't, assuming others with the surname have tested. Check for a > family project at www.familytreedna.com and find out. > > DNA is the only way to get results for certain, and it's fast and cheap > too. If you have colonial migrants, then you need to do this. You can read > through several courses on migration genealogy at > www.genealogical.com/university.html and eventually you'll figure out > there is no sure way to find their origins doing genealogy. There is using > DNA -- so bag a cousin and then read the courses while the DNA is being > tested. It'll give you something to do <grin>. > > Linda Merle > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] 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 [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message