I think it's fascinating! I've read several accounts of this being used in various families, sometimes with very unexpected results. This would be a really interesting line of research! Cyndi -----Original Message----- From: John F. Chandler [mailto:JCHBN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU] Sent: Friday, March 28, 2003 3:25 PM To: SWEET-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Sweet genealogy: a new approach A whole new field of genealogical research is now opening up, thanks to modern science. It relies on the simple biological fact that the Y chromosome, unlike all others, is passed intact and virtually unchanged from father to son down through the generations. It is therefore possible to do a simple DNA analysis on two men and learn immediately (well, actually the analysis takes a few weeks) whether the two are related on the paternal side or not. In particular, if we could find and recruit direct male-line descendants of the early Sweet immigrants, it would be possible to learn whether the immigrants were related or not. Obviously, it would be necessary to test several such descendants for each immigrant in order to be really sure of the results, but that's all it would take. If it turns out that the Sweet immigrants were from different families, it should be possible to do two very useful things that Sweet genealogists have only dreamed of before now: (1) any living male Sweet who is having trouble connecting back to the era of the immigrants could take the DNA test and find out which group is his, and (2) testing Sweets in England could provide direct proof of which Sweet immigrants are related to which Sweets in the old country. Needless to say, if all the American Sweets turn out to have the same Y chromosome, the first of these schemes would fall flat, but experience with lots of other surname groups has shown that most surnames really do have lots of different unrelated families. Similarly, the second scheme would be more or less meaningful depending on how many different types of Sweets there are. What it all depends on, of course, is recruiting male Sweets who are interested enough to take the DNA test, particularly males whose lineage can be reliably traced back to one or another of the immigrant Sweets. It's not enough to be a descendant of one of the Sweet families -- the only people who have the right DNA for testing are direct male-line descendants whose surname is Sweet (or would be Sweet, except for an adoption or whatever). I know that some male Sweets do participate in this discussion from time to time, and there are presumably lots of others who have uncles, cousins, brothers, husbands, etc., who would qualify. If there is enough interest, we could organize a Sweet DNA study and start getting answers. Note: I haven't described how the DNA testing works, since the first thing to determine is whether people are actually interested. I will just say that it's easy and painless and does NOT require drawing blood, so that squeamishness should not be a problem. What do you think? John Chandler ==== SWEET Mailing List ==== Visit Daisy's Sweet Home Page! http://www.rootsweb.com/~daisy/sweet.htm Visit Daisy's Roots! http://www.rootsweb.com/~daisy/1daisy.htm