Overview.

Genetic testing, especially autosomal testing, has become commonplace.  Some are only interested in learning ethnic origins.  However, more serious participants are interested in identifying probable matches both to fill gaps in their family trees or correct errors.

Many of FTDNA’s surname projects restrict participation to males matching the project surname or a close variation.  The only testing option fitting that profile is Y-DNA.  Stinnett Genealogy was created with that limitation.  However, there is growing evidence that autosomal DNA testing when used in conjunction with Y-DNA testing can attain more meaningful results than either alone.

Stinnett Genealogy is fortunate to have a professional genetic genealogist among its administrators.  With assistance from others, he is applying that expertise to special research projects including our own.  In his blog piece on applying “Autosomal DNA Analytics in Surname Projects:  Graphs for Genealogy,” our expert states:

FamilyTreeDNA supports surname projects. Participants either share a surname themselves or have Y-DNA matches to the surname. In the latter case, there was likely a surname change somewhere back in the lineage. Surname projects group men based on haplogroups and the pattern of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). It is not unusual for projects to have numerous groups. Within a group the project seeks to identify a common male ancestor (CMA). When there are well documented family trees the CMA may already be defined and the DNA is used to validate or extend the conclusions derived from historical records. However, many projects have groups of men whose common ancestor is unknown. This is a common conundrum in American families who arrived in colonial times and whose diasphora is lost to history. It is this scenario which this document addresses.

Patrilineal trees are a convenient way to show relationships between men in a surname project group which presumably has a CMA. If individual trees a truncated before a CMA, one can assume the existence of the CMA and add him to the patrilineal tree. This allows one to analyse the group as a whole. In some cases there may be common ancestors of a subgroup(s) who are known and presumably, by an unknown path, converge on the more distant CMA for all the men.

This document explores methods for using at-DNA results to help map the missing steps in the path to the CMA of all the men. The at-DNA may be derived from the men in the project or other individuals in their families who share a path to the surname under investigation.

This premise forms the basis for opening up Stinnett Genealogy to everyone, male and female, with a Stinnett man or woman in their family tree.  We are encouraging those who have taken autosomal tests through other services to transfer their results into FTDNA’s Family Finder.  [See example under the News tab.].  This also explains why we do not impose an advance authorization to join our project.  Our parameters for participation are clear and we invite any and all who meet those criteria to become project members.  We would like to grow Stinnett Genealogy to be among the best supported surname projects within FTDNA’s universe.

Stinnett Case Study.

The Stinnett Genealogy project includes two main subgroups.  These are the I- and R- Stinnett lines defined by their main haplogroup branch.  These branches separated many thousand years ago.  But these two lines lived together in colonial Maryland as early as the mid-1600’s.  The R- Stinnett kits match the Calvert/Colbert surname of the proprietors of Maryland, including the Y-DNA of an exhumed Calvert buried in colonial times.  Through traditional genealogy research, a hypothesis has emerged that two brothers who moved from MD to settle in Amherst Co., VA, in the mid-1700’s may have had the same mother but different fathers.  Members of the  R- group would like to identify the common male ancestor they share with Calvert kin.  Members of the I- group would like to break down brick walls and affirm their connection to one of the brothers who settled in VA and then trace his ancestry.

PLEASE NOTE:  THIS IS ONLY A HYPOTHESIS, BUT IT DEMONSTRATES THE VALUE OF DNA TESTING FOR SERIOUS GENEALOGISTS OR ANYONE SEEKING A HIGHER DEGREE OF ACCURACY IN THEIR FAMILY TREE.