Using DNA Results to trace your Ancestry

Using DNA Results to Trace your Ancestry

The thoughts in this particular post are my own opinions regarding how I see the use of DNA results to trace ones family lineage. This comes from my own experience of trial and error and countless hours of research I have done on the subject.

DNA Test Explained

In order to share with you my thoughts and experiences on this subject I must first explain to you what I have learned regarding the types of DNA testing out there.
There are three main types of DNA testing for genealogical purposes, I am going to briefly explain each of them.
Every human being has 46 Chromosomes, 23 from each parent. 22 of those Chromosomes are the Autosomal Chromosomes and the other 1 is the Sex Chromosome given to us by our parents, which determines our gender.

Y-DNA Testing

This type of DNA testing is only offered to Males as only the Male Gender carry the Y Chromosome. So Y-DNA testing looks at the male and his father, and his grandfather and his great grandfather and his second great grandfather and on and on back through each of the male members in a straight line who ascend backwards in time from him. Y-DNA tests are good at determining DNA lineage from hundreds of thousands of years ago.

MtDNA Testing

Mitochondrial DNA testing deals with the female line, from you to your mother to her mother to her mother and so on back through that one female line. MtDNA is good at determining a females lineage from hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Autosomal DNA Explained

Each of us have two sex chromosomes, one per parent as listed above. So what about the other 44 Chromosomes, where do they fit in at?  Autosomal DNA testing such as 23andMe`s Relative Finder and FT DNA`s Family Finder tests are very good at predicting closer relationships out through about the 6th cousin level, after that, they become somewhat iffy.

My Thoughts

Working with DNA to solve a family mystery such as a Non Paternal Event can be very tricky. I liken it to a Jigsaw Puzzle, if we only look at a third of the pieces we are missing out on a lot of clues. So I feel that in order to get the best results one should have all three of the above types of DNA test and then stand back and look at what the DNA is telling us.
I feel each of these test go hand in hand one with each other. It is also a necessity that you have a good well developed and proven family tree in place before you attempt to go digging around in your DNA results as you will likely just get lost and end up being more confused than you were when you first started.

What is DNA Telling Us?

In order to explain what I mean by the above question I must first explain our experience to you. In 2009 my husband submitted his DNA for the Y-DNA test fully expecting to find his elusive grandfather Abraham Tinker`s line. When the results came back he did not match anyone in the Tinker DNA project, we were baffled. I think it may have been over a month before we were really able to come to terms with what we were looking at, the DNA was telling us that my husbands Biological Male line was not that of the Tinker family, instead it showed he was Biologically related to the Fancher family and thus matched everyone in the Fancher DNA project. At the time when his results came back we had tested 38 markers only and he was a close match to a gentleman at 37/38 markers. We were in correspondence with that family who felt that my husband descended from that line.
We decided then to branch on out and to get his autosomal DNA tested rather than to upgrade his Y DNA markers. We were glad we made that choice. I knew a lot about the family line that we suspected he was related to so I put together a pretty good tree on them and found a few that had tested at 23andMe from that direct line. We fully expected that when his results came back it would show a close cousin match to these gentleman, much to our surprise, it did not! So, we had to step back and look at everything as a whole. What DNA was telling us at that point was this was not a close relationship in any genealogical time frame.
My next step was to begin a slow and tedious process of elimination, that has went pretty well thus far.

How I am Using DNA to Find his NPE Contributor

My husbands father was the first man we had to look at, I had to look at his DNA and see if I could prove who his parents were. I set out first by looking at his Mother, Stella D. Bouse. Her grandparents had the surnames Bouse, Harper and Harmon. I was able to make several DNA matches to folks who descend from her line. So therefore I was able to conclude that she was indeed my husbands Paternal Grandmother, the mother of his father. Now I had to look at the man he knew to be his Paternal Grandfather, Walter Tinker. The only way I could prove that he was indeed my husbands Grandfather would be too look at Walters mother, Rosa Pope. Could I find any DNA matches to cousins who descend from Rosa Popes family line? Indeed, I did! So that proved that Walter Tinker was indeed my husbands Paternal Grandfather and his mother was Rosa Pope. Now, the next step was to look at Rosa Pope`s husband Phillip Parks Tinker Jr. I had to find out if Phillip was my husbands Biological Great Grandfather, the only way I was able to do that was to look at Phillip Jr`s mother. Her name was Anne Hessaltine Graham. Anne's mother was Mary Bayless. My husband has several DNA matches to that line of the Graham and the Bayless families, therefore I have concluded that Anne Hessaltine Graham was indeed his Biological 2nd Great Grandmother and that his Biological Great Grandfather was indeed Phillip Parks Tinker Jr. Now, the next step was to look at Anne's husband, Phillip Parks Tinker Sr, was he my husbands 2nd Great Grandfather? The only way to prove this was to go to his mother, one Nancy Jane PARKS daughter of Phillip PARKS and Catherine WHITE. Could I find any DNA matches to this line of the PARKS and the WHITE families? Indeed I did! So therefore I knew that Nancy Jane PARKS was my husbands 3rd Great Grandmother and therefore I had proven that her son Phillip Parks Tinker Sr was his 2nd Great Grandfather.  Now I had to look at Nancy Jane Parks husband, one James Abraham Tinker, could I prove that he was my husbands 3rd great grandfather? In order to do that I need to look at his mother, her name was Polly. But here is where my success has come to a screeching halt, as Polly's maiden name is unknown.

What do I do now?

After having such great success I was heartbroken to think that I may never solve this mystery. So, I have decided to regroup and refocus my research efforts. Right now I am looking into the areas where these ancestors resided and taking the clues that I am finding and trying to form connections. We know that there was a marriage into the Tinker family by a Fancher male,it happened in Connecticut in the late 1700`s. I am trying to piece together this family and see if somehow Abraham Tinker Sr and his wife Polly tie into this line of the Tinker family who married into the Fancher family. As you are aware we are indeed looking for a Fancher male, and it is possible that said males mother may have been a Tinker and therefore she gave her child her maiden name and he was raised as a Tinker, thus the reason nobody ever knew about the NPE until my husband decided to test his DNA and the mystery began.

My Advice to You

If I could give one piece of advice to anyone who may find themselves in our shoes or in a similar situation I would advise you first and foremost to develop a good, solid, family tree. You are going to need it! Do not and I repeat Do Not attempt to do this without having a proven family tree to fall back on. Most of your matches are not going to have a well developed family tree, and you likely will have to do a lot of work recreating their trees in order to have any hint of where a match may have occurred to you.

Get your DNA out there, if you ever heard of the saying Don't put all your eggs in one basket, that is so true! Test with each company in order to have a better possibility of finding matches. Do not just take bits and pieces of information, it all makes up one huge gigantic puzzle and you need to look at it as a whole. If you have looked at something so much you think you have found out all there is to know about it, put it away for a while and come back to it. Odds are you will find something you missed the first time around. You have to be like a Detective. Its hard work, its time consuming, its expensive but the rewards are well worth it. You have to be determined, you cant just give up, the answers are there, often times staring you right in the face, but you may not see them at first. Keep that in mind.Never forget if you make a mistake its ok to own it, but dont let it stop you! Ill be the first to admit I am not perfect and far from being a professional but I am passionate about what I do. If I make a mistake I am woman enough to admit it and learn from it and move on. Best of luck!