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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2000-11 > 0973116892


From: Alan Savin <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] Family Tree DNA
Date: Wed, 01 Nov 2000 22:14:52 +0000
References: <000b01c04300$cc898740$9375b4d0@tyler.net>
In-Reply-To: <096901c04399$66ec66c0$0302010a@Bennett>


>What we cannot tell is how far back in time the two
>of you actually shared that common ancestor, however if you share a common
>name the assumption must be made that the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA)
>would be from when your paper trail ended and the advent of the use of
>surnames in the area where your family lived. A 12/12 match would rule out
>two people choosing the name because it sounded good, etc. It would also
>eliminate the possibility of un-announced adoption or false paternity.

>Bennett Greenspan FTDNA Houston

I am not sure that I agree with all the above. Lets take false paternity.
First lets explain what we mean. False paternity is where the biological
father is proved genetically to be different from the otherwise presumed
father. If there is a 12/12 match between father and son this in general
terms means they come from the same male lineage. But as this lineage could
originate from many generations ago, many males could share the same
haplotype (set of markers). An often cited mutation rate is 0.2% (Heyer et
al 1997) for example, that is on average once every 500 generations per
marker, a long time from a genealogical point of view. Therefore if a male
lineage is sucessful in having higher than average males produced and
surviving then a large number of males from this lineage would exist and
most probably be in the same area, if we are talking of centuries ago. If
the lineage was created before surnames were created he could be a
different name for example. Therefore there could be a case of false
paternity by a very distant male cousin with the same haplotype. Similar to
the point made by Davis (Nature 1999) when commenting upon the Jefferson
case (Foster et el 1998).

Alan Savin
(Author of "DNA for Family Historians")



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