RAGSDALE-L Archives

Archiver > RAGSDALE > 2006-03 > 1141837169


From: "Joseph B. Lambert" <>
Subject: Re: [RAGSDALE-L] Ragsdale Surname DNA Project
Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2006 10:59:29 -0600
In-Reply-To: <440E41F4.000003.00612@RAGSDALE>


Until you get a lot more results, that conclusion is premature. With just
two individuals, there are other explanations. It is possible that
FamilyTreeDNA made a mistake. In the Lambert project, two brothers got
completely different test results. With concerns about the activities of
their shared mother, they requested a retest, and they proved then to be
identical. FamilyTreeDNA charges for a retest only if it confirms the
original result. I would wait in this case. The second explanation is
that there was what is politely called a nonpaternal event. There are
three possible explanations: adoption, change of name, and
illegitimacy. One can narrow the generation at which the event occurred by
getting several participants from different points on the same line. That
sometimes is hard. If there is a nonpaternal event, then all the other
Ragsdale results will line up with one of the two existing results, leaving
the other one as an outlier. Please forgive any insensitivity for possible
ancestral indiscretions, but I am just relating the standard explanations.

Joseph Lambert

At 08:31 PM 3/7/06, you wrote:
>Another update on our project.
>
>We now have 37-marker y-DNA analysis data on two individuals, and it is
>confirmed that we are dealing with two distinct and different Ragsdale
>paternal lines. Those of us who had speculated that all the Ragsdale's in
>the United States came from one paternal line (Godfrey Ragsdale and
>descendants) are going to have put their research caps back on and get back
>in the archives and court houses.
>
>There are still three participants awaiting the analysis/release of data, so
>I have no way of predicting whether we may come up with another separate
>line, or whether any of the forthcoming data will fit into one of the two
>lines we now have. Time will tell.
>
>The two lines we have, with two distinctively different y-DNA analyses:
>
>
>
>Line One:
>
>R1b1 13 23 14 11 11 15 12 12 12 13 13 29 17 9 10 11 11 24 14 19 28 15 16 16
>17 11 10 19 23 17 15 18 17 37 38 13 12
>
>Robert Frederick Ragsdale, Jr., b. 1942 TX
>Robert Frederick Ragsdale, b. 1909 TX, d. 1986 TX
>Robert Mumford Ragsdale, b. 1881 AR, d. 1916 TX
>David Alexander Ragsdale, b. 1845 TN, d. Unkn AR
>David Alexander B. Ragsdale, b. 1812 NC, d. 1875 AR
>
>
>
>Line Two:
>
>R1b1 13 24 14 11 12 15 12 12 12 13 13 30 17 9 10 11 11 25 15 19 29 15 15 16
>17 10 11 19 23 17 15 17 18 37 37 12 12
>
>Michael Wayne Ragsdale, b. 1950 KY
>Herbert Bernard Ragsdale, b. 1922 TN, d. 1977 KY
>Herbert Minter Ragsdale, b. 1885, TN, d. 1969 GA
>Samuel Ragsdale, b. 1848 TN, d. 1913 TN
>Jordan Ragsdale, b. C. 1810 TN, d. C. 1892 TN
>
>
>More to come as more data is released.
>
>Michael Ragsdale
>http://www.ragsdalefamily.org/
>http://www.ragsdalefamily.org/dna/index_dna.html


Joseph B. Lambert
Department of Chemistry
2145 Sheridan Road
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL 60208-3113
Telephone: 1-847-491-5437
Fax: 1-847-491-7713
http://www.chem.northwestern.edu/~lambert/


This thread: