Rockdale County GaArchives Photo Document.....Newsletter-Rockdale County 
Genealogical Society January 14, 2008
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Larry C. Knowles http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00012.html#0002854 
January 14, 2008, 1:44 pm

Source:             Larry C. Knowles-Editor
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NEWSLETTER-ROCKDALE COUNTY GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY--page 2 of 3

Jeans & Genes-[page 2]

Rockdale County Genealogical Society Newsletter-February 2008

To DNA or not to DNA? Genealogy's latest tool has its limitations (continued)

In Hancock County I was unable to link my family by conventional methods to 
either of two brothers, Edmond or Zachariah Knowles, who had come to adjacent 
Greene County from Sussex County, DE, in the mid-1780s.  Brother Edmond left a 
better paper trail and had descendants who could make the link to Delaware, and 
to the immigrant ancestor Edmund "Old Silverhead" Knowles.  "Ole Silverhead" 
came to Virginia from England as an indentured servant in November 1700. After 
Considerable rumination, I decided to give DNA a try.  I did the 25-marker test 
of the three then available (12-25-37).  After about two months, I received my 
results, and a neat framable certificate.  Soon afterwards I began to get 
"hits," or matches, through my internet connection.  This surname project was 
done through Family Tree DNA of Houston, TX.  The Actual lab work was done at 
the University of Arizona.  FT-DNA's own website gives these, less than glowing, 
outlooks for matches:  "Our 12-marker test gives you the following range:  7 
generations (50%) likelihood and 29 generations (95%) likelihood.  Using our 25-
marker test, the 50% likelihood drops to 3 generations and the 95% to 13 
generations.  The 37-marker test tightens further to 2 generations (50%) and the 
95% to 7 generations."  Since that time DNA tests have been further refined; the 
latest I heard was 67 markers, but those may not be viable for commercial use.  
More matching markers mean greater likelihood of kinship, but also add to the 
overall laboratory costs.

For about a year I received only matches on the 12 (included in my 25).  I got a 
few 11/12s, 12/12s, and even a 13/13 (I think).  I made a few contacts but did 
not establish anything of value.  Then, as more people came into the mix, I 
began to get matches for 25s: 22/25s, 23/25s.  Again, I had several contacts but 
nothing of value to me in Georgia.  Finally, just over a year ago, I got an 
exact match – 25 for 25!  Someone had my same DNA, at least on those 25 markers.  
I figured he had to have a Georgia connection, and sure enough he did, to 
Hancock County, Georgia.  According to Rob Noles, DNA administrator for the 
K/K/N Family Association, this retired geology professor from Moscow, Idaho, is 
most probably my sixth cousin, once removed.  I now feel certain that I descend 
from Edmund "Old Silverhead" Knowles and I can't wait for a distant relative, a 
descendant of his in Lancashire County, England, to get into the Knowles surname 
DNA pool!

Editor's note:  Please forgive the "personal touch."  I thought a first hand 
account might show how DNA can work!

RELATE ITEM

In April 2005, The National Geographic Society, with corporate sponsor IBM, 
announced the "Geonographic Project" a five-year study using DNA testing to, 
among other things, map the world's patterns of migration, and to establish 
genetic footprints for most of its people.  Roughly half way into the program, 
more than 250,000 people have provided DNA samples.  While the overall project 
will not be of direct use to genealogists, the geneticists will be able to trace 
movements of the various haplogropus over thousands of years.  Using mtDNA and 
Y-DNA samples, they will be able to see how random mutations in the human 
genetic code (the "genome") have passed into the various populations today.  
Though worldwide, we share a 99% commonality in the genome, these tiny 
differences define us as the individuals we are.  This study will likely define 
how we became the groups that we are!

Prior DNA studies have pointed to ur ancestral "Eve" in Africa, perhaps 150,000 
years ago, and have indicated at least two distinct migration corridors into 
Asia.  The current project's data, utilizing the IBM computer system, will be 
able to further refine how those routes of migration moved into Europe, to 
Siberia, and to the Americas.  At an initial estimated cost of $40 million, the 
five-year venture will yield a priceless picture of mankind's diversity and 
commonality.  Form more on the Genographic Project visit:
www.nationalgeographic,com/genographic


Additional Comments:
There have been several minor corrections to the initial published edition.

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