At our first meeting of the new season, Chris Paton, who is a professional genealogist and writes for magazines such as "Practical Family History" and "Your Family Trees", gave a most interesting and informative talk on DNA and Genealogy. We all tried to understand the science - honest...
Tackling a very complex and technical subject, Chris described the 3 types of DNA test currently available for genealogical purposes:
- Y chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) passed along the male line, similar to surnames
- Mitochondrial DNA (Mt-DNA) passed along the female line
- Autosomol DNA which we all inherit from both parents
He illustrated how Y-DNA tests can sometimes disprove family myths or resolve uncertain paternity, due to illegitimacy or adoption for example. By comparing two male descendants' Y-DNA, the probability of them belonging to the same patrilineal line can be assessed. Within the Scottish Clan system it has been used to show that male descendants having the same Clan name may not actually belong biologically to the Clan, but may have adopted the Clan name because they lived in the Clan territory or to pledge fealty.
The Mt-DNA, on the other hand, can be used to connect the maternal lines of living people and, because it is more stable with less mutation, only provides clues to deep ancestry, e.g. links to early human migration, so is of little help with recent events.
The autosomol DNA is inherited from both parents so is of use only within a few generations. Using this, people of different gender can be tested to assess the probability that they are biologically related.
Chris recommended the book "Family History in the Genes" by Chris Pomery published by the National Archives for anyone wanting to find out more and he can be contacted through his website www.scotlandsgreateststory.co.uk or see his blog at www.scottishancestry.blogspot.com.
We all now know a little more about this new tool and now we can reassess our brick walls and family legends.
Patricia Weston
