ISOGG Newsletter May 2008

Vol. 1 No. 3 May 2008 - Society Special Edition

From the Director
It is that time of year again where many lineage and genealogical
societies hold their last meetings of the year before the summer break.
Over the summer, the societies' Presidents, Regents, Vice-Regents,
Governors, etc. will be searching for interesting programs to fill next
year's meeting calendars. What better topic to have a program on than
using DNA for genealogy? The science of DNA is fascinating, and it
applies to everyone.
The International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG) has a
listing of stipend-free speakers (honorariums are welcome and
expenses are negotiable)
http://www.isogg.org/speakerslist.htm
available to speak on DNA to your society or group. ISOGG speakers
have given presentations to chapters of the Daughters of the American
Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution, Sons of the Revolution,
General Society of Mayflower Descendants, Colonial Dames of the XVII
Century, Colonial Dames of America, General Society of Colonial Wars,
Dames of the Court of Honor, Jamestowne Society, Order of Founders
and Patriots, United Empire Loyalists and many other genealogical and
historical societies.
Members of colonial-era lineage societies may also be interested in
ISOGG's Presidential DNA and Founding Fathers DNA pages:
http://www.isogg.org/presdna.htm
http://www.isogg.org/ffdna.htm

-Katherine Borges
ISOGG Director

Case Study: Horton Y-DNA submission for Sons of the American Revolution application
by Frank Horton

     There must be some sort of paper trail for DNA to be acceptable. In my case, once I got a computer about 17 years ago, I soon began communicating with a distant cousin named Perry Horton. Perry had done a lot of research into the Horton line, my surname, and is still active in Horton groups over the United States. In short he had pretty well documented a Horton line from a Hugh Horton (1) down through Hugh Horton (2) John Horton (3) to sons William and John who married sisters, both daughters of a Patrick Kendrick. William and Mary (Kendrick) Horton had several children, the oldest son being a Daniel Horton. William was also a Revolutionary War soldier. Perry descended from William Horton through this son Daniel. Perry's line is easy to document as vital records and census records exist down to and including Perry.
     My ancestor, Johnson H. Horton was not so easy to document. We know that he married an Eliza Bradshaw, a daughter of a John and Sarah (Horton) Bradshaw. Eliza was a grand-daughter of William's brother, John. There is a Russell County, VA land record that indicates that Johnson and Eliza sold property to apparently Eliza's brother between the years 1835/36. After that time, the family is found in Missouri in the Chariton/Howard county area. The 1850 census however identifies them with the spelling of Whorton. That spelling was incorrect as later proven with the DNA and with other records. There are also "mug" books of the Russell County and Tazewell county, VA that speculate that Johnson and a Drady Horton were children of Daniel and possibly a wife named Mary whose maiden name was not known.
     Complicating the story is the death of brother Lewis Horton in 1817 (and that is a good story by itself) who in a non-cupative will identified his own illegitimate son, named Daniel, his brother Daniel's son Lewis and two daughters, but did not include either Johnson nor Drady. Drady was probably born in 1810 and Johnson was born in 1811. In the 1820 census there is no woman in the household of Daniel Horton (1) who could be a mother of any of the children. So any link to Johnson with the Daniel line would have to be proven with additional records. Process of elimination with the other Horton sons of John and William accomplished some of that. So at that point, I was left with only speculation. No records that I had on my own family or contacts with other distant cousins provided any information to close the gap between the 5th generation Johnson with the 6th generation Daniel (1).
    When Family Tree DNA testing became available, Perry and I submitted our DNA. We matched at the 25 marker level and had 1 mutation at the 37 marker level. That increased our probability of kinship within 12 generation to 94% at the 25 marker level and 97% at the 37 marker level. At the 25 marker level we were at 88+% probability of kinship with a most recent common ancestor at 8 generations. To prove the ancestry back to William, the Revolutionary War patriot, I submitted the application and to prove the connection from the 5th generation to the 6th generation, submitted the "mug" book entries, the 1820 census along with Perry Horton's paper trail from himself back to William Horton. The Genealogist General of the Sons of the American Revolution at that time checked with other experts in the DNA field including lawyers and other genealogists and decided that the DNA was the "additional" information needed to prove the connection and close the 5th to 6th generation gap.

Frank Horton is past President of the le Marquis de Lafayette chapter SAR in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Sr. VP of NCSSAR in NC. He also serves as
Deputy Governor of the NC Society of Mayflower Descendants, and past
President of the NC Sons of the Revolution. For more information on the
National Society Sons of the American Revolution, visit:
http://www.sar.org/

Two Updated Trees
The YCC (Y-Chromosome Consortium) announced publication of an
updated phylogenetic tree published in Genome Research. If you are a
Family Tree DNA customer, or a customer of iGENEA, African DNA, or
National Geographic Genographic Project, this is the corresponding tree
for Y-chromosome haplogroup nomenclature. Founded in 2002, YCC is
comprised of a committee of geneticists including Dr. Michael Hammer
of the University of Arizona and Dr. Peter Underhill of Stanford University.
YCC determines haplogroup placement on the Y-chromosome phylogenetic
tree by utilizing data from published scientific studies in peer-reviewed
academic journals.
ISOGG also debuted an updated tree this month. The ISOGG Y-DNA
Haplogroup Tree 2008 contains haplogroup and SNP information from
published studies and unpublished, but commercially available SNPs.
The ISOGG Tree is a volunteer collaborative compilation to provide a
resource of the latest haplogroup information available.

DNA in the News
Our Journey - 60 Minutes (Australia) - 18 May 2008
Canyon Country family linked to iceman - Daily News - 6 May 2008
DNA tests reveal mystery surrounding playwright Schiller - AP - 4 May 2008
DNA confirms IDs of czar's children, ending mystery - Excite News - 1 May 2008
DNA expert to speak at historical society meeting - The Troy Messenger - 25 Apr 2008
Humans nearly wiped out 70,000 years ago - CNN.com - 24 Apr 2008

For more articles:
http://www.isogg.org/newsarchives.htm

DNA Videos
http://www.isogg.org/dnavideos.htm

NEW to the ISOGG Speaker's List:

Garland Boyette
Region: Houston, Texas
Terms: Contact

Need a DNA Speaker?:
http://isogg.org/speakerslist.htm

For upcoming DNA Presentations:
http://isogg.org/meetings.htm

The Mayflower DNA Project
The General Society of Mayflower Descendants (GSMD) might be recognized as the most progressive lineage society as they embraced DNA testing as early as 2004.
Along with the Sons of the American Revolution, both societies accepted DNA for lineage proof documentation in 2006. GSMD is also noted as the first lineage society to have established their own DNA project at the national level. A Wall Street Journal article chronicles the founding of the DNA project to uncover Miles Standish's origins. The Mayflower DNA Project welcomes participants on a direct Y-chromosome line from Mayflower Pilgrims and currently has results for: John Alden, William Brewster, Edward Doty, Edward Fuller, Samuel Fuller, Henry Samson, George Soule, Richard Warren, and of course, Miles Standish. Donations may be made through the project's General Fund to support testing of more Mayflower ancestral lines.

The ISOGG newsletter is a membership benefit of the world's first society founded for the promotion and education of genetic genealogy, ISOGG - The International Society of Genetic Genealogy. Membership is FREE! Members automatically receive the newsletter to share the latest news and happenings in the world of genetic genealogy.

Newsletter online - printer friendly version

Past editions - (RSS feed instructions available)

To subscribe, send e-mail:
isoggnewsletter-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, send e-mail:
isoggnewsletter-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Questions?:
isogg@msn.com

To translate the newsletter into other languages:
http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en