DAWSON-L Archives

From: "Neva Adams" <>
Subject: Dawson DNA testing
Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 12:47:02 -0400

http://dgmweb.net/genealogy/DNA/D/DawsonDNA.shtml

Hi everyone, My maternal grandparents were Walker's and Dawson's. Both lines have been stuck at an ancestor that was born around 1800, for over 5 yrs for me, and over 20 yrs for other researchers that I have found and worked with. About 3 yrs ago, there were 2 Walker researchers that began a WALKER DNA project. I asked my uncle to partipate, and asked a cousin whose gggrandfather was brother to mine to particpate, and we soon had our 12 marker genetic match. We continued to research and found another cousin who was descended from a 3rd brother and again we were matched.

As more Walker lines tested we found that the three Walker families who were in Nicholas County, VA in the 1820-1840's were totally unrelated by DNA. I cannot tell you how long we searched, how much money we spent, how many miles we put on our vehicles, trying to find a connection between these families by researchers from all 3 lines. And in a single result from each, we knew the door was closed to continue following those lines.

We continued doing research. We found the mother's name of the 1800 ancestor, and that it was Leah, but no last name. I made a chart and went sideways following all of the children of my 1800 ancestor and following his siblings and their children. I found that the oldest children of this family were born in NH. The youngest child was born in PA. The youngest child lived to the 1880 census and we found that she had NH for her father's pob, and MA for her mother's pob. We started putting our energies into trying to find info in NH and MA, looking for a marriage between a Walker and a Leah. We found families with name similiarities, wrote them, but none were open to the idea that maybe they were missing an ancestor who left NH for PA and VA.

Then...in one minute of time this past August, we had a match! We went from having a guy b. in 1800 NH to having an ancestor b. in 1615 England. Our new matching cousin had a well-documented history. All we had to do was figure out which of his ancestors that we were descended from through a different son. Within 3 days we found Solomon to be our Leah's husband, knew which of his 3 (grand)father's went up the line to be the son of the man born in England. We are continuing to find new cousins. We are continuing to find more information on this family every week. I'm still in awe that this wall was crumbled so easily and without us having to keep working on finding the connection.

There was one slight complication at the onset of our match. There was one man who had claimed Solomon for an ancestor, had matched him up with a wife named Charity and children, and had shared his info with another family who were descendants of a Solomon and Charity Walker. Our find meant that their Solomon no longer had parents. Our new cousin has many reference books at home and was able to redirect this family to other possiblities of parents through census info, etc. The man didn't write me back to defend his position but the other family was happy for us and appreciated the new info to help them start all over again.

I just checked to see if the Dawson's had a similiar project going on, and someone has just started it. The test should cost less than $100 (which is nothing compared to my trips to other states, in-state state libraries, and copying costs). It was very easy. My uncle received a sterile kit. First thing in the morning when he got up, he used the swab to swipe the inside of his cheek prior to eating, drinking or brushing his teeth, etc. He put it back in the back and mailed it to the lab. His name is not anywhere that is available for anyone else to see. He is only listed as a kit number. Matching DNA info is sent to me not to him since he doesn't do genealogy. There are no Dawson's who have access to his info, all info is kept at the lab. I have the choice on the site for others to see, to go down on my family tree as far as I want. I listed my uncle as "DNA participant". You can check through the above link on other family names and the success they have had in matching up !
families. Obviously the more families that participate the greater the possiblity of matching. All of the beginning Walker families that were participating were from VA, MD, NC, KY, WV and GA. Our matching cousin was the first one with New England roots to participate. There have been several more since then and there should even be one particpant from across the water in Sweden, I believe.

I joined this list hoping to find some new Dawson cousins, and have waited for letters on it to get a feel for where the members of this list live and who they are researching. It is a very quiet list. :( I hope this will at least give people new food for thought on one way that we can break down our walls and help each other to solve theirs.

Thank you for reading this long letter! Neva Adams
Looking for the connection of my Alexander B. Dawson who is somehow related to the Dawson's of Albemarle, Amherst and Nelson counties of Virginia, and who left and settled in Nicholas County, (West)Virginia.

http://www.familytreedna.com/surname.asp To see other surnames and how many have participated. :)

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• Dawson DNA testing by "Neva Adams" <>