What’s in your DNA?
by HML
Researching family history has been a pursuit for both sides of Team Gimlet. (Your humble narrator spent a good portion of a family European vacation wandering through graveyards.) However, despite years of diligent research by several family members, the origin of The Gimlet’s family and how and when they immigrated to the United States has remained a mystery … until now! (You knew that was coming, right?)
In December 2006, a genetics lab affiliated with the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (Relative Genetics) ran a test of The Gimlet’s Y chromosome. With the test, his results were placed in a database for genealogists to compare their results. Earlier this month, The Gimlet was contacted by Leo, who informed him that their results were a close match. Leo introduced The Gimlet to Paul (who shares the Gimlet family name, though spelled differently), and Paul’s DNA match is also very close.
Matchmaker, matchmaker
According to the SMGF website:
Matches of 34/36, 35/36, and 36/36 — and a common surname — generally indicate a common ancestor in the time that public records have been in existence.
Leo’s analysis of the data is as follows:
You and Paul have a match at 32 out of the 34 DNA markers the Relative Genetics and Family Tree DNA share in common.
A 32/34 match generally means a common ancestor sometime in the last 400 years. Unfortunately, 34 markers cannot resolve the timespan any closer.
However, Paul and I also have a close DNA match, and we both share a rare mutation called the “S26 SNP” or “null439 SNP” that is only detected by Family Tree DNA.
I’ve also been tested by the Sorenson Genomics lab (that does the testing for Relative Genetics), and you and I share another 11 out of 11 marker values in common.
I think it’s fair to assume Paul would have the same 11 marker values if tested by Relative Genetics, so if we factor those into consideration, then there is probably a 43/45 match between the two of you.
That would narrow the “Time to Most Common Ancestor” between the two of you to about 300 years — or sometime after 1700.
In addition to the DNA, the little history we know about the Gimlet family around 1800 agrees with the information Leo and Paul have collected.
Mysteries solved
The variance in surname spelling may have resulted from an ancestor moving into an area already inhabited by a family with the same last name. The Gimlets previously assumed these two families were related. However, DNA evidence shows that these are clearly two separate families, and the Gimlet ancestor may have changed the spelling of his surname to avoid confusion with the other family.
The Gimlet immigrant ancestor, Robert, was the second son of a baronet. Both father and son were born in Chelsea, England. Robert’s father (we’ll call him Sir Gimlet) owned one share in the Virginia Company. Robert immigrated to Virginia from England in 1639 and settled on Lawnes Creek across the James River from Jamestown. Robert’s sons were some of the first settlers of North Carolina in the 1660s — where the Gimlet ancestor turns up around 1800.
While DNA research may not be the best solution for every family’s genealogical dead ends, it has opened up exciting new possibilities for the Gimlets’ family history.
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Tags: family history
