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Thought I’d report an “almost” investigation that came to naught this
week.
Recently there have been exchanges on the Martin List about their
ongoing DNA projects. After reading a few of the messages and then a
tutorial by Family History DNA (the company doing their analysis), it
occurred to me that DNA analysis might be used to determine if Alice
Martin of Plymouth, our John Churchill of Plymouth’s (possible)
kinswoman, was related to the Martins of Rehoboth, Plymouth Colony.
This would be a small step forward in Plymouth Colony Churchill
research.
After reading the Family History DNA Company’s tutorial it occurred to
me that if one got a DNA sample from a direct Rehoboth Martin descendant
and a second DNA sample from a direct descendant of Alice Martin, a DNA
analysis it might indicate a common ancestor. That would mean Alice
Martin was related to the 17th century Rehoboth Martins.
It turns out that the Martin Genesis Project has a DNA sample from a
William Martin, a direct descendant of Richard Martin of Rehoboth,
Plymouth Colony. Also, Alice Martin had a daughter Damais Bishop and
this Damais has living descendants.
Alice Martin first appears in the Plymouth Colony in 1638/39, the same
year that Robert Martin initially came to the Rehoboth area. However,
Robert Martin died sine prole. Richard Martin, Robert’s brother, became
his heir and is the Rehoboth Martin’s progenitor.
Alice Martin was not, it is thought, Robert’s daughter as there are no
records of children by Robert. However, she might have been a daughter
of say Humfrey Martin an uncle of Robert and Richard or some other
related English Martin. In any case, if Alice was a kinswoman, the
common ancestor would probably have been no more than 2 generations
removed from Robert and Richard.
In reading the Family History Company’s tutorial, it became clear that
the Y DNA analysis used for normal genealogical testing would not work.
Y DNA is the male sex gene and is passed down father to son but women do
not have Y chromosomes. However, the tutorial described mtDNA which is
passed down by females. I contacted the Family History Company to see
if an mtDNA test was feasible. Unfortunately no! Only Y DNA testing is
currently used for genealogical analysis. Apparently, it is likely that
a common ancestor’s existence could be determined from mtDNA analysis
but as of today no procedures to allow such analysis have been developed
by the commercial companies. Pity, another idea bites the dust.
Bill Churchill