Y-DNA study of Cockburn family now underway
Another Cockburn family researcher, David Hall, has started a Y-DNA project page on the website of the genetic testing company Family Tree DNA.This website will provide a convenient way of organizing and sharing the results of Y-DNA testing conducted on male Cockburns.The URL address of this project page is:
http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Cockburn/http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Cockburn/
Some results have already been posted to this page.For example, my own results are those of kit 70549.More result lines will appear as more male Cockburns get tested, and agree to contribute their results (by anonymous kit number, not name) to the project.As an example of a much more advanced Y-DNA project, you might be interested in seeing what has been done to genetically map out the Dunbar family:
http://worldfamilies.net/surnames/d/dunbar/results.htmlhttp://worldfamilies.net/surnames/d/dunbar/results.html
As a bit of background on genetic genealogy, Y-DNA test results allow researchers to compare the degree of similarity between males (females do not have the necessary Y chromosomes to allow a Y-DNA test to be performed).The Y-DNA passes along the male line only, from father to son.Periodically, mutations are introduced in a son.For example, my own Y-DNA exhibits a small mutation with respect to my father's Y-DNA.These mutations are useful because the allow researchers to distinguish different branches within a family.Two men who have very similar Y-DNA should have a relatively recent common male ancestory.Conversely, very different Y-DNA suggests a very old common male ancestor.By comparing Y-DNA you can confirm, or cast doubt, on family trees that were reconstructed using other means (e.g. imperfect church and state records).
In my own case, I was very surprised to learn that I have very close matches to the Dunbar family.One possible explanation is that a male Cockburn was adopted by a Cockburn family.Or that a Dunbar son-in-law changed their name at the time of a marriage to allow Cockburn land rights to be maintained for a family that had only daughters.There are other possibilities too of course.
I am posting this in the hope that more male Cockburns will contribute to the genealogy project.I am not a direct organizer, and I have no links to the company Family Tree DNA.There are several other companies who can conduct Y-DNA tests.(The tests themselves are very simple painless scrapes that you collect three times over the course of one day.)Family Tree DNA supports another website, www.ysearch.org, that allows the results of all testing companies to be posted together at other independent sites, such as worldfamilies.net.This is what the Dunbar family did, and what the Cockburn family can also do later on after we get more test results to post.
If you are interested in getting tested, you can simply click on the first link in this message and get started from there.The greatest amount of Y-DNA detail is obtained using the 67-marker Y-DNA67 test (USD 349).However, you can get started with the 12-marker Y-DNA12 test (USD 149), and then later decide to get a more thorough test performed using the same samples that will be kept on file for a while.
regards,
Bruce
More Replies:
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Re: Y-DNA study of Cockburn family now underway
Chris Allen 5/26/08
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Re: Y-DNA study of Cockburn family now underway
Bruce Cockburn 5/26/08
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Re: Y-DNA study of Cockburn family now underway