Project News
Why the Garrison DNA Project is Publically Posting the Pedigrees
I have recieved inquiries from Y-DNA project members as to why I am asking for their lines of descent to be posted publically. I am going to attempt to explain why we are publically posting each of the DNA test subject’s direct line of descent, with birth date and location for each ancestor, and the name of that ancestor’wife. [Note: I do not desire to post data on anyone born after 1912, for privacy reasons.]
The well run Y-DNA project’s way of approaching genealogy has been dubbed, “genetic genealogy,” but it can actually be thought of as a form of anthropology combined with molecular biology. It involves science, and the scientific method.
First, it is important to understand that in a Y-DNA surname project:
1. The test subject’s Y-DNA test results are a form of data.
2. The direct line of descent for each test subject is also a form of data.
3. The Y-DNA project is an attempt to correlate the test result data with the line of descent data.
This collected data needs to be posted in a publically accessable location, such as the DNA project’s web site.
“Why does the Y-DNA data, and the line of descent data need to be posted (published) in a publically accessable location, such as the project’s public web site?”
When we are using science to increase our knowlege of history, we need to start thinking like scientists. We need to take clues from the process of science, i. e. the scientific method.
When a scientific researcher make a pronouncement regarding his conclusions, based on his/her research, that scientist is expected to publish not only his conclusions, but the data upon which his conclusions are based. This is neccessary, so that the conclusion can be INDEPENTEDLY VERIFIABLE.
If a scientist attempts to publish his conclusions, but does not present his data for verification, then his conclusions will be considered to be not worth the paper they are printed on.
“How do we make sure that the line of descent data is independently verifiable?”
Plain and simply, through documentation. And that is the reason that we need to publish not only the name of the given ancestor, but his date and place of birth, and his wife’s name. We do this so that any researcher of that surname can go to a database of historical documentation, such as the U.S. Federal census, and locate that particular individual. And the reason for needing this documentation, is so that anyone can see how each of the men in that line of descent are connected together as father and son.
"Why do we need to be so stringent in the presentation of this data? Can’t we just guess? What if we have a hunch?"
No, a Y-DNA project should avoid posting data based on guessing, or hunches. The reason why this is so, is that the DNA project’s scientific database would be corrupted. You can think of a given line’s total database as a kind of netting, with each common male ancestor acting as the knot. One can easily see the damage to that netting, should the the threads of the netting be knotted (joined together) with an incorrect common male ancestor. It would go from being a net, to being a bundle of tangled threads.
“But I do not have the documentation. Isn’t the Y-DNA project meant to help me break through my brick wall?”
Yes, it can help you to break through your genealogical brick wall, but only in as far as the persons who are presenting their data are honest about both the extent, and the limits, of their data. Otherwise, the researcher might easily be sent off on yet another wild goose chase, looking for documentation that possibly does not exist.
"But my Y-DNA matches his Y-DNA. Can’t I just join my line to his line by just accepting his “Most Distant Known Ancestor” as mine?"
The only honest way that you can join your line to that of your matching test subjects, minus the documentation, is to group yourselves together under the heading of a “lineage.” This is so, because the Y-DNA data alone does not tell you who the common male ancestor was.
"What, then, is the value of participating in a well run Y-DNA project?"
The value lies in your being able to use the project data to limit the scope of your search for documetation. You can rule out the Garrisons who do not match your Y-DNA. The Y-DNA project will also put you in touch with persons who are sharing a common male ancestor with you, and who are, hopefully, willing to share their research results with you. There are numerous other reasons, but that is a subject for a whole separate page.
Mary Lee Becker
Group Administrator
Garrison DNA Project
17 Nov 2009