Smith Official (All)

Official Smith/Schmidt/Smythe/Smidt DNA Project at FamilyTreeDNA
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Wallace Smith Wallace Smith
Admin
April 14, 2018 @ 9:00am
I get this question often. OK, I’ll give you the basic overview. YDNA is passed only from father to son. It is the best way to locate potential paternal ancestors through STR matching. The Str markers mutate at a rate which allows for sorting out paternal ancestors in the genealogical time frame, say 5-10 generations back. MTDNA is passed only from mother to daughter therefore it is of no use in tracing one’s paternal line and is of limited use in finding a maternal ancestor. You would get hundreds of matches with people who have a common maternal ancestor 20.00 years ago or more. Autosomal DNA is passed down randomly from both parents, their parents and parent’s parents and so on back through history. The only way to tell which side a match may have passed through is to test many relatives with known relationships so you can compare and sort them out. There are 23 chromosomes in all humans. 1-22 are autosomal DNA, 23 is special, in that it is the one where you get your XDNA. A female has no YDNA because the father passes his XDNA that he got from his mother to daughters only. She gets X from both parents. The son gets X from mother and Y form father. So in summary, Yes, you may get some benefit by testing your autosomal DNA, but the only way to really prove a paternal match is to test a known male descendant of the direct line male to male from the earliest known ancestor to the male testee and hope for matches with someone who has a well documented tree and go from there.
33 Comments
Douglas Smith
May 24, 2019 @ 12:19am
Wayne, You're welcome for the information! It's best if you ask your questions here, that way the questions you ask and the answers that I and/or others give will benefit all Project Members. If you want to ask a question about a new topic, go to the top of this Activity Feed page, below the picture, and click on "Ask a Question." If you have a story, statement, or update about a new topic, click on "Post to Group." I will do my best to answer your questions. If you have a question that I can't answer, I will refer you to someone who can.
Elizabeth Walker
June 27 @ 7:26pm
Actually MTDNA is passed down from a mother to all her children, both female and male. The males just don't pass their mother's MTDNA on to their descendants.
D Harper
June 28 @ 9:45am
For reference for M Peterson - Here is the matched Grouping GRP-G-M201-10 http://www.smithsworldwide.org/smtrees.asp?grouping=GRP-G-M201-10 -you can also of course, find this on the FamilyTreeDNA Smiths YDNA chart, do change the page size to 4000 to see all the groups on one page.
D Harper
June 28 @ 9:47am
Adding to Elizabeth Walker's comment, here is a chart showing how mtDNA works http://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/fanmt.php?personID=I91242&tree=tree1&parentset=0&generations=4
Weldon Smith Weldon Smith has a question!
Yesterday at 12:47pm
“ I tested at YSEQ for SNP BY66988, and am confirmed. Can I update my entry here from I-Z166 to I-BY66988? Thx, kit N18915 ”
G. Hall G. Hall
April 2 @ 10:31pm
Hello from Australia! I am not having much success searching through this group, but would love to know if there have been any previous posts about the following Smith family: Richard Smith (c.1782 Derby, England - c.1838 Pennsylvania, United States) and his wife Phoebe/Phebe Woodas/Woodhouse (c.1786 Derby, England - c. 1865 Pennsylvania, United States) and their 11 children who arrived in the US from the UK in 1830. Descendant families include names such as Livingston, Ruckel, Payne and so on. Thanks!
Gary Smith
April 3 @ 11:15am
A possible match, There are no sources listed for either Richard or Phoebe. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/K64V-NTD
D Harper
April 4 @ 1:04pm
2 things. One is, please send your direct line to info@smithsworldwide.org and we'll get you listed. Second, you can also post a query on the discussion forum on smithsworlwide.org https://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/gbookt.php?fid=2 It's searchable and also shows up in internet searches.
D Harper D Harper
Admin
April 4 @ 1:01pm
Two more places on the Smithsworldwide.org (Big tree) website to get traction for your lines. In this activity feed, there is, at present, no way to search the forum or to have a link to a given post, so you end up scrolling. There is a discussion forum on smithsworldwide that is searchable from the internet as well as from the site itself (look on the right for Search posts, comments, etc) and if you start a post from a given person or put the personID in, your post will alsow show up on that person's page. (Here is an example of how the discussion post shows up on a an ancestor page -look at the bottom of the page https://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/getperson.php?personID=I92964&tree=tree1 ) So, you do need to be registered to post. Here is the link to the Smith Roll Call forum https://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/gbookt.php?fid=8 to post your Smith, login (on the right, then NEW TOPIC. You can also respond as a comment to someone else's post. There is also a Queries and Most Wanteds forum where you can post about a given perplexing brick wall https://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/gbookt.php?fid=2 The entire list of forums is here https://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/gbookforumlist.php
D Harper D Harper
Admin
April 4 @ 10:15am
Have updated the links (to the left) after upgrading smithsworldwide.org . If you have any particular Frequently Asked Questions or other discussion links you'd like to see added, please post here and will add them
D Harper D Harper
Admin
April 1 @ 12:44pm
Sometimes it happens that there isn't a YDNA kit that matches another YDNA kit. Have an instance in which two descendants of Henry sMith b 1820 England m Mary Spicer b 1820 England match on autosomal but one otherwise, did YDNA, and the other autosomal. The one with YDNA did an autosomal transfer on his ancestry test (autosomal) to his account and now we can compare on that basis. The two kits match on autosomal so I've made an autosomal group for them https://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/smtreesb.php?grouping=GRP-AU-29
D Harper D Harper
Admin
April 1 @ 12:32pm
New Smith member, tree only, for Abner Smith b 1762 Ireland m Massey Morris. Here's the branch line https://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/relationship.php?altprimarypersonID=I92964&savedpersonID=I92964&secondpersonID=I121862&maxrels=1&disallowspouses=0&generations=15&tree=tree1&primarypersonID=I121862 What is needed is a male Smith descendant to do a YDNA test to start establishing a matched baseline. If that fits you, or you did autosomal testing for anyone in this line, please a. do a YDNA test if you are a male Smith or b. join the Smith DNA Project with your autosomal test so we can do a compare.
Robert 'Bob" Smith Robert 'Bob" Smith
March 26 @ 4:07pm
Kit #304533. Received my Big-Y results today. Haplogroup is now listed as R-FGC69210. What are my next steps? Thanks...
D Harper
March 28 @ 5:20pm
Hi, Robert. First, I looked at your YDNA matches and there is, as you know, one other member that matches. This grouping https://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/smtrees.php?grouping=GRP-R-M269-156 I also looked at your autosomal results and found a descendant of Mary J Smith, thus proving the matches at least through Thomas H Smith. Would like to find some male Smith descendants of Larks Smith m Cecilia Moore of Smith County, TN. Looked at your big y matches and didn't see any at this point. Incidentally, there is not a contact person for this group, would you like to be?
Robert 'Bob" Smith
March 29 @ 6:36pm
Yes, I would like to be the contact person for this group. How do I add other autosomal Smith matches to this group, who are vertified descendants? Still trying to figure out the parents of Thomas H Smith' s parents....
Heather Stutchman-Adams
March 31 @ 5:49pm
Hi cousin! I believe we match on a few sites. I am one of your autosomal matches. You are more than welcome to look at what I have on my Ancestry tree as that tree is the one I update almost daily. I may have some missing information or resources that may help. Just let me know.
D Harper D Harper
Admin
March 27 @ 10:38am
New Member, FamilyFinder tester, Descendant of George Smith b c 1725 Ireland m Rebecca - Here is the line https://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/relationship.php?altprimarypersonID=I511&savedpersonID=I511&secondpersonID=I121478&maxrels=1&disallowspouses=0&generations=15&tree=tree1&primarypersonID=I511 This group , Smith DNA Group GRP-R-M269-18 includes General Washington Smith b 1784 NC, George Smith b 1725 Ireland, John Smith b 1622 Sudbury Massachusetts, Eber Smith b 1792 NY, Simon Smith b 1754  and others. See the group link for all members.  If you know of any sourced links between any of the members, please either list them here or send to info@smithsworldwide.org  https://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/smtrees.php?grouping=GRP-R-M269-18
D Harper D Harper
Admin
March 26 @ 11:20am
New Smith DNA project member- Descendant of Isaiah Smith b 1820 PA m Sarah Ann Bright -Family Finder tester https://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/showbranch.php?br=Nq5lps19020702
D Harper D Harper
Admin
March 25 @ 10:38am
New Smith DNA Project member, YDNA tester, descendant of James William Smith b Middlesex Co England m Ellen Hilley https://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/verticalchart.php?personID=I121219&tree=tree1&parentset=0&display=vertical&generations=4
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