Smith Official (All)

Official Smith/Schmidt/Smythe/Smidt DNA Project at FamilyTreeDNA
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  • D Harper
  • Marie Plummer
  • Wallace Smith
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  • Donnie Smith
  • Justin L Smith
  • Tyson Smith
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Pinned Posts
Wallace Smith Wallace Smith
Admin
April 14 @ 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.
19 Comments
Margaret Bowers
December 14 @ 2:31pm
Boy, can I relate. My 2x great grandfather, James Smith, migrated from NC to GA around 1830 with a family named Gibbs. He married on their daughters. We have nothing earlier on him. I have 1 male cousin who refuses to be tested. What to do, what to do?
Emmett Smith
December 19 @ 10:42am
Terry Smith, For some reason, people do not answer my queries on the matches either. With one exception, our DNA matches closely with a different last name and acouple of them answered. I suspect a name change/adoption, as ultimately, they did come out of the same area. The Smith's that match, so far, are mostly known to me and were all descended from our earliest known Smith. It is my brother's DNA that I am handling, as he asked me to since he did not have a computer. He has passed and I can not order any further testing. Others in our known group have also passed. I am so glad that he (and the others) was interested and wanted to do this. Hopefully, one day, it will help us.
D Harper
January 14 @ 9:53am
This is a sad reminder that Wally Smith has passed away in case of replies to him on this thread
Tim Smith
January 16 @ 2:37pm
Thanks for putting his post at the top again.
Richard Smith Richard Smith has a question!
January 14 @ 2:07pm
“ I have a yDNA genetic distance of 1 with someone who has a very different last name. No adoptions/name changes involved that I know of. Is there a simple explanation? ”
Craig Smith
January 14 @ 4:05pm
What marker level (37, 67, 111)?
D Harper
January 16 @ 11:01am
Just a quick note that I thank you for sending in your tree, it's the next one I"m looking at this morning. I'll write you back when I'm done.
Craig Smith
January 16 @ 6:39pm
The simplest explanation for this is that the common ancestor for you and the match pre-dates the adoption of surnames.
Richard Smith
Yesterday at 4:29pm
Match at 67 marker level. 70% common ancestor in 4 gens; 95% within 8. Not that far back. Wondering if a distant grandmother got friendly with a neighbor.
D Harper D Harper
Admin
Yesterday at 2:42pm
New YDNA results, don't know the line yet but matches into Group GRP-R-M269-98 that includes William Smith b 1770 TN m Elizabeth Ridley and Moses Smith b c 1820 KY m Parthenia Miller. Will update this with the line after I get http://www.smithsworldwide.org/smtrees.asp?grouping=GRP-R-M269-98
D Harper D Harper
Admin
Yesterday at 2:03pm
New YDNA tester, descendant of Thomas Smith b c 1612 Blackmore England -matches into group GRP-R-M269-7 http://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/verticalchart.php?personID=I106138&tree=tree1&parentset=0&display=vertical&generations=8 Group link http://www.smithsworldwide.org/smtrees.asp?grouping=GRP-R-M269-7
D Harper D Harper
Admin
Yesterday at 1:20pm
Quick project status. Had a very large number of people who joined the project within the last month or so, plus a lot of submissions, new results, etc. Add to that the untimely death of Wally, and, speaking for myself, I was out of town for a month on a holiday, and we are a little backed up. Might take 2-3 weeks to go through everybody, please be patient.
Zachary King-Smith Zachary King-Smith
December 10 @ 6:12pm
Any Smiths here with a haplogroup of JM-172? Earliest known ancestor is Harry W. Smith born in 1875 in the Bronx NY
1 Comment
Zachary King-Smith
December 19 @ 7:21pm
What was the surname listed?
Joe Gentile
December 20 @ 3:13pm
"Oscar Chavez"
D Harper
January 14 @ 9:22am
Here, for reference, is the line http://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/verticalchart.php?personID=I98428&tree=tree1&parentset=0&display=vertical&generations=8
Zachary King-Smith
January 17 @ 8:59pm
D Harper are you related to the gedcom that you posted about this is my line
D Harper D Harper
Admin
January 16 @ 10:38am
Update for Group GRP-J-M267-1 http://www.smithsworldwide.org/smtrees.asp?grouping=GRP-J-M267-1 Descendant of Needham Smith b 1815 AL m Mary Kirkland had his YDNA results come in, matches into this group which includes people from SC, NC, GA and AL. If you have additional information about any of these ancestors, please write info@smithsworldwide.org
D Harper D Harper
Admin
January 16 @ 9:00am
New YDNA tester for group GRP-I-M253-33 Descendant of Samuel Smith b c 1776 CT (or possibly RI) m Harriet http://www.smithsworldwide.org/smtrees.asp?grouping=GRP-I-M253-33 Others already in the group include David Smith b c 1800 NC m Sarah Austin, George Washington Smith b 1785 VA m Mary Tyner, Jesse Smith b 1817 GA m Francis, Joseph Smith b 1788G m Nancy Mussy, Levi T Smith b 1832 GA m Elizabeth Dorset and Wells Smith b 1805 GA. Jane Bonney is the group contact.
Gretta Gribble Gretta Gribble
December 31 @ 12:28pm
thank you for allowing me to join. my most recent smith relative was gertrude smith, born in portsmouth oh in 1849, died in beulah, co in 1912. the furthest smith i can trace is john s smith, born in the boston, ma area in 1779, died in portsmouth, oh in 1821. as you can imagine, i have made no headway in tracing his family. suggestions welcome.
M Aaron Smith
January 3 @ 11:48am
I'm a double Smith born in Portsmouth OH. Do you have a GEDMatch?
Gretta Gribble
January 5 @ 11:08am
m161818. and yours?
Gretta Gribble
January 5 @ 11:10am
my great great grandfather was lucas newsom smith, born in portsmouth in 1818.
D Harper
January 14 @ 9:19am
Here, for reference, is the line. I note that Luke P N Smith had at least 4 sons. If you can find a living male Smith descendant from one of these sons, perhaps one would do a YDNA test for you to establish the Smith. Wondering, in your matches, were you able to find any Smiths that match you in some way? http://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/verticalchart.php?personID=I105944&tree=tree1&parentset=0&display=vertical&generations=8
David (Smith) Cook David (Smith) Cook has a question!
January 6 @ 11:25pm
“ I apologize. Apparently hitting return results in a post. So, my question is this: My name is Judy Riley and I manage or try to, my husband ”
D Harper
January 14 @ 8:43am
First, hah, I do that too on the returns. If you mess up, you can click the down arrow on the right hand side to EDIT the same post and add what you missed. For reference, putting your line up here http://www.smithsworldwide.org/tng/verticalchart.php?personID=I78869&tree=tree1&parentset=0&display=vertical&generations=8
Phillip Smith Phillip Smith
January 7 @ 2:54pm
Almost 60 years ago,I met a man named Harry Smith. My name being Phillip Smith, we had a conversation about our surname. He told me that his grandfather told him a tale that in the beginning, everyone.s name was Smith. When they made a mistake, they had to take another name!
D Harper
January 14 @ 8:41am
funny:)
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