Y-DNA Results

Surname groups:
As of June 2012, four groups have been identified by this project to have a > 99% probability of sharing a common patrilineal ancestor since the adoption of surnames.

Group A: Established circa 1662 in New Hampshire by Samuel and John Whidden.  Surname variations include Whitten.  Results are consistent with previously-documented genealogy among the four members of this group, but these results cannot determine whether they were an uncle and nephew or, as family lore states, brothers.

Group B: One member of this group is a known descendent of a line established in 1635 in Virginia by John Whiddon.  Surname variations include Whidden.  The majority of this line migrated from VA > NC > SC > GA ending up in FL.  From there they have migrated to the other 49 states.

Group C: Two members of this group are descended from William Whitten, who lived in North Carolina. A third Whitten, who cannot trace any connection to NC, has an exact 12-marker match with this group.

Group D: Additional information is needed about the Wittens in this group.

Group E: Devonshire Whiddon with families in USA and Australia not related to the Chagford Whyddon/Whiddon families but nearby in Devon.

Deep ancestry:
All members of this project are encouraged to join Y-DNA haplogroup projects in order to learn more about their deep ancestry.

Group A is a member of haplogroup R-DF13 (which has been estimated to comprise 90-95% of haplogroup R-L21). This group is negative for all SNPs tested thus far below R-DF13 and has not been identified as a member of any cluster by the R-L21 Project.

Group B is a predicted member of haplogroup I-M423 and is likely a member of either the I-M423-Isles-A1 or I-M423-Isles-A2 clusters (using the nomenclature of the Y-Haplogroup I2a Project). A 67-marker test can clarify which one of those two clusters Group B fits within.

Group C does not fit any any known cluster within R-M269 at the 37- or 67- marker levels; a Deep Clade SNP test will clarify the deep ancestry of this group.

Group D is a predicted member of haplogroup I-M223. Without a 67-marker test, this group cannot be reliably assigned to one of the clusters defined by the I-M223 Y-Haplogroup Project.

Kit 103675 is a member of the 1030-A-Sc-24* (also known as the "R1b Scottish") cluster within haplogroup R-L21. Testing by other members of this cluster has confirmed that it is DF13+ and negative for all-non private SNPs tested below R-DF13. If tested, this kit has a low probability (≈ 5%) of being L743+.

Mitochondrial DNA Results

All members of this project with mtDNA results are encouraged to join the relevant mitochondrial DNA project for their haplogroup. Good luck in finding maternal cousins. Its been done and the more people that get tested the better the chances. If you can get cousins known to be related tested that is even better. Several Whitten/Whidden/Wittens have had mtDNA tests done, including two Full Genome Sequence tests; though two of them are haplogroup U5, none are close enough to be related.  The one U6 result has several exact matches.  However, though email contact doesn't bounce (indicating a now inactive email account) none of the matches respond to email queries, possibly due to decease of the person.  Another option, they did the test not being interested in DNA/ genealogy matches.  In any case, make arrangements to pass along your ID/pw to a survivor who can respond to queries when you  no longer can do so. 

A site established by FTDNA where tests can be compared by results from all labs is available for mtDNA at

http://www.mitosearch.org/

                                                                        Family Finder DNA Results 

A 3rd great-grand uncle had a daughter who married a minister and had two sons and a large family.  A neighbour family had a daughter of fifteen years of age who became pregnant and at age sixteen gave birth to a son.  The son was informally adopted by a family uncle and went on to have a large decent over the following 200 years, including a retired Ontario judge.  The judge became involved with the paper trail for his ancestry and in the early 1800s ran into a brick wall.   Much documentation lead the researchers to speculate that one of the two sons of the local minister might have been the father.   DNA testing determined the connection to the surname and my Family Finder results showed the judge among my fifth cousins, establishing one of the two sons (DNA cannot determine which one) to be the father that hadn't been identified over the two hundred years, most likely since they were sons of the local minister nothing was ever said.  This is a puzzle that likely would never have been solved by traditional genealogy research but was revealed by DNA.  

Hopefully it will also help solve my Finnish connection, which currently ends with grandparents and great grandparents.  Unfortunately most of the Finnish matches don't include any connection to my Jarvinen (like Smith, Brown among Finnish surnames) and Syrjala families.