Sunday, March 23, 2014

DNA : Wardlaw Connection

Researcher Amanda contacted me because she saw my Gedcom file at Gedmatch.com contained a set of common ancestors with her - William Wardlaw and Jane Harper.  They happen to be my maternal 7th-great grandparents.

William born circa 1700 in Scotland or Ireland immigrated to America and ended up in Augusta County, Virginia.  Jane Harper's birth and death dates are unknown to me.  I show they were the parents of seven children : James, John,  Hugh, Joseph, Robert, William and Margaret.  They were the generation that fought in the Revolutionary War.

My line comes through Robert born circa 1745 Augusta County, Virginia who settled in Brown County, Ohio. He married circa 1768 to Janet Downey.  Amanda's line comes through Hugh Wardlaw born circa 1740 who settled in Abbeville District, South Carolina.  He married Elizabeth Coulter.

Taking the information from our kits at Gedmatch, I did the one-to-one match comparison.



The results show that we have no matching DNA.  This can mean a number of things:
  1. My paper trail genealogy from William Wardlaw and Jane Harper is wrong.
  2. Amanda's paper trail genealogy from William Wardlaw and Jane Harper is wrong.
  3. Not enough DNA from William Wardlaw and Jane Harper was passed down to me.
  4. Not enough DNA from William Wardlaw and Jane Harper was passed down to Amanda.
I've posted at one of the FB groups for DNA genealogy to get opinions of those more seasoned in the DNA genealogy game.  So far, it appears that anyone of the options above could be the case.

How secure am I in the paper trail genealogy?  Not as secure as I should be. The early generation comes from a compiled Wardlaw genealogy.  Robert Wardlaw becomes Wardlow when he gets into Ohio.  There is a 45 year gap between William's supposed birth and Roberts.  Could there be another generation in between?  Very possible.

Either way, more research will need to be done on this line to see if it is valid.


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