This is how I use the DNA-related analysis and data provided to me by FamilyTreeDNA, based on my Big Y-700, Family Finder, and mtFull test results.
First of all, after logging into my FamilyTreeDNA account, I can see my "Badges," in the lower, right corner of my desktop computer monitor. (NOTE: The layouts of FamilyTreeDNA pages are customizable, after logging in, so locations may vary.) I have two Badges: a "Confirmed Y-DNA Haplogroup" badge, and a "Confirmed mtDNA Haplogroup" badge, which indicate that my Y-DNA and mtDNA fall into the R-Z17300 and J1c5 haplogroups, respectively.
The next areas that I look at are my matches, divided into "Family Finder Matches," "mtDNA Matches," and "Y-DNA Matches" - autosomal, maternal, and paternal, respectively. Y-DNA Matches have a subdivision called "Big Y Matches." Personally, I give the Big Y-700 test the greatest importance, because it provides the greatest specificity. It was also the most expensive.
Mitochondrial DNA is only passed from women to their offspring. Unlike Y-DNA, which is only passed from fathers to their sons, mitochondrial DNA is passed to children of either gender, but only by their mothers. My Confirmed mtDNA Haplogroup, J1c5, is, according to Haplogroup.org, between 8,300 and 13,000 years old, as of March 5, 2022.
FamilyTreeDNA's Family Finder test is autosomal. Autosomal DNA is passed by fathers AND mothers to their children of either gender. According to Vanderbuilt.edu, autosomal DNA tests "can only go back as far as 5-6 generations." However, AncestryDNA's ThruLines go back as far as seven generations, on Ancestry.com. I have also had my autosomal DNA tested by them.
Big Y-700 DNA confirmed that I belonged to a more specific Y-DNA haplogroup (R-Z17300) than the 12- and 37-STR marker tests, which I had previously taken, which indicated that I probably belonged to the R-M269 haplogroup, as did my blonde hair and blue eyes, since it's the most common European, Y-DNA haplogroup.
For more information about my Big Y-700 Results, follow the link in this paragraph.
Unfortunately, the list of my Big Y-700 matches did not, at first, include any of their pedigrees. Luckily, however, it did include the first, middle, and last names of eight of them.
So, the next thing I did, after realizing this, was to try Googling one of their names, which I will refrain from publishing, out of respect for their privacy. At first, I tried the full name in quotation marks, just to see if I would get a hit specific to that exact name, and I was in luck! I found that they were associated with a "James S. Mayfield (1808-1852) of Texas...
"One of James's descendants, [Mr.] Mayfield, has produced a well-written and well-documented article that was published in Stirpes..."
The link in this hit led to a Mayfield Family Genealogy.
This webpage gave me James' middle name (Shannon), and place of birth, (Williamson County, Tennessee), so I plugged Mr. Mayfield's forefather's name and years of birth and death, and place of birth, into the "Search" "Family Tree" engine at FamilySearch.org.
Oddly, this gave me two hits for men named "James Shannon Mayfield":
James Shannon Mayfield (9Z4N-X3B)
James Shannon Mayfield (L27B-J1Y)
Unfortunately, neither of them were allegedly born in 1808; instead, they were born circa 1838 and 1875, respectively.
Besides their identical first, middle, and last names, they were both born in Texas, which makes sense, since Mr. Mayfield indicates that his great granduncle (note the discrepancy between this remark and someone else's introduction) was well known in Texas, but unknown in Tennessee, where he (James Shannon Mayfield) was born. Another significant name Mr. Mayfield mentions, is "Crutcher." Mr. Mayfield also indicates that these people had a tendency to use maiden names as middle names; J1Y's father was, allegedly, Dr. John Crutcher Mayfield, so I feel confident that he is among Mr. Mayfield's relatives.
Unfortunately, FamilySearch indicates that J1Y's closest relationship to me is via my marriage to Libertad Green. This makes him what I call a "Scotch Tom," because I've determined that my wife and both of her maternal grandparents are blood relatives of Scotch Tom Nelson, who migrated from Penrith, Cumberland, England, to Yorktown, Virginia, circa 1700.
Wikitree's Relationship Finder also indicates that I am related to Scotch Tom only via marriage, but Wikitree+ shows a blood trail between my father and Scotch Tom, which leads straight "upstream" to Sarah E. James (née Mason). From there it diverges to a brother and his daughter, et al.
With regard to my Big Y-700 Results, the surname "James" is of particular interest to me, especially with regard to men by that surname, in Virginia, circa 1800, when my great-great-great grandfather, Joseph Vaughan was born and married there.
Wikitree alleges that Sarah E. Mason had two husbands, both of whom she married in Overwharton Parish, Staffordshire, Virginia, circa 1700:
Andrew Barbee
Thomas James
Joseph Vaughan's wife, Eleanor O'Bannon, is, allegedly, descended from people surnamed "Barbee." Based on the information above, derived from this exercise for the sake of this blog post, I believe that I have discovered a connection between me and the Jameses of Virginia; I believe that Eleanor O'Bannon descended from Thomas James instead of Andrew Barbee, and something else happened at or near this juncture of my family tree, which would explain why I have a Big Y-700 match surnamed "James," but not "Vaughan."
By the way, FamilySearch shows no relationship between me and X3B.
According to Wikitree, my descent from Sarah E. Mason is as follows:
Sarah and Andrew Barbee had a son named Thomas Barbee.
Thomas Barbee and Margaret Williams had a daughter names Sarah Barbee.
Sarah Barbee and John Foley O'Bannon, Sr. had a son named Benjamin O'Bannon.
Benjamin O'Bannon and Eleanor Ash had a daughter named Eleanor O'Bannon.
Ideally, all of the men in this lineage would be surnamed "Vaughan." However, since one of my closest Big Y-700 matches is surnamed "James," I believe that Sarah's husband, Thomas James, is one of my paternal forefathers. I believe that Sarah Mason named her son, Thomas Barbee, after him, although his father was allegedly Andrew Barbee.
The Y-DNA trail from Thomas James to me should only include men, since Y-DNA is only passed from fathers to sons, so it appears that the fathers "upstream" from Joseph Vaughan and Eleanor O'Bannon are not the men indicated.
According to man named Dennis Ray Vaughn, who wrote a book about Joseph Vaughan, Joseph's father was a poor man named "William Vaughan," who worked for the wealthier O'Bannons. I suspect that one of William's male employers had an extramarital affair with William's wife, which resulted in the birth of Joseph.
Perhaps Sarah Barbee's father, Thomas Barbee, had an extramarital affair with the mother of her husband, John Foley O'Bannon, Sr., which resulted in John's birth.
These are the most logical explanations for how I seem to be descended from a man surnamed "James," but not, upstream from Joseph, a man surnamed "Vaughan."
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Post by William Mortensen Vaughan
