Friday, February 28, 2014

Who Contributed to My X-Chromosome? My List

I had a significant X-chromosome DNA match on 23andMe recently, and have been in contact with Marie, who also has a significant match with me on chromosome 4.  23andMe said that our relationship was 3rd to 5th cousins.  Fifth cousins share a 4th great-grandparent, so I need to look at least 5 to 7 generations back from me for a common ancestor with Marie.

So I wondered who in my ancestry may have contributed to my X-chromosome.  For information, I read up at the following blogs;

* Emily Aulicino's DNA - Genealem's Genetic Genealogy:  But What is the X-Chromosome and How is it Different? 

*  Blaine Bettinger's The Genetic Genealogist:  More X-Chromosome Charts and Unlocking the Secrets of the X-Chromosome.

*  Roberta J. Estes' DNAeXplained - Genetic Genealogy:  That Unruly X ... Chromosome That Is.

*  Debbie Parker Wayne's Deb's Delvings in Genealogy:  X-DNA Inheritance Charts.

All of these blog posts showed fan charts to show the contributors to a male or female person's X-chromosome.  In short, males can inherit the X-chromosome from only their mother, while females can inherit the X-chromosome from both their father and their mother.

That makes for an interesting fan chart of inheritance.  Blaine Bettinger kindly permitted writers to use his X-chromosome fan charts, so here is the X-chromosome inheritance chart for males:


Emily Aulicino posted a table of ahnentafel numbers that contribute to a person's X-chromosome in her But What is the X-Chromosome and How is it Different?  post.  

Based on this fan chart and the ahnentafel number chart, here are the potential contributors to my X-chromosome, listed by ahnentafel number (counting me as Generation 1):

Generation 2:

3.  Betty Carringer (1919-2002), wife of Frederick W. Seaver

Generation 3:

6.  Lyle L. Carringer (1891-1976)
7.  Emily Kemp Auble (1899-1977), wife of Lyle L. Carringer

Generation 4:

13. Abbie Ardell Smith (1862-1944), wife of Henry Austin Carringer
14.  Charles Auble (1849-1916)
15.  Georgianna Kemp (1868-1952), wife of Charles Auble

Generation 5:

26.  Devier J. Smith (1839-1894)
27.  Abigail A. Vaux (1844-1931), wife of Devier J. Smith
29.  Sarah G. Knapp (1818-????), wife of David Auble
30.  James Abraham Kemp (1831-1902)
31.  Mary Jane Sovereen (1840-1874), wife of James Abraham Kemp

Generation 6:

53.  unknown birth mother of Devier J. Smith
54. Samuel Vaux (1816-1880)
55.  Mary Ann Underhill (1815-1883), wife of Samuel Vaux
58.  William Knapp (1775-1857)
59.  Sarah Cutter (1785-1878), wife of William Knapp
61.  Sarah Sephrona Fletcher (1802-????), wife of Abraham James Kemp
62.  Alexander Sovereign (1814-1907)
63.  Elizabeth Putman (1820-1895), wife of Alexander Sovereign

Generation 7:

106.  unknown maternal grandfather of #26 Devier J. Smith
107.  unknown maternal grandmother of #26 Devier J. Smith
109.  Mary Palmer (1788-1844), wife of James Vaux
110. Amos Underhill (1788-1865)
111.  Mary Metcalf (1780-1855), wife of Amos Underhill
117.  unknown mother of #58 William Knapp
118.  Stephen Cutter (1745-1823)
119   Tabitha Randolph (1752-1841), wife of Stephen Cutter
122.  unknown father of #61 Sarah Fletcher
123.  unknown mother of #61 Sarah Fletcher
125.  Mary Jane Hutchinson (1792-1868), wife of Frederick Sovereign
126.  John Putman (1785-1863)
127.  Sarah Martin (1792-1860), wife of John Putman

Generation 8:

213. unknown great-grandmother of #26 Devier J. Smith
214. unknown great-grandfather of #26 Devier J. Smith
215. unknown great-grandmother of #26 Devier J. Smith
218. unknown father of #109 Mary Palmer
219. unknown mother of #109 Mary Palmer
221. Hannah Colby (1745-????), wife of John Underhill
222. Burgess Metcalf (1741-1816)
223. Jerusha --?-- (1750-1817), wife of Burgess Metcalf
235. unknown grandmother of #117 William Knapp
237. Mary Kent (1726-????), wife of William Cutter (1722-1780)
238. Samuel Fitz Randolph (1730-????)
239. Martha Gach (1729-????), wife of Samuel Fitz Randolph.
245. unknown paternal grandmother of #61 Sarah Fletcher
246. unknown maternal grandfather of #61 Sarah Fletcher
247. unknown maternal grandmother of #61 Sarah Fletcher
250.  William Hutchinson (1745-1826)
251.  Catherine Lewis (1759-1845), wife of William Hutchinson.
254.  Mulford Martin (1763-????)
255.  Betsey Rolfe (1766-????), wife of Mulford Martin.

 There are 51 candidates for my common ancestor with Marie on that list.  She has looked at my Ancestry Member Tree, and I have looked at hers, and we don't see a common ancestral person...yet!  I have several blanks in my family tree down through 8 generations, as does Marie,  so we have some work to do on our research.

To be specific, I have 5 unknown ancestors on the list above in generation 7 (my 4th great-grandparents), and I have 9 unknown ancestors on the list above in generation 8 (my 5th great-grandparents).

Note that I included the 5th great-grandparents on the list because only a portion of my shared DNA with Marie is on the X-chromosome - I'm hedging my bets a bit here, since the X-chromosome isn't passed 50% from each parent for a female child, according to the experts (which i'm not).  It is entirely possible, I think, that my common ancestor with Marie would be in the 9th or even 10th generation back from me.

So now Marie and I have a list of my potential common ancestors.  Her list will be longer because she is female, so she inherited her X-chromosome from both her father (but only on his mother's side) and her mother.

There is a real potential for a breakthrough on one or more of my unknown ancestors because of this X-chromosome DNA link.  Devier J. Smith was adopted (birth surname Lanphier?), and his biological mother and grandparents are on the list above.

I didn't put the localities of the candidates on my list - I may come back and add them.  They are probably pertinent for comparison purposes.  The 7th and 8th generation people are all in New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey and Ontario.

This chart will come in handy if, and hopefully when, I receive more X-chromosome matches from the 23andMe and familyTreeDNA autosomal DNA tests.

If you've had your autosomal DNA tested with 23andMe or FamilyTreeDNA, have you identified your potential X-chromosome ancestors?  You should make a list of candidates!

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Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


3 comments:

Michelle Goodrum said...

Thanks for an interesting project to try. Also, a fun Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post?

Kitty Cooper said...

Randy, the X chromosome can reach way further back in time when it goes male - female - male - female ... my Dad has numerous unaccounted for X matches one of whom is an autosomal match on a non-X line. Still I like your idea of making a list. There should be automation to do that somewhere? Know any? Some of this is in my post on the X: http://blog.kittycooper.com/2014/01/what-does-shared-x-dna-really-mean

Kitty Cooper said...
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