Edward Jones revisited

[Zoemcdougall]

As many on here will know I have been searching for my great grandfather Edward Jones, it has now been suggested that he could have taken an other identity to hide from something in his past & the only way to find out who is really was is, is for a male descendant of Edward ie my father or male cousin to have a DNA test, my question is how is this going to prove that he was or wasn't Edward Jones. or where he came from.

What I understand is that with DNA, you have to have someone who is a proved descendant to compare genetics with.

[Zoemcdougall]

Thankyou Julie,

[kiterunner]

I thought there were DNA projects which would match the Y chromosome to all the other samples in their database and come up with a surname? But I don't have experience of this myself so I don't know which to recommend.

The problem with that, as I understand it Kate, is that you have to someone whose genetics are registered, otherwise it would be an invasion of privacy I'd presume? Julie

[kiterunner]

No, I meant projects that were set up specifically for family history, Julie, where all the DNA has come from people who sent in their own DNA for family history purposes.

[Zoemcdougall]

Would it be worth my father taking a DNA test, or would it not make differences in finding out more about my Great grandfather,


Kate do you think it could be possible that he took on a different identity. ?

[kiterunner]

Originally Posted by Zoemcdougall

Would it be worth my father taking a DNA test, or would it not make differences in finding out more about my Great grandfather

Is your father a descendant down the male line, i.e. his father was Edward's son? If so then I think it might help, but as I said, I don't know much about the different companies who do this so we would need to do some research into them first. It might be quite expensive to have the test done.

Kate do you think it could be possible that he took on a different identity. ?

It's certainly possible that he changed his name to Edward Jones from something else, but I wonder whether he had to show proof of his baptism to the Methodist church at any time? Or maybe he was baptised as an adult.

I do still think that the Edward who we found on the 1881 census is likely to be your Edward but that his birth was probably registered under another name.

[Zoemcdougall]

My father's mum was Edward's daughter, Edward did have a son William.

I don't know if he had to show proof of his baptism, wish I did know, plus I wonder whether with that, would he have to have shown a birth cert when he got married, like we do today? the plot thickens!

[Olde Crone]

The sort of DNA testing you are talking about I think, is Y-DNA and this sort of test has to have an unbroken male line of descent from Edward. It would only prove that he could be, or that he most definitely wasn't.

As you don't have a straight male line of descent and no one else to test against, it is more or less impossible, even using autosomal testing. There is a very slim chance that the grandchild or great grandchild of Edward's "real" father has had their autosomal DNA tested - but that is a big (expensive) gamble to take. I would say, don't waste your money.

OC