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DNA Studies and Family History
For people sharing the surname Devine or Baldwin, including variations, this site groups them into clusters that share similar DNA patterns, and attempts to relate them to genealogies developed from more traditional genealogical sources like records and other documents. Individuals are also assigned to a major population group, called a haplogroup, whose members share a common male-line ancestor deep in the distant past. Haplogroups are generally more useful for tracing ancient migrations and population movements than for more recent genealogical relationships, except for ruling out a recent relationship that may have been suggested suggested by record evidence.
DNA is a new resource that genealogists can use to help resolve problems of kinship and identity. By itself, it seldom solves genealogical problems, but the evidence it provides, when used in combination with all the other available genealogical evidence, can provide answers to questions that otherwise would remain in doubt. When two people share a matching DNA pattern, it is clear evidence they both descend from a common ancestor at some point in the past.
The Y-chromosome tests used most frequently here can confirm whether two males have descended through their all-male paternal or surname lines from a shared male-line ancestor, or can disprove a paternal-line relationship between two males, even though they have the same surname and are thought to be related. The limitation of such testing is that the number of generations to the common ancestor can only be estimated within probability ranges.