BEAL SURNAME DNA PROJECT Analysis of Results

William Beale of York

Arthur & Edward BEALE

Arthur, Edward, and Mainwarring/Manwarren Beal, of York, Maine have many descendants living in the Jonesport and Beals Island area. This line has the fabled strongman, Tall Barney of Beals Island.With three participants, we have established an Ancestral Haplotype (genetic signature) showing that this line is not closely related to neighbor William BEALE of York. Also, more testing will be needed to prove or disprove relationships to other known BEAL(E) immigrant ancestors in the U.S.A.

William BEALE of Tuckley

Test results for BEAL 106, 108 and 112, and 125 formed a firm Ancestral Haplotype (genetic signature) for William BEALE of Tuckley Glouchester & Ross, Herefordshire, England. The surname spelling was changed to BEAL after this family moved to North America. It is also interesting to note that the haplotype for BELL 362 is similar. While there is a slight difference on at least 5 markers, this may imply that BELL 362 shares a common ancestor, prior to the time of William BEALE.

John Beal of Quaker, Pennsylvania

We need more participants to develop Ancestral Haplotypes for John Beal of Quaker, PA, and Thomas BEALS (b. abt 1766) of Keene or Sullivan, Cheshire, NH.

John Beal of Hingham, Massachussetts

Results from BEALS 202, 205, 206, and BEAL 111 form an Ancestral Haplotype (genetic signature) for John Beal of Hingham MA & Hingham England. In comparing BEALS 205, there is only a mutation of 1 in DYS 439, a frequent moving DYS. BEALS 203 has only two mutations in DYS 439 & DYS 464d, both rapidly moving DYS. BEAL 111 has only two mutations; one in DYS 439, a rapidly moving DYS, and one in DYS 390, not a rapidly moving DYS but acceptable enough to be a result of a different generation or a brother in the lineage. BEAL 103 with ancestor Jeremiah Beal is a close 11/12 marker match, but should upgrade to 25 or 37 markers for more definition. So the likelihood of BEAL 103 being closely related to John Beal of Hingham is pretty good, especially if his recorded genealogy validates him with the other participants's recorded genealogy. For a fresh new look at how the results compare, with respect to ancestral lines, see the haplochart created by Thomas Beals.

George Beale 1736

We need more participants to submit genealogy records for this group.

Mitochondrial DNA testing (mtDNA, for maternal ancestries) is now available at the FTDNA website. More of us are using this testing to learn about our maternal ancestry.

As early participants in Y-chromosome DNA testing some of us had to be disappointed during the testing, but we also benefited by the knowledge gained when genetics and genealogy are used to explore our ancestry. Some of us have clearly gained insight into our ancestry and our experience will help other participants as the data bank grows. Look at the hundreds of surname DNA projects that have been established recently and we were at the forefront by pioneering in this new science. We still need more participants to expand our database.

FTDNATiP calculates the probabilities of two people sharing a common ancestor. It can be especially useful where people of different surnames share a similar haplotype. This new tool is available to all Family Tree DNA customers with at least 25 alleles (marker results), when they log-in to their personal FTDNA website. See "Understanding the FTDNATiP" page for more information.

The haplotype is the sequential listing of the recorded repeats that have been measured during the testing. The likelihood that a person shares a recent common ancestor with another person diminishes rapidly as fewer matches in the values occur in two haplotypes. As commonly done in interpreting the test results, the men with the same or similar surname, who match each other exactly in a 25 marker test share a common ancestor. If their haplotype differs by only a single +/- one step mutation of a single loci, they will still likely share a common ancestor.

The belief that two participants with exact 12-marker matches are closely related, can no longer be supported. Unless both such individuals have the same surname, and their ancestries are supported by genealogical records and geographic location, a close relationship is not likely. A common surname will likely have many 12 marker matches around the world among many different surnames. Relationships among them could be in a very distant past, but not as recent as had been assumed. The 12 marker test is useful only for proving that some families are not related. For example, early 12-marker tests showed that the Mellick families have no close genetic relationship to Beal and Beals families.

There are more comprehensive discussions in Facts & Genes News Letter from Family Tree DNA. On the home page in the left hand menu is a link to the current article and more issues of Facts & Genes. Everyone participating in DNA testing should review all issues and sign up to receive the newsletter.

Participants should upload their test results to the free Y-search database from their FTDNA personal pages. Y-search is sponsored by FTDNA, and contains over 23000 records of Y-DNA test results, with excellent searching tools. Customers of all Y-DNA testing laboratories are welcome to add their Y-DNA results to Y-search, and receive possible benefits of matches.

Stuart James Beall <jamesbeall50 @ gmail.com> Webmaster. Ann Logan Morden <bealdna @ yahoo.ca> Member, Association of Professional Genealogists; Chair, Ontario Genealogical Society, Halton-Peel Branch. Thomas G. Beals <tg.beals @ yahoo.com> Ph.D, Molecular biology; DNA researcher (lab rat) and bioinformaticist.