Note: This email was written in response to an email from Charles McCain. He was discussing an email that he received from Elsie White discussing giving up on the research for James' parents as the search has gone on for over 40 years with no progress. Charles was also questioning DNA as he did not totally understand DNA results and how to interpret them. The email was my thoughts on the 2 subjects.

March 13, 2008

Hello Charles,

Some of Elsie’s conclusions I agree with and others I don’t. I’ll try to explain myself.

I think that she is correct in that there is little chance that we will find James listed as James McCain before he shows up on the 1810 census, i.e., direct searches looking for James McCain. With at least 40 years searching by a number of researchers plus using the research tools available today on the Internet, I think that there is almost no chance of finding him as James McCain. But I disagree with giving up the search for him entirely. We will need to look for “other evidence”, that is similar names (McKean, etc.). However, that being said, I am somewhat optimistic that we might find James’ ancestors in Ireland but not by paper search. My belief is that our best chance is that someone finds some Irishman with our DNA, at least a 12 of 12 match. It hasn’t happened yet but there is a remote possibility that it might happen. But then again, it may not happen. James did not emerge from a cave in the Carolinas. He had to have had parents, grandparents, etc. There is a good possibility that some of male descendants of our ancestors still exist in Ireland although it is possible that those male heirs in our line who remained in Ireland may have died out. Lines do die out when no male descendant is produced over time.

I also think that there is a remote chance that we will find James before 1810. That is, if he is found in some document not relating to him. He could be a witness, in court documents not relating to him, etc. But I think that he will only be found by accident, not by direct search as he would not be the main subject of the document (which will be indexed by the main “characters” relating to the document). If we don’t find him that way I don’t believe we will find him at all.

I think that there is a reason for that too. Seaborn (if I remember correctly) gave land for a church (Olive Branch?) in Alabama. Anyway, he signed his name with an “X”. That meant that he was illiterate. If Seaborn was illiterate there is a 99.9% chance that both James and his wife Sarah were illiterate also. If either James or Sarah were literate you would think that they would at least teach their children how to write their names. People of James’ ilk, i.e., illiterate, tended to go to the frontier when they came to the U.S. They could support their families by hunting and subsistence farming. They could not support their families in the “civilized” areas since most had no skills to earn a living there. James’ family may have been on the frontier or in transit when the 1800 census was taken. He would have been approximately 21 years old. Also, since I am 99% sure that he was illiterate, the census taker could have listed his surname as anything under the sun. If James was born in Ireland, he or his family, may have spoken only broken English which the census taker could have interpreted McCain to be anything.

Now to DNA. Understanding DNA is not hard or rocket science. It is as simple as ABC or 123. It is just a matter of how many marker matches and how many marker mismatches that you have when comparing two people. The rocket science is done for us by Family Tree DNA. Actually I think it is done by the genetic scientist at the University of Arizona for FTDNA. The “interpretive information” for marker matches is provided to us by FTDNA. You can easily become a semi-expert by reading the “TUTORIALS” on the FTDNA Web Site. You will find the link to the TUTORIALS on the FTDNA Home Page just below the Icon for “Matching Niall of the Nine Hostages” Click on “Learn” of “Learn about the use of DNA for your Genealogy” and it will take you to the DNA Tutorial Page.

By the way, I think that FTDNA uses the year 1400 as the “related” cutoff year. Surnames in the British Isles were supposed to have been adopted about 1400. So if your DNA match of two people put the common ancestor in the year 1400 or later you are considered related. That is, there is a possibility (but not a probability) that you can find an ancestor by surname. If the DNA match of two people put the common ancestor born before 1400 you are considered not related. That does not mean totally unrelated as we all descend from an “Adam”. We are all related at some point back in time. I think FTDNA uses “unrelated” as meaning your common male ancestor was born 1400 or earlier.

Group 1 and Group 2 are 8 of 12 matches. If you check the table below that I copied from the 12 of 12 Marker Tutorial you will see that FTDNA scientist consider us not related. About a year back I calculated our common ancestor from a chart that I found on the FTDNA Web Site and there was a 50% probability that our common ancestor lived about 800 BC. That is well before surnames. You will note the table below says that our common male ancestor was thousands of years ago. Yes, we do have a common male ancestor with Group 1 but it was thousands of years ago. That is a scientific fact. So using the FTDNA interpretation of “related”, Group 1 and Group 2 McCains are not related.

Now having said the above I have no problem with your disagreement with FTDNA’s interpretation of DNA evidence. I believe and am just stating my point of view. You are certainly entitled to have your point of view.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Jim

                                                                                       FTDNA 12 Marker Table

Note: I will be happy to publish online any comments that anyone has on the above Email.

Jim McCain, Webmaster

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