This DNA section includes three articles on my own experience with DNA testing, titled “Over the Brick Wall to Bannockburn”, “Homeward Bound From Bannockburn”, and “We are all Cousins.”
The DNA aspect of genealogy is a new and evolving asset and has the potential to add substantially to our genealogical data base. So far, seven Tituses have been tested and the results of four of them have provided a template for the Robert Titus English line. The sets of markers for the Dutch line has also been determined. Male descendants from both the German and Dutch lines have recently been tested for their Y DNA markers and are found to have the same origins. In other words, they both belong to the same genetic haplogroup, but the most recent common ancestor lived in Europe before the lines emigrated to the United States. Also, last year a representative of the New Brunswick line was Y DNA tested and he proved that the New Brunswick line was part of the Robert Titus English line. We need more volunteers to step forward. It should be noted that these tests only involve the non-functional part of the Y chromosome (the so-called junk DNA) and therefore cannot be used for medical or insurance purposes. In addition, the name of the testee is protected.