BEALL 404 has a genetic signature we found useful for comparing to all other BEALL participants. He also has firm documentation showing a link to Alexander Bell/Beall the Immigrant. BEALL 401, 408, and 411 have exact 25-marker matches, suggesting that all are closely related to Alexander Beall the Immigrant. BEALL 409, with only 12 markers available, is also a match to BEALL 404; he should do a refined test to 25 markers to further validate his relationship. For these five participants, DNA testing helped to validate their recorded ancestries to Alexander Bell/Beall the Immigrant.

BELL 327 matches BEALL 404 exactly on 25 markers, again suggesting a close relationship to Alexander Beall the Immigrant. This also confirms a family tradition that his surname spelling was changed from BEALL to BELL, perhaps to more easily accomodate the common pronunciation. This is a good example of why we have included the Soundex B400 surnames in our project as individual DNA studies.

BEALL 417 was adopted into a non-Beall family; prior to Y-DNA testing, he was not aware of his BEALL ancestry. He now has an exact 25-marker match to BEALL 404, again suggesting a close relationship to Alexander Beall the Immigrant. This example shows the sometimes unexpected (but good) results of DNA testing.

When BEALL 406 took a refinement test to 37 markers, he matched BEALL 404 on 35 markers, which gave him some additional ancestral insight, not previously available. His link to an immigrant ancestor has not yet been proven by genealogical records.

BEALL 413 also took a refinement test to 25 markers, and now matches BEALL 404 exactly on 24 markers; there is just a 1-point mutation on DYS 449. This participant has documentation showing a link to immigrant ancestor Robert Beall, who is said to be a brother of Alexander Beall the Immigrant. The DNA results confirm this brother relationship.

Prior to DNA testing, BEALL 414 was under the impression that he was a descendant of Colonel Ninian Beall; however, DNA test results showed a close relationship to BEALL 404 (exact matches on 35 markers). Documentation obtained subsequent to DNA testing shows that Beall 414 is in fact a descendant of immigrant ancestor James Bell/Beall, who is a known brother of Alexander Beall the Immigrant.

BEALL 402, 403 and 407 match BEALL 404 on at least 24 markers. Their documentation shows that they are linked to immigrant ancestor Thomas Beall. We do not know exactly how this Thomas Beall is related to the Beall brothers mentioned above, but the DNA results indicate a close relationship.

BEALL 407 and 409 could benefit from a refinement test to 25 or 37 markers; the additional results would probably match at least one of the other BEALL participants.

BEALL 412 and 416 match exactly on 25 markers, or the first two FTDNA panels; however, their genetic signature differs from Beall 404 on nine of those markers. Also, their recorded ancestry shows a link to one William Simpson Beall of Maryland, who does not have any known relationship to the other Bealls in Maryland. The DNA differences indicate that they are NOT closely related to Alexander Beall the Immigrant. Further genealogical research will have to be done to extend this BEALL line from William Simpson Beall. Hopefully, this line will eventually be extended back to Europe.

BEALL 426 and 428 do not closely match any of the other Beall participants, but they match some members of the BELL DNA PROJECT. Perhaps these two can be considered "crossover" haplotypes. The common ancestor for this cluster of two Bealls and six Bells has not yet been identified, but some of their recent ancestries are being compared.

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.

Our project is among the earliest Surname DNA projects, having been in existence since 2001. Our goal has always been to provide quality testing at the most reasonable prices in the world! For this reason we have recently added DNA Heritage as an additional testing source in the United Kingdom! Quality testing can be obtained, especially for our non-USA paricipants, as well as our USA participants. At DNA Heritage, testing for up to 43 markers (at a certified laboratory) can be obtained at the lowest prices we could find in the world! DNA Heritage (DNAH) offers a good tutorial on Y-DNA testing; it is lengthy but provides a good insight.

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. New findings in the genetic community -- on the topic of rare and common surnames -- suggest that a common surname will likely have many 12/12 matches around the world. Relationships among them could be in a very distant past, but not as recent as had been assumed. The 12 marker test is great for identifying families of the same surname as not related! A good example was the the Mellick families in England and the United States.

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.

We now offer a page of haplotype search links, for performing searches in both Y-search and Y-base, so if yours is posted, there is no need to remember your Record ID in order to search.

Charles E. Beal <BealsurnameDNA@aol.com> or <DNAGenealogist@aol.com> Project Coordinator/Manager, BEAL SURNAME DNA PROJECT, Family Genealogist, Member of NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, BEALS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, OLD YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, MAYFLOWER SOCIETY, CLAN BELL INTERNATIONAL and BEALL FAMILY ASSOCIATION. Stuart-James Beall <dna.logger@earthlink.net> Webmaster for Beal, Beall, Beals, Bell DNA studies.