BACKGROUND

The BELL lineage rightfully claims a clan name in Scotland. They have spread throughout the United States and other countries. NABELICH is the publication of Clan Bell International, which contains pedigrees and articles on BELL, BEALL, BEALE, etc. They also have many books available for purchase. The BELLs have the best established ancestries connecting their US lineage to Scotland, Ireland & England. There have been questions about parallel lines of descent, with same or similar surnames, which could not be connected to a common ancestor. Other questions concern the earliest origin of the BELL surname in Scotland.

There were over 174 patriots with the Bell surname in the Revolutionary War. There were over 16,000 Bells in the 1870 Federal Census.

Genealogy

People have traditionally used oral history and documentation as a means of identifying family members and their ancestors. Researchers have primarily used documents and records to track generations of families by establishing pedigrees and lines of descent. In genealogy research, the surname is frequently a usable tool to trace descent from one generation to another generation. As early as 2850 BC, the Chinese found the use of surnames was practical to identify families and to prevent the intermarriage of close relatives. There were always questions regarding skin, hair color and other physical characteristics and people recognized there must be something in their families that passed these similarities or differences down through successive generations. There were few answers until genetic science was used in genealogy!

Genealogists have examined other surnames spelled much like their own or that sounded the same in efforts to find ancestors. Names were frequently misspelled because individuals could not read or write, and clerks spelled the surnames and gave the families names as they saw them. Ancestors decided to add letters like a, s, l and e to their names; others simply dropped letters out of their family names; while still others took completely new names when they migrated. Records were lost by fire, war and other disasters. Genealogy can be a very frustrating, challenging and time consuming endeavor. Traditional investigative methods do not always find that elusive ancestor. "Brick Walls" are what the genealogist frequently call the dead ends, where all attempts to find an ancestor failed.

Today, there is a new investigative tool called genetic genealogy. This is the branch of knowledge arising out of the study of genes first identified in 1909 for identification of inherited physical characteristics. Later, it was found that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was contained in chromosomes and acted as a carrier of genetic information. Since 1940, the chemical nature of DNA has become a science revealing more and more of the mysteries that make up the human body.

DNA comparison ??? using e of the Y-chromosome has now become a science that permits the identification of individuals by the use of DNA. More recently, the use of the Y-chromosome has been used in family reconstruction, and Y chromosome haplotypes have been used in male descent lines to establish common markers for inclusion or exclusion from a family paternal lines. Haplotypes are a set of markers on the Y chromosome. This is the DNA used in our testing.

Mitochondrial DNA has also become a useful way of tracing maternal relatives. It was successfully used in identifying the daughters and Czarina in the Anastasia case in Russia. It was also used in Argentina in the investigation of murder and kidnapping where children had to be identified.

ELIGIBILITY

Any male with BELL surname is welcome to join our surname project. Females may participate in our studies by using a living, male, close relative (with the BELL surname) as surrogate for the testing. Females may also participate in a mtDNA test.

If you are interested in being on the cutting edge of this new genealogy tool, proceed to our sign-up page, or contact one of the project administrators.