DNA Testing For Genealogy Purposes

Now don't roll your eyes, this stuff is very interesting! I became involved with DNA testing for genealogy purposes a few years ago, when it wasn't all that popular. Back then, trying to recruit participants for the Moseley project was terribly difficult. Everyone I contacted was skeptical and thought they would be giving up their privacy and that their medical secrets would be spread out all over the internet. We've come a long way in 5 years. What started with 1 participant has now evolved to 66 participants. We have several separate, distinct Moseley lines represented among the participants, and many as yet unmatched participants who are just waiting to be matched with a cousin.

Our Moseley DNA Surname Group Project piddled along with about 10 participants for a few years, until I talked my brother (read as holding him down and scraping his gum personally) into taking the test for our line. That's all it takes, a simple cheek scrape and you're done. No bloodletting involved, honest! Your medical history is not taken, not tested, and the results are confidential. The lab holds on to your results for 25 years, and you will be contacted of any and all matches with your DNA during that time.

Dear brother's results and paper pedigree matched other men whose paper pedigrees indicated descent from the "Old Rapphannock, Virginia" line of Moseleys, whose earliest documented patriarch is William Moseley born about 1624 in England. William was transported to the Rappahannock River area of Virginia, or Essex County, by William Underwood in 1650. Underwood was possibly William's brother-in-law or cousin by marriage. Anyway, William married Martha Brasseur and his progeny eventually ended up in North Carolina prior to 1768. From that point, William's descendants proceeded to populate South Carolina, Georgia, Texas and several other states.

Many of our participants had reached a brick wall with their paper pedigrees. In those cases, DNA testing is the only way to break through those brick walls and make any further progress. I urge everyone to get involved in DNA testing for genealogy purposes. If not for yourself, for your children and grandchildren and the future generations of your family.

The test is a Y-DNA test, which means only males in the direct Moseley line of descent are eligible for our particular project. Females do not carry their father's DNA, but can take an mtDNA test on their direct, maternal line. Males who descend from a female Moseley are also not eligible. Only males whose biological father was/is a Moseley by birth can take the Y-DNA test. So, if there are any Moseleys (or McCrearys or Fortunes) out there who are interested, email me or post a comment and we'll discuss it further!

Family names I research: ALLERTON (MAYFLOWER PASSENGER ISAAC AND HIS DAUGHTER MARY), BELLINGER, BOHUN, CATER, CRAFT, CRAWFORD (DAVID-VIRGINIA/BACON'S REBELLION), CUSHMAN (THOMAS, HUSBAND OF MARY ALLERTON), DAVIS (BUDD-GA/SC), FELDER (PALATIN HANS HENRY), FORRESTER, FORTUNE, GALPHIN, HARDEMAN, HARLEY, HYRNE, JAUDON (HUGUENOT), JENKINS, LANDRUM, LAWTON, MCCREARY, MEDLOCK, MOSELEY, MOSSE, PAGE, PEEPLES, RAINEY, RHODES, ROBERT (HUGUENOT), SAMMS, SMITH (LANDGRAVES THOMAS I & II), STONEY, TAYLOR, WANNAMAKER, WARREN (MAYFLOWER PASSENGER RICHARD)