We urge you to participate in the Whiteside and Whitsett yDNA project administered by the Whiteside Family Association

 
 

WHITESIDE & WHITSETT yDNA PROJECT

     

WHITESIDE WHITESIDES WHITESITE WHITESITT WHITSIDE WHITSETT WHITSITT

Click here for Warren Whiteside's information on the
WHITESIDE & WHITSETT yDNA Project
and additional information on yDNA and its use in genealogy
Join the Whiteside Family Association
WHITESIDE FAMILY ASSOCIATION HOME PAGE
DNA testing has become a vital tool for genealogist. This technology continues to improve and expand. Today there are three types of DNA tests for genealogy: yDNA, mtDNA, and autosomal DNA. yDNA is passed only from father to son mostly unchanged on the y chromosome.  By comparing the markers in a yDNA sample to a base sample it is possible to tell if the two samples have a common male ancestor.  The more markers alike, the more recent the ancestor. mtDNA, mitochrondrial DNA is passed from the mother to her children, both male and female, but only daughters pass it on to their children. Comparing mtDNA allows us to trace our maternal ancestors. yDNA and mtDNA are located on the X and Y sex chromosomes. Autosomal DNA is from our autosomal chromosomes which contain segments of DNA that we share with everyone to whom we are related. Only yDNA and mtDNA indicate which haplogroup, the ancient group of people our father or mother are descended from.

The Whiteside Family Association has already analyzed yDNA samples from several Whitsett/Whitsitt families and have found some that show a common ancestor with descendants of William Whiteside, who came to Virginia from Ireland and then to Tyrone (Rutherford), North Carolina.  The yDNA results indicate that my wife's Whitsett family descends from this line. The results have also shown a discrepancy among the descendants of Samuel Whitsett of Montgomery County, Kentucky.  This motivated me to launch an effort to explain the reason for the mismatch.  You can see some of those results on my "Descendants of Samuel Whitsitt of Kentucky" page. 

I am not an expert on DNA.  I think I understand the basics of this research, but for a more in depth explanation, please visit the Whiteside Family web site.  There is a $10 yearly dues for joining the association (the web site is free), but I believe if you participate in the project your membership is included in the fee for the DNA analysis.

yDNA by itself cannot give us the names of our ancestors.  It can only tell us that we are related (or not) to other members who have also submitted DNA for testing.  Naming those common ancestors requires the old fashion genealogy research.  As more samples reveal common ancestors, fewer generations in the past, it is the hope that we can link the yDNA and the documentation to identify those ancestors.  This effort has already borne fruit.  We now know that our Alabama Whitsett family is linked to the prominent family of William Whiteside and Elizabeth Stockton of North Carolina.  More old fashion research is needed to close the gap, which appears to be only one or two generations at the most.  We have also discovered the reason for a disturbing finding that the yDNA of some of the descendants of Samuel and Margaret Whitsitt of Montgomery County, Kentucky appear not to match.  This is something we would have never known except through the yDNA project.
GO TO OUR WHITSETT FAMILY yDNA RESULTS
HELP FIND OUR WHITESIDE, WHITSETT AND WHITSITT ANCESTORS
 
Ronald N. Wall
Modified: 16 August 2022