Etiquette for one-name groups
Posted: 04 Jul 2020, 17:10
Some years ago I was contacted by a person who ran a one-name study group (let's call them Smith), with the offer of a discount on a Y-DNA test.
This was legitimate, because my name was published, as a member of a local history society, with an interest in a similar surname. My father has always maintained that his family - firmly documented from about 1770 in Northern Ireland - were Smyths, and distinct from the Irish and English Smith lines. And so it seems, because his Y-DNA test is definitely in a different group in the one-name study. Unfortunately he and his nephews are the last in the line that we know of in Ireland. The subsequent autosomal test did not throw up anything closer than sixth-eighth cousins, none with the name 'Smyth'.
Now, his Y-chromosome evidently doesn't descend from an English line (with plenty of relatives in the USA), but it may descend from Scottish forebears. I've seen a large family tree that suggests that a potential common ancestor has several living descendants in Scotland. If I find men of that name in Scotland today, would it be acceptable to write to them and ask them to take a DNA test? Or should I ask the director of the one-name study to write to them? Or should I wait until one of them receives a test for Christmas and eventually pops up on a comparison site?
This was legitimate, because my name was published, as a member of a local history society, with an interest in a similar surname. My father has always maintained that his family - firmly documented from about 1770 in Northern Ireland - were Smyths, and distinct from the Irish and English Smith lines. And so it seems, because his Y-DNA test is definitely in a different group in the one-name study. Unfortunately he and his nephews are the last in the line that we know of in Ireland. The subsequent autosomal test did not throw up anything closer than sixth-eighth cousins, none with the name 'Smyth'.
Now, his Y-chromosome evidently doesn't descend from an English line (with plenty of relatives in the USA), but it may descend from Scottish forebears. I've seen a large family tree that suggests that a potential common ancestor has several living descendants in Scotland. If I find men of that name in Scotland today, would it be acceptable to write to them and ask them to take a DNA test? Or should I ask the director of the one-name study to write to them? Or should I wait until one of them receives a test for Christmas and eventually pops up on a comparison site?