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Genealogy:
DNA testing can help prove lineage

By DONNA MURRAY ALLEN

© St. Petersburg
Times,

published December 6, 2001

John C. Carter always thought it
would be really neat if there were a scientific way to prove that his
great-grandfather, Hopewell Carter, was indeed the out-of-wedlock offspring
of a wealthy Maryland
doctor named Alexander Hardcastle.

"I'd heard all kinds of family
stories since the late 1970s that he (Hardcastle) was the father of my
great-grandfather," said Carter, who lives in St. Petersburg. "Since it's my
father's line, these family tales have always held a fascination for
me."

"And there was
all kinds of circumstantial evidence. One of my second cousins was named
after a member of the Hardcastle family. My great-great-grandmother Elizabeth
Carter never married. On my great-grandfather's death certificate, his
father's name is given as Alexander Carter, but we figured the family may
have given the name Alexander and the clerk just assumed the surname was
Carter."

But if the recent results of a DNA
test are accurate, the father of Elizabeth Carter's only child was not the man
who lived next door.

Carter's interest in DNA testing
was piqued when it became a popular way to help solve crimes and prove
paternity. He thought it might help him determine his lineage but dismissed
the notion when he learned private labs charged $400 a pop to conduct such
testing.

"I didn't want to spend that
much money to satisfy my curiosity," Carter said. Then he read about the
DNA testing being conducted by Brigham
Young University
in my Jan. 13, 2001, column.

(In March 2000, the BYU Molecular
Genealogy Research Group began compiling a database of 100,000 blood samples
from 500 worldwide populations to give researchers an understanding of the
genetic makeup of the world and to identify markers from specific areas of
the world. Ultimately, individuals will be able to compare their DNA samples
to those in the database.)

"I learned the same (BYU)
group would be conducting testing in Maryland
and Delaware,
and it reminded me of the whole Hardcastle situation," he said. Carter
leapt into action.

Carter discussed his interest with
a BYU team that visited Largo last February and was eventually referred to
Relative Genetics, a Utah
lab that handles personal requests.

The lab agreed to test Carter and
Thomas Hardcastle, who Carter believed to be his fifth cousin. David Hicks of
Pennsylvania, a first cousin through Carter's paternal line who was also born
out of wedlock, participated for optimum sample comparison. Carter sent a
blood sample. The others sent buccal samples (mouth swabs). The cost was $130
per person.

Months passed. The results, which
finally arrived in the mail, contained good news and bad news.

The test proved that David Hicks is
John Carter's biological first cousin. It also indicated that Thomas
Hardcastle and John Carter did not share a common male ancestor.

Carter is disappointed but
undaunted. Through the years he has met other Hardcastle descendants online.
Though his chances of proving a relationship with the
Hardcastle line is slim, Carter hopes to get one or two descendants
from other Hardcastle lines to agree to be tested to remove all doubt. He's
already put out feelers

"It's kind of an awkward thing
to ask someone to give their DNA for a test," Carter said. "In this
day and age, people don't want to give out personal information. But I've
been working on this line for over 20 years. If I can get a couple of other
Hardcastle "cousins' to participate, it will help solidify the results
one way or the other."

Want to connect your family lines
through DNA analysis? Contact Relative Genetics at (801) 461-9769 or e-mail [email-masked].
"I will review each request and determine if the tests are available,
and then I will send out collection kits to the participants," general
supervisor Diahan Southard said in an e-mail interview. "The sample
collection is done by rubbing a swab on the inside of the cheek. The swab is
then placed in an envelope and mailed back to me. It's easy and
painless."

- Donna Murray Allen welcomes your
questions about genealogy and will respond to those of general interest in
future columns. Sorry, she can't take phone calls, but you can write to her
c/o Floridian, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731,
or e-mail her at [email-masked]. You can read her column online at
www.sptimes.com. Type Donna Murray Allen in the search box.

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