DNA Testing
(December 2007)
With today's modern technology, we are able to find things out that may lead us into drawing some wrong conclusions. We need to educate ourselves on the information that these new things give us. DNA testing has come to genealogy, but we must know how this new tool can help us.
Some initial DNA testing has started on a couple of Gibson families from Indiana Co., PA. One of these families are descendants of Samuel Allison Gibson, who was born in 1782 in Ireland. The other family are descendants of Charles Gibson, who was born about 1750 in Eastern PA.
I just recently "googled" Samuel Allison Gibson, and found the DNA website and the results of the testing.
I think one reason for the testing was hopefully to prove that Samuel A. Gibson was the son of Charles Gibson. Whatever driving force is behind the reasoning, the testing has actually aided in proving that he is not. Stephens, in 1888, was wrong to say in his book "Charles and his brother Samuel". The man made a mistake. (I'll probably catch some flack for this.)
I had been notified of the DNA testing and was told that the results proved that Charles Gibson is the father of Samuel A. Gibson. This is where the wrong conclusion was made. The DNA results do not make such a claim.
I would love to have all the Gibsons in Indiana Co., PA, the Gibsons in Adams Co., PA, circa 1750, and the Gibsons in Cumberland Co., PA, circa 1770, all be related. Don't get me wrong, it would be great if Samuel was the son of Charles, but there can be no claims of attachment without proof. I haven't found it. (Everyone keeps forgetting about Margaret, but that's another story.)
I would encourage the reader to learn more about DNA testing, than from what I am going to try and explain here. I will be quoting from that DNA website.
From the recent DNA testing on two individuals, one a descendant of Charles Gibson, the other a descendant of Samuel A. Gibson, the results showed 36/37 matching markers. Now this may initially seem to be great, however, even a 37/37 marker match only means that the two men "share a common ancestor with a person who shares your surname (or variant). Their "relatedness is extremely close with the common ancestor predicted; 50% of the time in 5 generations or less, and with a 90% probability with 16 generations." So, if there was a 37/37 marker match, that would mean in other words, that the descendants of Charles Gibson and Samuel Gibson share a common ancestor within the last 5 to 16 generations.
Tests are done for 12 markers, 25 markers, 37 markers and 67 markers. In this first set there was a 12/12 match; the second set came out to be 24/25; third set 36/37.
Even the case of 11/12 or 12/12 matching markers, that too only means that there is a common ancestor. A single "mutation" in the next set giving 24/25 markers is significant. How a mutation occurs, I don't know. I would think that I should have a perfect match with my father, grandfather, and even great grandfather.
There was only a 36/37 match though, and how much that deviates from 37/37, the website doesn't say. Still lets just go with the fact that there is a common ancestor.
With Samuel A. Gibson being born in Ireland, it's highly probable that he was Scotch-Irish, meaning that his forefathers came from Scotland, then moved to Northern Ireland. It is also my belief, that Charles Gibson was the son of a William Gibson, who died in Cumberland Co., PA in 1771. Now according to a book written by Sarah D. Gibson in 1910, this William Gibson had Scotch-Irish ancestry.
So, with Samuel Gibson and Charles Gibson having a common ancestor, this is really good news, for that adds more thoughts the ancestor was Scotch-Irish, with ancestry back to Scotland.
I think I should have the same DNA testing done to help with the results. I should match exactly with one of the test subjects. I feel that it is almost my duty now to do so, since I am the one who has been doing a lot of research on my branch of my Gibson family. Samuel A. Gibson is my 3rd great grandfather.
Any comments welcomed.
-Gary T. Gibson (Garyth50@aol.com)