09 January 2011

Family Finder Success Story For Pitts DNA Project

For the next few posts, I will include various success stories that have been shared with me by the administrators of a DNA project. They varying in nature and will allow the reader to see how DNA testing can help with genealogy.

Posting success stories can lead others interested in the same surname to your project. If you have other stories you would like posted, please email me at: aulicino@hevanet.com

Family Finder is an autosomal test taken through Family Tree DNA. This test allows both males and females to find matches with each other back four generations, at least. Read my previous posts on this test for more detail.


Family Finder Success Story for Group 1 on the Pitts DNA Project


We had long suspected that Mary Lenora Pitts was a daughter of Pitman Pitts and Mary C. Andrews. This was, in part, due to the 1860 census showing Mary and another girl (we think granddaughters) living with Mary C. Andrews Pitts. We had tried for several years to figure out a way to test this hypothesis using mtDNA by testing the descendants of Mary Lenora Pitts to a living person was a direct female line. But the other two daughters of Mary C. did not produce a viable direct female line.

The autosomal Family Finder test, however, made testing this hypothesis easy since the lines could be mixtures of males and females. We matched on chromosome 3 and my sister matched on a slightly larger segment in the same area on chromosome 3. My 3rd cousin once removed (verified by both Family Finder and Y-DNA 67 markers exact) matched the descendant of Mary Lenora on Chromosome 5. My 1st cousin once removed, however, did not match. But failure to match with autosomal DNA does not preclude a relationship. We believe that three out of four possible matches is sufficient. We are fourth cousins.


David Pitts
Pitts DNA Project co-admin

If you are a male Pitts or have the Pitts surname in your lineage, contact the Pitts DNA Project.

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