DNA Question

JohnWyle

I have an account on Family search, and with your help, I have either developed or found a robust family tree.

Unfortunately, I have hit a brick wall finding the parents of my second great grandfather on my mother’s side. He was Charles R, Carter 9W8M-2DB, born in Philadelphia, Pa.. He died 18 March 1898, also in Philadelphia. In the past, I have hired a genealogist at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to see what they could uncover. Unfortunately, they too hit a brick wall.

My particular interest was finding whether my CARTER line (through Charles R. Carter) was connected to the family line of Robert (King) Carter LTDM-3HZ, a colonial Governor of Virginia. My search has shown that Robert Carter is my 3rd cousin 10 times removed with George Ludlow 1505-1580 KN41-B59 being our common ancestor. That connection, while on my mother’s side, comes through my maternal grandmother and not my maternal grandfather who was Joel T Carter, the son of Charles R. Carter.

My question concerns DNA. I assume there is already a well-established genealogical record for Robert Carter’s descendants and perhaps some DNA information from his descendants, given that in his line there are two US Presidents, seven Virginia governors, three signers of the Declaration of Independence, a Supreme Court Justice and Robert E. Lee. If I am correct regarding the documentation of Robert Carter’s line, could my DNA tell me if my Charles Carter is descended from a direct descendant of Robert Carter. If so, how would I go about uncovering my link? I previously had 23 and Me analyze my DNA.

Any guidance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

John Wyle

JeffreyBryant1

As answered by Valerie Penner, Y-DNA testing of a direct male line Carter descendant may indicate a link to Robert Carter. This can be done through Family Tree DNA. However, your DNA is not in a direct male line. Autosomal DNA testing could identify other descendants of Charles Carter. I would suggest moving your 23 and Me data to MyHeritage. You could also test with AncestryDNA, since it has a larger database.

Maile L

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Valerie Penner

An autosomal DNA test like 23andMe won't really help you confirm whether you're related to Robert Carter, since he is so far back (1600s). For that, you would need one of your male relatives with the Carter surname to take a Y-DNA test.

But, autosomal DNA could potentially help you figure out the parents of Charles Carter. You should consider taking an Ancestry DNA test, since they have the largest database and many users do share their family trees. You can use shared matches to narrow down your matches of interest. One thing to keep in mind, even if the descendants of Charles's siblings have taken DNA tests, your matches might also have brick walls in the same timeframe in Pennsylvania as you, preventing you from figuring out your common ancestors.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/genealogy-dna-test