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How Do I Join This Study?

  • First, meet both of the conditions listed above under “General Request For Participants.”
  • Second, have a Y-Chromosome DNA test done by the testing facility of your choice.
  • Third, send a copy of your test results to our study administrator with a copy of your pedigree chart. 
  • Send results, pedigrees, or further inquiries to EITHER:

Y-Chromosome DNA Tests are Performed Through the Following:

We would suggest that you look at the above web sites and decide which test facility you would prefer to work with. In general, a higher quality test would include more markers. We recommend that you request at least a 30-marker test. For our study it is too soon to tell how much 40-markers or more will help us.  It is possible that there would be an advantage to you in choosing FamilyTreeDNA for your test. This is because a majority of Neal, O’Neal, and MacNeill family data already on file has been tested through them, which may provide you more interaction with their databases and clientele.

What Study Information Is Published Here?

Our DNA Database displays all the markers you have tested as compared with other participants. No participant names appear on the website, but paternal pedigree information is shown linking the data to deceased Neel ancestors. This pedigree is furnished and approved by the participant. If someone sees a participant’s DNA information and wishes to make contact with them, they may write the webmaster who will forward the inquiry to our most recent contact address on file for the participant

Is There Some Risk Associated With Having These DNA Results Being Published on the Internet?

We know of no risks. In the first place, your name will not be included with your test results.  Only the administrator and those with whom you share your personal ID will know who submitted the sample.  Someone, who is familiar with your paternal pedigree might infer that this is your DNA, but they would have to assume that for many of your cousins as well.  The genealogical segment of the DNA published has no medical history associated with it.  Here we will be looking at less than 50 markers among the millions of coded genes in your body.

Is This Study Open to Males only?

Women may be the study contact person and submitter, but they will need to use the DNA sample and pedigree for their male Neel surname family member. This is a Y-chromosome study and females do not have Y-chromosomes. Women, please join us by partnering with male participants so that we can all reap the benefits. 
It is true that many advances have been made recently in genealogical mitochondrial DNA testing, which females can participate in directly. But currently Y-chromosome testing is more advanced and appears to be more specific for this genealogical purpose.  So this is all that we currently offer in our study.

What is The Scientific Theory Behind Y-Chromosome Testing?

Cells of the human body contain chromosomes which contain DNA – the coded instructions for cell replication.  These coded instructions are unique for every individual, but scientists have found that some segments of the DNA instructions are transferred faithfully from father to son for multiple generations.
Upon closer study of these genealogically important DNA instructions, scientists have found areas of the instruction set (called markers) that mutate, or change instructions slightly after a number of generations.  Currently scientists are trying to determine how regular or predictable these mutation occurrences are.  This should aid in predicting how many generations back, two males might share a common ancestor.
When genealogists see great differences for two persons in the paternal DNA markers selected for comparison, they can confidently say that these two individuals do not share a close common paternal ancestor.  If brothers were to compare their paternal DNA markers, they would nearly always be exactly the same.

How Conclusive Are Y-Chromosome DNA Results?

In a study like this, the results of the individual Neel-surnamed participants are compared in a table.  Those with identical Y-chromosome results would be considered as highly likely to have a common, recent paternal ancestor.  Those whose combined marker-value-differences total 4 or more would be considered as rather unlikely to share a recent common paternal ancestor.  Much of the study should fall within the boundaries of these two more conclusive scenarios.  For those participants whose results differ by 1, 2, or 3 combined marker-value-differences, the potential for a common recent paternal ancestor is there, but the results are inconclusive.  To give a much over-simplified rule of thumb for mutation frequency, there might be an average of one mutated Y-chromosome marker per hundred years up or down the male ancestral chain.  But some markers are much more prone to mutate than others.  This genetic ancestral science is still in its early development.

Is There Much Chance That This Study May Eventually Help Us Find New Ancestors Beyond Thomas Neel (b. abt. 1705) or Captain Henry Neel (b. abt. 1736)?

Studies of this type always hold that hope.  How likely it is would be hard to say, but it would seem safe to expect some very interesting surprises as we get more and more usable data.  As the years go by, studies like this one will lead to better DNA markers and maybe we really will be able to connect the whole human family together based on our DNA Coding – but if such a day comes, this particular study will look like an antiquated pioneering event.

PLEASE PARTICIPATE IN THE DNA STUDY TODAY!

 

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