Whitehead; missing 6-generation bridges

[gliesian66]

Whitehead; missing 6-generation bridges
As clear and concise as I can, this the problem I am trying to solve...

THE KNOWN FACTS:

These are my third great grandparents:

Christopher Whitehead (13 Jun 1818 - 31 Dec 1894)
Mary (nee Whitehead) Whitehead (10 Mar 1827 - 19 Apr 1917)
Both were born in Wharfedale, Yorkshire, England
Both died in Ilkley, Great Britain

These are the GEDMatch.com IDs (e.g., my cousins and I) that inherit some of their DNA from Christopher and Mary Whitehead:

A819872, A987491, A092661, A052389, A157909, A008670, A796152, A283319

These are two distant ancestors that I match to through DNA triangulation (e.g., 9th generation) with the same surname of Whitehead. I believe they (Arthure and John) are NOT immediately related.

Arthure Whitehead
Birth 30 Mar 1595 in Rochdale, Lancashire, England
Death 1686 in Lancashire, England

John Whitehead
Birth 1592 in Lower Lemington, Gloucestershire, England
Death 1635 in Jamaica, Queens, New York, USA

THE UNSOLVED QUESTIONS:

Is Christopher Whitehead (b. 1818) a descendent of Arthure Whitehead (b. 1595)? If so, how?
Is Christopher Whitehead (b. 1818) a descendent of John Whitehead (b. 1592)? If so, how?
Is Mary Whitehead (b. 1827) a descendent of Arthure Whitehead (b. 1595)? If so, how?
Is Mary Whitehead (b. 1827) a descendent of John Whitehead (b. 1592)? If so, how?

Reference: http://robertjliguori.blogspot.com/2015/04/whitehead-missing-6-generation-bridges.html

[lizdb]

One step at a time
Have you found christenings for Christopher and Mary? Presumably so, as you have a place and date of birth.
Who were their parents?

[BumbleB]

I think you have to work backwards, generation by generation, from Christopher.  You can't possibly jump 200 years with any certainty at all.  You have his date of birth, so assume that you have his baptism entry at All Saints, Otley, and know that he is the son of William and Mary of Burley.  You just have to take it step by step.

[arthurk]

Can you explain some more about the DNA tests you have taken, and what you mean by triangulation? Also, how close are your matches with those who are said to be descendants of Arthure and John? The fact that those two are not thought to be closely related, yet, if I understand you correctly, their descendants share some DNA (and so do you), suggests that you may be reading too much into the results.

As I understand it, a DNA test can establish the existence of either an unbroken male line (yDNA), or an unbroken female line (mtDNA), although the latter can have a male at the most recent end. (mtDNA is inherited by all of a woman's children, but only passed on by females.) The way you have worded your query (ie it relates to the Whitehead surname - a female line would normally change surnames with each generation) suggests to me that you have taken a yDNA test. As this passes through males only, this test on its own could not establish whether Mary Whitehead was a descendant of Arthure or John. The only way you could hope to establish that would be by working with a male line descending from a brother of Mary, or a brother of her father (or of her paternal grandfather etc etc).

A close DNA match is quite persuasive, but the challenge is often in working out exactly where the connection is, and the DNA results themselves do not predict where it will be. I couldn't access the Gedmatch results, so if you can tell us more here, maybe we will be able to advise a bit more.

Arthur

[Craclyn]

Those are autosomal DNA tests, not Y-DNA or mtDNA. Autosomal DNA can be passed down from any ancestral line.

[arthurk]

Those are autosomal DNA tests, not Y-DNA or mtDNA. Autosomal DNA can be passed down from any ancestral line.

OK - that's something I've not really looked into, mainly because a few years ago the results were thought to be approximate at best. I know things have moved on, but just how accurate are these tests now?

Arthur

[Craclyn]

Much more accurate now. As an example, I have a match to a 4th cousin which fits with what I had deduced from paper trail, but after 5 or 6 generations, the shared DNA is low and it would be possible to have common ancestors but not show a match.

[arthurk]

Conversely, then, if the DNA results suggest a match that hasn't been found on paper, how accurately can they predict which generation it's going to be in? Particularly where it is at some distance and shared DNA is low, I would have thought it's still going to be rather approximate.

[Craclyn]

Confidence level for the calculated number of generations does decrease as you go further back but there are also triangulation tools which can be used where several people match on the same segment which can give more input to the research into common ancestors. My own DNA link to the original poster here is a little bit too far back to draw conclusions at the moment as it 7.6 generations. My maternal aunt has a match with his mother which helps us both to narrow down which lines may be worth looking at. We also, both have some brick walls which are geographically close to each other so our connection may be lurking behind one of those. We also have other shared matches. Maybe some day we will both get matches to a third party that will shed light on our ancestral link. Until then I am following his Whitehead searches with interest as we have not ruled out that our link may be there.