Our human DNA consists of the Y chromosome (carried by males and serving as a marker for a surname lineage), the X chromosome (carried by males and females) and autosomal DNA (carried by males and females). The Y chromosome test is the most useful to a surname study and its traditional underpinning. With it you can find matches along the patrilineal surname line since the time that surnames came into use, 500 and more years ago depending on the geographic area. This is the best way to identify the different lineages of a surname and for people to determine which lineage their family belongs to, compare notes with their matches, and explore their early surname origins.
But there is a new autosomal DNA test offered by Family Tree DNA that anyone can take. It's called Family Finder. Because it tests the autosomal DNA which carries markers from all your ancestral lines, you can find matches beyond your patrilineal surname line. It expands your DNA research to many different surnames on your tree. In general, the more recent the common ancestor between two people lived, the more likely it is that Family Finder will reveal a matching autosomal segment. While it is indicated for identifying matches as far back as fifth cousins (the common ancestor there being seven generations back, or roughly 200 years), many are finding matches that are older.
Using Family Finder in Our Surname Study
We are now including a Family Finder component in the surname study, which means that anyone--whether you have a male to test or not, whether you are male or female--can take the Family Finder test and look for shared segments with others who have the Bowes (or variant) name on their family tree. If you have matching autosomal segments with someone else in our project who has also tested Family Finder, that doesn't necessarily mean that the family you have in common is Bowes (or variant). You could well have a common ancestor of a different surname while coincidentally having the Bowes (or variant) surname in common. As usual, the DNA results are a tool in your toolkit to be used in conjunction with documentary research. But certainly, having the Bowes (or variant) surname in common indicates a good chance it is along that line that you share a common ancestor through your autosomal (non-patrilineal) DNA.
We have decided to incorporate autosomal DNA:
1. to potentially help women with Bowes (and variants) in their family trees who don't have a living male in their family to test her lineage's Y chromosome, and
2. to help determine which subgroups with differing Y chromosomes were once part of the same family but where a "non-paternal event" occurred introducing a new Y chromosome into the family.
Early Success
While including the autosomal Family Finder test in surname studies is somewhat pioneering and we have only just begun, we already have two people with the Bowes surname and a matching segment indicating a common Bowe ancestor who most likely lived in the 1700s. These Bowes families had different Y chromosomes but lived within miles of each other in Ireland at the turn of the 19th century. One belongs to our Ely Carroll Bowe subgroup, the other to another Irish Bowe subgroup from the same general region.
This autosomal link almost certainly connects our project's Irish Ely Carroll subgroup to the other Irish subgroup that has a different Y-chromosome. We currently think the latter one represents a non-paternal event wherein a matching Pearse male from Devon, England, conceived a son with an Ely Carroll Bowe woman, and the son took the Ely Carroll Bowe name. So while the Y chromosomes here indicate different patrilineal lineages, we find an historical connection between these groups using autosomal DNA.
Ordering
Joining your Family Finder results to our project requires that *either* you already are in the project with a Y chromosome (you yourself or a relative) or you have the Bowes (or variant) surname on your family tree.
If you are already in our DNA Project, you can order the Family Finder test through your personal login at Family Tree DNA.
If you have not already ordered any tests through Family Tree DNA, you can order Family Finder here.