|Photo by daveynin|
The challenge is this:
Find a living male person in your database from your maternal grandfather's patrilineal line who could take a Y-DNA test. Answer these questions:
1) What was your mother's father's name?
2) What is your mother's father's patrilineal line? That is, his father's father's father's ... back to the most distant male ancestor in that line?
3) Can you identify male sibling(s) of your mother's father, and any living male descendants from those male sibling(s)? If so, you have a candidate to do a Y-DNA test on that patrilineal line. If not, you may have to find male siblings, and their descendants, of the next generation back, or even further.
1) My mother's father was Earle Laurence Martin (1900-1986) born in Fresno, California. He was the youngest of eight children (3 boys, 5 girls).
2) Earle's father was Robert Lewis Martin (1855-1929) born in Laurens County, South Carolina. He had two brothers, George Asbury Martin (1849-1920) and James A Martin (1853-1923).
3) Robert's father was Lewis Saxon Martin (1820-1903) born in South Carolina. He had five brothers, William Martin (1830-1917), Harrison Martin (1832 - ), James Martin (1836 - ), Edmund Martin (1838 - ), Leander Martin (1842 - ).
4) Lewis' father was George Asbury Martin (1798-1850) born in Laurens County, South Carolina. He had six brothers, Daniel Martin Jr. (1765 - ), Berry Martin (1774 - ), John Martin (1777-1843), Drewry Martin (1784 - ), John Martin (1784 - ), Herbert Martin (1796-1858).
5) George's father was Daniel Martin (1746-1829) born in New Kent, Virginia. He had two brothers, Shadrick Martin (1729-1800) and William Martin (1745 - ).
6) Daniel's father was William Martin (1726-1784) born in St. Peter's Parish, New Kent, Virginia. He had no brothers.
7) William's father was Thomas Martin (1698 - ) born in St. Peter's, New Kent, Virginia. He had six brothers.
8) Thomas' father was William Martin (1687-1709) born in New Kent, Virginia. I have no record of any siblings.
9) William's father was Abram Martin (1642-1711) born in Galway, Ireland.
What this tells me is that I have a lot of research on this branch of my family before I can even think about a Y-DNA test.
Before I do that, though, I'd like nothing more than a photo of Earle Martin, my maternal grandfather. He and my grandmother divorced when my mother was only about 10 and, thus, he wasn't really a part of our lives. To my knowledge, I only met him once when I was about 10-12 years old and I don't even remember what he looked like. :-(