What is Family?

What is Family? This is a question that, to some extent, all genealogists have pondered. Who is my family? Where do I come from? These questions are as old as written language. The original Claiborne DNA Study undertaken by Dr. Alex Waldrop looked to empirically answer the question of whether or not everyone in the US with a variation of the surname Claiborne was related. Over the last two decades since the study was started we have learned that the majority of "Claibornes" belong to two distinct DNA Haplogroups, and the initial conclusion was that there were two distinct families. The more that I think about that statement, the more I am convinced that it is wrong.

Two distinct families. Why? Because their DNA is different? What is a family anyway? Is a family only the genetic bloodlines and DNA that you share with another person? That's certainly part of it, but is it more than that. Through my own life I have learned that families are often messy, complicated things. What about step-children and adopted children? Are they less family because they aren't biologically related? My own ancestors were adopted by the Clyburns in the 1860s. Does that make me any less of a Claiborne than anyone else? I would argue, no. As soon as William Clyburn adopted my ancestor and claimed him as his own he became family.

Much of the notion that the Claibornes were two distinct families arose from the fact that Col. William's ancestors lived in Kent, England, which was all the way on the other side of the country from Westmorland and it seemed unlikely that the family had spread that far. However, since Nov of 2022 I have learned that Westmorland Cleburnes were living as far south as London since the late 16th Century, and that the family had propagated into many counties throughout England by the mid 16th century, which thoroughly shatters the myth that the Cleburnes of Westmorland couldn't be the family that Col. William originated from. Now, I'm chasing down a lead that looks at the possibility that his father was adopted by the Cleburnes of Westmorland. And if that's true, that makes him family. And if that's true, then it makes the original hypothesis that everyone named Claiborne is one big family a lot more plausible, at least, if you count adopted persons as part of the family.

So that's been the question on my mind these past few months - what is "family"? Who counts? Is it only the blood and DNA in your genes or is it the people that you choose to bring into your life?