Project Updates: Difference between revisions

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This page will be a running commentary in blog-style posts of my updates to the project.  
This page has been completely reformatted. Published Project Updates will be added here.  


 
Nov 2024 - Added Dr. Joshua Isom as a contributing researcher to this page.
=14 Dec 2021=
This is the first update that I've actually written so I'll capture everything here. Family Tree DNA asked me if I would take over the DNA project as it had been dormant for several years. Dr. Alex Waldrop was the previous administrator of the project, but he seems to have disappeared from the internet and, reportedly, from other Claiborne family functions and there is some suspicion that he might have passed away. If anyone knows for sure, please let me know. In the meantime, there's not much to do except press on. Dr. Waldrop's notes seem to have all been on his personal computer and not on the Family Tree DNA site, so I've had to essentially start over with a fresh set of eyes. There were about 20 pending membership requests so the first thing that I did was accept everyone to the project and then begin resorting them.
 
I did change the grouping Criteria that Dr. Waldrop had. He had people loosely based by family groups. But with no notes to work from and virtually no family trees posted online, I had no way of knowing which families people belonged to. Instead, I resorted the project by Haplogroup and ran some preliminary reports, which can be found here: [[Preliminary Results]]. From there I have since further refined the results and removed outliers from the groups - people whose last name does not match and whose DNA also doesn't match. They are definitely not genetically related and will be excluded from further analysis.
 
My next order of business was to send out a few emails letting everyone know that the project has been taken over by me and that I would be reaching out for more information. About 1/3rd of the email addresses on file bounced back as no longer valid. In attempting to connect some of these people the old fashioned way, I have learned that at least two of the donors have since passed away. If you happen to know someone who donated to the project and hasn't received an email from me, please ask them to reach out and/or to log in to Family Tree DNA and update their email contact.
 
My next order of business was to dust off my old records and try to find my old trees. My copy of "Claiborne of Virginia" has been lost and as the book is out of print, it has been exceedingly difficult to find. If anyone knows of a copy that I could purchase or one that they would be willing to let me borrow, please let me know.
 
Col. William Claiborne's descendants make up about 35% of the study and their family grouping is pretty straightforward, so I am focusing my efforts there first. My first order of business is rebuilding my Col. William tree. I have had some assistance with this from Patricia Clayborn who shared her work and provided some other resources. I am a little more than halfway finished with this group's initial work. What I am doing is creating what's called a Cladogram  - a DNA Family Tree, except instead of showing parents and children, it outlines changes to the genetic code. This helps us understand how and when the DNA profile changed and it helps us to understand where people fit in the family tree. For example, on Col. William's descendants, I now know that people with a value of 18 at allele DYS-458 belong to the branch that descended from Leonard Claiborne (b.1705). Once this is completely mapped out I will post it to the website.
 
I have begun some preliminary work with the Westmorland Descendants. For one thing, I posted my arguments for "John who drowned in the swamp's" father as being Edward Cleiborne, and provided by hypothesis surrounding his family and demise. You can read that under [[Clyborns of Henrico County]]. The Westmorland group is far more complicated to break down. This group represents about 55% of the project. Although they are all of the same genetic haplogroup, there are at least two branches of this family who went to Ireland and at least two branches of this family that went to America. Building a Cladogram for this family group will help us to connect these branches in the right order to the right people. For example, the Clyborns of Robeson County, NC are definitely related, but it is not currently known if they came to the US by way of England or by way of Ireland, but mapping the DNA changes will help to answer that question.
 
I am also doing some work with the ancient Westmoreland genealogy. I have gathered all of the parish records and I am trying my hand at rebuilding this ancient tree again. I had completed this once before, but those records were also lost, so I am having to start over. There is also the question of the Cleburnes origin. Some branches of the family purport that the family is descended from Bardolph of Ravensworth, while others claim it was from the Le Fraunceys, and still other sources claim it was through the Vescis of Kendal. I have my own hypothesis, but I will be doing a special project on this, comparing all of the records that support all of the claims, mapping them out, and then using Y-DNA in an attempt to answer this question definitively.
 
There are also a couple of Y-DNA Mysteries. For example, in Col. William's group, there is a study participant whose last name is not Claiborne, but his Y-DNA matches 100%, which confirms that genetically, he is a Claiborne. There is a similar mystery on the Westmorland group, a member who is not a Clyborn, but who's DNA matches perfectly. And then we have a couple of people who are outliers who have the surname of Clayborn, but whose DNA doesn't match. In some cases the DNA is way off, entirely different Haplogroups.
 
One particular instance that is of special interest to me is the Clyborns who lived in Giles and Tazewell county Virginia. There is a definite "non-paternity event" somewhere in the tree. Initially I thought it was Elemuel Clyborn (b. 1834), son of William Clyborn and Christina Croy, as I am descended from this couple and my DNA doesn't match. On paper it appeared that William adopted Elemual in the 1850s. However, William had another son by his first wife, and I've recently found some of their modern descendants and they bear a strong family resemblance, which they shouldn't do if there was no genetic connection. Now I am wondering if William Clyborn (b. 1793) wasn't the one who was adopted. If you know of any Clayborns in Missouri, or any Clayborns who descend from this William, please encourage them to participate in the study.
 
I also created a Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4708215039241064 so that we could start communicating and collaborating in a forum and hopefully draw more members to the study. If you have Facebook, please join the group. Or if you know other Clayborns on Facebook who may be interested, please encourage them to join as well.
 
If you would like to help out with this project in any way, or with any of these areas of research, please let me know. (Johnathan.clayborn@gmail.com)

Latest revision as of 17:40, 26 November 2024

This page has been completely reformatted. Published Project Updates will be added here.

Nov 2024 - Added Dr. Joshua Isom as a contributing researcher to this page.

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