Genealogical Research of the Dunkerley line using DNA testing
Using conventional sources, especially verbal and written information within my family, the censuses, the Civil Registration index and parish records, I successfully traced my paternal ancestral line back to Daniel Dunkerley, born about 1748 in the Sholver area, north of Oldham, Lancashire.
However it has proven impossible to establish who Daniel’s father was. There are four known candidates:
- Daniel, son of Mathew Dunkerley who was a weaver, and Sarah, nee Holden, living at Side of Sholver Moor when the baby was baptised on 12th February 1752. This Daniel appears to have survived into adulthood and is therefore a candidate that requires further consideration.
- Daniel, son of James Dunkerley, also a weaver, and Elizabeth, nee Taylor. When Daniel was baptised on 19th April 1752 they were living either in Sholver or at Sholver Moor. Again this Daniel appears to have survived childhood and so becomes a second plausible candidate for our Daniel.
- Daniel, son of Daniel Dunkerley, again a weaver, and Anne, nee Wrigley, also living at Side of Sholver Moor when their son was baptised on 19th January 1753. Based on the belief that the father died in 1754, Rosemary Brown nee Dunkerley, a fellow reasearcher, thinks that this family ended up in Oldham workhouse and that young Daniel died there and was buried on 5th December 1757. However it is hard to be certain, so he too may be a candidate for our Daniel; he is probably the least likely of these three.
- Daniel Dunkerley baptised on 19th January 1753, son of Daniel Dunkerley and Anne Wilde of Sholver Moor, descendents of Martha Dunkerley (Chart 6 of Rosemary Brown’s website) has come to light. There is little further information about him.
As regards the first three candidates for ‘our’ Daniel, all three were related. Mathew and James, were second cousins, each the son of a father of the same name who were the sons of John Dunkerley, born in 1653. The first and third Daniels were first cousins, each the grandson of Mathew Dunkerley, son of the same John Dunkerley. The evidence is therefore tilted in favour of this John Dunkerley being the great grandfather of the Daniel we are seeking and so a family ancestor. However our line could also descend from Martha Dunkerley, so in effect, and for now, it is impossible to trace our lineage back beyond the Daniel Dunkerley who married Alice Taylor, born about 1752.
Rosemary Brown has successfully traced her Dunkerley ancestral line back to the John Dunkerley who was born in 1653, via James his son and James his grandson, who is the father of the Daniel shown under point 2 above.
For some considerable time it was impossible to make further progress as to the line back from ‘my’ Daniel Dunkerley. However Rosemary recently persuaded me and her cousin, Robert Dunkerley, to have a Y-chromosome DNA test carried out by the Ancestry genealogical organization. This required each of us to take saliva swabs which which were sent to the United States for analysis against payment of a fee.
The test involves establishing genetic characteristics (allele values) at 46 separate places in the DNA of the male. The closer the matches in allele values between two males, the more closely they are likely to be related. The degree of correspondence between allele values actually allows a good estimate of the number of generations that have elapsed since two males shared a common ancestor (the Most Recent Common Ancestor – or MRCA).
The Ancestry database presents participants with a number of potentially related individuals, going only down the male line, stretching back for up to 70 generations. In my case there is only one potentially related individual in the last 30 generations, and this turns out to be Robert Dunkerley. The Ancestry data suggests there is a 56% probability that Robert and I share a common ancestor within 7 generations and a 62% chance within 8 generations. This suggests that since Robert descended from John Dunkerley via the two James’ then my Daniel too may descend via the same line.
In any case, the evidence indicates that the Dunkerley paternal line for both Robert and I is true – there has been no illegitimacy – which is interesting (and perhaps comforting) to know.
There is only a single difference between the allele markers for Robert and I, and this turns out to be at Location 446 where Robert’s allele value is 10 and mine 11. At all the other 45 Locations our allele values coincide exactly.
The Ancestry site promises to report if any other potentially related males participate in its DNA programme and I am hopeful that as time goes by I shall learn of other possible relatives from the not-too-distant past. I shall be particularly interested if anyone with the surname ‘Dunkley’ takes part in the programme because I believe that ‘Dunkerley’ and ‘Dunkley’ evolved, probably during the fourteenth century, as variants of the same surname.
I have set up a Group facility on the Ancestry.com website for the Dunkerley/Dunkley families, which can be accessed at http://dna.ancestry.com/viewConsole.aspx, inputting ‘Dunkerley’ into the ‘Search for Groups’ surname box and clicking on ‘Submit’.
Links to other Y-chromosome DNA databases: www.ybase.org www.ysearch.org
This page was last modified on Thursday, April 16, 2009