Patriarchs

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Contents 1 Definition 2 Footnotes	This is one of a series of articles on Genealogical Methods, prepared in association with The Tapestry. See Index for a list of related articles.

Definition

A "Patriarch", as used in YDNA genealogy, is the oldest known male ancestor of a particular surname lineage. All male members of the lineage share a YDNA signature close, if not identical, to the Patriarch's own YDNA signature. ^[1]

As an example, the following table summarizes the "Patterson Patriarchs" present within the Old Augusta Tapestry area.

The Table identifies the Patterson Patriarch's, provides vita information for them and identifies their wives when known. In some cases, such as "William (75), the Irish Patriarch", a by-name is used to help distinguish them more readily in WeRelate articles.

IN some cases, YDNA data has been developed that can be used to clearly distinguish particular Patriarch lineages.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Typically most male members of the same lineage will have 90% or more of their "YDNA markers" in common with each other, particularly when they their YDNA test includes 37 markers or more. If they have taken a test giving results for fewer markers (12 and 25 marker tests are common), the certainty of common ancestry, even at 90% similarity, is considerablly reduced.