If you have any doubt about your Bankston lineage, you need to have your DNA tested. If you are certain of your lineage, your DNA results will help other Bankston cousins determine their lineage.
The chart below shows a comparison of the Y-DNA of 7 Bankston males. At first glance it looks like all the columns have the same numbers. Your Bankston male Y-DNA will look much the same. The table has been colored to highlight the differences: specifically DYS458 changes from 18 to 17 or 19 (green & blue), DYS389i from 13 to 14 (red), DYS389ii from 29 to 30 (red), Y-GATA-H4 from 11 to 10 (violet), DYS576 from 20 to 21 (violet), DYS495 from 16 to 17 (red), DYS549 from 13 to 12 (blue), and a change in DYS650 from 19 to 20 (red). These "mutations" do not diminish the similarity which indicates a close familial relationship shared by these 7 Bankston or Bankson males. In genetics, this similarity is called a haplotype, and Wikipedia again gives us an understandable explanation. (Click here.)
The closer the match, the more likely you share the same ancestry. This is the reason we hope that EVERY Bankston male will add his DNA results to the database. With enough DNA to compare, we can determine the ancestry of Bankstons whose paper trails have been destroyed.
Like anything else, it takes some education to understand DNA. Basically the geneticists can test for repeating sequences in the DNA helix, and the number of repeats at each "marker" determine the value for that marker. By comparing the entire 111 markers used for genealogy, it is possible to gauge the probability of common ancestry. The following chart shows the DNA values for all seven Bankston males tested to 111 markers before 16 Dec 2012.
Expect this table to be updated in January of 2013.
We can use this table to evaluate our Bankston mutations.
The two members in the third row have identical DNA over 111 markers, and we assume that this represents the original, unchanged DNA of Anders Bankson himself because these two descend from different children of Anders Bankson and Gertrude Rambo - 8 generations in the past. Probability predicts that 95% of people with 111 identical markers have a common ancestor within 5 generations, so this is a terrific demonstration that statistical probabilities are guidelines, not certainties.
The member in the first row has mutations only at DYS458 (to 17), colored green.
The member in the second row has mutations at Y-GATA-H4 and DYS576, colored violet.
The member in the fourth row has mutations only at DYS495, also colored red.
The member in the fifth row has mutations at DYS458 (to 19) and DYS549, colored blue.
The member in the sixth row has mutations at DYS389i and DYS389ii, DYS495, DYS650, and DYS643, colored red.
So, if someone with unknown ancestry returns DNA results very close to one of these known Bankstons, they probably belong to the same branch of the family.
Some markers change (mutate) more rapidly than others. If a marker seldom changes, then any change becomes highly significant. In the results above, DYS458 mutates at a rate of 0.00814 per generation, DYS389i at a rate of 0.00186, Y-GATA-H4 rate of 0.00208, DYS576 at a fairly high rate of 0.01022, DYS495 rate not given, DYS549 rate not given, DYS650 rate not given. Wikipedia gives a nice table showing frequency of changes for many of the Y-STR markers currently in use for genealogy. (Click here.)
Of even more interest is that certain values for some markers are relatively unique. For instance, the Anders Bankson values for DYS576 of 20 and 21 are far less common in the general population. This is shown on the Genebase database, specifically that a DYS576 value of 20 was found in less than 3% of the population and a value of 21 in less than 1%. In this case, any Bankston male with that 21 value for marker DYS576 is undoubtedly from the same branch of the family as is the contributor listed in the second row.
Pages of personal interest: Ron Beatty's home page, Rambo family genealogy, Bankston & Bankson family genealogy, the Camblin family genealogy, the Dorsey Overturff family, cousin Jean's Schenck and Hageman genealogy, Eric's RPM coins, TRS-80 computer & software collection for sale or donation to a museum, Strategy and Tactical Game Collection for sale, many from Avalon Hill.