DNA connection
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In 1686, a frustrated public registrar of Concord, Mass., complained to his superior that residents were being married and having children without giving a thought to legally recording those events.
"For my purpose is not to hold ye Service any longer.... to have so much labour to looke after these things & nothing but ill will for my paines, this I am weary of," wrote Jonathan Danforth, Senr., as he resigned his post in disgust.
Named outright as an offender was Stephen Farr, born in 1640, an independent-minded Puritan who had to be reminded to show at a town meeting, and who failed to pay his penny to register his babies. Recordwise, he cut himself off from all succeeding generations.
It would turn out that his parents in England also left him off the will, isolating him recordwise from generations above as well. Further confusing to researchers, around Stephen Farr in the New World lived other Fares, Farrars and Farleys.
Three and a half centuries later, as frustrated as was Registrar Danforth were members of the Winslow Farr family organization. An early Mormon pioneer, Winslow Farr's traced roots abruptly ended at Stephen's generation, amongst the Fares, Farrars and Farleys.
"All records in that area had been looked over and over by previous genealogists for many years," said family researcher Tim Farr of the Quail Ridge Ward, Washington Utah Buena Vista Stake. "For decades and decades they haven't been able to put anything together," though there was indeed lots of conjecture, some of it printed in books.
Finding the registrar's letter put "the last nail in the coffin," so to speak. So the family organization began a new line of pursuit, this one "outside the box." So to speak.
They began a DNA project. DNA — DeoxyroiboNucleic Acid — is a circular-staircase-shaped molecule of incredible length and complexity that contains the blueprints of a body. Included in the molecule's fractional part is Y-DNA, which is normally passed unaltered from father to son.
Testing these Y-DNA molecular paternal blueprints is becoming more and more frequent in family history research. A number of sites have sprung up on the Internet to provide this service, and there are DNA testing companies in many large cities, including Salt Lake City. Early in DNA research, blood was drawn from a candidate. Now, a simple mouth swab provides an adequate sample. Examinations range through 12-marker, 25-marker and 37-marker tests, with both accuracy and expense increasing at each step. Cost ranges from $99 to $149 to about $219. The extra markers are needed because of occasional genetic mutations that can make a line murky after, say, 10 generations.
In such tests, of course, obtaining ancestral DNA is both difficult and unnecessary. Rather, it is a matter of matching the Y code of a known male descendant with that of the hopeful descendant. Through a process of elimination and research, the most likely hopeful descendant is found.
In taking this new direction, the Farr family chose several lines to test. First, they re-verified the connections of all the known lines — one error makes the DNA test pointless. Tim Farr spent several hundred hours eliminating all known Stephen Farrs in England by tracing their whereabouts.
Pre-eminent researchers with known expertise and long titles were hired to verify the work already done, including Arlene Eakle, Ph.D., president and founder of the Genealogical Institute and author, and Dean Hunter, collection development specialist for the British Isles at the Family and Church History Department. David Rencher, director of records and information for the Church's Family and Church History Department, also helped check the connections.
The extensive nature of the project that involved dozens of other family researchers, was beyond the scope of any individual.
"You've got to do your homework," said David Jackson Farr, president of the Winslow Farr Family Organization. "You make sure you've covered all your bases. When everything has been looked at, and you have a likely family and descendant to test against, then you do the DNA project."
After years of unsuccessful searching under microfilm, they learned after one DNA test that Dave Farr, president of the Winslow Farr family organization, is a 9th cousin of Stephen Timothy Farr of Sint Niklass, Belgium. His paternal, rock-solid pedigree goes to the 1500s in Bedfordshire, England. The Farr research had shown that Stephen Timothy Farr's ancestor, Thomas Farr of Lidlington, England, was a brother of that elusive Puritan, Stephen Farr, ancestor of Winslow Farr. Their father, William, is the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA).
First, among Farr genealogists, "there was just kind of a disbelief," said Tim Farr. "They wanted it verified by professionals." Arlene Eakle and Dean Hunter were able to solidify the research. Dr. Eakle gave an opinion that between the research and DNA, the Farr connection was 100 percent verified.
These tests also proved that some published material "doesn't even come close," said Dave Farr.
Helpful bits of information from the DNA tests also redirected other researchers on more likely lines. When the archival dust finally settled, the large Winslow Farr family did accept the research. A large Farr family sealing session was held in the Salt Lake Temple. At the session, prominent Mormon pioneer Winslow's line was sealed back to John Fayre, born 1551. More than 30 Farr descendants were in attendance to do the sealings.
For more information about the Winslow Farr family, see www.winslow.farr.org.
E-mail to: jhart@desnews.com
