DNA for genealogy
DNA Studies
Recently my brother John took part in a DNA study that Barry Collett initiated. This study was meant to determine if the Collett children were indeed the descendants of Dillion Asher (as family stories say). My brother as a direct male line descendant of Dillion Asher through his son Wilkerson Asher (by Sally Davis) served as a control subject for the DNA study. A second control subject, M. Asher, a direct male line descendant of Dillion Asher through Nancy Davis Asher served to prove that the DNA evidence is consistent. In other words since John's and M's DNA matched perfectly and since the written records prove that each descends from Dillion, any others who might have doubt, would need to match John's and M's DNA and have a zero distance deviation from them.

The interesting thing that the study has revealed so far is that only one of the Collett participants in the DNA study is an exact match for the control Asher DNA. Three other Collett participants were an exact match for each other, and one was way off.

So for our purposes, we know that Dillion (or one of his sons or brothers) fathered the line of Colletts that ends in F. J. Collett. He is reportedly a descendant of Samuel Collett (b 1827) who was reportedly the son of Elizabeth Collett and Dillion Asher.

As for Cousin Barry, his study wasn't all in vain. He has learned that he descends from William Collett (b 1760 to 1762 VA) through Samuel Collett (b 1801) and Samuel's son Henry (b 1824). His DNA matched perfectly with R. Collett who was a descendant of William Collett and Samuel Collett through his son Hiram (b 1831), and with J. H. Collett who descended from William and Samuel Collett through Samuel's son Jackson (b 1847). Each of these exact matches for each other in the Collett family were a 5 step mutation from the Asher DNA, indicating that there may actually be a common male relative betwen the two groups way back in antiquity somewhere. Mutations occur approximately every 41 (or so) generations. The three descendants of Samuel and William Collett, are also Ashers through a female line. It is believed that Samuel Collett was married to a Mary Stewart who was reported to be the daughter of William Stewart and Jane (Jenny) Asher, a possible sister to Dillion Asher.

The last participant of the study, G. Collett, was 18 steps of mutation from the matching Collett group and 19 steps of mutation from the Asher/Collett matching group. G. is reportedly a descendant of John Robinson Collett (b 1831) who was reportedly a child of Sarah Collett and Dillion Asher. The study proves differently. Sarah, perhaps, but no relation to Dillion in this case, at least not through the paternal line.

There are two other Collett members who have signed up for the study, but have not yet had results reported.

Any one wishing to join the Collett/Asher study should click on the advertising link at the top of this page to learn more about how to join the study. The cost is about 99 dollars per DNA sample to join the existing study. I'm hoping that we will have some direct male line descendants of John Asher of Culpeper join our study. It would be wonderful if we could establish proof of the commonality of our two families.

Do you have an elusive ancestor that you are trying to track? The first step is in finding someone who is a direct male line descendant of the ancestor you believe you descend from. After that a painless scraping of the inside of the cheek of the two DNA donors can prove or disprove that you descend from a common ancestor. Family Tree DNA can help. Click on the banner at the top of the page to learn more.