Read me First

This wiki traces the Y-DNA and mtDNA of Mayflower passengers, their spouses, and the spouses of their children and grandchildren. It does NOT work with autosomal DNA tests (such as AncestryDNA, 23andMe, etc.). Because we inherit autosomal DNA from both of our parents (who in turn inherited their DNA from both of their parents, etc.) the amount of autosomal DNA we inherit from each of our ancestors decreases every generation. After about 5-6 generations we no longer inherit any autosomal DNA from some of our ancestors. Almost all living Mayflower descendants are at least 10 generations removed from our Mayflower ancestor. That far back, we only inherit DNA from a tiny fraction (much less than 1%) of our ancestors from that generation. Even if we are lucky enough to have inherited autosomal DNA from a Mayflower ancestor, there really is no way to document which ancestors from that generation we inherited any of our DNA from.

The vast majority of descendants of Mayflower Passengers will NOT have inherited their Y-DNA or mtDNA from a family in this project. Only males have the Y sex chromosome and they inherit this chromosome solely from their father, who inherited it from his father, etc. Thus, the Y-DNA follows the Patrilineal (not Paternal) line (father's father's father's father's etc.). While everyone has mtDNA, we inherit this DNA solely froum our mothers, who inherited her mtDNA solely from her mother. Thus, the mtDNA follow the Matrilineal (not Maternal) line (mother's mother's mother's mother's etc.)

If you believe you are a male and believe you have an all male line of descent from someone in this wiki (Y-DNA), or anyone who believes they have an all female line of descent from someone in this wiki (mtNA), please Y-DNA or mtDNA and feel free to contact MayflowerDNA1620@gmail.com

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