THE CAVE FAMILY & THEIR DNA. A One name Study.

DNA = Deoxyribonucleic acid – Is a nucleic acid containing the genetic instructions used in the development & functioning of all know living organisms.
The DNA test involves scraping the inside of the mouth at the cheek & sending the sample to the lab.
A One Name Study involves collecting information about people with the same surname & X matching names/ information to create direct family lines.
Hugh Cave has taken this one step further & establishing true family ties by DNA testing. It involves all the same name people taking the DNA test.
At this point Hugh suggested that there are firms which don’t produce such good results as others i.e. tests are produced with less markers than the 37 shown in tests displayed by Hugh, & that most people taking the test do so purely to find their tribal origins i.e. whether their forefathers came from Africa, Asia or Europe etc.
We have all heard of DNA testing, possibly to prove the paternity of a child. Hugh Cave our speaker at the April meeting talked about DNA testing to prove the relationships in his one name study of CAVE. This was possibly something he probably would not have done had he realised the over whelming amount of work involved. Never–the-less with the aid of graphs, lists, pictorial displays he took us through the complicated process of understanding XX (female) & XY (male) chromosomes & that the Y chromosome is passed only through father to son & the X mitochondria through the female line to both sexes. After this it became rather complicated but we understood that to prove you belonged to a certain family the DNA markers (37 of them) had to match.
The ‘fun’ starts when people who think they belong have DNA that does not match. As stated in Hugh’s case when a man said he was Hugh’s cousin only to be told his DNA did not match so therefore was not related. He said the investigations started in the opposite way to normal family history research which start with ourselves & work backwards.
He established family as far back as 1232 by various documents & records of herald’s visitations.
It was interesting to hear that at one time there was no such thing as a surname but when people started to move away they often adopted the name of their trade or their birthplace, to identify themselves from others with the same first name.
Hugh said the name de Cave possibly came from people living in the village of Cave but that they were not necessarily blood related.
Hugh has said that some one name organisations have on their staff a trauma councillor to cope with the ‘back lash‘from people who are upset etc about the results of the DNA testing.
I think we all understood that having the same surname did not mean you belonged to a family.
He also said that DNA testing was ‘very now’ as with situations such as one parent families with multiple fathers, sperm donations, IVF, surrogate mothers & illegitimacy, it will be virtually impossible to prove relationships. & that many a Cave line has been disrupted by illegitimacy & even possible incest. Hugh answered many questions whilst we took light refreshments our heads spinning with information.
Our May speaker is our well known friend Brian Jones with a new talk on Kings,Queens & Jubilees.
[Barbara Holmes ]