Comments on Daniel LeBlanc

Question

On 26 Nov 2021 Kim LeBlanc wrote on LeBlanc-100:

Hi, I have a question about DNA Connections: "It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Daniel by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line. " 

My brothers descent directly down a male line (Andre) from Daniel LeBlanc. But, our grandmother is a descendant of another line (Pierre) - in addition to the many crossovers through both their lines. Does having this much LeBlanc help or impede a DNA study? I know very little about using DNA, but I am considering strong arming by brothers into contributing, so the recent debate about Daniel's ethnic origin can be settled. Also, as a female in this same line, does my DNA contribute in any meaningful way to this same study?

Comments

Added a comma after each tag to separate them, for better visibility.

Answer 1

If your brothers are direct male line descendants of Daniel LeBlanc, it would very likely be helpful for one of them to take a yDNA test from Family Tree DNA.  Daniel LeBlanc was born in 1626, so that is almost certainly too far back to be using autosomal DNA (Family Finder, Ancestry, 23andMe, etc), which is all that you as a female could contribute. FTDNA is currently having a sale, and a yDNA 37 marker test is $79 instead of the usual $119. (That price is good through November 30.) If cost is an issue, it is possible that you will only need a 37 marker test, but if necessary that test could be upgraded later, at an additional cost, to 111 markers or even to the Big Y 700 test.

Comments

Thank you, Kay - for the heads up on DNA package differences and the sale info! Now to go knock some heads (4 stubborn brothers).

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You can buy the test now, to be sure that you get the sale price, and then let FTDNA know later which brother will actually be taking the test.

Answer 2

Kim, after reading the DNA results on the profile and the various possibilities mentioned, your brother’s DNA tests would be most helpful. You efforts in this are very much appreciated by the Acadians project. You can tell them that MANY people will be happy they did the test.

Answer 3

If you want to go the cheap route, a 23&Me autosomal test includes a prediction of Y-DNA haplogroup.  While knowing this  cannot prove a paternal line, very often it is useful in disproving lines, i.e., if two LeBlanc males returned different predicted haplogroups from 23&Me, you can be pretty sure they do not stem from the same LeBlanc male line.

While a proper Y-DNA test is better, of course, if your brothers need more convincing, a 23&Me test costs less and gives them other info (ancestry and/or health) to boot.

Answer 4

While I would not want to discourage anyone from taking a DNA test, it is very unlikely that having your brother's Y-DNA tested will shed anymore light on Daniel LeBlanc's ancestry. Looking at the Y-DNA test that my wife had done of a male line LeBlanc descendant there are currently 34 matches (at 37 markers) at family Tree DNA to that kit. The majority of them have a LeBlanc surname, a few are Whites and a couple are other surnames. NONE are Alexander.

Of these 34 matches only 5 have done SNP testing with four being DF63+ or a subclade of DF63+. One was L21 which is the previous mutation to DF63. The most recent identified terminal SNP appears to be R-FT55255 (https://dna-genealogy-history.com/travel-by-ancestry/travel-by-ancestry-to-the-big-y-dna-signature-r-ft55255-for-the-lineage-of-acadian-ancestor-daniel-leblanc-b-ca-1626) which is L21>DF63>BY592>FT55255.

In my view, the only way to confirm Daniel's French ancestry via Y-DNA would be to find someone with a male line ancestry back to a LeBlanc in France (i.e not a descendant of Daniel). Until there are more ancestry DNA testing of French citizens, this is unlikely.