Based on this, we should really detach this William profile from the presumed parents. They certainly aren't father and son. There are many, many unrelated families that happen to share a surname, and there are many genetically related families that have had a surname change for one reason or another. We are lucky for this particular set of families that so many have tested on the Big Y DNA. No doubt these are unique Clements lineages, whose only similarities are the same surname and being in colonial America... They may have even "crossed paths" in association, but that is really neither here nor there. There is just no way the two came "in contact" during the Viking age; they each have been on their own unique genetic paths way prior to that. That is the whole point of Y-DNA: and keep in mind even those who share the exact same haplogroup may not even share a surname or be in the same "family" paper trail wise, since they are still so many generations apart to be able to accurately find the connection in most cases, unless you already have a good idea of how the two matches relate. Every Y-DNA match can only match on the paternal paternal paternal line- there is no crossover as such. These markers are very slow to change and more often than not can be matches that are so distantly related, there needs to be more tested to "fill in" the actual chronological generational gaps from one match to another in terms of paper trails and lineages. In other words, there was no "Genetic bond" there, it's been tested on the big Y-DNA; it IS a coincidence, and I don't know how since nobody is "more" of a certain surname then the other... am I missing something here? WAS there a bond (marriage or otherwise) with the SC Clements and the VA Clements? I am obviously a Martin, of a "Q haplogroup" I will be the first to tell you that there wasn't only one Martin family in colonial Virginia, let alone only one genetic Martin family and had to have carried the Q haplogroup... most Martins tend to have the R or I haplogroup in fact, and of course, these would all be unrelated Martin groups. Y-DNA doesn't tell you exactly "who the father is" past father and son testing, but what it CAN do is quickly rule out who the father is not. In this case, this John Clements is NOT the father of William Clements, and there is overwhelming Y-DNA genetic evidence that supports this. We could spend all day trying to force all the "Clements" into one big ratking of a family, but why would we want to do that, especially when we have Y-DNA hinting at the fact there were multiple Clements families with multiple haplogroups.
