Are you aware of "black sheep" descended from Sir John Field England?

Question

"Sir John Field, b 1525 East Ardsley England" came up in a DNA match list. He was an astronomer. The surnames "Field" and "Fields" are found frequently this family DNA matches. However, we have no record of that name anywhere in our known family tree. One hypothesis is that a Field descendant was a pirate, other criminal, or a descendant of one, and wanted to start over and become more acceptable with a new name. It makes genealogy very difficult but, maybe nowadays, not impossible. Thank you in advance for any light you could shed into this dark mystery.

Answer 1

Hi, well there are lots on ins and outs to dna testing.  Usually autosomal dna testing can identify dna matches going back 5 or so generations or so.  Even with a big paper family tree it can be hard to place other family names you will find.

Possibly doing a y dna study of the Fields family would help out.

There is also a more advanced website called dna painter that helps you figure out which parts of your dna goes back to which ancestors.

Can I ask where you found the dna match to this John Field?

Comments

From a YDNA report.

Answer 2

I'm not aware of any however John "the Astronomer" Field complained that his first-born son Richard was "loose lived and disloyal" and disinherited him -- so he might be a good candidate for a "Black Sheep" !

Answer 3

How did you find a DNA match to John Field? Autosomal DNA testing doesnt tell you the names of ancestors that you are descended from - it gives you the names of other people that hae tested that you have matched to - ie your cousins.

Even if you have matches who are descended from John Field, it doesn't follow that you necessarily are - you could be related to these matches through another side of the family.

Even if you don't have the name Field in your own tree - we are looking at a line here from the sixteenth century. I have a reasonably extensive family tree - and 97% or so of my lines don't even get back that far. Any brickwall in your family tree means thees hundreds or thousands of ancestors and their surnames that are unrecorded.

Comments

The names Field and Fields were from a yDNA result. No one  would expect that level of specificity from auDNA.