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The Farley Family of Wolverhampton
The Farley Family of Wolverhampton
Genealogists and geneticists study DNA to learn more about human lineages.
In a human cell, there are four kinds of DNA: mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), autosomal DNA (atDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-DNA), and X chromosome DNA (X-DNA).
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is present in the mitochondrion, a compartment within a cell, but outside the nucleus of that cell.
Since it it outside the nucleus, it does not experience genetic variation from generation to generation. It passes, unchanged, from mother to child.
In the case of a female child, studying the mtDNA passed down from mother to daughter enables geneticists to trace a daughter's maternal ancestry.
The other three kinds of DNA are found in the nucleus of a cell.
Within the nucleus are twenty-three pairs of chromosomes. In each pair, one chromosome comes from the mother and the other comes from the father.
Numbered in sequence, chromosomes one through twenty-two are the autosomes, the source of autosomal DNA (atDNA).
Chromosome twenty-three is called the sex chromosome because it determines the sex of the child.
The mother's contibution is always an X chromosome.
The father's contibution, if another X, produces a female child. However, if the father's contribution is a Y chromosome, the child will be male.
The study of the X chromosome (X-DNA) has not become a major part of DNA research. It is usually subsumed into the study of atDNA.
A study of the Y chromosome (Y-DNA), which is passed on, exclusively, from father to son, enables geneticists to trace a son's paternal ancestry.
There are a number of special projects which collect DNA information. Some are focused on a certain part of the world and the families which lived in it. And some are focused on a shared surname.
Conducting a Farley DNA genealogical study could help to identify those with whom we share a genetic connection.
At this time, such a Farley Family Project does not exist.
On the FamilyTree DNA Web site, the Farrell Family Project, which is focused on an Irish surname, does include the name "Farley".
However, as I pointed out on the surname page: our English surname "Farley" is not at all connected to the Irish "Farley".
Last Updated: 2022-06-10
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