That being said, there are certain terms which must be explained. The following comes from Genebase.com, with which I have registered:

“In the study of the ancient ancestry of humans, scientists focus on ‘haplogroups,’ the classification of all humans into ancient family clans based on the unique pattern of genetic markers called ‘SNPs’ found in their DNA. SNPs are small changes in the DNA which occur naturally over time. Once a SNP occurs, it becomes a unique lineage marker which shows how all humans are connected to each other in a complex worldwide tree that stems from Africa over 150,000 years ago.

“Dozens of haplogroups have been discovered to date, each haplography representing a major branch in the phylogenetic tree of mankind. Each haplography can be further refined into ‘subclades’ (finer sub-branches of the tree). As new SNPs are discovered, the phylogenetic tree becomes increasingly detailed with finer branches and enhanced resolution. By testing individuals from around the world and analyzing their precise placement in the tree, scientists are attempting to piece together the intricate puzzle of the ancient history of mankind.”

Alene Neff shares our common ancestor of David Riley Finley. This was her great-grandfather and my great-great-grandfather. Because her brother, Edward Russell Finley, has been tested and my lineage has been proven through a wealth of documents, as shown previously in FFI, we can say our haplogroup is R1b1b2. She is part of one group using their DNA findings.

Willis Taylor Finley has also been tested and shown to have the same haplogroup, as has a former subscriber, Nellie Ruth Jaeger. Charles Perry Fenley Jr. is also part of this project.

As shown in my database, Willis' line is Willis Taylor Finley and Rachel Faith Glasscock, Clyde "Slick" Finley and Myrtle Opal Inman, Norman Estes Finley and Maryann Addaline Walker, Norman Eleven Finley and Sarah Carter, John Finley and Rosetta Ann Bowen, Eleven Finley and Mary Polly Wall, John Finley and Mary Ann Norris, Charles Fenley and Elizabeth Ann Harris, Robert Finley and Elizabeth Jane Johnson, James Finley IV and Elizabeth Rixton, James Finley III and Martha Huchans, James Finley Jr. and Barbara Huntar, James Finley and Elizabeth Warrender, and so on into my main line.

Also as shown in my database, Charles Perry Finley Jr.'s line is Charles Perry Finley Jr. and Annabelle Lillie Fassett, Charles Perry Finley Sr. and Mary Mayme Weber, William Clarence Fenley and Sarah Jane Vineyard, Francis Orville Fenley and Tressa Ann Hardee, William Conn Fenley and Mary Lewis, George Charter Fenley and Mary Chenoweth, Richard Fenley and Penelope Conn, Charles Fenley and Elizabeth Ann Harris, Robert Finley and Elizabeth Jane Johnson, James Finley IV and Elizabeth Rixton and on from what is shown above in Willis' line.

Part of this group can trace their line back to Moses B. Fendley, b 20 Aug 1768, Jamestown, VA; d 18 Jan 1841, Greenville, SC; m 1789, Fishing Creek, Newberry Dist., SC, w Margaret “Peggy” Robertson, b 1762, Jamestown, VA; d 8 Jul 1831, Greenville, SC.

In talking with Willis, he says his group does not accept the lineage I have in my database. I show the subsequent generations going back from Moses as the following: John W. Fendley and Mary Boyd; William Findley and Jane Holland Steele; John Findley and Margaret Osborne; William Findley and Jane Wordell; James Findley and Margaret McKay; Thomas Finley and Agnes Goodlate; James Finley Jr. and Barbara Huntar; James Finley and Elizabeth Warrender; and onto my main line.

Nellie Jaeger goes from Ovie Lee Pickens and Ellen Mae Finley to Owen Jackson Finley and Martha Powell, James Redding Findley and Ellen Elizabeth Phillips, Owen Jackson Findley and Melinda Redding, Charles Edward Findley and Nancy Ann Owens, Charles Findley and Sarah Nancy McDowell, John Finley and Mary Ogilvie, Robert Finley and Ann Saunders, John Finley and Jane Henning,James Finley Jr. and Barbara Huntar; and so forth.

Willis has the following comments:

In my line you should make the following changes:

Eleven Finley and Mary Taylor/Wallis.(She was Eleven's second wife). Mary Polly Wall was his first wife. I descend from Eleven's 2nd wife. The second wife's maiden name has not been determined for certain. We have a deed and will that names her mother as Nancy Agnes Wallis. However, we believe that Nancy had a previous marriage to an unknown Taylor. Mary has other siblings that indicate this but we are unable to prove it. Nancy's maiden name was Nancy Agnes McComb for she is named in her brother Andrew McComb's will. This is as much as we know about Mary Taylor/Wallis and her mother Nancy Anges McComb Wallis. There are others like myself who have worked on this Wallis family and we have not been able to find documentation support for the earlier marriage.

We do not refer to Mary Ann Norris this way. All records indicate her name was Ann or Anney Norris.

We do not accept Robert Finley and Elizabeth Jane Johnson as parents of Charles Fenley. There is ample evidence of Robert's presence in Maryland. All records that we have been able to find names Roberts issues but not one names Charles as an issue. Charles and I have been to MD archives as well as a few others and no evidence has surfaced to indicate Charles as issue of Robert. Charles has also worked with paid researchers to no avail. I have been to Prince Georges Co. MD where Charles and his family are listed in the records of St. John's Parish Presbyterian Church in Fort Washington, MD. I have held these records in my hands when I attended a Sunday service in this church a few years back. There is no reference to Robert to in these records.

We do not question the line up you have for Robert and his ancestry. When I was in MD I visited in Talbot Co, MD where Roberts is reported to be buried. The genealogists in Easton at the county library say that there is no gravesite for him. In fact, the situation would not be practical for him to be buried where Stouts has listed. The time period and difficulty and distance getting from Prince Georges Co and Talbot Co, and Annapolis would make it unlikely for Charles to be a issue of Robert.

John Finley & Anne Norris show up in Edgefield Co. SC along with other Finleys such as Moses and and the Finleys listed in the DNA file that I passed along. Since we have a DNA link to some of these Finley who were living there one could conclude that we could have a kinship from common ancestor from an earlier time.

Charles spells his line as Fenley for all of his ancestors etc. Charles is a few year older than me, he is also almost blind and needs help to read. He has not been asigned a F number either. That is the last time I checked.

Moses Fendley's descendants are unable to prove his ancestry. Therefore, the Finley extension that you have cannot be proven to their safisfaction.

William Earl Finley adds a new wrinkle to all of this with a study on Haplogroup R1b-M269 and YDNA Haplogroup R1b-U106/S21. He writes the following:

“I was invited to join this DNA study group that shares this haplotype. A deeper analysis on my personal DNA turned up that my DNA has a new and unique SNP they are calling L5. They asked and I approved for my results to be made public, because it is the only DNA known at this time to have this SNP. My immediate Finley branches’ deeper subclade sequence would be R-U106 L5+.

“The ramifications this may have for others (Finleys) is they may want to consider doing these much deeper subclade tests to learn more and see if deeper subclade sequences present themselves that may be unique to ‘immediate families’ and or even ‘immediate septs’ as well.

“The new nomenclature applied to my DNA is presently named R1b1b2a1a4 or R1b1b2a1d, depending on which DNA study you are participating in. I am in the FTDNA study. This designation is very close or similar to R1b1b2a1a5 to which members of the Farquhar study have been assigned.”

William Earl Finley also adds: “Robert Edward Finley, Glen Finley and I are very closely related, likely here in America, and trace back to the John Finley and Sarah Craigie generation. If there has been some mutation like this L-5 SNP and it occurred after the John Finley and Sarah Finley generation and closer to modern times, it might possibly and partly explain why others who also share connection to John Finley and Sarah Craigie generation DNA do not match as closely (I.e. our DNA has possibly mutated some since John Finley and Sarah Craigie). Clearly more Finley test participants are needed.”

He later added the following: “I am being told I am Saxon rather than Celt. Also, Macbeth it seems may have been a Pict rather than Celt. Anyone have any information on whether Macbeth was a Pict?

“I have also have comparisons with my DNA to King Niall’s DNA and it did not match up so well (9/12). However, I also compared my DNA to a Farquharson and a Farqhar in their respective studies and our DNA matches up better as 11/12 and 12/12 which indicated we are related but distantly, giving support to the claim Finleys took the name of Farquharson for a time after Macbeth was defeated in battle.

“I think some of us on the e-mail if memory correctly serves are 11/12 matches as well indicating a distant relationship likely back over the ocean. You may match up with the Farquharsons and Farquhars equally well.”

Genebase.com comments on the Halpogroup R1b1b2 (formerly R1b1c):

“Most of the present-day European males with the M343 marker also have the P25 and M269 markers. These markers define the R1b1b2 subclade.

“This subgroup is believed by some to have existed before the last Ice Age and has been associated with the Aurignacian culture (32,000-21,000 B.C.). Although the precise route of the M269 marker is not known, it is theorized to have originated in Central Asia/South Central Siberia. Archeological evidence supports the view of the arrival of Aurignacian culture to Anatolia from Europe during the Upper Paleolithic rather than from the Iranian plateau. It could have entered prehistoric Europe from the area of Ukraine/Belarus or Central Asia (Kazakhstan) via the coasts of the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea. It is considered widespread in Europe throughout the Paleolithic already before the last Ice Age.”

Going to Irish genealogy, Genebase.com says this about Niall of the Nine Hostages:

“In 2006, a subgroup of R1b common among people of Irish matrilineal descent was identified as the probable haplotype of many within the septs associated with Niall of the Nine Hostages, an Irish king in the Dark Ages. SNP testing has shown that the cluster of haplotypes purported to be associated with the matrilineal descendants of the Ui Neill clan displays the M222 mutation that defines Haplogroup R1b1c7.”

Yet another DNA study is the Oxford Genetic Atlas Project (OGAP). Among its findings:

“It will be noted that the frequency of the Clan Donnachaidh results does not fully correspond to the frequency with which these results are found in Britain. In particular, the Northwest Irish haplotype, OGAP8 (which includes the haplotype associated with Niall of the Nine Hostages) has occurred more frequently among Clan Donnachaidh members than in the British population sampled for the Oxford Genetic Atlas Project.

“In some other ways, the results reflect the general population pattern: the two most frequent results among Clan Donnachaidh participants are also the most common in the population at large. Variations are revealed when these haplotypes are expanded -- some participants in each grouping are apparently not closely related in the recent historical period.”

Alene Neff states most Finleys are part of OGAP 1, of which the study says, “The core haplotypes for the full British Isles are OGAP1, OGAP2 and OGAP3. By their nature, these haplotypes are considered oldest and progenitors of the British R1b lines. This means that these haplotypes by their very nature should be, and are, much diffused. OGAP1 has a slight predisposition to Scotland and has its greatest concentration in Wales. OGAP2 has a slight affinity for Ireland, and OGAP3 has a slight affinity for Southern England. It is unclear if much more can be said about these haplotypes but with them one might see the original immigrants to the Isles and their possible paths along the western and eastern coasts.”

Further explanation of the OGAP1 haplotype and the L5 SNP comes from Alice Fairhurst:

“Other new SNPs have been found so the naming of the clades keep changing. I chair the ISOGG Y-DNA group. When we say your group is OGAP1, one of the oldest groups to come into Wales and Scotland, that is based upon population genetics which uses STR markers (the numbers that are compared to see who you match. These are called haplotypes.

“The following is talking about haplogroups which are deep ancestry and are measured by SNPs. SNPs mutate much more slowly than STR markers alleie numbers so we can watch over thousands of years.

“So every time they add another letter or number to R1b, we are coming closer in time. Wikipedia says that U106 is 3,100-3,900 years ago, so L5 would be even younger. So everyone at U106 was of one group and then that group splintered into smaller groups that can be separately identified. On the ISOGG tree, we tell that L5 is a private SNP under U106, but we don’t give private SNPs a number on the tree except when an academic paper comes out and puts it on a tree. The reason it is private is because we need to see multiple cases and with different surnames and some sort of genetic distance between the testers -- otherwise the SNP is private (also called a family SNP). So right now it looks like L5 is the Finley family SNP.”

She says the ISOGG tree can be seen at http://www.isogg.org/tree/index.html. Click on the letter “R” to see the part she is talking about.

So there you have it. The genetic links to Finleys can help confirm our lines and I would encourage more people to join in the DNA studies. I have not done it myself, due to my financial constrictions, but I would be willing to submit to it if I could find a sponsor. I would be interested in hearing about other studies and any comments on this article.