Thank you to the project coordinator for allowing me to report on the findings so far.  For more information please visit his website at The family - La famille Amirault/Mireault (DNA project info/projet d'ADN)

Merci au coordonnateur du projet pour me permettre de reporter sur les résultats à date.  Pour plus de renseignements, SVP visiter son site Web à The family - La famille Amirault/Mireault (DNA project info/projet d'ADN).

Cliquez ici pour la version française.

 Amirault / Mireault DNA Test Results (updated April 25, 2005)

Understanding DNA Testing

Introduction

Confirming links between generations of family members has generally been done using documentation in the form of church and civil records or oral tradition.  However, every genealogist over time has reached a "brick wall" in their research of a particular family line. Often some family lineages were lost forever as documented links were not available.

A few decades ago, new scientific breakthroughs led to the advent of Y DNA testing.   Several companies now make commercial Y-chromosome testing available to the general public for family research purposes.  This new science can be used to verify or disprove information compiled from traditional methods.  It was for this very purpose that the Amirault / Mireault DNA project was conceived.

Why do this?

1. To try to validate existing documentation that shows a relationship between the various descendants of François Amirault "dit" Tourangeau in North America.

2. To find François' origins or place of birth and to ultimately connect the Amiraults in North America to our relatives in Europe.

3. To establish a "DNA fingerprint" that would become a measuring stick, which could be used to determine the accuracy of various family lines.

4. To uncover genetic mutations that may exist between different family lines, which would allow us to better track that family's genealogy.

5. To eventually develop a comprehensive DNA study which could be published as part of an Amirault family history.

Why test only men?

Each human has 23 pairs of chromosomes – half of each pair comes from the father and the other half from the mother.   A female has two X chromosomes.  A male has an X and a Y chromosome.  When a baby is conceived, the child gets an X chromosome from the mother and an X or a Y chromosome from the father.  Babies with two X chromosomes become girls, and babies with an X and a Y become boys.

Because the Y chromosome always comes from the father, we can use this to determine relationship in a patriarchal line – this is why we have tested only Amirault men (or variations of the family name).

Scientific Stuff 

Scientists have found that there are parts of the Y chromosome that remain unchanged, unmutated, or non-recombinant (NRY) for many generations. This male NRY DNA is passed from father to son to grandson and so on and is essentially identical in each of these people.  This non-recombinant part of the Y chromosome can be chemically tested at predetermined locations, or "loci", to count the number of repetitions of the 4 base pairs or allele markers cytosine, guanine, adenine, thymine. Each male has a distinctive number set of repetitive NRY markers that can distinguish him from all other males from other non-related families. These markers also can be used to link each male grandson directly back to his immigrant great-grandfather that lived hundreds of years ago.

12 Marker Y Chromosome test

The original test used in this project is a 12-marker test, a basic test performed by Family Tree DNA, the company that we selected to do the testing. Each of the 12 markers tested is given a numeric value and these values differ from individual to individual unless they are related. To be closely related, one would expect all 12 of these DNA markers to match another individual. The fewer markers that match, the more distantly two people would be related.  For more information about the testing we suggest you visit the Family Tree DNA web site, www.familytreedna.com.

Test Results

Tested 3 Mireault men from Canada, descendants of Joseph, son of François.

-         All had an identical score in the 12-marker test.

Tested Jacques Amirault from France (kit #1040 in the results table)

Jacques is an author of several books on the Amiraults of France and has traced the Amirault lineage there back to the 12^th century.  Most of Jacques ancestors came from the area around Tours, France. For many years it has been widely accepted that our ancestor François Amirault "dit" Tourangeau came from Tours and was a descendant of this same group. Jacques has identified 7 men named François Amirault from this region who could possibly be our ancestor, but for which he cannot find what ever happened to them.  If we could find a genetic match in France, then we might be able to find a common ancestor which would help identify who François was.

-         Surprisingly, Jacques Amirault’s DNA was not a genetic match to the North American test subjects.  Not even close, as only 4 out of 12 markers match.

Tested another Amirault from France.   

-         This new test revealed this Amirault did not match the North American subjects NOR did he match Jacques.  So now, we find two distinct Amirault lines in France.

Tested a U.S. Amero (descendant of Jacques, son of François), U.S. Mero (descendant of Joseph, son of François), a U.S. Amirault (Jacques’ line), and a Canadian, Neil Amirault, president of Les Descendants de François Amirault (Jacques’ line).

-         Again, all North American men match in all 12-markers, so now we have descendants of two of François Amirault dit Tourangeau’s sons, Jacques and Joseph, with the same DNA markers or haplotype.

We can now say for sure that we have identified the "genetic fingerprint" of François Amirault "dit" Tourangeau and we can use this 12-marker haplotype to find his descendants here in North America as well as his ancestors in France.

Continued testing in France by testing 8 other men from various parts of France (Amirault, Amirault, Lamiraux, Amirault, Lamirault, Ladmirault and Lamirault). 

-         Again, NOT ONE of these was an exact match to the North American subjects.  In fact they do not all match each other in France as the results show 8 different haplotypes among the 10 men tested.

 25 marker testing

Two of the test subjects, one Mireault from Canada (1042) and one Amirault from France (2693) who matched in 10 of 12 markers were investigated further with an additional 13 marker test to see if they were anywhere near being related.

-         Table 3 shows all 25 markers.  They only match in 19 of 25 markers.  This would seem to indicate that these two individuals are not genetically related.

Does this mean we are not related to Amirault families in France?  Not necessarily.

There are actually several factors, which could explain why the subjects from France not be related to the subjects in North America. Some of the possible reasons would be that somewhere in their past in France, there was infidelity, an adoption, a rape or an incestuous relationship.  This does not rule out a genetic relationship with other Amiraults in France.

What could it mean?

The test results from France have generated more questions than they have answered.

1. Perhaps François Amirault "dit" Tourangeau used an assumed name and is not related to the Amiraults of France at all.
2. Perhaps we are related to Tourangeaus in France and not the Amiraults.
3. Perhaps there are several distinct (genetically different) lines of Amiraults in France and François descends from one of these other lines.
4. Perhaps we were unlucky and just picked Amirault descendants that fall under one of the categories listed above (adopted, infidelity, rape etc.). This is highly unlikely at this point since we have tested several Amiraults from France.

What’s next?

We haven’t given up hope that someday we will find some genetic cousins in France.  Perhaps they will be Amirault or perhaps they will have different names.   Many other families are using the same type of testing to complete research in their genealogy.  Now that we have the 12-marker score or “haplotype” we can compare with other families and perhaps find a match.

Over $3000 has been spent on this DNA testing so far with the funds coming from the project coordinator and other donors, but the search will continue and additional testing will be done.   We are quite certain of the relationships of the Descendants of François Amirault but the solution to the mystery lies somewhere in France. 

Donations will be gladly accepted.  Please contact Site Administrator for more info.

RESULTS FROM 17 TEST SUBJECTS

Table 1.  Y-DNA Alleles Scores: This table shows the actual scores sent by the lab and indicate the number or repeats for each DYS#.   Table 1 indicates that tested American and Canadians who are descendant from Francois Amirault dit Tourangeau are related.  All 12 of 12 marker match. To be related, one would expect that a minimum of 10 of 12 markers matching.

DYS 19 is also known as DYS 394.     Kit # 1040 is Jacques Amirault.  Kit # 2695 is Neil Amirault.

Line=Joseph - Descendants of: Joseph Amirault & Marguerite (Lord) Laure

Line=Jacques - Descendants of: Jacques Amirault Jeanne (Lord) Laure

Line=F – Amirault descendants from France           @ These two subjects were chosen for additional testing.

Table 2. Summary of Unique 12 Marker Strings: (Summary of the data in table 1).

*Although test subjects 1040, 21252 & 2694 are not related to the Amiraults of North America, they are related to each other.

**Although test subjects 1045& 7941 are not related to the Amiraults of North America, they are related to each other.

Table 3.  Results of 25 Marker Test done on subjects 1042 Mireault from Canada and 2693 Amirault from France.

 DNA Glossary

Allele - Allele is the number of repeats of the short base sequence of the loci tested.

DNA - Desoxyribonucleic acid. The chemical make up of genes and chromosomes.

DYS - A label for a class of genetic markers that are used in genetic genealogy.

Haplotype - Our family Haplotype, is the sequence of numbers that is provided by the lab on the conclusion of an Amirault or Mireault's Y Chromosome test. Once these numbers are confirmed as a match by a test done on a second male descendant, then we can safely say what the 12 marker Haplotype is for our line. From testing done to this point we have found that the 12 marker Haplotype for the descendants of François Amirault "dit" Tourangeau is:

Locus - (plural: loci) Literally, "place". The location of a gene or set of genes on a chromosome. It is the specific site on your DNA chain that is reviewed when you are tested.

X Chromosome - is one of the two sex-determining chromosomes. An XX Chromosome belongs to a female.

Y Chromosome - is one of the two sex-determining chromosomes. An XY is male. The Y chromosome, unlike the others, does not trade DNA with a "partner chromosome" and it therefore passes intact from father to son. This property leads to a minimum of ambiguity in interpreting the results of Y DNA analysis.

More information on DNA testing is available at   http://blairgenealogy.com/dna/DNA and www.familtreedna.com