Y-DNA Results at FamilyTreeDNA

My father's Y-DNA results are in at FamilyTreeDNA.  No matches.

This is a 37 marker test.

Y-DNA testing is for men only, as only men have a Y chromosome.  A father passes his Y chromosome to his male children almost unchanged from the version he received from his father.  This genetic inheritance pattern is particularly useful for genealogy.

For my particular genealogy, my father's direct paternal line is the shortest discovered line.  It is also the most recent line that left Europe for the United States, about 1881 for Hermann Lutter, my great-great grandfather.

Hermann Lutter had a brother, Otto Luther, who had only female children, so the Y chromosome was not passed on to his descendants.  I found only one grandson of Otto, but no marriage or children for him, so Otto's line may have ended.

In his will, Hermann mentioned a sister, Ottilia Michel, and her three children in Neuhaus, Thueringen, Germany.  I have not located them or any of their descendants.  They would not carry the Lutter Y chromosome, but they would likely share autosomal DNA with my father.

Autosomal DNA testing captures DNA inherited from all ancestral lines.  The trick is figuring out which ancestor contributed particular pieces of your DNA.  In comparison, Y-DNA matching can be credited to only one line- the direct paternal path of inheritance.

I will continue with traditional research on this line, as well as exploration of the autosomal DNA matches of my father and his siblings.  A Y-DNA match can appear at any time.

(If you would like to view a spreadsheet of people who match on their Y chromosome, please see the Bunch Y-DNA Project.)

Subjective Marital Status

In the prior post, we saw the 1920 census entry for Clara Uhl, (ex)wife of Herman Lutter, listing her marital status as widowed.

This does not mean that her husband was dead!  If you do not have a death record for a "deceased" spouse, look for the person in the census anyway.  (Clara had three more years until Herman died.)

Marital Status:  Clara was divorced, not widowed.
Howard was married, but separated from his wife.
Lillian was single, but married John Kuhl two months later.

In this case, I knew that Clara Uhl and Herman Lutter divorced in the 1890s and Herman died in 1923.  In the 1920 census, Herman resided nearby with his next wife, Emma Neubauer.

Double enumeration in the census, part five: Newark, New Jersey 1920

Howard Lutter was listed twice in the 1920 federal census.  When this happens, we call it a Double Enumeration.  The cause of the double count for Howard was marital problems.  He was staying with his mother, Clara Uhl, but was also listed in the household of his wife, Laura Winterton, with his young children.  The hint to check for a second entry was that in his mother's household, Howard was listed as married- but no wife was with him.