Fairfield DNA Test results as of 12/07:

With only five participants to date, it is difficult to come to any hard conclusions yet about the relationship between USA Fairfields and a group of Canadian Fairfields who believe they descend from the John Fairfield of Wenham clan -- but it does provide some important clues. Below are the results of four Fairfield descendants, four from the USA (Ted, Chad, Chad's grandfather Howard, and Roy) and one from the presumed Canadian cousins (Paul). As you can see, Chad and his grandfather have an exact DNA 12-marker match, which translates to a 99.9% chance of common ancestors. The other three participants match in some categories, but not others, as explained below. Both Ted and Chad's lines have documented their descent from John Fairfield. However, descent in name does not necessarily equate to genetic descent. There is always the chance of undocumented adoptions, philandering, etc. that may never turn in up vital records. Stay tuned!

The first column, the haplotypes, confirms all the men are from Western European lines (as opposed to Semitic, Nordic, or Native American). Continuing across the columns and comparing the men's results, note that Ted and Paul match Chad and Howard on only 8 out of the 12 markers. The "mismatches" represent gene mutations that statistically decrease the likelihood the men had a common ancestor within the past 1,000 years. Ted is three mismatches removed from Paul and both are four mismatches removed from Chad and Howard. See the relation chart below for the interpretation of the distances.

*Notes from Family Tree DNA about the data: It is obvious from our observation of 1000s of samples that some markers change or mutate at a faster rate than others. While that actual "faster rate" has not yet been definitively calculated, not all markers should be treated the same for evaluation purposes. The markers in red have shown a faster mutation rate then the average, and therefore these markers are very helpful at splitting lineages into subsets, or branches, within your family tree. Explained another way, if you match exactly on all of the markers except for one or a few of the markers we have determined mutate more quickly, then despite the mutation this mismatch only slightly decreases the probability of two people in your surname group who match 11/12 or even 23/25 of not sharing a recent common ancestor.

In conclusion, more participants are needed to determine evidence of DNA strains of Fairfield descendant lines. If you know of any male Fairfield still bearing the surname, please have them submit their DNA for our project at www.familytreedna.com