Taylor

The Y-DNA test is the most useful and identifies persons with whom you have a common paternal ancestor. I have a significant match with 14 Taylors and 11 Winchesters, and a less significant match with nine other individuals with different surnames. None of the matches had a paper trail any farther back than our Robert Taylor (c. 1715-1807).

Cooper

In early 2012, I located a fourth cousin, Kelly Cooper, who agreed to take a Y-DNA test. In June of 2014, we learned of a close Y-DNA match. Kelly Cooper matched closely with Don Cooper. Don’s earliest Cooper ancestor was Risdon Cooper (1765-1830), a son of Thomas Cooper Jr. Through research by a genealogist we learned that James Cooper (c. 1740) was the oldest son of Thomas Cooper Sr. Henry Cooper’s first-born son was James Cooper (1797-1865), named for his grandfather.

Autosomal DNA

Tests for Josh and Jeanne Taylor show an interesting geographic pattern for their paternal and maternal ancestors. This is not surprising as Jeanne’s immigrant grandparents came from Poland and French Canada in early 1900s. The Autosomal DNA tests identify potential cousins on our paternal and maternal sides. At Family Tree DNA I currently have 5,465 matches, but only 445 are third cousins or higher. Jeanne has 1816 matches and 141 are third cousins or higher.