Query on parents of Hannah DAVIS/DAVIES

Parents of Ann Forbes are not proven. There is much discussion on this matter in the Ann Forbes -First Fleet Convict Facebook group. A Lynn McDonald has spent several years researching this and has several alternatives. Our Facebook group has sponsored an MTDNA test of a direct maternal descendant of Ann Forbes. Results should be back in November and will hopefully give us more leads in the quest for Ann Forbes parents.

I am always sceptical when I see parents of the early convicts, particularly when they have common names. Most of the early records do not list parents, birth dates or birth locations so unless the trial gave more information it seems to be a lot of guessing.
Good luck with the dna testing.
Are more than one direct maternal line testing?

At this stage just one person is testing. Unlike the standard autosomal test, mtdna rarely mutates. the only question mark is if someone else who is related has yet tested. A lot fewer people have taken mtdna test than the standard one.

We have just received results from a y DNA test on a descendant of Thomas Huxley, partner of Ann Forbes. Similar to mtdna, it can show matches back hundreds of years. The long list of matches shows no-one by the name of Huxley. The most common surname is Stewart/Stuart. As Thomas Huxley was known to have used aliases, this appears to show that his surname was likely not Huxley either. Our tester has 2 matches who are second cousins and who have ancestors that came from Kent, England. Further analysis is necessary to draw better conclusions.

The only reason i ask about more than 1 person testing is to rule out a non parent event.

If you are going back 8 generations that is 8 opportunities for adoptions (formal or informal) etc.

If fourth cousins have the same mtdna or ydna then it is reasonable to assume that there is no NPE's up to where they share an ancestor.