I am the genealogist who completed the DNA research for Carkeet's project and the results were conclusive. I do several of this type of case each week as well as identify parents or grandparents for adoption cases and this case's results were one of the most obvious. (The clusters were a genetic genealogist's dream.) I didn't do my research based on any tree created by Susan or David. I created my own tree for Susan utilizing the actual genetic data as it related to matches and I was able to definitively identify all of her grandparents. Although Susan did give me permission to share my conclusions, I am not inclined to do so, as I don't feel it would help anyone in any way. I didn't realize there is still discussion about the matter.

Kind Regards,
Jennifer Zinck
Professional Genealogist 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 9, 2017, at 10:46 AM, Shoshana Bailey <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> I have never answered Carkeet's conclusions and I'm not now but=20
> I will say one thing. He based a lot of his conclusion on the assumption tha=
> t I had put up a family tree and that is how I came up with the Clemens/Lang=
> donlinks. Now Barbara is addressing that same issue.=20
> I had NOT attached a tree to my DNA for the first several years. The DNA mat=
> ches I got with Clemens and Langdon were sent to me organically by Ancestry a=
> nd FTDNA (who, at the time, didn't have trees.)
> It was only after getting over 100 matches that I attached a tree.=20
> Regards,
> Susan Bailey
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Jan 9, 2017, at 10:26 AM, Barbara Schmidt <[log in to unmask]> wrote:=
> 
>> =20
>> Hal --
>> =20
>> David Carkeet's research on the flawed methodology used to establish DNA
>> connections to Clemens via ancestry.com family trees was the game changer.=
> 
>> His essay on his months long research and first hand experiences in workin=
> g
>> with the DNA reports is online at:
>> =20
>> http://www.twainquotes.com/Carkeet/AncestryReport.html
>> =20
>> In a nutshell, anyone can plug in a false or inaccurate family tree at
>> ancestry.com after submitting a DNA test, and the ancestry.com database
>> will generate a list of people who are also related to people in the tree
>> one believes is their own tree.  Just about anyone can be distantly relate=
> d
>> to someone else who ties in to the Clemens family tree in some fashion if
>> the family tree branches are traced back far enough.  =46rom Carkeet's rep=
> ort:
>> =20
>> "... 'What you are seeing is the result of endogamy, intermarriage within a=
> 
>> population group. In the year 1700, the population of the United States wa=
> s
>> approximately 250,000 people.' In other words, it is a small world. Or,
>> more to the point, it was a small world, with so few people in the pocket
>> of immigrant history that I share with my matches that if I select a
>> specific name from the past (in this case, with my false genealogy, an
>> ancestor of Samuel Clemens), some match of mine from among my more than
>> 6,000 matches will descend from that ancestor."
>> =20
>> Barb