Darling DNA Project

There currently are eleven members of the Darling DNA Project who have taken various levels of yDNA tests.  A summary of surnames of these men and the level and date of testing is provided below.  Six members have the surname Darling, one Dailey, and four Benson. 

The Benson testers are all descendants of Moses Benson who was born in Mendon, Massachusetts on 20 May 1732.  One is a descendant of Moses' son, David, while three are descendants of Moses' son, Peter.  Two are descendants of Peter's son, Amori, while one is a descendant of Peter's son, Lyman.  While Mendon town records identify Moses Benson as a son of Joseph Benson who was a son of Benoni Benson, none of these Benson testers have yDNA matching Benoni's son, Benoni Benson Jr., whose descendant matched other Benson men who are known descendants of Benoni's grandfather, John Benson, who came to this country on the Confidence in 1638.  All of the subject Benson men who are in the list below, match with those with the surname Darling.  One of the Darling men who they match is a known descendant of Daniel Darling who was the patriarch of the Darling family of Mendon, Massachusetts.

The Dailey tester is a descendant of a man who emigrated from Ireland to this country in the nineteenth century.  There is a degree of matching between this man and those named Darling and Benson who have tested.

​With each successive extension of testing to additional STR markers (out to Y-111 test) and then to testing of SNPs (Y-700 test), additional refinement of the matches occurs as well as more information as to likely branching and distance to likely most recent common ancestor can be inferred.  Therefore, the Project members are anxiously awaiting the results of the test expected to become available in December 2019 and February 2020.  The expansion of the number of group members as well as extension of testing to the advanced levels is a benefit to all members in the group as only having others who have tested will yield significant information from the advanced testing.  The Darling Project is now to the point where new members will have an opportunity to learn from how they may or may not fit into a larger family tree going back prior to The Great Migration to New England.