Untangling Family Networks: Solving Paternity with DNA and Records

This investigation utilizes Y-DNA and autosomal DNA evidence, combined with documentary research, to explore Glen Hugh Hopper’s paternal origins in early 20th-century Tennessee. Y-DNA established the Daniel surname for Glen’s father, but which of Marcus Daniel’s (1846-1926) sons could be Glen’s father? What documentary evidence, from census records to Civil War pension files, could provide the geographic and chronological context needed to evaluate each Daniel brother as a potential father candidate? How could BanyanDNA analysis help navigate the complex genetic relationships between the Daniel brothers when their families were so heavily intermarried?