Direct Male Lines of subjects tested so far

Below is a summary of the direct male lines of the various families tested so far, together with what is already known about the early Limerick Spierin's (family LIM01), London Spering's (LON01) and the earlier Cambridge Speringe's (CAM01). For privacy, only the initials are shown for individuals born after 1900. Subjects who have tested are in pink; MDKAs (Most Distant Known Ancestors) are in red. The family ID is based on where most members of that family have lived (so ONT01 represents the first family based largely in Ontario, LIM02 is the second family whose members have been based largely in Limerick).

So far, 7 present-day families have tested (or have agreed to be), including 2 participants from family ONT01 - the oldest of the families identifed via traditional paper-based research. Interestingly the MDKA for this family (George?) is not actually 'known' for definite (and hence technically he is not an MDKA), but what is known for definite is the identity of his 5 sons. Most of the families have been able to trace their individual Spearin lines back to about 1800. Before this there is a gap of 3-4 generations until we pick up the trail again in Limerick and the Spierin brothers Matthew, Luke and Nicholas. Their father may have been George 1646, son of George 1601 and Rebecca Carter (of the London Spering's). We have will abstracts for Rebecca, Matthew and Luke, as well as land deeds that mention Nicholas. Prior to this, there may be a connection with Nycholas Spyrynke of Cambridge (1520), which leads us back to Flanders (northern Belgium, with Holland to the north, and France to the south).

The key question is: can Y-DNA testing help us bridge the gap between these different families? This can be broken down into a set of more specific questions, namely:

1. can we generate a 'Mutation History' tree proceeding backwards in time from each of the MDKAs of present day families, demonstrating how the families are linked to each other?
2. can we reliably estimate a year range for when each mutation occurred?
3. can we superimpose this 'Mutation History' tree on top of the existing early Limerick (LIM01) and London trees (LON01)?
4. can we establish genetic connections with earlier Spearin's, both from England and from Flanders?