Saturday NIght Genealogy Fun - Your Maternal Grandfather's Paternal Line

The Challenge:

Find a living male person in your database from your maternal grandfather's patrilineal line who could take a Y-DNA test by answering the following questions.

The Questions:

1.  What was your mother's father's name?  My mother's father was Arthur Derks (1913-1999), born in Rochester, NY.  He was one of ten children; he had 5 brothers and 4 sisters.  He had 3 sons and 2 daughters.

2.  What is your mother's father's patrilineal line? That is, his father's father's father's...back to the most distant male ancestor in the line? 

• Arthur Derks' father was Peter Derks (1881-1960), born in Groede, Zeeland, Netherlands.  He came to the US in 1905.
• Peter Derks' father was Abraham Dierx (1834-1907), born and died in the Netherlands.
• Abraham Dierx's father was Jacobus Dierx (1782- ?), born and died in the Netherlands.
• Jacobus Dierx's father was Jan Dierx (1740-1818), born and died in the Netherlands.
• Jan Dierx's father is believed to be Klaas Dierx from the Netherlands.

3.  Can you identify male sibling(s) of your mother's father, and any living male descendants from those male sibling(s)?  If so, you have a candidate to do a Y-DNA test on that patrilineal line.  If not, you may have to find male siblings, and their descendants, of the next generation back, or even further.

My mother's father had 4 brothers.

• Abram Derks (1904-1985) He had two sons and one daughter.
• Peter Derks (1910-1985) He had one son and one daughter.
• Milton Derks (1914-1977).  He had one son.
• Eugene Derks (born after 1920 - still living).  He had three sons and one daughter.

All of the sons would be candidates for a Y-DNA test.  I am sure that many of these individuals have also had children that could be candidates.  I need to do more hunting to find out the specifics on each of their descendants.  I am looking forward to the 1940 census for some additional information and it gives me an incentive to have some conversations with aging Derks relatives to gather any and all information that they may have.

I haven't done a great deal of research on Y-DNA testing, and I'm not sure of the specifics on candidates.  Wouldn't my mother's brothers be candidates?  If anyone knows I'd love to have the answer.

This challenge can be found at: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-your.html