This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Surnames: CARLETON
Classification: Query
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/ZdH.2ACEB/160
Message Board Post:
Hello,
If you are an adult male paternally descended from the Anglo-Scottish Border family
Carleton, and have ever considered getting your Y chromosome tested, you may do so at a
substantial discount by joining the Border Reiver DNA Project at Family Tree DNA.
The Border Reiver DNA Project is a serious genetic and genealogical study started this
March by two customers of Family Tree DNA, James V. Elliott and David B. Strong. Although
it began as a study of the Elliott Border Reiver family, it has since expanded to include
members of other Border Reiver families, including a direct descendant of the legendary
Border Reiver, Johnnie Armstrong, a senior officer of the Clan Hall Society, Dixons,
Irvings, Kerrs, Littles, Taylors, Carruthers, Davisons, Ogles, Hunters and others. Members
of all Border Reiver families are welcome now, and we emphatically encourage your
participation.
The home page for our study, which includes many links to other web pages about the Scots,
the Britons, the Border Reivers and their ancestors, may be accessed at the URL below:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gallgaedhil/elliott_border_reive...
We are conducting our study of the Border Reiver families using Y chromosome DNA markers,
because the Y chromosome is passed, just like a surname, from father to son with very few
changes over many generations. That makes these DNA markers an ideal tool for tracing
paternal descent and, by extension, the history of families.
The goals of the Border Reiver DNA Project are as follows:
1) James Leyburn, in his excellent book "The Scotch-Irish: A Social History",
characterized the ancestry of the Anglo-Scottish Border people as a diverse mixture of
Picts, Brythonic Celts, Scotti, Irish Gaels, both Danish and Norwegian Vikings, Angles and
Saxons, troops and settlers from all over the Roman Empire - as well as Normans, Flemish
and many others. We intend to use Y chromosome analysis to explore the ancestral origin of
Border Reiver descendants, both individually (if we can) and as a group. We have already
done substantial reading about both the history of Europe and the latest developments in
population genetics, and have compiled a database of more than 350 likely Border Reiver
descendants obtained from public databases at Family Tree DNA and elsewhere.
The URL below will give you some idea of the extent of our ongoing study:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gallgaedhil/dna_by_haplogroup.htm
2) The Border Reivers rode during a period of extreme chaos in the history of the
Anglo-Scottish Border. Many young mothers were widowed, and many children were orphaned.
The social customs of the Reivers, affected by a need for self-reliance and the shifting
circumstances of the era, favored trial marriages, and allowed even married women to keep
their surnames. The larger Border Reiver clans themselves were like tribes or military
units as much as families, and many born with different surnames joined these clans for
protection, eventually assuming the clan surname as their own. As a consequence of all
these factors, Border Reiver descendants are to this day closely interrelated. Many with
different surnames share the same ancestors, and many with the same surname are descended
from genetically distinct paternal lines. Our DNA Project seeks to determine the
relationships among these descendants, both on an individual and a family level.
The URL below will give you some idea of the families already included in our study:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gallgaedhil/dna_by_surname.htm
The group rate for joining the Border Reiver DNA Project is 99 USD for a 12 marker Y
chromosome test, or 169 USD for a 25 marker test. The 12 marker test easily suffices to
determine your "deep ancestry", and can provide enough data to suggest a shared
paternal ancestry within the last 14 or 15 generations. The 25 marker test, more favored
by DNA genealogists, can identify a shared paternal ancestry within the last 7
generations.
These group rates represent a substantial savings over the cost of joining Family Tree
alone. For instance, the cost of getting the 12 marker test is nearly 40 percent less than
what I paid for the same test last summer. Once you join our group, you will have full
privileges as a Family Tree DNA customer. Family Tree DNA will store your genetic material
with absolute privacy and security for twenty years, and will publish information about
your Y chromosome markers, their likely ethnic origin, and the e-mail addresses of exact
matches, on your own personal, password-protected web page. In addition, all other DNA
tests you wish to order will be available to you at a considerable discount.
Despite the foregoing discussion of cost, this is a serious study, not a commercial
venture. If you are interested in joining us, or would simply like more info, please
contact James V. Elliott at jvance(a)tiac.net.
Sincerely,
James V. Elliott
Group Administrator
Elliott (And Border Reivers) DNA Project