Re: Porter Y DNA
-
In reply to:
Re: Porter Y DNA
Ralph Porter 6/06/07
Hello, Ralph...
I sincerely thank you for the abundance of information that you have provided regarding Y DNA testing.
I have asked my elderly father if he would consider participating in a Porter DNA project, to help us trace our 'brick wall' Porter ancestors-- and, after explaining the process to him, he expressed interest.(That's a good start!).
Next question:
Do you recall *how long* it took to receive the FTDNA kit after it was paid for? (Assuming that online payment would be the best & quickest route).
Is the turn-around fairly quick with FTDNA? Or, would it take MORE than a month to receive the kit?
Related topic:
I recently read that Ancestry.com will also be providing genealogy DNA testing in the future.(See link, attached below).
ANOTHER QUESTION:With a variety of professional companies now beginning to provide the DNA genealogy tests and/or surname projects, is there any way that the various the test results (through different companies) can be compared -- so families who have utilized one company (for example, FTDNA testing), can be apprised if a family using a different company --is a 'match'??
If not, would the logical choice be to *attempt* to choose a company that may offer the largest 'pool' of Porter participants?
I appreciate your patience with my questions.I'm a novice in this area, and truly appreciate having the benefit of your experience.
Peace & blessings,
Cathy Porter-Maynard
<><
Ancestry.com adding DNA test results - USATODAY.com
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/biotech/2007-06-18-ancestry-dna-results_N.htm?o_iid=30788&o_lid=30788&o_it=30788http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/biotech/2007-06-18-ancestry-dna-results_N.htm?o_iid=30788&o_lid=30788&o_it=30788
.
============================
.
Ralph Porter wrote:
Hi Cathy,
I can't give you a recommendation of one company over another since I haven't really compared them. I just sort of fell into using Family Tree DNA and they have been ok for me. I'll post what I answered to someone else who asked (with a few changes); it explains how I ended up with FTDNA:
About my own case, I had information that gave the birth date of my ancestor, Isaac Porter, and said that he lived in Lycoming County, PA until about 1810. There was no information about his family before that except that he and his wife were born in America and that his family was Scotch-Irish and her family was Irish. I got that info about 40 years ago. In the past year I have learned about one and maybe two additional children of his, that his father came from Ireland probably in the early 1750's and that he was a captain in the militia in Lycoming County in 1798. He just doesn't show up in any documentation I have searched before 1798. I haven't gone to PA yet to check records locally.
I got involved in DNA testing after seeing a show on PBS about a project sponsored by National Geographic which tested people's DNA to figure out how humans expanded across the globe. There was a National Geographic website which indicated that they would test your DNA for a fee and that this money contributed to funding the project. It sounded fun so I sent away for a kit. I got the sample and sent it back. This was for 12 markers. When I got the results I found that I wanted to know more. The website indicated that they would send the sample to Family Tree DNA if you were interested in further testing. That's how I decided to go with them. I saved up my money until I could get the 37 marker test; I decided that I wanted to find out as much as I could and that over time other people would be testing more markers. I am glad that I went to 37 markers (I have since upgraded to 67 markers). There are a number of makers you can test. Family Tree DNA has tests for 12, 25, 37, and 67. You really should test no less than 25 markers. If you are trying to find close matches you will want more markers; that will help you zero in on where your makers may have branched off from some ancestral root. In my case there is an odd value on one of the markers that is only tested when you go up to 37 markers. This value, I believe, will be very important in helping me figure out my own history; so you may want to consider the 37 marker test.
Now, about Porters. Porter is an occupational name so it was independently given to a number of unrelated families at different times in the British Isles. There could have been two families who were totally unrelated but lived in the same town who could have received this name because a member of each family was a gate-keeper for the town or a castle or monastery or a ferry operator. You can't be sure what line you belong to without testing. There appear to have been Porters from the southeast of England, the northwest of England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The Porters in these areas could have belonged to any number of independent families. Once they started coming over to America there were certain areas that these different groups originally settled, but they soon started to move around and began to live in the same places. I think Fayette County, PA, has had Porters from a number of different lines living there since the county was first formed. In order to get an idea of what happened, it will be necessary to test as many Porters as possible. In addition to mixing in America, there was also a great deal of mixing of Porter lines in Northern Ireland, so right now the Porter picture is a mess. Since Porter is an occupational name it is likely that a number of Porters will find that they are closely related to families of non-Porters and it may be possible one day to find that every Porter is actually a line from some other non-Porter family. Right now, using DNA, my closest match is named Johnson. I don't know at this point if I am a Johnson or if he is a Porter, but there are members of a few other families who are close matches too. One problem is that I don't know if the connection is in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Northern Ireland, Cumberland England, southern Scotland or somewhere else; but there is a connection and it probably in the 17th or 18th century. There is a lot to find out, but we need Porters to do it.
My feeling at the present is that you might be able to trace your ancestry back to the British Isles, but when you get far enough back in time records are not the best. Also, there seem to be a lot of Porters in America that can't trace their ancestry before the early to mid 1800's; it seems there were a lot of pioneers who left home without looking back. If your Porters come from Ireland you have no idea what their story really is because there was so much travel back an forth between Ireland, Scotland and England from the time they were first inhabited till the present that scientists and historians will be sorting it out for decades to come using DNA. The best way to know what is going on for a Porter is to get tested, that will help you see where to focus future research and ultimately save you time and money (and perhaps provide you with a whole new set of mysteries, but change can be good...). I hope you can give it a shot; and if you choose Family Tree DNA perform a 25 marker test at least, but a 37 marker test if you can afford it. I believe that if you join a family name project at Family Tree DNA you get a discount on the cost of the test too; so you may want to join the Porter project before ordering a test if you go that route.
Ralph
.
More Replies:
-
Re: Porter Y DNA
Mark Porter 7/06/07
-
Re: Porter Y DNA
David Maynard 7/17/07
-
Re: Porter Y DNA
-
Re: Porter Y DNA
Ralph Porter 7/04/07