This is for the male Weir family members, to find out to which Weir group they have come from in our World. Female Weir descendants do not pass on the Y Chromosome of their father, so cannot do the test. Their brothers and father or male cousins with the surname of Weir can contribute. However, the female descendants could contribute monetarily for one of their branch to have their DNA tested to aid the whole family group or branch. So get in touch with those male Weir cousins. > The Weir DNA Project > > Register here: > http://www.familytreedna.com/surname_join.asp?code=F34568&special=true > The Male 37 marker test ($229) is the one that is most useful test for > our purposes. The most expensive test, the DNA male comprehensive ($369) is the best, of course, but does not seem absolutely necessary for this purpose. > The Y-chromosome DNA study is for males only who bear the name Weir, > Wier, Vere, de Vere, Ware, Wear, and any other variation and who (so > far as is known) are not descended from adoptees in the direct male line. > > A properly licensed lab will do the testing (through the mail) on a > small saliva sample (cotton swab)and provide the results to be posted > on the webpage; the subject's identity may or may not be withheld > (depending on their privacy concerns) but their Earliest Ancestors > will be listed and, where allowed, the full descent chart of the > subject, which may aid other participants. Weir cousins you might coax > into participating. If you have third cousins you know well enough to > ask, and of course through research you may know many more fourth, > fifth, and sixth cousins who are interested enough that some of them > probably would volunteer. The fee is about $230 at present. > > The study of the Y chromosome is to show the WEIR lineage in the male > line only, and this chromosome's rate of mutation allows for a fairly > accurate estimate of the degrees of relationship or a good guess at > the time period in which a common ancestor was shared. > The most important thing is that the results can tell you if you > definitely are UNrelated to the larger group (through the male line). > > Since there were McNairs who were said to have adopted the surname > Weir and also (according to one source) some Corras of Ireland who > anglicized their name to Weir, this would help to separate descendants > of those lines from the other Weirs. It should also tell us whether the Weirs and Veres of England are of common origin with the Weirs of Lanarkshire, Scotland, as well as the Van de Veres, Vandiveres and other etymologically similar names. > > We should expect that some Weir families probably will match up with > some of the clans to which Weirs were allied, or deemed a sept of, > such as McFarland, McNaughton, Buchannan. > There are larger databases to which the lab will compare our results > for any surprise matches. > > WEIR & WIER: The name is spelled both ways in Scotland. > Some Weirs of Perth, Scotland, changed their name from McNairs. Some > Wiers moved from Lanarkshire to Perth in the 1400s-1500s. > Other Wiers in Germany and the Netherlands may share a common origin > or may be an entirely different group. Our study may help delineate > those lines. > > The study would show whether or not Weirs of the tenant class in > Lanarkshire shared a common male ancestor with the other Weirs, > including lairds of Blackwood and Stonebyres and some of the other > landed families in Lanark. > The Y-chromosome test will not prove that they were totally UNrelated; > i.e., that they weren't related on a maternal line, as often occurred > in large clans that Maternal-line descendants took the clan name. > Other DNA studies in the future might be developed which will answer > that question. Hope-Veres, descendants of the legal heirs of > Blackwood, would not match up in the Y chromosome study, of course, > since they descended from a Weir heiress who married Charles Hope. > > There are some other chromosome studies which can test female and male > DNA, but it is not at the stage of advancement to make it helpful in a > wide-range study such as ours. > http://www.familytreedna.com/faq.html Here is a good example of a DNA project, the McCain DNA study. > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mccaindna/ > > http://www.familytreedna.com/surname.asp > > When you have joined the group, please send your pedigree chart to > Terry Burton ([email protected]) in this format (very abbreviated): > > 1. Duncan Wier b. by 1490 at Perth, Scotland, d. Holland > 2. Rev. Malcolm Wier b. 1513-15 m. Lady Leslie, niece of George Wishart > 3. David Wier b. in Scotland, d. in Holland > 4. John Wier/Jan Vyer of Antwerp > 5. Dr. John Wier ("whose children returned to Scotland") > 6. John Wier m. ("1653", "1670"?) Janet Ferguson at Edinburgh; d. in > Ireland > 7. James Wier b. "1683" (or earlier?) m. Margaret Agnes O’Marra > 8. Thomas Wier b. "1708" (or later?) m. Elizabeth > Faulkner/Falkner/Falconer c1740-45 > 9. James Wier b. 1769 Ireland, d. Pickens Co., Alabama, m. Mary Hamilton > 10. James Wier b. 1802, d. 1885, bur. at Graysport, Grenada Co., > Miss., m. Elizabeth Evans > 11. Thomas Hamilton Wier b. 1830 (not 1836) m. Martha Ann Spears > 12. Thomas Francis (Frank) Weir (WEIR) m. Harriette (Hallie) Josephine > Angevine > > Generations 1-9 are from: THE WIER-BRITT GENEALOGY (1910) and TEN > TRIBES OF WIER (1933, 1938 & 1940) by William Swansea Wier. > Generations 7-11 are in THE WIER-CREEKMORE GENEALOGY (1944) by Sarah > E.C. Wallace and later books. Some dates seem questionable. > Back to Generation 6 is proven through old letters. W.S. Wier books > cite an old manuscript tracing Generation 6 back to Generation 3 and > states that Generation 3 was the son of Generation 2.