See the item re DNA testing. I've long had a hunch that a large percentage of all Pages in America having Page roots in England are PROBABLY related, e.g those from Middlesex, Suffolk, Norfolk, etc. Besides Coln John Page in VA from Middlesex there were a great many of those convicts etc. who were transported to VA from Middlesex having the surname Page. The William of early Watertown, MA probably had Norfolk roots, as well as Susanna Page who md Thomas Gleason. The proximity of Norfolk to Suffolk suggests some common roots of the Pages in those locations. This doesn't in any way negate proceeding with the DNA experiment. It merely warns there might be some surprising results, similar to what Sykes discovered about the Sykes surname. >Date: 9 Apr 2000 22:21:12 -0000 >To: List Member <[email protected]> >Mailing-List: ListBot mailing list contact [email protected] >From: "Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter" <[email protected]> >Delivered-To: mailing list [email protected] >Subject: Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter > > - http://www.rootscomputing.com > >Do not reply to this message. For contact information, please see >the bottom of this newsletter. > > ========================================================== > > Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter > > A Weekly Summary of Events and > Topics of Interest to Online Genealogists > > Vol. 5 No. 15 - April 8, 2000 > > This newsletter is sponsored by Ancestry.com, > a leader in providing print and electronic > research information to genealogists. > > To learn about Ancestry.com's > state-of-the-art online genealogy databases > and other fine products, > visit the company's three Internet properties, > MyFamily.com, Ancestry.com, and FamilyHistory.com > > Past issues of this Newsletter > are available at: > http://www.ancestry.com/learn/columns/eastman.htm > > ========================================================== > >Copyright (C) 2000 by Richard W. Eastman. All rights reserved. > >If you do contact any of the companies or societies mentioned in >this newsletter, please tell them that you read about their >services in this newsletter. > >============================================================== > >IN THIS ISSUE: > >- Using Genetics to Trace Your Family Tree >- Society of Genealogists' Data to be Online >- GENUKI Book >- The Best Genealogy Program? >- Legacy 3.0 >- Jewish Genealogy Month Online >- Safety of Online Credit Card Transactions >- Home Pages Highlighted > >============================================================== > > - Using Genetics to Trace Your Family Tree > >Several wire services carried a story this week that could lead to >the most dramatic change in genealogy techniques we have ever >seen. A genetics professor at Oxford says that he can now prove >whether or not people with the last name indeed are members of the >same family. > >Brian Sykes, an expert in genetics at Britain's Oxford University, >said Tuesday he had checked the DNA of dozens of men named Sykes >and found, to his surprise, that they all seem to have descended >from the same ancestor. > >Examining men with the same surname as his own, Sykes used a >technique known as genetic fingerprinting to examine the men's Y >chromosome, which is handed down with very little change from >father to son. "I wrote 250 men, a random sample, with the same >surname, and I wrote to Sykeses because I felt confident >approaching people with the same name as mine," Sykes said in a >telephone interview. > >He tracked the men down in three English counties known to have >many people with the Sykes name -- York, Cheshire and Lancashire. >He sent them home DNA kits that included a brush to take a few >cells from the inside of the mouth. "I got 61 returns of DNA on >little brushes, and of those, half had a Y chromosome >microsatellite fingerprint which showed they had exactly the same >Y chromosome," Sykes said. > >Microsatellites are little repeated sequences of the four >nucleotides -- A, C, T and G -- that seem to carry no important >genetic instructions but which can be used as "fingerprints" to >identify genes. > >Sykes, who reported his findings in the American Journal of Human >Genetics, said he was surprised to find the same fingerprint in so >many different men who had no idea they were related. "The only >explanation is all Sykeses had come from a single male who first >inherited that name," he said. "We reckon from the court records >the name first appears in West Yorkshire in just about 1300." >Prior to this study, Sykes had always assumed that various >families in different parts of England had adopted the common name >of Sykes centuries ago. > >Before 1300, most English peasants went by just one name or had >names they did not pass on to their children. "Surnames became >inherited because it was a time you were able to transfer the >tenancy of your land to your children," Sykes said. He had not >expected such a pedigree for his name, in particular, which seems >to have had few noble associations. "Sykeses were all peasants and >vagabonds," he laughed. "They were always cropping in the court >records as having stolen sheep or burnt woods down." > >There was another eye opener in Sykes' findings. His analysis >shows that the Sykes men were most often the true fathers of their >male offspring, a tribute to their wives' fidelity. "With 50 >percent having the same Y chromosome ... it works out roughly at >about 1 percent per generation for no paternity," Sykes said. >"It's really quite low -- lower than the rates we are accustomed >to these days. It essentially means that 99 percent of Mrs. >Sykeses have been very well-behaved." > >Sykes, whose lab linked a 9,000-year-old skeleton known as >"Cheddar Man" to an Englishman living nearby in 1997, said the >applications of this latest work will be most valuable to people >tracing family histories. "It is astounding news for >genealogists," he said. Noting that written records are rare >before 1700, he said it would be a good way for people to track >their ancestry. > >Sykes has patented the test for an association between a surname >and the Y chromosome, and, with the university, started up a >company to perform the tests. "We are probably going to call it >Oxford Ancestors," he said. > >============================================================== > -- snip -- > >DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is being written and sent via e-mail >at no charge. I expect to write one new issue on a more or less >weekly basis. However, life sometimes interferes, and the need to >earn a living may create an occasional delay. > >========================================================== > >COPYRIGHTS: The contents of this newsletter are copyright by >Richard W. Eastman. You are hereby granted rights, unless >otherwise specified, to re-distribute articles from this >newsletter to other parties provided you do so strictly for non- >commercial purposes. Please limit your re-distribution to one or >two articles per newsletter; do not re-distribute the newsletter >in its entirety. Also, please include the following words with any >articles you re-distribute: > > The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy > Newsletter and is copyright 2000 by Richard W. Eastman. It is > re-published here with the permission of the author. > >Thank you for your cooperation. > >========================================================== > >Subscription information: To subscribe to this free newsletter, to >cancel an existing subscription or to modify an existing >subscription in any way, go to: > > http://rootscomputing.listbot.com > >If you want to see the current issue as well as back issues of the >newsletter, look on the World Wide Web at: > > http://www.ancestry.com/learn/columns/eastman.htm > >Please feel free to copy this subscription information and pass it >on to anyone else who you think might be interested in obtaining a >free subscription. > > >========================================================== > >About the author: Dick Eastman is the forum manager of the four >Genealogy Forums on CompuServe. He also is the author of "YOUR >ROOTS: Total Genealogy Planning On Your Computer" published by >Ziff-Davis Press. He can be reached at: [email protected] > > >______________________________________________________________________ >To unsubscribe, write to [email protected] > Dan Page [email protected]