Hello, I have two surname projects WESTON Worldwide (13 participants) http://www.familytreedna.com/public/weston_worldwide/index.aspx & THURLOW (12 participants) http://www.familytreedna.com/public/thurlow/index.aspx My biggest lesson and surprize so far with my surname projects is that WESTONs and THURLOWs are more likely to be unrelated to each other than not. This was particularly surprizing for the THURLOWs, a very uncommon surname derived from an East Anglian (southeast England) parish name. David Weston Nova Scotia, Canada

Are you getting multiple origins for each surname? I think the thing that suprised me the most in my projects is how many different origins there are for these surnames. I guess I expected each of them to be more "monolithitc." In fact, [checking...] the tally for my five surname projects now stands at: BIDDLE: 7 members / 5 origins CARRICO: 9 members / 3 origins CORBIN: 19 members / 9 origins RASEY: 3 members / 2 origins STRAUB: 44 members / 22 origins! I would expect to have multiple origins for occupational names (e.g., BAKER, CARPENTER, MILLER, SMITH, etc.) or for patronymics (e.g., JOHNSON, WILLIAMSON, etc.), but I didn't expect so many origins for these names. Diana > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] On Behalf Of David Weston > Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 2:22 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Y-DNA-projects] WESTON & THURLOW DNA Projects > > Hello, > > I have two surname projects > > WESTON Worldwide (13 participants) > > http://www.familytreedna.com/public/weston_worldwide/index.aspx > > & > > THURLOW (12 participants) > > http://www.familytreedna.com/public/thurlow/index.aspx > > My biggest lesson and surprize so far with my surname > projects is that WESTONs and THURLOWs are more > likely to be unrelated to each other than not. This was > particularly surprizing for the THURLOWs, a > very uncommon surname derived from an East Anglian (southeast > England) parish name. > > David Weston > Nova Scotia, Canada > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body > of the message > >

Hello Diana, I new going in with my WESTONs that our origins were likely spread across England. The word "WESTON" is Old English and refers to the west end or side of a farm or hamlet. There are over 100 place names in Great Britain with the 'Weston' in the name. In my traditional research, I also compiled a list of all the male WESTONs born before 1813 who were listed in the 1851 UK census (Ancestry.com index). I then tabulated and mapped the lot by birth place and county. The idea was to see in which parts of England we WESTONs were most common. The results are posted on the Background tab of the DNA project website. http://www.familytreedna.com/public/weston_worldwide/index.aspx I found 5 or 6 super clusters depending on you break them down. The bulk of the WESTONs are from the English Midlands (Staffordshire, Leicestershire) with other pockes in Wiltshire, Sussex, London (Middlesex) and Surrey. My lot are in the London/Surrey crowd. Quiet a large number of Americans can probably claim descendent from a WESTON family. One family was amongst the founders at Duxbury and Plymouth, Mass. and married into several of the Mayflower lines (SOULE, STANDISH). It was a Thomas WESTON that supposedly sold the 'Mayflower' to the Pilgrims. I have seen that substantiated though. A John WESTON/WESSON was amongst the founders at Salem and Reading, Mass. and claims a very large number of descendents in the USA today. As for the THURLOWs, them I had researched for years as a One-Name Study before started the DNA project. I thought I had the lot figured out. On paper there are two unrelated families, one from East Anglia (Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire) and the other from the Hull area of East Yorkshire, whose surname had changed from THORLEY. The East Yorkshire THURLOW/THORLEY's are the only ones I have had luck piecing together with YDNA. It helps one of them, a Richard THORLEY/THURLOW, was one of the founders at Rowley, Mass. and as large American tree beneath him. The East Anglian THURLOWs on the other hand I am 5/6 in unrelated branches. My best guess is that the surname passed down in East Anglia through various maternal connections. My own THURLOW line traces to an out of wedlock birth in 1825. Cheers, David. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Diana Gale Matthiesen Sent: July 23, 2008 3:41 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Y-DNA-projects] WESTON & THURLOW DNA Projects - multipleorigins Are you getting multiple origins for each surname? I think the thing that suprised me the most in my projects is how many different origins there are for these surnames. I guess I expected each of them to be more "monolithitc." In fact, [checking...] the tally for my five surname projects now stands at: BIDDLE: 7 members / 5 origins CARRICO: 9 members / 3 origins CORBIN: 19 members / 9 origins RASEY: 3 members / 2 origins STRAUB: 44 members / 22 origins! I would expect to have multiple origins for occupational names (e.g., BAKER, CARPENTER, MILLER, SMITH, etc.) or for patronymics (e.g., JOHNSON, WILLIAMSON, etc.), but I didn't expect so many origins for these names. Diana