Taylor Family Genes
Welcome to our site, dedicated to helping find your Taylor ancestors through
genetic genealogy. It is for providing information from and about the Taylor Family Genes
Project in an understandable, easy to follow way.
We maintain another website at
www.familytreedan.com/taylorfamilygenes/. It is more focused on the actual
DNA results.
Similarly-named Sites
The Taylor Family Genes project has no connection to taylorfamilygenes.com, a site
for one particular Taylor family. Nor, do we have a connection with any of the various
Taylor Family Associations.
The Taylor Surname Project
of Family Tree DNA
Our project is sponsored by Family Tree DNA. To FTDNA, we are the Taylor
Surname Project. We use the "Taylor Family Genes" name here, abbreviated TFG.
Frequently-used Links
Frequent visitors to the site may find these short-cuts handy:
Genealogy, the study of our ancestors, usually starts easily enough. We hear
stories from family elders. We find birth, death & marriage certificates to
verify what we've heard. We look in census records, tax lists and many
other documents; we visit courthouses, cemeteries, and archives to find and
prove ever-earlier generations.
But — sooner or later, for most of us — the resources we need to keep making
progress in our research get scarcer and scarcer, until we are blocked. We
arrive at the genealogists' "brick wall"; the records we need to lift the veil
of time either never existed or have been lost.
DNA may provide a way around the wall and show the way to continued progress
in our family histories. Using DNA as a tool, we can match family members spread
throughout the world and either confirm or dispel old yarns and legends.
DNA testing has become a useful tool for genealogists and can now provide a
means of connecting Taylors world wide. Whatever your genealogical interest,
powerful versions of Y-DNA testing are now available to genealogists of all
degrees of experience.
DNA (genetic genealogy) can unlock answers to persistent mysteries and
seemingly impenetrable brick walls by proving scientifically that two
individuals do or do not share a common male ancestor. Become a pioneer of the
future, secure and share your DNA for your children and their grandchildren.
Learning about genetic genealogy
It can be a complicated subject, requiring an understanding of
traditional genealogy as well as of some basic DNA principles. We've
compiled a learning resource list here.
Taylor,
Tailor, Taler, Tayler, Tayloe & Tyler
are some of the variations of this surname. Taylor is the most common spelling,
but more are included. All variations are welcomed in the Project.
Since 2004, the Taylor Family Genes Project has been proud to take its place
in the exciting new field of genetic genealogy, helping members connect with
their shared ancestors. We now have over 450 members and have helped many
of them solve ancestral mysteries.
We have a team of dedicated volunteers to actively administer the Project,
Though we receive no pay, any of us would be glad to provide more information.
Our names and addresses are on the "Contacts" page.
OR, go to the
FTDNA Taylor Project website.
We have become the largest (and, we think, the best) Taylor surname DNA
project. We provide a richness of services that few other projects can. For a
picture of the project, click here.
You can become eligible to join the Project by purchasing a DNA test kit from
Family Tree DNA and submitting a sample to the lab for analysis. For more
details about the kit, DNA basics and prices see the
Family Tree DNA website. Our "About
Y-DNA" page explains the process from testing through finding & interpreting
matches.
You needn't necessarily submit your own Y-DNA. You may submit a sample from
another to join the Project, but use your name and contact information if you
will be the contact person. You will then be considered the "kit owner".
About a month after the kit arrives at the lab, owner receives a certificate
with the results, a personal page on the FTDNA website and the opportunity to
join the Taylor project. There are no fees or dues for joining the Project; the
cost is included in your test.
Other ways to join
There are other ways of joining. If you have already been tested by another
company, you may be able to convert your results for a fee. Different companies
test different markers. Others may need to be retested. Only those who have
tests or conversions performed by FTDNA are eligible for Project membership.
We encourage you to join the project. The more people tested, the better the
odds for all of finding a match.
We take your privacy and security seriously. We publish only a limited amount
of information about you. For more on this question, see our
privacy page.
What's in a name?
It surprises some to realize that our very distant ancestors didn't use
surnames; they came into general use in Europe no earlier than the mid-1300s.
Our
"Names" page tells more about this and the origin of
the Taylor surname.
The Y-DNA test is male-specific; only men have a Y chromosome. The pattern of
its DNA is handed down from father to son with very little change over
centuries. Uncles and their sons will match identically. Male cousins of
great distances will match nearly exactly if they have a common male ancestor.
When interpreting the results, the element of probability comes into play.
We recommend getting 37 or 67 markers tested for the most refined
interpretation.
To read more about Y-DNA and its use in genetic genealogy, see our "About
Y-DNA" page.
Another test is the mtDNA test which describes the female lineage. Both men
and women may take this test. It traces the direct maternal line without
influence from other lines. Results identify the ethnic and geographic origin of
the maternal line.
The participant receives a certificate and report which describes the testing
process in general and the meaning of matches. Results are placed in the FTDNA
database. When another person shows identical results and if both parties have
signed the Family Tree DNA Release Form they will each be informed of the match.
This test is for HVR1(16001-16569) of the mitochondrial DNA. A panel of
twenty-two SNPs is included for backbone haplogroup placement. At this
point in time, our website does not display mtDNA data. A test which also
includes the HVR2 region is available as well.
Autosomal DNA
The Family Finder test analyzes autosomal DNA to identify relatives out
to about the third cousin level. In other words, it can find descendants of
your great-grandparents and, sometimes, great-great-grandparents.
We help you find matches: Project volunteer
co-administrators review Y-DNA results to find patterns that match to a degree
indicating a common male ancestor within a genealogical time frame. As we find
two or more matching Y-DNA patterns, we place them in a "group" and designate it
with the haplogroup and a number in the order found. For example, "Group I1-01"
indicates that this matched group is in haplogroup I1 and it was the first
identified by the project. "R1b-02" is thought to represent the family
form Zachariah Taylor came; it is in haplogroup R1b and was the 2nd found.
When a kit has been tested for 25 or more markers and has a perfect or very
close match to another in the Project, a group is formed. We have, so far,
identified more than 30 separate matching Y-DNA groups with from 2 to 7 members
each. We have a page -- click here
-- listing all the groups in the project with links to each individual
group page.
Kits which have not yet been matched with any other are clustered
together according to their
haplogroup values. Each set of ungrouped kits within the
same haplogroup has its own page, similar to the Matched Group page.
These members are hoping someone "out there" will be tested and have
matching Y-DNA markers. The most common haplogroup for TAYLOR
begins with R1b.
We are limited to finding matches among project members We do not have
access to DNA results of non-members.
Members are encouraged to share information about their male Taylor
ancestry and submit their personal family tree. We publish a tree (or the
beginning of one) for every member, listed by kit number, though some
members have not provided information. We do not post trees nor DNA results
for people who are not members through Family Tree DNA.
These trees are linked in various ways throughout the site. Access to the
trees may be obtained in either of three ways.
- If you only know the kit number,
click here.
This page gives a master list of all the trees in numerical order
and links to them on this site.
- If you know the group assignment, click
here and on the link to the particular group's page. Then click
the link by the name & kit#. This permits comparison of trees
by those sharing a common male ancestor.
- If you know the haplogroup, you can also access it from the
haplogroups page.
The tree shows the email address of the contact person for further
research discussions along that line. It is the responsibility of the kit
owner to send updates and corrections to his tree and email address.
We are sorry if the email address no longer is valid; we do update them if
members inform us.
The markers & allele values published on this site represent the modal
(most frequent) values for matched groups. we do not publish individuals'
results. They may be found on FTDNA's Taylor Family genes
public website.
Contents on the
DNA results page are:
- Overall project findings
- How many markers need to be tested.
- Discussion on interpreting DNA results
- How kits are grouped; what a "matched group" means
- How far back is our Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCMA).
- Links to other genetic genealogy information.
Taylor Family Genes is growing rapidly; about two new members are joining
every week. With over 400 members, the project is not the largest surname
DNA project. But, it is the largest (and, we think, best) Taylor DNA
project. For more about the project's status and its numbers, see
this page.
The Taylor Family Genes project has A NEWSLETTER which appears
on our own blog site, "Taylor
Topics". Members and non-members can read interesting articles
on various aspects of genetics, family success stories, and news from
the team members. You can also submit an article or question for
posting to this blog.
A site map is planned. When completed, it will provide an index to the page
where a topic occurs. In the meantime, report broken links
by clicking here.
You may also use the search box below to search the site.
The Project Administration Team is wholly made up of
Volunteers.
Click here for the admin team's page.
We help prospective members join the Project, organize the data, answer
questions or point members to someone who can assist, set up trees, analyze
data, etc. We are happy to help in this way. Please understand, though,
that we do not have the time to do research for individuals. We do enjoy
genealogy and the search for answers based on facts. Direct your questions
and concerns to a team member or post them on our blog.
Project members: You may change your own contact information in either
of two ways:
- Log onto your personal page at
www.familytreedna.com; you'll
need your kit number and password. Click on the contact information link to
make needed changes.
- Click here for an online form
to request request project administrators to log on to your personal page
and make the changes you request. We are picky about verifying that the
person making the request is authorized to do so.
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Revised: 11/18/2011
