FORBES DNA Project - Embraced by the Clan Forbes Society

[Coinneach49]

You may have read of this project in the recent Clan Forbes Society newsletter. I've initiated the project at FamilyTree DNA. Please consider passing the information onto any FORBESes. Participants are males with the surname FORBES, or variant, for genetic matching of the Y chromosome. Women can have their brother, uncle, cousin or other male of their lineage tested for the program. No medical information is collected. The testing looks at the non-coding or "junk" DNA region of your genome. (See definitions below).

The 23rd chromosome is known as the gender chromosome. As with the other chromosomes, one is inherited from the father, and one from the mother. The 23rd chromosome from the mother is always an X. From the father, a person either inherits an X chromosome or a Y chromosome. The chromosome inherited from the father determines their gender. An X from the father would result in an XX which is a female, and a Y from the father would result in an XY, which is a male. The Y chromosome is transmitted from father to sons. Scientists have identified a small portion, which is passed virtually unchanged. Testing of this portion of the Y chromosome provides information about the direct male line, which is the father, his father, and so forth back in time.

Surnames in Project (Some of the recognized variants of FORBES):
FAUBUS, FOBES, FORBES, FORBESS, FORBIS, FORBISH, FORBUS, FORBUSH, FORDICE, FORDYCE, FURBUSH


FORBES Worldwide DNA Project Aims

1) Establish or estimate the number of different ancestral lines found among FORBES families worldwide.

2) Trace currently known and unknown FORBES lineages to common ancestors in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and English colonies, past and present.

3) Assist genealogy researchers in identifying and validating their immigrant FORBES ancestor and/or remotest FORBES ancestor through the 25 Marker test.


MY PERSONAL OBJECTIVE
James Forbes (~1635-1692) of Hartford, Connecticut was a native of Scotland. My hope is for verification of the circumstantial connection I've established to James Forbes. The aim is to find genetic matches to others with a clear line of descendancy from James.

. . And please inform your FORBES friends of the project.


Ken Forbes
Project Administrator



Genome
The entire complement of genetic material in a chromosome set. The genome in the humans is made of 46 chromosomes, with a total of 3 billion bases pairs.


Junk DNA
Stretches of DNA that do not code for genes, also called non-coding DNA. Most of the genome consists of non-coding DNA, and was therefore long thought to be ‘junk.’ In addition to including markers that are helpful for genetic genealogy, more recently, parts of these non-coding stretches have been found to have regulatory and other functions.



Main Family Tree DNA Homepage
- click on "Projects" at top of page - then the "F" category - then "FORBES" for the Join Page
http://www.familytreedna.com/

Forbes Group Page
http://www.familytreedna.com/public/forbes/

Clan Forbes Society
http://www.clanforbes.org/

Requirements:

Since a Surname Project in essence traces members of a family that share a common surname, and females (a) don't carry their father's Y-DNA, and (b) acquire a new surname by the way of marriage, in order to be relevant to the Surname Project, the tested individual must be a male that wants to check his paternal line (father's father's father's...). The test to be ordered is either the Y-DNA12, Y-DNA25 or Y-DNA37, and females should look for a brother or cousin with that surname to be tested. Females can also order a test for themselves, which will be the mtDNA or mtDNAPlus, but the results of this test cannot be tied to the Surname Project.

[HollyElise]

Thank you for posting this information! I had not heard it and it is of interest to me, my dad's first name is Forbes after an ancestor, and i am familiar with dna projects as there is one going on for another name in my lineage.

[Coinneach49]

Glad to hear of your interest. I suspect that in your paternal lineage there is a male cousin with the surname of FORBES. Perhaps, they would consider being tested for your branch.

It's a pretty sure thing that all FORBESes hailed from Aberdeenshire at one time or another. A line of FOBESes went through Holland before coming to America (the Dutch couldn't pronounce the "R"). Some other FORBESes went through Germany, and many directly from Scotland to other destinations in the world. We hope to identify those unique lines back to a common ancestor.

While we have a group interest of identifying as many lines of FORBES as possible, we hope to offer guidance to your personal research by making genetic matches with others. Participation is the key!

My personal obective is to find genetic matches to others with a clear line of descendancy from my immigrant ancestor. The paper trail of my research is comprised of assumptions between my 4th and 5th great-grandfathers. The genetic match would solidify the connection.

An ancillary goal would be collaboration with the MACKAY and URQUHART Clans. History tells us that the three clans sprang from a common Irish lord. In 1667, William Forbes edited and drew up a preface for the "House of Forbes," compiled by Matthew Lumsden in 1580. In this preface, he says Ochonochar, an Irish Lord who came over to Scotland, had a son Ochonochar, and that this second Ochonochar had three sons, who became the respective progenitors of the families of Forbes, Urquhart and MacKay. Looking at the few tests we have already, and what the Clan URQUHART has available, there may be validity to this information. But we have just begun this project.


Best Regards,

Ken Forbes
Puyallup, WA


ftDNA Tutorial
http://www.familytreedna.com/dna101.html


DNA for Family Historians (quick reading - he sends pdf book by email with password key - USA: $6.99)
http://www.savin.org/dna/dna-book.html


Frequently asked questions
http://www.ftdna.com/faq.html

[HollyElise]

oh my goodness! Interesting again!

I have MacKay and Urquhart as well.

The Forbes though... i think will not be a cousin but a great-grandparent... the way my family was naming their children. But i haven't figured out the exact pattern yet.

My dad is Forbes Johnstone Whiteside and he was the second son and third child.

His maternal grandfather was George Forbes Johnstone. So perhaps his maternal grandfather was _______ George Forbes? Or perhaps only if George Forbes Johnstone was also a second son... but Forbes will definitely be in there somewhere.



..and as for Aberdeenshire... now this just sends happy chills up my spine. This enters the realm of "beyond coincidence."

I never travelled in my life until recently. About four years ago my otherwise happy marriage took a sudden, horrible, turn and we divorced. Around this time i took my FIRST trip to Europe, and i went alone. And i went on intuition to Aberdeen, and ONLY Aberdeen... i thought completely at random... i didn't know i had any Scottish heritage. And at the time i'd never been to London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, etc... or even Edinborough or Glasgow.

But about 9 months later i discovered my mother's family name... Daniels.... that her ancestors came from there and sailed from the Aberdeen shore to the U.S. Daniels, by the way is the other name undergoing a DNA project... but they are a little further along with the research.

And now you have given me another connection to Aberdeenshire! Weird, hunh?

[HollyElise]

Hey, would you mind doing me a favor and looking at my post on George Forbes Johnstone that i put in the Genealogy section? I'm kind of stuck in my research and i'm hoping for suggestions on what to try next.

thanks.

[Scottish_Republican]

Fordyce is nothing to do with Forbes, they merely resemble one another in that the d is inverted.

[Coinneach49]

Fordyce is one of the variants recognized by the Clan Forbes Society.