Mrs. Owen:
I have tried to e-mail you directly about this thread which you started on 19 May 2001, but it was returned as undeliverable so I am posting my reply here in the hope that you, or a member of your family, will see it. Last year I announced on that board that I hoped that other male Gachs would join me in a study of Y-chromosome DNA, which as you may know only males carry, but my message did not draw any participants.
Y-DNA allows us to bridge the gaps between the various Gach families which were spread out across Europe for whom we have no documents, and especially for those in the USA who do not know their European origins. A week ago I decided that I was tired of waiting on other Gach males to come forward so I started the Gach yDNA Surname Project myself at
www.worldfamilies.net. You can see it by following this link:
www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/g/gach/ .
I have posted my yDNA test results on the "Results" page and what little I know of my Gach line on the "Patriarchs" page. My documented line starts with my great-grandfather Antoni Gach who was born before 1862 at Korchow in what is now southeast Poland. I believe that his father's name was Jan Gach but the parish records are not available for the years before 1862.
Above my line on that page you will see a Gach family from Pisek in old Bohemia (one of whose members has submitted a sample) and above that you will see the line of the Gach family from Neumarkt in old Galicia (now Nowy Targ, Poland) (one of whose members has also submitted a sample).
As only males carry the Y-chromosome it makes a great way to trace the degree of relationship between families who bear the same surname but have no documented proof that they are indeed related. Given that only males carry yDNA only males can be tested for it, I hope that of every Gach family with whom I am in contact will have at least one representative in this study.
I would be glad to post your line to that page, perhaps others would see it and make a connection to your family. In any case I hope that you will have any male Gachs, whom you may know, contact me about this subject.
Thank you,
Terrance
Chevalier Terrance Gach MacFarlane