As Bob (Robert
Lyle Thrift) mentioned,
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.thrift/268/mb.ashxhe ordered a 67-marker DNA test. Results are due in early June, however the company surprised us and reported the results of the first 12 markers Friday. I'll just comment briefly now, and hope to have more extensive discussion when complete results are in.
I am posting a comparison of the different families we have results for so far, showing the family groups as determined by DNA testing. A preliminary version is here:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~thriftzzfr...I hope the use of color will help show similarities within, & differences between families. If you have any questions at all, please ask.
It does appear that Bob (and thus
Isham Thrift) is unrelated to Nathaniel
Thrift of Old
Rappahannock County, VA. This will be made even clearer when results of all 67 markers are in. If true, this means
Isham is NOT a descendant of Nathaniel
Thrift of Old
Rappahannock Co VA &
Edgecomb /
Nash Co, NC. (I told you so!) Further, as Bob pointed out,
Isham is clearly unrelated to Robert T. Thrift of
Georgia. DNA testing is even better at showing UNrelatedness than it is at showing relatedness. Showing that two families are unrelated can be quite valuable.
Robert
Lyle Thrift is descended from Isham's son Perry. If we can test a male descendant of a different son of
Isham (the technique is termed triangulation), these results can be confirmed beyond a doubt.
We desperately need to test other branches of Thrifts, and results will very likely show that some of those branches are actually related. We particularly need to test descendants from the
Dinwiddie Co Thrifts, descendants of
South Carolina Thrifts (of either
Abraham or John), any of the
Alabama,
Texas,
Florida Thrifts or for that matter Thrifts in the British
Isles or colonies around the world, as well as any Friths and Firths we can induce to participate. AND we need to test male descendants of Penelope
Thrift of
GA to see if we can get some clues regarding that story.
If you can't be tested yourself, consider donating towards the cost of tests so that others can.
Regards
Richard
Thriftrtx at cox dot net