Hi Fellow Taylors!
Whenever I run into a new Taylor in my life, I tell them about the Taylor project. It's hard to explain in a simple soundbite, and sometimes I'm less than successful. So I met yet another Taylor Tuesday evening, and got his e-mail and sent him this letter. It is adapted from the letter we are now sending to anyone who contacts the project, without yet being a member. I recommend you take it and modify it to your needs. I'm wondering, myself, if it would be too OCD to carry copies in my purse to hand out...
See letter below.
Lalia
~~~~~~~~~
Dear...
Here is information about the Taylor DNA project, hosted by FTDNA (Family Tree DNA). It allows you and the rest of us find our ancestral lines. Our Taylor Family Genes project posts the DNA results and family trees for members of the project. The public is welcome to view our public page, http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~taylorydna, and to explore the FTDNA websites--which together have a wealth of information about genetic genealogy and about the Taylor project.
To become a member, you'll need to go to FTDNA, http://www.ftdna.com/, and click on the "Products" tab at the top of the page and scroll down to the list of tests, then order a kit. There are many products available so we recommend our new members purchase the 37 DNA marker test (or the 67) because when you do get a match, it is easier to zoom in on the generation in which a common ancestor lived. These kits are for men. For Taylor women with no male Taylor to be tested, you have the option of following your maternal line, through testing mtDNA, or testing autosomal DNA, through the new Family Finder test. These two tests are also available to males.
Once your kit is turned in for processing there's about a 1 month waiting period for your results to come back. You can join the Taylor surname project at that time and we will request that you send your family tree to be posted on the site. Once your markers are in, FTDNA will post them and send you a certificate with all the data.
We hope this has given you the information to get you started. We look forward to you joining the 350 Taylors already participating in the project, who currently are sorted into about 35 family groups (i.e. related markers) and a number of "singles" awaiting family matches.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Another Source for Genetic Matching Information
Hello,
I've come across another site that has information on genetic matching statistics. While this is not exactly how I would have presented it, it is easily understood and may be more accessible to you than what was presented here in earlier blogs.
To use these tables you will need to know the number of markers you have tested and the number that are different, if any, from a likely relative.
http://www.huxford.com/Genetic_Distance.htm
Please let me know your interesting stories.
Lalia Wilson for the Taylor Surname Project
I've come across another site that has information on genetic matching statistics. While this is not exactly how I would have presented it, it is easily understood and may be more accessible to you than what was presented here in earlier blogs.
To use these tables you will need to know the number of markers you have tested and the number that are different, if any, from a likely relative.
http://www.huxford.com/Genetic_Distance.htm
Please let me know your interesting stories.
Lalia Wilson for the Taylor Surname Project
Saturday, March 6, 2010
The Anniversary of the Alamo Defeat
Hello Taylors and Friends,
Today is the anniversary of the day that the Alamo fell. The Alamo, for those who haven't seen the movies, read the books or had Texas history, is a fortress in modern-day San Antonio. Four Taylors were known to have served as defenders. Three were the Taylor brothers James, George and Edward, all born in Tennessee to Anson and Elizabeth Maley Taylor. The fourth was a William Taylor, about whom I have no more information. I do not know when William was born, who his family were, or whether he died at the Alamo or not. The first three Taylors are known to have died at the Alamo. Some Alamo defenders were transferred out, or sent as messengers, and thus did not die at the Alamo.
Among the 50 US states, Texas has a unique and proud history. The Alamo is part of that history. The final defense of the Alamo, in which 115 defended the Alamo against a Mexican force of 1500, killing 400 or more of them before dying themselves, is an example of bravery even today.
See the quote below from Wikipedia:
"James Taylor (ca. 1814-March 6, 1836) was a defender of the Alamo and the brother of George Taylor and Edward Taylor.
Taylor and his brothers were born in Tennessee, to Anson and Elizabeth Maley Taylor. At the outbreak of the Texas Revolution, the three brothers were employed picking cotton in Liberty, Texas. They soon left that job to join the Army of the Republic of Texas, and served under the command of Col. William Travis at the Alamo. All three were killed when, on March 6th, 1836, the Mexican army breached the Alamo walls, overwhelming the defenders. There have been some who have suggested that the brothers were killed in the massacre following the Battle of Goliad, but instead they were killed at the Alamo. Taylor County, Texas is named for the Taylor brothers."
Lalia Wilson for the Taylor Surname Project
Today is the anniversary of the day that the Alamo fell. The Alamo, for those who haven't seen the movies, read the books or had Texas history, is a fortress in modern-day San Antonio. Four Taylors were known to have served as defenders. Three were the Taylor brothers James, George and Edward, all born in Tennessee to Anson and Elizabeth Maley Taylor. The fourth was a William Taylor, about whom I have no more information. I do not know when William was born, who his family were, or whether he died at the Alamo or not. The first three Taylors are known to have died at the Alamo. Some Alamo defenders were transferred out, or sent as messengers, and thus did not die at the Alamo.
Among the 50 US states, Texas has a unique and proud history. The Alamo is part of that history. The final defense of the Alamo, in which 115 defended the Alamo against a Mexican force of 1500, killing 400 or more of them before dying themselves, is an example of bravery even today.
See the quote below from Wikipedia:
"James Taylor (ca. 1814-March 6, 1836) was a defender of the Alamo and the brother of George Taylor and Edward Taylor.
Taylor and his brothers were born in Tennessee, to Anson and Elizabeth Maley Taylor. At the outbreak of the Texas Revolution, the three brothers were employed picking cotton in Liberty, Texas. They soon left that job to join the Army of the Republic of Texas, and served under the command of Col. William Travis at the Alamo. All three were killed when, on March 6th, 1836, the Mexican army breached the Alamo walls, overwhelming the defenders. There have been some who have suggested that the brothers were killed in the massacre following the Battle of Goliad, but instead they were killed at the Alamo. Taylor County, Texas is named for the Taylor brothers."
Lalia Wilson for the Taylor Surname Project
Monday, March 1, 2010
A Decorated Taylor from WWII
Hi,
I was looking up some material about Mannheim, Germany, when I came across this interesting bit of Taylor news. One of the US Army's military facilities in Mannheim is named for a Taylor hero of WWII.
You can see more about this at Wikipedia.
The barracks was named after Pvt. 1st Class Cecil V. Taylor who posthumously received a Silver Star for courage in the face of the enemy. Taylor continued to fire his machinegun, though mortally wounded, fighting off an enemy counterattack in Beilstein, Germany, on 18 April 1945. Taylor was assigned to 399th Inf Reg, 100th Infantry Division.
Lalia Wilson for the Taylor DNA Project
I was looking up some material about Mannheim, Germany, when I came across this interesting bit of Taylor news. One of the US Army's military facilities in Mannheim is named for a Taylor hero of WWII.
You can see more about this at Wikipedia.
The barracks was named after Pvt. 1st Class Cecil V. Taylor who posthumously received a Silver Star for courage in the face of the enemy. Taylor continued to fire his machinegun, though mortally wounded, fighting off an enemy counterattack in Beilstein, Germany, on 18 April 1945. Taylor was assigned to 399th Inf Reg, 100th Infantry Division.
Lalia Wilson for the Taylor DNA Project
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Newly Available Technique at FTDNA
Greetings,
Family Tree DNA has announced to current members that they can do autosomal testing of their DNA. This new test is called Family Finder by FTDNA. So here's a quick explanation of what that means. If you are a member of a surname project, such as the Taylor project, you have had y-DNA tested. This is the Y-Chromosome which is inherited from father to son throughout history. The minor changes that occur in that chromosome happen such that over generations family lines separate. Y-DNA is extremely useful to determine one's patrilineal lineage.
Similarly mt-DNA is testing the genetic material that comes only from one's mother. She got it from her mother and so on back in history. Mitochondrial DNA mutates more slowly than y-DNA, making it less useful in following one's ancestors in historical time, but more useful, perhaps, for deep ancestral investigation.
Autosomal DNA is the DNA in the 22 chromosomes that do not include the final 23rd chromosome that determines whether we are male or female. Thus the remaining 22 chromosomes have genetic pieces from all our ancestors, not limited to our father's direct paternal line or our mother's direct maternal line.
Family Tree DNA proposes to test your sample, should you request the test, and compare it with their database of samples. They assert that with this test you can locate genetic relatives in the database from as far removed as 5th cousins. This would include relatives unknown to you, who may have been lost to your version of your combined family history. While the new autosomal testing will be administered separately from the surname project to which you belong, it will provide useful information that may enhance your knowledge of your family tree. See the quote below from the FTDNA website:
"Surname projects can use Family Finder to better define branches in a family tree. By using Family Finder testing, close Y-chromosome and mt-DNA matches without traditional records may be assigned to a pedigree with greater confidence. Even more exciting, surname projects may now bring female cousins into the project as additional evidence."
Lalia Wilson for the Taylor Surname Project
Family Tree DNA has announced to current members that they can do autosomal testing of their DNA. This new test is called Family Finder by FTDNA. So here's a quick explanation of what that means. If you are a member of a surname project, such as the Taylor project, you have had y-DNA tested. This is the Y-Chromosome which is inherited from father to son throughout history. The minor changes that occur in that chromosome happen such that over generations family lines separate. Y-DNA is extremely useful to determine one's patrilineal lineage.
Similarly mt-DNA is testing the genetic material that comes only from one's mother. She got it from her mother and so on back in history. Mitochondrial DNA mutates more slowly than y-DNA, making it less useful in following one's ancestors in historical time, but more useful, perhaps, for deep ancestral investigation.
Autosomal DNA is the DNA in the 22 chromosomes that do not include the final 23rd chromosome that determines whether we are male or female. Thus the remaining 22 chromosomes have genetic pieces from all our ancestors, not limited to our father's direct paternal line or our mother's direct maternal line.
Family Tree DNA proposes to test your sample, should you request the test, and compare it with their database of samples. They assert that with this test you can locate genetic relatives in the database from as far removed as 5th cousins. This would include relatives unknown to you, who may have been lost to your version of your combined family history. While the new autosomal testing will be administered separately from the surname project to which you belong, it will provide useful information that may enhance your knowledge of your family tree. See the quote below from the FTDNA website:
"Surname projects can use Family Finder to better define branches in a family tree. By using Family Finder testing, close Y-chromosome and mt-DNA matches without traditional records may be assigned to a pedigree with greater confidence. Even more exciting, surname projects may now bring female cousins into the project as additional evidence."
Lalia Wilson for the Taylor Surname Project
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Success in Finding Your Ancestors
Your participation in the Family Tree DNA project is to find your ancestors. Most likely your fantasy was that you would swab your cheek, send in the sample, and a few days later get a letter depicting your family tree! And most likely that did not happen.
In order to determine your family tree several things need to happen. Some of those things have to do with having closely related people in the FTDNA database. Several hundred thousand samples are in the database. It is the largest one in the world, at least about which there is public knowledge and public access. However, there are close to 7 billion people on the planet. So the samples only represent about one for every 15,000 people. The samples also are not a random sample of human DNA, but instead a sample of people who (for the most part) live in North America, have college educations, have the means to participate in the project, and have an interest in genealogy.
Usually participants enter the project because they have heard about it from a family member or a friend. Thus, we have clusters of people with known common ancestors. And they already know about their shared connection and are seeking more connections to help them look back in time to earlier ancestors.
To accomplish this goal, more participation in the Taylor project as well as other projects will bring in more samples. (Since there are so many Taylors, telling people about the project will inevitably bring more Taylors into the project.) In addition to the samples, we need two more things from you: a willingness to share data and cooperate with other project members—your more distant cousins—and as accurate a family tree as you can provide. For the family tree, follow the guidelines you received from Leigh Taylor to supply a tree that is easily read, is useful, and keeps information about living people private.
Then be patient. If your relative who has the missing clue isn’t already in the project, he may be soon!
Wishing all of us good luck and good family connections!
Lalia
In order to determine your family tree several things need to happen. Some of those things have to do with having closely related people in the FTDNA database. Several hundred thousand samples are in the database. It is the largest one in the world, at least about which there is public knowledge and public access. However, there are close to 7 billion people on the planet. So the samples only represent about one for every 15,000 people. The samples also are not a random sample of human DNA, but instead a sample of people who (for the most part) live in North America, have college educations, have the means to participate in the project, and have an interest in genealogy.
Usually participants enter the project because they have heard about it from a family member or a friend. Thus, we have clusters of people with known common ancestors. And they already know about their shared connection and are seeking more connections to help them look back in time to earlier ancestors.
To accomplish this goal, more participation in the Taylor project as well as other projects will bring in more samples. (Since there are so many Taylors, telling people about the project will inevitably bring more Taylors into the project.) In addition to the samples, we need two more things from you: a willingness to share data and cooperate with other project members—your more distant cousins—and as accurate a family tree as you can provide. For the family tree, follow the guidelines you received from Leigh Taylor to supply a tree that is easily read, is useful, and keeps information about living people private.
Then be patient. If your relative who has the missing clue isn’t already in the project, he may be soon!
Wishing all of us good luck and good family connections!
Lalia
Taylors in the News, December 2009
The name Taylor, at least the first name Taylor, has been in the news recently. Teenagers Taylor Daniel Lautner and Taylor Swift have both made the headlines. They have even been paired as a romantic couple.
Lautner plays the part of the werewolf, Jacob Black, in the Twilight movies. He was born Taylor Daniel Lautner on February 11, 1992 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
On December 2, 2009 [Taylor] Swift received Grammy Award nominations for: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "You Belong with Me", Best Female Country Vocal Performance, Best Country Song for "White Horse", Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals for "Breathe", and Album of the Year and Best Country Album for "Fearless". Taylor Alison Swift was born December 13, 1989 in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She records in two genres: country & pop. She is a singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress. Swift plays guitar, piano, ukulele and 12-string guitar, as well as doing vocals. Swift won five 2009 American Music Awards: Artist of The Year, Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist, Favorite Country Female Artist, Favorite Country Album for "Fearless", and Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist.
In 2009, Cherry Jones won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama, playing the part of the first female president, President Allison Taylor, in the highly regarded television drama 24.
Lautner plays the part of the werewolf, Jacob Black, in the Twilight movies. He was born Taylor Daniel Lautner on February 11, 1992 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
On December 2, 2009 [Taylor] Swift received Grammy Award nominations for: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "You Belong with Me", Best Female Country Vocal Performance, Best Country Song for "White Horse", Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals for "Breathe", and Album of the Year and Best Country Album for "Fearless". Taylor Alison Swift was born December 13, 1989 in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She records in two genres: country & pop. She is a singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress. Swift plays guitar, piano, ukulele and 12-string guitar, as well as doing vocals. Swift won five 2009 American Music Awards: Artist of The Year, Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist, Favorite Country Female Artist, Favorite Country Album for "Fearless", and Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist.
In 2009, Cherry Jones won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama, playing the part of the first female president, President Allison Taylor, in the highly regarded television drama 24.
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