UPDATED PAGE. Periodic updates will be posted as project activity dictates. Mass E-mails to members will be discontinued or limited.
| 6/5/10 |
Summer sale at FTDNA: for new orders. The promotion will start June 5 and will end June 25. Kits need to be paid for by June 30, 2010.
http://www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=Meek&code=N40803 The Y-DNA37 is the preferred test for project members. 67 markers are better. E-mail if you have questions. |
| 2/18/10 |
Two new members in Group E: Don Meek descends from Joseph Meek b: 1744. Being from a different son than Harold confirms that the Joseph Meek DNA profile matches that of Group E sub-group 1. Rob Meek also matches Group E lending support to the theory that there is a third subgroup in Group E with DYS391=12 and CDYb=41. This is far from certain as we need more people being tested to establish the behavior of these two markers in Group E. |
| 1/7/10 |
Meek-DNA mailing list The Meek/Meeks DNA Project has a Rootsweb mailing list that operates in conjunction with the project. Its purpose is (1) To provide a vehicle for administrators to send important information to all members and (2) to provide a means of communications between members and the administrators regarding questions about DNA and how the DNA results relate to their genealogy. It is not intended for genealogical inquiries outside of the context of DNA. It is believed that this will be a low volume non intrusive list but if member do not wish to receive each posting as it is posted they can set their preference to digest mode. Of course anyone may contact the administrators directly with their questions. Important information will also be posted in the update section of the project web site. |
| 1/1/10 |
Project Summary for 2009: The project welcomed 19 new members for a 5 year average of 19.2 per year. There are now 109 members in the project. Our growth has remained steady at just under 20 a year. Each of the major groups received at least one new member with Group F being the big winner. There was also some increase in participation from people with a proven connection to the British Isles. Group F has been tied to a Meek family from Lanarkshire, Scotland. We have also completed SNP testing for the five major groups. This has less to do with genealogy than STR markers but rather looks at a time period 2000 to 5000 years in the past. This field has expanded rapidly during 2009. It may eventually help us pin point where in England or Europe our different Meek/Meeks families originated closer to the year 1000. Eighty percent of the members fall into one of five groups. Each of those five groups has ancestors who lived in the United States prior to the Revolutionary War. Three of the groups have members living in England, Scotland or Ireland as well as other members with genealogies leading to those countries. It is interesting that all of the non-matches cannot trace their Meek(s) line back further than 1790 or they are from the British Isles. This indicates that the Meek(s) name is more far reaching than the majority of tests indicate. There are only about seven known Meek ancestors from the United States born before the end of the Revolutionary War that have not been identified through DNA testing. As the project continues to grow we can hopefully identify some of these as well as clear up some non-matches. The early American ancestors, especially Guy Meek, remain a priority for the project. We will also continue to seek people with roots in the British Isles, Europe and around the world. |
| 12/24/09 |
Merry Christmas! |
| 11/22/09 |
Group F SNP test A member of this group has previously tested positive for the R haplogroup maker L21. L21 is a sub clad of P312. A second member was recently SNP tested and found positive for the newly discovered marker L193. Group F also matches a group identified by the STR markers DYS406S1=11 and DYS617=13. The relationship between L193 and these markers is not yet known. |
| 11/12/09 |
Group F update-67 marker upgrade On the 38 to 67 marker panel all four members are the same except that Peter has a 10 at DYS406S1. This is probably a more recent mutation and does not impact the comparison between the two sub-groups. Peter also ordered an additional marker DYS463 which is different than the Virginia members. We need to get this marker tested for Russell and with his permission I will use donated funds to order that. Thus we are back to the original analysis which shows Peter and Russell representing a sub-group with a difference on the single marker CDYa. Considering that any connection between the Virginia sub-group and the Scotland sub-group probably goes back as far as 1700 to 1500 this is a close match. There is a new member who descends from Athe Meeks born 1750. The current results for Athe descendants are from the Sorenson Lab from unidentified people. They also are missing six important markers. SO Larry’s contribution will add to our DNA knowledge of this group. |
| 11/4/09 |
Sale on DNA tests at FTDNA Family Tree DNA announced it's year end sale. A new Y-DNA 37 marker test will cost $119.00 through the end of December. The regular price is $149.00. The 67 marker test is $209.00 and the mtDMA plus is 139.00. There is no price reductions for upgrades and tests muct be paid for by December 31st. |
| 11/3/09 |
Group F update: Group F has always been interesting because the DNA seems to discriminate between some of the sons of William Meeks born 1725. In the last several months new members and extended testing has expanded our knowledge of this group. Two new members have genealogies to families in Scotland supporting the family lore that William Meeks was from Scotland. The two new members did not descend from William Meeks and appear to have markers that distinguish them as a separate sub group. Descendants of William Meeks now have a real possibility of finding the connection to the family in Scotland. The testing of extended markers continues. |
| 9/16/09 |
Group B Discussion revised The Group B discussion has been revised. |
| 8/8/09 |
New Group B results The recent matches are from Daniel Meek a descendant of Jacob Meek born about 1760 who resided in Henry Co., TN. |
| 7/25/09 |
100 members The project has reached the milestone of having 100 members. When we started this was considered a significant achievement which I did not dream we would accomplish. While 100 members is not unique today it is still significant for us. More importantly we are still growing and continue to learn about people named Meek and Meeks. A big thanks to all of the member who have sought out new members. Your contribution is greatly appreciated. |
| 7/17/09 |
FTDNA July sale on new orders of Y-DNA37+mtDNA. The price is $119.00. The Y-DNA67 test is $238. The sale ends July 31th. This is slightly different than the June sale. If you know anyone you would like to get tested now would be good time. |
| 7/15/09 |
Group E upgrades We have several 67 marker upgrades for Group E that have recently come back with two pending. We will say more about this later. |
| 6/9/09 |
Group F SNPs results is L21+ the same as Group C. They are negative for all downstream SNPs. |
| 6/9/09 |
6/9/09 FTDNA June sale on new orders of Y-DNA37+mtDNA. The is $119.00. While some people might not be interested in mtDNA this is still $30.00 off the group price for the Y-37 test. The sale ends June 24th. If you know anyone you would like to get tested now would be good time. (mtDNA is the test for the maternal line but has less genealogical significance than Y-DNA.) |
| 5/27/09 |
Group F analysis: This group has been updated with the addition of Russell Meek from Scotland. This new match ties the Virginia family to a family in Scotland with a genealogy extending further back in time. Additional genealogy is required to identify when and where the connection occurred. Click here for updated Group F discussion. |
| 5/21/09 |
Group E analysis: The ancestor Robert Meek born 1732 (kit#146247) has been added to Group E, sub group 1. Unfortunately the DNA results are not conclusive regarding which sub group he should be in. However the evidence suggest sub-group 1. Additional testing on other descendants will resolve this issue. Click here for updated Group E discussion. |
| 5/6/09 |
Project web site recognized by ISOGG: The International Society of Genetic Genealogy has conducted a "peer review" of the Meek/Meeks project web site. A summary of their comments include ""This is a particularly well-designed and well thought out Y-DNA surname website. - EXCELLENT project and very worthy of ISOGG Peer Review Approval!!!" |
| 4/29/09 |
New product by FTDNA is NOT recommended: On your personal page at FTDNA you will find a new link entitled "Introducing Personalized Genealogy Report". These reports are large and very pretty. But for around $350.00 I would not recommend them. The author is a well respected genealogical researcher. However, she can only provide very general information given the mount of time she will committed to these reports. She would not have adequate information to provide any more analysis of your DNA results than is provided on this web site for free. |
| 4/15/09 |
Final SNP test for Group C: A member of Group C tested positive for the SNP L21. In addition he is negative for all down stream SNPs. The update of 1/20/09 has been updated. |
| 3/1/09 |
Project General Fund started: While we have received donations in the past there has never been a formal program to solicit, disburse and monitor donations. With the help of FTDNA a General fund has been started for the Meek/Meeks project. Read more here. |
| 2/14/09 |
Uploading results to Ysearch: Instructions for uploading your results to ysearch can be found in the Menu. This is highly recommended if you have not already done it. Also remember to upload any upgrades. If any member thinks they already have a ysearch ID and cannot remember let me know. I keep a record of all ysearch IDs. |
| 1/20/09 |
SNP test results: A haplogroup is a population group defined by a specific mutation on a SNP marker. SNP stands for single nucleotide polymorphism. Your regular DNA results are STR markers which stand for short tandem repeat. FTDNA predicts your haplogroup but it can only be determined for sure through a SNP test. SNP markers mutate more slowly than STR markers. Therefore, those people who are related within genealogical time frames will have the same SNP and be in the same haplogroup. Most members in the project are in the large haplogroup R1b1b2 defined by the SNP M269. However, this haplogroup has many downstream SNPs which define subclades. One or more people in the Meek/Meeks project Groups A, B, C and E have been SNP tested. This update is to report those results.
Group B (kit#28407) is positive for M269>P310
U106 and P312 are the two major branches of the R1b1b2 haplogroup. Other groups and individuals in the project have not been SNP tested.
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| 12/17/08 |
Group B results: New member Bryan matches Group B and appears to belong in the Tennessee subgroup. His genealogy does not yet connect to other members and his DNA signature is slightly different. While this is frustrating it is important information as we continue to build a picture of the Group B structure. Everyone is encouraged to solicit new members particularly in their own extended branch of family. Every new member brings some information with them even if it is only a non-match or difficult to understand results. Merry Christmas! |
| 11/09/08 |
Update for 2008: The Meek/Meeks DNA Project celebrates its 4th anniversary on November 9th. There are now 91 members in the project with the addition of 22 new members in 2008 thus far. Every major group in the project gained new members. We also received three new members from Ancestry.com and there are an additional two people there that we are trying to contact. It has been our best year since starting in terms of numbers. We have also expanded our knowledge of Revolutionary era ancestors with the addition of John Alexander Meek born 1686 to Group E. In addition we have several members with less well known early ancestors that have not yet obtained a match. Also we have one new member from Scotland expanding our overseas membership and one member who can trace his family back to England. Finally, we had three new members with different surnames, two of which matched Group B, and three ladies who ordered mtDNA tests. As indicated in an earlier E-mail the project web site has moved to http://meekdna.com/ The service should be better than what we experienced on AOL. If anyone sees any problems be sure and let us know. A new mailing list for the project has been started on Rootsweb. It is hoped that we can increase communication from project administrators to members and also facilitate discussion between members. It is believed that this would be a low volume list and thus not intrusive on your E-mail. Of course one can always op for a periodic digest or op out at any time. To subscribe to MEEK-DNA please go to this link. http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/other/DNA/MEEK-DNA.html OR we can subscribe you ourselves if you respond to this update and let us know that is what you want. We encourage everyone in the project to join this mailing list to stay abreast of project activities. We also started a new update section on the web site. Future updates will be posted there and on the mailing list. As always we need more members to continue our progress. Current members need to be alert to prospects as you go about your genealogical research. We receive very little mail from members about the project after their results are returned. That is fine but please do ask questions when you have them as we are always happy to talk about DNA and genealogy. |
| 11/02/08 |
Hyperlinks: A reminder about the links on this site.
Hyperlinks are underlined but not always apparent. If you hover over an ancestors
name, kit number or participant's name you will see if there is a hyperlink.
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| 4/20/08 |
The ancestor John Alexander Meek born 1686 Ireland has been added to the chart in Update 2/8/2008 under Group E, sub-group 2. His sons migrated to Laurens Co., SC. |
| 02/08/08 |
Update for 2007: Below is a list of identifiable Revolutionary or Pre-Revolutionary Meek/Meeks ancestors represented in the DNA project. In each case a project member has a paper trail to the ancestor. Ancestors born after 1800 are not listed here but are available on the web site. Ancestors are grouped together according to their DNA profile. The men within each group share a common ancestor. They are related. Conversely, the different groups are not related. Except for Group A there is no paper trail to connect the ancestors within each group. Even though DNA cannot tell us how people are related the advantages of DNA testing are numerous. Many people have believed or currently believe that the ancestors in Group A and some of the ancestors in Group B were related and descended from the same person. The DNA project has proven that this is not true. The connection between ancestors from Tennessee/Carroll Co., AR and those from Washington Co., PA had previously been unknown. It was previously unknown that the family from 1700 Pitt Co., NC was related to the group in Washington Co., PA or the group from Tennessee/Carroll Co., AR. While the DNA shows that the Pitt County family was related to the others the DNA profile is different enough to define them as a sub-group. The connection is probably before the year 1500. Group E has a proven connection to Ireland through the ancestor James Meek as well as project members currently living in Ireland. Adam Meek of Cecil Co., MD, Joseph Meek of Washington Co., VA and Moses Meek of Mecklenburg, SC all share a common ancestor. It was previously unknown that these ancestors were related to each other. This group also contains the grandfather of Joseph Lafayette Meek, the famous mountain man. The project currently has 73 members most of whom are connected to one of the five groups below. Even members who do not yet match anyone else know some of the ancestors they are not related to. In that regard everyone gets some information when they take a DNA test. The membership is international with five members being from Canada, England, Ireland and Australia. Since this is an on going project new information is becoming available on an on going basis. Group A Jeremiah Meeks d: 1783 Westmoreland Co., PA/Fairfield Co., OH Sons: Joshua, John and Jeremiah Basil Meek b: 1740 Resided Allegheny Co., PA/York Co., SC/Henry Co., KY John Meek b: @ 1754 Resided Allegheny Co., PA /Henry Co., KY Jacob Meek b: 1755 Resided Allegheny Co., PA /Henry Co., KY/Wayne Co., IN Group B Sub-Group 1 Isaac Meek b: 1746 Resided Washington Co., PA/Ohio Co., VA/Ohio Samuel Meek b: 1732 Resided Washington Co., PA Nathaniel Meek d: 1827 Resided Washington Co., PA/Pulaski Co., KY/Jennings Co., IN Basil Meek b: 1763 Resided Pulaski Co., KY/Jennings Co., IN Elisha Meek b: @ 1765 Resided Greene Co., PA Samuel Meek b: 1781 Resided Washington Co., PA/Lee Co., IL Jacob Meek b: @ 1760 Resided Henry Co., TN/Carroll Co., AR/Texas Jeremiah Meek @ 1771 Resided Blount Co., TN/Carroll Co., AR/Texas Group B Sub-Group 3 Thomas Meeks b: 1768 Resided Monongalia Co., WV John Meeks b: @1700 Resided Pitt Co., NC/Georgia Group C Thomas Meek b: @1708 Resided Washington Co., MD/Washington Co., VA John Meek b: @1707 Resided Augusta Co., VA Group E Sub-Group 1 Adam Meek b: @1726 Resided Cecil Co., MD/York Co., SC Robert Meek b: @1732 - (Updated) Joseph Meek b: @1744 Resided Washington Co., VA James Meek b: @1777 Ireland Resided Elgin Co., Ontario Group E Sub-Group 2 John Alexander Meek b: @1686 Ire, resided Laurens, SC. - (Updated) Moses Meek b: @1755 Resided Mecklenburg Co., NC/Tennessee Group F William Meeks b: @1725 Resided Virginia/Greenville Co., SC/Georgia If you are a descendant of one of these ancestors you now know where to focus your attention or more importantly where not to waste your time and resources. If your ancestor does not extend this far back in time he may have been connected to one of these groups. A DNA test will determine that. Of course there are other early ancestors whose descendants have not yet joined the project. The project needs more people who are male descendants named Meek(s) to join the project whether the ancestor is listed or not. The more data we have the more refined the analysis can be. |