Project Background
Has your Pierce genealogy research hit a brick wall? Has the paper trail found in courthouse basements lead to a dead end? If so, you may wish to take advantage of today's cutting edge DNA technology to jump start your research.
Participants must be male Pierces because the genetic characteristic measured (the Y chromosome) is passed along the male line from father to son. If you are a Pierce, but are female, you may wish to recruit a male Pierce relative-- perhaps a cousin, father, brother, or uncle to participate. The project is limited to Pierces with ancestors from northern U.S. states or those with ancestors in the U.K. who are also welcome to join. All variant spellings of the surname including Pearce, Peirce, and Pearse may join.
To participate in the Pierce Family DNA project, please use the "Join" link on the left and complete a "Pierce Project Join Request."
After the request is received, participants will be sent a form to join the group and can order either the YDNA-12 marker test ($99), the YDNA-25 marker test ($124), the YDNA-37 marker test ($149), or the YDNA-67 marker test ($248). Participants are encouraged to select at least the YDNA-25 marker test ($124) because the results are more helpful in identifying matches with other participants. We are currently offering to pay for a 25 marker test in full for any new U.K. participants.
Do not hesitate to email the group administrator with any questions by clicking the email link on the left. Also, please read the FAQs link on the left which will answer
most questions. The test is done by a company in Houston. Family Tree DNA's website has a wealth of information about the use of dna analysis in genealogy. Their site is linked at the bottom of this page.
Haplogroups in green have been confirmed by SNP testing. Haplogroups in red have been predicted by Family Tree DNA based on unambiguous results in the individual's personal page. If a "-" is in the Haplogroup field then the comparative results are not clear and unambiguous and if the kit holder wants to know their SNP with 100% confidence they may consider ordering a SNP confirmation test.
DYS 19 is also known as DYS 394. Some markers change or mutate at a faster rate than others. While that actual 'faster rate' has not yet been definitively calculated, not all markers should be treated the same for evaluation purposes.The markers in red have shown a faster mutation rate then the average, and therefore these markers are very helpful at splitting lineages into sub sets, or branches, within your family tree.Explained another way, if you match exactly on all of the markers except for one or a few of the markers that are determined to mutate more quickly, then despite the mutation this mismatch only slightly decreases the probability of two people in your surname group who match 11/12 or even 23/25 of not sharing a recent common ancestor.
News
Nov. 22, 2008: A new match in family group N.
Oct. 31, 2008: A new Pearse family group S added.
Sept. 12, 2008: A new match in group K.
July 27, 2008: New family group R added. Our first participant with Australian
ties. Origins from England.
July 8, 2008: A new match in Group J. One participant currently in testing.
June 25, 2008: A new match in Group C. This participant's ancestor was the son of an unknown Pierce, and was born in Minnesota and adopted into a Foster family. The point of connection with other Pierces in Group C is unknown at this time.
May 1, 2008: Group A participant is matching those in group K after upgrading
to 37 markers. He has been moved to group K.
April 26, 2008: A new match in Group N.
March 10, 2008: A new match in Group D. This matches our first Pearse
family in the project with a Pearce family. Both have lines in England.
Also a new match in Group K.
Dec. 23, 2007: A new match for Group H from the Sorenson Database.
Oct. 18, 2007: New family group P added.
Oct. 10, 2007: Two new Percy families added. One matching group
C and one group M.
Sept. 2, 2007: Another match in our large Group C. Descendants of Capt. Michael Pierce.
April 24, 2007: Another match in Group C. This line descends from Capt.
Michael Pierce/Peirse
April 12, 2007: A very interesting match. A Percy family is matching those
in our largest group C.
March 9, 2007: New family group N added.
Feb 10, 2007: New match found for family group C--a descendant of Thomas
Pierce.
Jan 25, 2007: New family group M added. This is a descendant of Richard
Percy of Mass. No match found.
Abraham Pierce of Plymouth colony in group K does match the family of George Peirce of Chester Co. Pa. The common ancestor is unknown at this time.
Jan 20, 2007: New family group L added--a descendant of Daniel Peirce of
Newbury, Mass.
Jan. 19, 2007: New family group K added--a descendant of Abraham Pierce
of the Plymouth Colony. He is a tentative match with the family of George Peirce of Chester Co. Pa.
Nov. 15, 2006: A new participant with a line to Daniel Pierce of Ipswich/Newbury Ma has joined the project.
Nov. 1, 2006: New family group H with ancestor of Richard Pearce b. 1615 of
Rhode Island. New family group I with ancestor William Pearce b. 1655 of Maryland. New family group J also added with ancestor John Pearce, mason
of Rhode Island, born 1632. Some descendants of this family moved to North Carolina.
Oct. 19, 2006: A new participant with a line to Abraham Pierce of Plymouth
Ma. has joined with results pending.
Oct. 13, 2006: The group continues to grow. A new member has
matched our largest group C. He is in the line of Thomas Pierce of Charlestown, Mass. born 1583 in England. Thomas was the ancestor of
President Franklin Pierce, so this group matches the dna profile of the President. A Sorensen database line of Capt. Michael Pierce, born 1615 in England also matches this group.
