Monday, March 15, 2010

15th: Wanted! update

Another direct male RUNCIMAN line has been added to the Wanted! chart for Thomas and Alison (GRIEVE).
Given the recent unexpected dna match we are now even more curious as to whether or not William of Crail and Thomas married Alison GRIEVE, can be proven, or at least not disproven, to be the sons of Robert and Janet (SINCLAIR) RUNCIMAN.
So, a dna candidate from any of Thomas and Alison's lines would be most welcome to join the project - subsidies may exist for a documented descendant willing to take up this challenge.

Read about dna testing in general, Family Tree DNA tests in particular, and if interested in adding more placed pieces in the RUNCIMAN jigsaw, and comfortable with the process, follow the join project links and order a test, or the webmaster links on the project pages for more information.

Tests can be as anonymous as you wish. Those showing by name on any of the above pages have agreed to be so shown, but results can be simply displayed by a kit or project number, and need not be publically linked to any particular tree.
Although we all hope that any RUNCIMAN being tested will of course match one or other of the known trees, this is by no means guaranteed.
Things happen now, have always happened in the past, and will always happen in the future to confuse family historians and genealogists. That's life.
In dna circles, a non match is usually called a NPE (non paternal event). If a non match is found, it doesn't change who you are, but may of course cause you to regard whichever of your unknown ancestors may have been responsible in a new light!!

Two other lines will be added to the Wanted! lists shortly (when time permits):
- Thomas and Mary (REDPATH) of Innerwick and Dunbar, Thomas being the son of a Thomas and Jane (possibly SIMPSON),
and also that of a Perth line,
- John and Susan (DONALDSON) RUNCIMAN of Inchture ++.

Friday, March 12, 2010

12th: Fisher folk and farmer folk DO mix

DNA results just in show an excellent match between our newly represented line, that of William of Crail. The two representatives, Jim (R-7) and Kevin (R-8) are a 12/12 (so far) to each other, and Jim is showing as a 66/67 match to one of the descendants of the Wanton Walls Runcimans, and a 65/67 match to the other.
This rather ruins a theory of mine that had so far held true over various families, namely that the fisher folk and the farmer folk tended not to mix and match.
The supplementary pages have been updated to include preliminary results and links for these new findings.
Much more research and speculation is now needed to try and figure out how on earth these two genetically linked families are likely to connect in practice.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

17th: Yet another East Lothian pedigree

Patriarchs page updated to include an outline pedigree for the line of Thomas and Jean (SIMPSON) RUNCIMAN who married in 1783 at Dunbar, East Lothian.
Notes about some of the family have already been included on the Runciman One Names Study (ONS) pages.
It would seem highly likely that there is a link to Lineage 1b, the family of Thomas and Alison (GRIEVE) RUNCIMAN, given they were all around the same places at the same times.
Hopefully, there's a willing representative out there to join the dna project and prove this theory.
Click on the Join Project link to read about how to join, and to order a test (37 markers minimum, 67 preferred), after reading the background about DNA testing in general at the links on the top lhs of that page.
Testing is cheaper if you join via a project.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

14th: Thomas & Alison (GRIEVE)

The Wanted! pages have been updated to include a dna oriented outline descendant chart for Thomas and Alison (GRIEVE) RUNCIMAN.
As stated, a participant is particularly wanted to test a theory that this line is also that of William of Crail, both being sons of Robert and Janet (SINCLAIR) RUNCIMAN of Dirleton and Prestonpans.
Candidates look a little sparse on the ground at this stage.
Links are included to/from the Runciman One Name Study(ONS) as available.
Patriarchs page updated to include the outline Lineage 4 pedigree.

Friday, February 5, 2010

4th: One step further

Keep getting sidetracked as I see what can be found for the pedigree of the latest two recruits, Jim (R-7) and Kevin (R-8), but in the meantime place holders exist on the Patriarchs page, and Supplementary pages to show Ros is researching this line, and would like to verify the paper trail which links them back at John & Jean (BARRIE) RUNCIMAN of Dirleton, East Lothian (ELN), with John being the son of William & Elizabeth (JAMIESON) RUNCIMAN of Crail, Fife (FIF).
With this line's subsequent connections to Dirleton we are curious as to whether or not there will be a match to Lineage 2
The summary result page has also had a tidy up behind the scenes to make it easier to maintain, so please forgive any outstanding formatting problems as this process continues.

There must be plenty of other RUNCIMAN lines out there able to be represented to see how this jigsaw fits together, check out our Wanted! pages every so often for those particularly being sought at the moment, but even if your line is not listed there, do come and join us.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

30th: Patriarch page revamp

The Summary Patriarchs Page has been revamped, but no new pedigrees yet included.
It was a tidy up of the code behind the scenes to make it easier to maintain, all in readiness for adding the details for our Lineage 3, or possibly 2a, for the two new kits in varying stages of making their way to the lab.

In addition, there's a new link on the top rhs of this blog, that for the Runciman One Name Study (GOONS registration applied for).
Thought it was about time I brought some order to my rather contact driven research and it should provide a searchable repository for the data collected over the years.

With this recent burst of activity, it's time to try and find representatives for some of the as yet un-represented lines. Must be plenty more out there, and available people to represent them.
I did a search of the Surnames of England and Wales - ONS list, plugging in RUN*MAN, although I didn't actually expect to find any other variants still in existence, putting most of them down to the idiosyncrasies of parish clerks in years gone by.

The database is an extract from the Office of National Statistics database, and contains a list of surnames in use in England, Wales and the Isle of Mann in September 2002, having been established in 1998, with births since added, but deaths not taken away, grand total, 54.4 million people, but only nearly 270,000 surnames (those with less than 5 occurrences having been excluded).

RUNCIMAN comes in with 446 names, ranking 12,425th,
RUNCHMAN is still in existence with 77 names, ranking 39,021th and
RUNCIEMAN also still exists, with 61, ranking 44,978th.

So, out of those 584 people, someone must be interested, mustn't they?
And that's only England, Wales and the Isle of Mann.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

27th: William RUNCIMAN of Crail

And another participant in the project.
R-8 and R-7 would like to prove the paper trail that links them at John RUNCIMAN and Jean BARRY of Dirleton, John being the son of William of Crail, a fisherman drowned in 1765 (by 1768 his children are recorded as being in North Berwick).
Will be interesting to see who, if any, of the existing RUNCIMAN families they most closely match.
Pedigrees will be added as time permits.