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What
is the
DE LA MONTAGNE
Surname DNA Project?
The Society of Descendants of Johannes de la Montagne seeks males bearing the Montanye name (or any of its variants) who are willing to provide a mouth swab sample for a 12-marker Y-chromosome DNA test. We wish to have samples from members of each branch in order to test our belief that all are descendants of Dr. Johannes Mousnier de la Montagne (1595-1670), Huguenot physician of New Amsterdam and Vice Director of the Colony of New Netherland (today known as New York).
With the results we can calculate the Most Recent Common Ancestor for those surnames with a significant marker match and create a report describing the results. The report will be available on our website as the testing progresses (click
here for rolling results).
We
believe that the most common surnames used today in North
America by descendants of Dr. Johannes Mousnier de la Montagne
(1595-1670) are Montanye, Montaney, Montanya, Mantonya, Mintonye,
Montney, Mountney, Montana, Montaine, Montonye, Montayne and
de la Montanya, but there are others. Participants from all
of the various name spellings, including those that are not
currently identified on the SDJM site, are encouraged to join
in the test program.
The
Y-chromosome is passed from father to son unchanged, except
for a mutation about every 500 generations. Testing the Y-chromosome
will provide us with a genetic fingerprint consisting of 12
or 25 numbers, called markers. By comparing each fingerprint
to others with other surname variants, we can determine who
is related.
REQUIREMENTS
Since a Surname Project in essence traces members of a family that share a common surname, and females (a) don't carry their father's Y-chromosome, and (b) acquire a new surname by way of marriage, in order to be relevant to the Surname Project, the tested individual must be a male who wants to crack his paternal line (father's father's father's…). The test to be ordered initially is the Y-DNA12, and females should look for a brother or a cousin with that surname to be tested. Females can also order a test for themselves to determine their maternal line (mother's mother's mother's…), which will be the mtDNA or mtDNAplus, but the results of these tests cannot be tied to the Surname Project.
QUESTIONS?
Not
sure if this is a situation that applies to you? Have issues?
Want to obtain additional information? Write to:
The
DE LA MONTAGNE DNA Project
Lois
Stewart, Administrator
1601 Nectarine Street #B-3
Fernandina Beach, FL 32034
or
email her at lois@delamontagne.org.
THE PLAN
Each
male participant would provide a mouth swab sample to be analyzed
by the Family Tree DNA laboratory. This sampling technique
is painless and only involves the use of a swab to collect
a small amount of cells from the inside of a person's cheek.
The participant administers the test in the privacy of his
own home. A standard swab kit is provided from the FTDNA testing
laboratory. Each test kit consists of two cheek scrapers and
two holding containers for shipping. The reason for two of
each is to ensure a good collection of cheek cells for analysis.
We would like to find two males from each branch of the DE
LA MONTAGNE family to provide samples. While we would eventually
like to test twenty or more individuals, we can start with
a few and add others as they come forward.
A
Montagne
Surname Project Profile has been established at Family
Tree DNA. Click on the preceding link to see that profile
at the Family Tree DNA site. When you decide (and please do
look at all the information you can find on DNA testing for
genealogy, including the links given below) to take part in
this project, go back to the Project Profile page to order
your own kit, at the group project discounted rate of $99
for the 12-marker y-chromosome DNA test. (An update to a 25-marker
Y-chromosome DNA test would cost another $90, also discounted,
and would not be necessary in most cases.) If you don't have
online access, don't wish to use a credit card, or don't wish
Family Tree DNA to know your identity, you may send your order
with check to Lois Stewart and ask her to order a kit for
you. (Use order form below.)
The
analysis itself, after samples are collected, takes about
5-6 weeks.
Should
you choose to participate in this ambitious project, print
out and complete the order
form and follow the instructions for payment and mailing.
The order form may be opened in Adobe
Acrobat Reader; click on the link to download the software
for free.
PRIVACY
First
of all, you should know that no medical tests are being run
on your samples. Only the Y-chromosome is being tested. Still,
if you feel nervous about your privacy, you should be aware
that the lab will never know your name. The lab work is done
at the University of Arizona, while Family Tree DNA is located
in Texas. Each sample is given an ID number before being forwarded
to the lab and the lab never knows which man has offered the
sample.
Obviously,
the privacy of the results is of concern to us, too. The release
form is required simply to allow the information to be sent
to Lois Stewart as Group Administrator. The DNA participants
will receive more detailed messages and reports. Any reports
resulting from this test would only identify sample numbers,
not individual names. The only risk of participating in such
a study is that the participant might discover that he is
not actually a male DE LA MONTAGNE descendant as he expected.
We would expect all DE LA MONTAGNE descendants to match on
12 of 12 markers, or 11 of 12 markers if the relationship
is quite distant.
PROJECT RESULTS
As
the project progresses, the summarized results (such as: this
branch and this surname are related through Dr. Johannes de
la Montagne) will be posted on the SDJM web site for all visitors
and the participants of the program to view. The results will
also be reported in the SDJM Newsletter. The participants
will never be identified by name unless they want to be.
In
summary, we are testing so that we may be sure of all of our
variant surname branches. We are interested in confirming
that these surnames are related to each other. By doing so,
we will save time and money and avoid frustration in our genealogical
research, should it turn out that some of our present assumptions
are wrong.
LINKS TO ONLINE SITES OF INTEREST
Check
out any of these links if you need to learn more about DNA
testing for genealogy.
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