About us
The ALSTON Families from the UK: www.st.net.au/~susanp/index.html by Susan Perrett
also: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~susanp/ by Susan Perrett
The American ALSTON family originated in the late 1600's from Bedfordshire in England into North Carolina and then dispersed into South Carolina and west to various other states, including Alabama, Texas, New Mexico, Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and so on.
Research notes [William]: we have four different haplogroup lines as follows:
E1b1b1: appear to be unrelated, two separate lines.
I1-Z140: all predicted AS-6 so very likely F2642+ [though one result has come back F2642-]. This ALSTON line appears to be linked to Saxham Hall, Suffolk family.
I2: two separate lines, the first line linked to the surnames DUNHAM/DONHAM/SINGLETARY I2 [predicted] Continental-112 or 118 L1198+ 'I2a2a1c1b1a';
the second, a Scottish line linked to the surnames RALSTON/ROULSTON I2 [predicted] Continental-2c L623+ 'I2a2a1c2' [see: 'News' for full details]
R1b1a2: three of four separate lines. ALSTON linked to surnames BOWLING/BOLIN/BOLDING
Haplogroup:
A haplogroup is a group of descendant individuals from a single founder who all share a common SNP mutation. Individuals can test for these SNPs to determine their haplogroup assignment, which is often reflective of distant geographic ancestry. Membership in a particular haplogroup thus indicates broad population and geographic ancestry while other mutations in descendant haplotypes can reflect recent genealogical ancestry.
SNPs:
A SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) is a variation in DNA sequence between individuals involving a difference at a single base-pair. SNPs generally have lower mutation rates than STRs and are often sufficiently stable to robustly define haplogroups.
"Private" SNPs:
"Private" SNPs on the Y chromosome correspond to relatively recent mutations that have not yet been observed in a significant number of other individuals in the same haplogroup. Some of these will eventually be incorporated into the Y-tree with further research. Others may provide clues about recent genealogical ancestry.
STRs:
STR (short tandem repeats) are a type of molecular marker consisting of short DNA letter repeats (such as CACA). These markers have a high rate of mutation and are accordingly useful in determining population genetic differences. In the Y chromosome line, SNPs and STRs in conjunction serve to show differences between individuals and groups in their DNA lineages. In short, STRs are one part of the puzzle in everyone's Y chromosome DNA heritage.