About us
This Phelps - New England DNA Project is a geographical project that focuses on the PHELPS ancestors and their descendants who originated and lived in the Northeast. Many of them started in Massachusetts and spread throughout New England and moved to New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Southeastern Canada during Colonial times. It is a yDNA, mtDNA, and atDNA project. In addition, we encourage everyone who is descended from one (or more) of the New England Phelps lines (doesn't have to be a direct male Phelps line) to take the autosomal test called FamilyFinder through FTDNA.
This regional group is a subgroup under the the main yDNA PHELPS Surname Project which is a yDNA-ONLY project and is open for ALL potential Phelps males (or their proxies) in America, England, Australia, and other places. Every potential male Phelps testee (or proxy) should join this main Phelps project first. Once the testee matches one of the New England Phelps lines, he can then request to join this New England Phelps group. No Southern Phelps Phelps lines will be admitted here.
The purpose of this yDNA PHELPS of New England group are three-fold:
1) Using the yDNA results to identify the various genetically separate PHELPS family lines and help the male Phelps testees (or their proxies) find their immigrant Phelps family origins, ancestors, and their cousins. This is a paternal test and the ONLY way to confirm which Phelps line a tested Phelps male belongs to or to help point them in the right direction. This will also serve as our basis for filling out our Phelps trees.
2) Descendants who are directly descended from one of the Phelps ancestors in New England (but not necessarily born a Phelps) are eligible to use the autosomal DNA results to identify potential cousins who are descended from one or more of the New England Phelps lines. Using the autosomal DNA results from the FamilyFinder DNA test will aid in that research.
Our goal is that within this Project, these various DNA modalities will help confirm our research as we work on our New England Phelps trees, discover connections with 'orphaned' Phelps family branches, break through our brick walls, and help our attempts to jump across the pond to our earlier ancestries.
This regional group is a subgroup under the the main yDNA PHELPS Surname Project which is a yDNA-ONLY project and is open for ALL potential Phelps males (or their proxies) in America, England, Australia, and other places. Every potential male Phelps testee (or proxy) should join this main Phelps project first. Once the testee matches one of the New England Phelps lines, he can then request to join this New England Phelps group. No Southern Phelps Phelps lines will be admitted here.
The purpose of this yDNA PHELPS of New England group are three-fold:
1) Using the yDNA results to identify the various genetically separate PHELPS family lines and help the male Phelps testees (or their proxies) find their immigrant Phelps family origins, ancestors, and their cousins. This is a paternal test and the ONLY way to confirm which Phelps line a tested Phelps male belongs to or to help point them in the right direction. This will also serve as our basis for filling out our Phelps trees.
2) Descendants who are directly descended from one of the Phelps ancestors in New England (but not necessarily born a Phelps) are eligible to use the autosomal DNA results to identify potential cousins who are descended from one or more of the New England Phelps lines. Using the autosomal DNA results from the FamilyFinder DNA test will aid in that research.
3) The mtDNA test might be helpful in some cases where tested descendants (either male or female) of Phelps immigrants have their unbroken maternal line going all the way to a female Phelps ancestor. That is the only way to identify the mtDNA of those Phelps women. Using this info, it may be possible to use triangulation to identify other maternal lines when looking at females who are related to that female Phelps ancestor. Although mtDNA is of limited scope, it can be very useful in such cases. The mtDNA database will become more and more useful as it grows over time. Please let us know if your maternal line leads to a female Phelps ancestor.
Our goal is that within this Project, these various DNA modalities will help confirm our research as we work on our New England Phelps trees, discover connections with 'orphaned' Phelps family branches, break through our brick walls, and help our attempts to jump across the pond to our earlier ancestries.