About us
The goal of this project is to try to link together currently unconnected branches of the Porteous family tree. For the Porteous surname, it is thought that all of those who descend from a Porteous or any of its other known spellings all descend from one family whose origins may go back to the 1400's in Scotland near present day Tweedsmuir.
If a broad enough sampling is obtained from the many different and unconnected Porteous branches, it is possible that a pattern may be ascertained from a sample of Porteous DNA results. Once it is established that certain branches do in fact descend from a common ancestor, the Y-DNA test can be used to estimate a distance, ie. timeframe, back to the common ancestor from whom both branches descend. This is determined based on the number of changes or mutations observed between the branches. Changes or mutations tend to occur on a measurable basis approximately once every 500 years.
If a broad enough sampling is obtained from the many different and unconnected Porteous branches, it is possible that a pattern may be ascertained from a sample of Porteous DNA results. Once it is established that certain branches do in fact descend from a common ancestor, the Y-DNA test can be used to estimate a distance, ie. timeframe, back to the common ancestor from whom both branches descend. This is determined based on the number of changes or mutations observed between the branches. Changes or mutations tend to occur on a measurable basis approximately once every 500 years.