Gaston DNA Project
About the Gaston DNA Project
There are many theories about the origin and migrations of the
Gaston family and we feel that DNA analysis is the only way to go beyond the
many dead ends that Gaston researchers have encountered. Did our name originate
in France, Scotland, Germany,
and Spain
or perhaps in all four? With numerous legends concerning Gaston families
abounding, how can we discover with any certainty what is fact and what is
fiction?
For Gastons who live in France,
despite their rich heritage of genealogical data, there are still unresolved
questions. What is the relationship between the various Gaston clans in
different parts of the country: l’Ariège, Cantal, Gers, Languedoc,
les Landes, and indeed, the Spanish Gastons? How and when did the Gastons move
around in France
beginning in the 1300s? We already have one interesting account of
this (by Gérard Gaston) that is based upon documentary evidence, but does it
tell the whole story? Before the 13th century there were no family names in France. When
people were required to take a name for administrative reasons probably many
adopted the name Gaston. This means that we can expect to find a diversity of
DNA amongst people with the Gaston name. According to the experience of the
genealogist, Bryan Sykes, when he analyzed the DNA of a number of Sykes
families around York in England, he
found a cluster of samples that were very similar and then another cluster that
was very diverse. This means that one Sykes progenitor was either very lucky or
very rich and powerful, and his descendants dominated in numbers. The other
cluster of people with the same name were from different unrelated families.
This is not unique and we will likely find the same pattern in the broader
Gaston family.
Regarding the Huguenot theory, what is the truth to the story
that a Jean Gaston left France
in the early 1600s for Scotland,
and then he and/or his three sons immigrated to Northern Ireland in 1660? Are the
Gaston branches in the U.S.
direct descendants of Jean’s sons or were there other Gastons in Ulster at that time who spawned progeny that
ended up in the U.S., Canada
and elsewhere? And what about the persistent myths about Jean having come from
the county of Foix
in France,
or having been related to Henri IV, or some other equally intriguing fantasy?
The fact is that we do not know for sure, although there is strong reason to
doubt the royalty claim. There is no evidence that the Gawstoune in Scotland was the Jean Gaston who left France,
nor the John Gaston
who was found in the 1669 Hearth Role in County Antrim.
And how could our Jean Gaston have been a victim of the Revocation of the Edict
of Nantes in 1685 when he was supposedly in Ireland before then? Unless there
was more than one Jean/John Gaston, or …
In the U.S. and Canada there
are many Gastons families but their documentation often becomes weak
the further it goes back in time. There is no doubt that the ancestors
of most American and Canadian Gastons were from Ireland, but with all the
similar names passed from father to son - William, John, Alexander, Hugh,
etc. - and the uncertain dates, we often cannot really be sure which
one is which. Broadly speaking, the U.S. Gastons are divided into the northern
and southern and New England
clans, depending upon where the early colonists settled. But there has been
much movement since the 1700s both within North America and between Europe and North America so the original distinctions remain
only on old documents (where these are available) and in our genes.
The implications of this for our research are that to make any useful
distinctions we will need DNA samples from many Gastons in different regions of
France, Spain, Scotland,
Ireland, the U.S. and Canada
(and even Mexico).
Only when we have enough members in this project will clear patterns begin to
emerge. DNA evidence, when combined with what we can prove from traditional
documents will then be able to answer these many questions that have plagued us
to date. Also, it means that we should keep this project open to people with
other names even if Gaston is not your surname. Some distant cousins are
Huguenots who were either forced or willingly changed their names. We have some
plausible evidence of this already. Others may have different names for other
reasons. In short, anyone who has a close match to our Y-DNA is welcome to join
even if you are not a Gaston. We also want to encourage anyone interested in
our project, but who cannot contribute Gaston Y-DNA - such as female
Gastons and those who are related to the Gaston family on their
mother's side - to join us in the research and discussions. You can help by
encouraging a male Gaston to contribute his DNA and you can join in the discussions.
Please contact the project administrator to get on the Gaston project mailing
list.
Suggested readings:
For a good understanding of the use of DNA in genealogical research, I
strongly recommend the books by the geneticist, Bryan Sykes, and especially the
very readable, The Seven Daughters of Eve. Also, Saxons, Vikings
and Celts: The Genetic Roots of England
and Ireland.
Another interesting one is Adam's Curse but mainly for his
discussion of his research on his own family. The rest is a bit
too technical.
The ultimate purpose of this page is to discuss our DNA results.
Feel free to discuss this project on
the Gaston Family Forum
Click here to place an order for a DNA test at Family
Tree DNA
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