Smailholm FAIRBAIRNs

Another outline pedigree has been added to the Patriarchs page, that of John and Elspeth (ANDERSON) of Girnick, Smailholm.
With son James being commemorated at Earlston on a headstone near that of John and Agnes (GIBSON), and shown as not born Roxburghshire in 1841, there has to be some connection between these families.

With the discount promotion running out on the 31st of the month (see here for details), now would be an great time for a descendant of this line to pop out of the woodwork, particularly given our recent excellent matches within lineage 1f. (One line, at least, emigrated to Australia, and were in Queensland).

Stub added to the One Name Study pages, and a link included in the Wanted! pages.

28th: DNA pages updated

Several updates have been made to the DNA pages to incorporate the latest results, alter some of the older analyses and comments in light of more recent information, and, in the case of the dna signature charts, to remove any "corrections" previously given to some of the patriarchs where descendants were unique over Lineage 1 in having a particular value.
With more in the project now, these corrections are no longer necessary, and the method of maximum parsimony can be left to do its fully theoretical thing with our results.

In addition the recent changes index being used behind the scenes for checking has now been included as a public link - primarily because I keep forgetting to add comments here on what may have changed.

What has NOT yet happened is the inclusion of Robert(F-34)'s line in the Lineage 1 clump 2 dna signature chart.

The family, as opposed to dna, information is gradually being shifted to the One Name Study pages, with links generally inserted between the two on the appropriate people, eg John married to Agnes GIBSON.

23rd: Another 66/67 match

Thank you John (F-35) for upgrading to the full 67 markers.
As a result we now know there's a 66/67 match between F-35 and F-27 to aid the jigsaw, with F-35's lineage being an early Kelso line, with possible documented links in the records to that of their next closest FAIRBAIRN match, David(TROTTER) F-7.
Summary Result chart has been updated, and the patriarchs page has been tweaked to move David(TROTTER) F-7's line closer to the above Lineage 1i.

Still working on the DNA signature chart updates to show how the families may connect.

21st: James, shipowner

Outline pedigree added to Patriarchs page for James FAIRBAIRN, ship owner of South Shields, (marr. Ann NEWBIGIN), together with a matching slightly fuller pedigree on the One Name Study pages.

From a DNA perspective it doesn't look hopeful that a candidate may be found to check where, or if, this line matches any of the existing lines to get it back beyond the 1790s, but not all lines have been traced to present day.

The journey to this family began with a mis-indexed marriage entry in Quebec found a couple of years ago for a William FAIRBAIRN apparently marrying an Elizabeth LEEDS, with William not immediately obviously connected to any of the other early FAIRBAIRNs in the province.
Recently I came across further information on the family in an ancestry tree, and the Woodcock researcher involved, Julian Tyson-Woodcock, kindly shared his research into Elizabeth and her family.
Elizabeth was actually Elizabeth Leeds WOODCOCK, and William turned out to be a mariner from South Shields who returned to London, dying there in 1850.

20th: More inventive indexing

More instances of inventive census indexing which made families rather hard to find initially: Tairbaine, Sanbarin, Fourbaion, and Faertairn

Key lineage

Check out the updated Patriarchs page for the beginnings of the updates to all the pages as a result of both the latest set of matching results, and several months research.
The main change on the above page is to the FAIRBAIRN/BO lineage, which now incorporates the matches between John(F-17) and Stewart(F-38) showing how they look likely to join up at John and Magdalen (BO) FAIRBAIRN of Lidgatehead, Earlston.
Heaven help me if we do ever get a representative for the line of John and Helen (ANDERSON) FAIRBAIRN, and he is also an exact match, as John and Magdalen's John is now spoken for (several trees show this John as brother to James, father of the John who married Jessie JOHNSTON).

PS For a bit of light hearted fun, most pages now include a "like on facebook" link in the footer. so if you are on Facebook, click the link to get an entry on your home page/profile or wherever it ends up.

John Fairbairn - educator

Fixed the broken link on the Notables page that was meant to lead to John FAIRBAIRN of Sth Africa and included additional information on his lineage to place him in the context of his Scottish Borders ancestry: parents James and Agnes (BRACK), grandparents Alexander and Betty (NEWTON), of Bruntaburn (Earlston) and Carrolside (Legerwood).

Also added a FAIRBAIRN related, search engine to the One Name Study (ONS) pages.

James & Isabel (TAIT) of Morriston

ONS page for James FAIRBAIRN of Morriston updated, and one for wife Isabel TAIT added.
A message about their son, or possible son, Ralph in Birmingham on the Rootsweb FAIRBAIRN message board points to this James.

8th: Ralph (CROW) FAIRBAIRN

A few more twigs included on the Patriarchs page for the outline pedigree for Ralph and Helen (CROW) FAIRBAIRN, one of the lines still on the Wanted! list for the dna project.
Looks like there may be family still around in the North East of England, some of the family having moved around between: England; Hutton, Whitsome, Edrom and Coldstream (BEW); Sprouston (ROX) and two sons likely to have emigrated to Ontario.

5th: 40th kit

We've had our 40th kit ordered today (the 39th was a couple of days ago), so the jigsaw is either about to start contracting with pieces slotting into place, or expanding with other unknown lines that match.
FYI the sale prices are:

Price for NEW KITS: Regular Price (Promotional Price)
YDNA37 $149 ($119)
YDNA67 $239 ($199)
mtDNAPlus $159 ($129)
Family Finder $289 ($249)
Price for UPGRADE:
Family Finder $289 ($229)

Orders must be in and paid for by Dec. 31, 2010, to receive this offer.

Any questions, just ask.
Otherwise simply follow the order test link to make sure any order is included in the project at the discount prices.

4th: New twigs

Given the dna sale at the moment, it seemed time to include another pedigree on the Patriarchs page.
A brief stub has been added for the family of James & Margaret (HOG) FAIRBAIRN of Whinkerstones, Fogo, and their assumed children Andrew and Mary in Ontario.
It may, or may not, be significant that in 1841, James was not the only FAIRBAIRN with a smithing type job recorded as being in Fogo Muir.
Also found was Thomas, engine fitter, who was the son of Charles & Agnes (MARK) FAIRBAIRN of Stitchel. Thomas appears in later censuses with his nephew John in the household. John being the son of cabinet maker Robert & Elspeth (LEDGERWOOD) FAIRBAIRN - so that patriarch summary has also had a couple of tweaks.
Should a representative for the line of the Ontario Andrew be found, he should match our F-35, a descendant of Charles, if this speculation is accurate.
Any takers while the discounts still apply?
Follow the order test link to make sure any order is included in the project at the discount prices.

Thick and fast

Well those last result panels came in thick and fast.
Stewart(F-38)'s Y-DNA67 marker results are now in, albeit without a predicted haplogroup as yet, although we can beat FamilyTreeDNA's lab to that one - I1.
He has an exact match with Robert (F-34), the line only GD 1 to the modal for Lineage 1 overall, and that on a faster mutating marker to boot.
Only one marker different is John (F-17), and they constitute a growing little sub group with CDYb = 39 instead of the modal 38.
Summary and supplementary result pages have been updated (F-38 now re-positioned to group matches), and the Patriarchs page rearranged to group these lineages together, ie Stewart(F-38)'s James and Isabel (TAIT), Robert(F-34)'s Alexander and Isabella (ATCHESON) and John(F-17)'s John and Jessie (JOHNSTON).

The related One Name Study pages for this line are gradually being added - some links may be broken between all of the above sections - checking is still underway.

2nd: Still on modal; Discounts; new member

Another couple of panels of results are in for Stewart (F-38), showing he is still exactly on modal for lineage 1 "clump 2".
Summary result page has now also been updated (along with the supplementary pages overall result grid) to show results to date;

and to put a placeholder in for our newest participant (F-39), a descendant of Robert and Elizabeth (CROSBIE) who married in 1790 in Smailholm, Roxburghshire.

Those interested in participating but holding back because of the cost, should check out the sale prices being offered by FamilyTree DNA if ordered via the project.
We would welcome representatives of new lines, and for any lines with an as yet unconfirmed dna signature.

So if you have a FAIRBAIRN brick wall to be explored, connections to prove, be in and join the project.
(the project summary pages have links to good overviews on dna testing, but any questions not answered there, contact the admin, details in the footers of most pages)

1st: Still on modal

Another panel of Stewart's (F-38) results are in, still tracking to Lineage 1 modal, ie "clump 2".
Stewart's page, and the overall result grid on the supplementary pages have been updated.

24th: One step closer

Preliminary results just in for the kit (F-38) wending its way through the lab just now.
Yes, another Lineage 1 clump 2 match (12/12).

Only included on the overall grid until higher order markers are available and we can see where the line "fits" best.

16th: Welcome

Decided it was a bit silly running two FAIRBAIRN related blogs.
So, welcome to the new all encompassing FAIRBAIRN blog - covering both the DNA , and the One Name Study project diaries.

From here on, their project diaries will be here.

The history of both blogs has been migrated, and the links I know about will be changed to point here instead, so that there's an integrated view of the entire FAIRBAIRN project activity.

Couldn't get my first two choices of blog names (fairbairn.blogspot.com and fairbairns.blogspot.com) as both were taken with no apparent activity.
However, this is an acceptable alternate.

Yes, the background image is probably meant to be constellations, but it was picked from the available templates because it looks a bit like one of Oxford Ancestors mtDNA charts showing where you fit into the Seven Daughters of Eve:

If anyone has a FAIRBAIRN related similar chart they'd like to share we could change the background!

Ainslie, Threlkeld and Warrah

Patriachs page updated to include an outline for the family of Robert FAIRBAIRN & Janet AINSLIE of Gordon, Berwickshire.
See Gen Forum for the questions this newly posted outline pedigree was answering.

11th: Disambiguation

Anyone interested in William Armstrong FAIRBURN, "noted American author, naval architect, marine engineer, and industrial executive" (from Wikipedia)?
Stumbled across a reference on the Encyclopedia of human thermodynamics that was making a case for his being a son of a William, and grandson of Sir William FAIRBAIRN, which didn't seem altogether too accurate.
End result: Wikipedia now has an update to William Armstrong FAIRBURN's entry adding in some of his family information gleaned from UK and USA records available on ancestry.com.

25th: Twig added to George and Jane (LAW)

The Patriarchs page has been updated to include another twig on the line of George and Jane (LAW) FAIRBAIRN of Nenthorn ++.
That of a son Andrew - or at least I believe he was their son, despite his 1899 death cert. saying his father was an Andrew married to a Jane LAW.
Still looking for a representative for this George/Jane line.

Forgot to mention..

.. that the Notables index now has Robert FAIRBAIRN, I.S.O., R.M. included, with a selection from some of the newspaper snippets about his life in Western Australia, and a chart included to show his family.

Cheap at twice the price?

"Collected one shilling & five pence this day James Fairbairn wright in E Gordon Compeared in the place of public Repentance before the Congregation and was Rebuked for fornication with his now married wife before marriage and so dismissed"

This was from a cash book entry dated 9th Nov 1783 in the Gordon, Berwickshire OPRs.
Son Andrew's baptism was recorded on the 13th.
Not yet sure who James the wright was married to, but can add that the James, shoemaker in Gordon at the time, was married to Betsy/Elizabeth ALLISON and accounts for most of the other contemporary baptisms.

PS using Measuring worth, which starts 1830, 1/5d is either L5.35 by retail price index, or L58.70 by average earnings - a most definite "ouch" of a fine if the latter is more appropriate.

Stornoway to Victoria

Notes added to the pedigree of Peter, son of John & Helen (ANDERSON) FAIRBAIRN.
Peter and Jane (PAXTON)'s son William and family emigrated to Victoria in 1853.

Any surviving direct male line FAIRBAIRN descendants still out there willing to help piece together the FAIRBAIRN jigsaw?
Check out the information about testing, and join the project, preferably using a Y-DNA67 test, as that is proving the most useful for this project.

Stub added to results summary

Results page updated to include a link from our new participant (F-38) to his paper trail, the family of James and Isabel (TAIT) of Legerwood.
With a John documented as being at Moriston in 1784, and James and Isabel's eldest known son being a John, my conclusion is that the 1784 John is James' father.
In addition, but rather more speculatively, based on the rather tenuous links that descendants of James and Isabel were millers (in Dalkeith), there may be a leap of not to much faith to this John/James father/son being the John of Mellerstain Mill 1763-6, including a son James baptised in 1765.
John may, or may not, be the one married to Agnes GIBSON 1749, Legerwood - only evidence being James 2nd known daughter being an Agnes. But if so, the rather confusing stone in Earlstoun for the family may be relevant - oh for a wonderfully clear close up photograph of it to see if any of the blanks and puzzling dates/relationships can be clarified.

More patriarch page tweaks

Added another twig or two to the the Stitchel/Maxton family of James and Christian (JERDAN) FAIRBAIRN after one of those serendipitous occurrences - research on the Stow family of James and Maitland (BIRD), and stumbling across the family of Robert and Jane (GRAY) in New York with daughter Maitland (or Matilda).
Joining up the dots, particularly after finding that a Charles was a witness to Robert and Jane's Kelso marriage in 1837, leads me to place James as son of James and Christian.
Not looking good for dna candidates at the moment however.

A few Patriarch tweaks

The Patriarchs Page has been updated with a few tweaks to the outline descendant charts for:
James & Isabel (TAIT) FAIRBAIRN of West Morriston, Legerwood and Dalkeith, Midlothian
and for
John & Magdalen (BO) FAIRBAIRN of Lidgatehead.

It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that James is the son of John and Magdalen.

West Morriston and Carrolside Mill James

The Patriarchs page has been updated to expand on the outline tree for the James FAIRBAIRNs of Legerwood.
Further investigation, and a lead from a Wikipedia article on the educator and financier John FAIRBAIRN of Cape Town showed that they had to be separate James.
The Wikipedia article quoted John's biography as saying his parents were James and Agnes (BLACK) FAIRBAIRN, and that John was born 1794, Carrolside Mill, Legerwood.
Which led me to the marriage in Lauder (banns also Westruther) of James of Westruther, and Agnes BRACK of Lauder, and also a couple more children for their family, including a William in 1802, so the families of the James of Carrolside and the James & Isabel (TAIT) of West Morriston did overlap after all.
Representatives of both lines wanted, although, it does rather look like John of Cape Town's line has "daughtered out".

Legerwood: West Morriston & Carrolside Miln

Summary Patriarchs page has been updated to include an outline pedigree for some of the family of James & Isabel (TAIT) FAIRBAIRN of West Morriston.
James may, or may not, be the same James having children slightly earlier, whilst living at Carrolside Miln.
Representative wanted.

Stitchell/Maxton tree - twigs added

The Stitchel/Maxton tree for James & Margaret (LEARMONTH) on the Patriarchs page, which leads to Charles the schoolteacher, and Charles the Maxton blacksmith, have had a few twigs added to show where F-35 connects.

Legerwood family

A brief outline descendant chart for the Legerwood family of James & Isobel (TAIT) FAIRBAIRN has been added to the identified family groups page, along with some comments/speculation about whether this James, of West Morriston, is one and the same as the James of Carolside Mill.
PS subsequent finding of an 1802 baptism to James & Agnes (BRACK) of Carrolside Mill put paid to that theory, their son John will be added to the notables index at a later stage.

12th: Twigs added to YULE line

The Patriarchs page has been updated to include a couple more twigs on the "Participant wanted" family of John & Elizabeth (YULE), that of William and Wilhelmina (ANGUS).

26th: CRUZ

The summary result pages have been updated to include a new member, surname CRUZ, with a GD4 "match" to Lineage 2 (Haplogroup R1b1), the Fife/Irish FAIRBAIRN/FREEBORN representatives.
However, as FT DNA's time predictor says the common ancestor is only 77% likely at 17 generations, and no further information is known.....

The summary result page however also now includes all of F-35's results, and shifts him up next to his exact match.

25th: Eckford/Kelso lineage match

We have a new exact 37/37 match - between Eckford(F-27) and (F-35), which is believed to show a connection between the trees of the Robert who married Elizabeth YOUNG, and James married to Christian JERDAN, although F-35's link to this lineage has yet to be confirmed.
At 37/37 FT DNA's time predictor says a common ancestor probabilities are: 83% within 4 generations, 93% within 6.
However, given the variations that can occur in the 38-67 marker panel, it would be wise to see those results, particularly as cdyb is a faster mutating marker and we have two, assumed separate, branches within "clump 2" with cdyb=37.
The James & Christian (JERDAN) tree has a number of Roberts, as do most of the trees!

Blog labels:
These are in the process of being changed to show forename only for FAIRBAIRNs and surname only for others (in capitals). Should make the cloud of labels a bit less dense.

6th: Result updates

Preliminary results in for Bob (F-34) and (F-35) have been added to the overall dna result grid on the supplementary pages.
Yes, another Lineage 1 match.

27th: The ELLIOTTs and FAIRBAIRNs

The theoretical dna signature chart exploring the ELLIOTT/FAIRBAIRN conundrum on the supplementary pages has been updated, conservatively, after more time spent checking the matches against the Family Tree DNA Time Predictor.

26th: The Elliott conundrum

I've made some time to explore the ELLIOTT conundrum, and as a result have been in contact with a number of the researchers of the lines that are showing up as a match to our Lineage 1 FAIRBAIRNs.
The end result, or rather the preliminary result, is now showing as a new sub page on the Supplementary DNA pages as an exploration of the ELLIOTTs, IRWIN and FAIRBAIRN matches.

Also, the first panel of results is in for one of the new participants, so a placeholder for F-35 is now included on the Lineage 1 grid - yes, another Lineage 1, clump 2 match.

16th: Kit status/another ELLIOTT match

We now have two kits working their way through the lab - watch this space.
The summary results table has been updated to reflect that.

In addition, we also have another ELLIOTT match. As yet he hasn't responded to the invitation to join us in the FAIRBAIRN project, but his earliest ancestor appears to be a George ELLIOTT born 1731 with connections to Cumberland Co, Pennsylvania, dying in Elbert Co, Georgia (1804).
I am working on an addition to the supplementary pages where these ELLIOTT/IRWIN/FAIRBAIRN matches can be explored in a little more detail.
Basically they appear to be from American lines tracking back to early 1700s Pennsylvania and Georgia so far but I'm not yet sure of the earliest dates.
All are matches at 67 markers to Lineage 1, slightly closer to Clump 2.
The ELLIOTT Project DNA Admin thinks this may make the Border FAIRBAIRNs actually ELLIOTTS, with a possibility that it is the other way.
I'd like to think it is the other way of course (vbg), but in reality, the jury is very much still out, with a growing body of evidence of several ELLIOTT lines and one, related, and slightly later, IRWIN line in Illinois.

6th: Minor tweaks to Patriarchs page

The Patriarchs page has had a couple of minor tweaks.
The main one being to shift the outline descendants report for lineage 1j of LE (F-31) out of the "In Progress" section up to immediately next to Lineage 1a, whose representative he is an exact match of.
And to add a placeholder in the In Progress section for F-34, the kit currently at the lab, results due in a couple of months.

4th: Minor update to summary results

Summary results page has been updated to reflect that one of the kits outstanding has made it back to the lab.
Further details in a couple of months!

26th: Spoke too soon

No sooner had I stated that the sale was over when Family Tree DNA announced that orders up to Jun 30th will also be at the discount prices.
Be in.
Join the project ASAP.
As before kits have to be paid for by the 30th Jun.

25th: Sale nearly over

Although the discount period has nearly ended, that doesn't mean that the project is no longer looking for candidates, there are just so many FAIRBAIRN lines not yet represented.

The summary result page has been updated to include a few confirmed haplogroups and to show the two kits that have been issued in the last few weeks.
All going well it is hoped that both will add considerably to our overall sum of FAIRBAIRN knowledge.

5th: Family Tree DNA Summer Sale

Now would be an excellent time to jump in and represent your FAIRBAIRN line in the Surname DNA Project.
Our testing company, FamilyTree DNA, have announced a "sizzling summer sale" which reduces the already discounted test prices available via the project by a further $40US.

Bullet Y-DNA37 for $119 (Regular price would be $149)
Bullet Y-DNA67 for $199 (Regular price would be $239)
Bullet Y-DNA37+mtDNA for $159 (Combined test would cost $238)

The promotion will start June 5 and will end June 25. Kits need to be paid for by June 30, 2010.

The 37 marker test would be the minimum to determine which, if any, of the existing documented lines you may belong to, but for the FAIRBAIRNs, the 38 to 67 panel does provide a further means to refining which family.

To make sure that any order is at the above prices, use the Join Project links on any of the project pages:

Supplementary pages

Summary pages

There are still several known Borders lines that are particularly being sought, so we would love to hear from you, or any other FAIRBAIRNs from anywhere interested in their past.

26th: Final result panel added

NJ(F-30)'s final panel of results are now in, with no surprises.
Both the supplementary pages, and the summary pages have now been updated.

25th: Most inventive indexing

My latest entry for the most inventive indexing for FAIRBAIRN - Tanbaeron (for Harry Noakes FAIRBAIRN of Canning Town, Essex in the 1891 England Census)

Lineage 1 "clump 2" Subgroup grows

Another panel of results in for NJ (F-30), believed to be a descendant of the Clapham Nurserymen FAIRBAIRNs.
It places him firmly in the Lineage 1 who have 413a=25 and 446=14.
Given the other matches, I'm assuming that his CDYb=37 is an independent mutation from the others sharing this value, and he alone of all Lineage 1, has 442=11, so another assumption is that this signifies his particular line.
Another representative however could confirm this.
As it is rare for the panel of results yet to be received to be significant, NJ(F=30)'s line has now been added to the Theoretical DNA Signature chart for Lineage 1, with some corresponding tweaks to the pages for George and James FAIRBAIRN, whom I am assigning, for now, as siblings.

New member (F-35)

Our numbers are creeping up.
We have another recruit.
Believed to belong to the line of Charles FAIRBAIRN and Agnes MARK, with further details yet to be provided.
Charles was schoolmaster at Stitchill and son Charles was one of the Maxton blacksmiths.
I say "one of" as my own direct ancestor Robert RICHARDSON was a smith in Maxton, or possibly just outside the village, Whitelaw, around 1773 to 1782 at least, but an elder at the Maxton Kirk. Possibly Charles took over as the blacksmith given his dates are 1814 to 1892.
This line may work back to James FAIRBAIRN and Margaret LEARMONTH who married 1734 Kelso, with a Francis FAIRBAIRN as one of the cautioners.
Possibly even then back to Francis FAIRBAIRN and Agnes DICKIESON who married 1704 at Kelso, although James and Margaret's son Francis was 3rd in the pecking order, not first.
Anyone else out there link back to these lines and willing to join in and see if there's a match to our newest recruit?
Summary Patriarchs page will be updated in due course (done).

15th: Clapham nurserymen, further results

Another panel of results are now in for NJ(F-30), assumed to be of the Clapham nurserymen line.
The overall result grid has been updated and shows that he belongs to the subgroup of "Clump 2" with 570=18, although as yet, we don't know whether he belongs to the sub-subgroup of that.

12th: Clapham nurseryman match

Assuming that the Robert married to Ann NOAKES is indeed the unnamed "1st son" of Robert married to Sarah WADHAM (which is highly likely although no baptism has yet been found), and therefore of the Clapham Nurserymen lineage, we now have the nurserymen lineage included in the matching FAIRBAIRNs from Lineage 1 "clump 2".
As this is only from the first panel of results, markers 1-12, any finer detail on where they may fit has yet to be seen.
A preliminary update has been made to the overall result grid on the supplementary pages.

Maxton misdoings

Wanted! pages updated to include the Tonbridge family of Robert and Grace (WATT) FAIRBAIRN, along with a page added for Robert explaining why I think he belongs to the James who subsequently married Helen GOODFELLOW (check the dates).
However, candidates for the project from this line look to be rather thin on the ground, the line appearing to have either daughtered, or died, out.

1660s split?

The supplementary pages have now been updated to include the latest set of full results, from the line of John & Christian(WOOD) FAIRBAIRN.
This includes a relatively major revamp of the dna signature chart for Lineage 1 "clump 2" incorporating this new knowledge - hopefully sensibly.
Any contributions to this interpretation are most welcome!

Looking at the marker results we now have available, I'm guessing that there was a split in the "clump 2" lines about the 1660s, where those including the above John, also James and Helen (GOODFELLOW), and F-11's James, can be deemed to have genetically split (slightly).
Take a look at the by now very wide signature chart and see if it makes sense to you.
(It also now includes the Eckford line of F-27).

The project is still very interested in finding representatives of other known lives to aid in piecing this huge jigsaw together - direct male line descendants of John and Helen (ANDERSON), and of the Ednam Blacksmith family with all the Edwards would be most welcome - and what about the Selkirk families?
Check out the Wanted! pages for some lines we are particularly interested in, but any not listed on the pages anywhere are also "wanted", just not yet documented.
Then of course there are the Yorkshire ones, are they related?

Subsidies for testing may be possible for the first of a line to test.
Those ineligible to join in the fun by reason of sex, or descended from a female line may help by contributing towards the subsidies - simply follow the "Contribute to the Surname Project General Fund" link on the lhs of our Family Tree DNA project pages.

28th: Lineage 1 "clump 2" results update

Full results now in for LE (F-31), confirming that, as expected from the partial results, his line, that from John & Christian(WOOD), does indeed match most closely (exactly in fact) to that of James & Helen (GOODFELLOW)'s representative.
The summary result page has been updated while the supplementary pages are being reviewed for what this may or may not mean on how families "fit" together.

16th: Yet another LIneage 1 Clump 2

Only partial results in so far (markers 38-67) but it looks like LE (F-31) is yet another line in Lineage 1 Clump 2, with marker 446 = 14 indicating his closest match is going to be with the James and Helen (GOODFELLOW) FAIRBAIRN line.
Not really a surprise, given the paper trail leads back to the family of John and Christian (WOOD) FAIRBAIRN who married at Nenthorn 1787.
John is probably the son of a Robert, (naming pattern of children of both known siblings Robert and George), possibly a Robert and Janet (naming pattern of Robert's children).

Supplementary pages updated with these partial results.

5th: East Lothian Births

Given I was checking the pedigree for a chap in Selkirk, who turned out to belong to a family from Innerwick, analysis of East Lothian Fairbairn births from the OPRs has been started.
Keep an eye out for analyses that may eventually appear on the Guild of One Name Studies pages

23rd: DNA Signature for Archibald (marr. Alison CROSSER) FAIRBAIRN

We now have the full results for GD (F-29) the proven paper trail representative from the line of Archibald FAIRBAIRN (marr. Alison CROSSER).
Supplementary pages have been updated to include these results in the Overall DNA grid, and the DNA Signature Chart for Lineage 1 "Clump 1"
Summary result page also updated.

Archibald & Alison

Noticed that partial results are now available for one of our latest recruits, the proven paper trail descendant of Archibald and Alison (CROSSER) FAIRBAIRN.
Thankfully, they validate the assumptions and inferences made so far on where Martin (F-1) and his matches fit into the overall "clump 1" portion of Lineage 1.
The overall dna grid on the Supplementary pages has been updated with the panels of results for markers 38 to 67 for GD (F-29).

14th: Still an excellent match

Eckford:F-27's full 67 marker results are now in, with no need to change my posting for the 10th.
The Supplementary pages have been updated to include the full results, other updates to follow, including the Lineage 1 "clump 2" DNA signature chart.

One more at the lab

Another piece of the jigsaw will be available to us in a few weeks, kit F-31 has just been received at the lab.
This is believed to be the line of a John and Christian(WOOD) FAIRBAIRN who married at Nenthorn in 1787, with an eldest son Robert born Kelso in 1788.
A second representative for this line would be good to help confirm whatever puzzles will no doubt ensue once the results are in.
Any descendants out there from Robert's line? He married a Helen RUTHERFORD and descendants were known to be around Duddingston at one stage.

Addenda - even more results in.

So much for that theory (see jumping to conclusions posted earlier today).
No sooner were all the results to hand thought about, and conclusions updated, than the most interesting panel of the remaining markers was also available.
Of those in the small subsection of clump 2 Eckford:F-27 now looks more closely related to those in the trees we know less about, although (F-8) also has been mooted to be connected to the John and Helen (ANDERSON) tree. Inherited family documents show Thomas (b. 1784 marr. Elspeth REDPATH) as son of Robert (b. 1749, married Margaret PATTERSON), and the 1749 Robert as son of Robert (1716 - 1800), with this last Robert being the brother of John b 1714 and Patrick, all sons of the 6th generation John b. 1688.
Same references to "crest" and grave markers in Ednam, which makes it look most like this version of the John's on the Patriarchs page (but presumably with further details on Thomas' line included).
The provenance of the information does include data from Thomas' daughter, so it does contain some proven links to the past, with references also to more modern researchers.

Am I getting too much exercise jumping to conclusions?

The next set of results (37 markers) are in for (Eckford:F-27), a descendent of the Robert who married Elizabeth YOUNG, which places this line closest to that for James and Helen (GOODFELLOW) Fairbairn (sharing marker 570 = 18 with a small group of Lineage 1 "clump 2").
Assuming that the James married to Helen GOODFELLOW, is indeed the James, son of George and Janet (MURRAY) born Kelso 1788, he has a brother Robert. However that Robert is fully accounted for in census and death records, so cannot be this Robert.
Some trees believe the George who married Janet MURRAY is the son of the John who married Helen ANDERSON, which would make him brother to the schoolmaster William (married Margaret SCOTT).
Which is where I'm getting my exercise jumping to several possible conclusions.
William had a second string to his bow, as a surveyor.
This Robert of Eckford (married Elizabeth YOUNG) appears in records as an engineer/surveyor for the Duke of Hamilton.
William is not known to have had a son Robert however, and to the best of my current knowledge, nor do any of his brothers, but maybe this has just changed?
Both the supplementary pages, and the result summary pages have been updated, although for the former, the DNA Signature Chart for Lineage 1 "clump 2" has not been updated - waiting for the last panel of results for that.

The Family Tree DNA Time Predictor shows that (Eckford:F-27) and Doug (GOODFELLOW) F-6 have an 82.6% probability of a common ancestor by 8 generations, and by 12 generations it is 95% (using the setting of no known match within 3 generations).

5th: Robert of Eckford tracking modal

The next panel of results (13-25) have arrived for Eckford: F-27 and show he is still tracking along exactly on modal for Lineage 1.
It is the next panel, 26-37 that will begin to demonstrate better where this Eckford lineage belongs in the overall jigsaw.
Supplementary pages have been updated.

1st: Tweaks

No, the republish of the Summary results table isn't because of new results, merely a rearrangement of the background colours for marker 520 to reflect the growing body of evidence that "clump 2" is nearer the modal for Lineage 1 than "clump 1" (Marker 391 was switched a wee while ago).

In addition, the list of web sites on the rhs of this blog has had the fledgling FAIRBAIRN One Name Study (ONS) added. (Nothing new yet, stage 1 is merely creating links to some of the known family trees, starting with the outline pedigrees on our Summary Patriarchs Page)

1st: Pedigrees added

The fledgling FAIRBAIRN One Name Study (ONS) pages have begun to be fleshed out.
Stage one is to include links under the "Identified Family Groups" tab to the families already shown on the Patriarchs page of the related DNA study.

31st: Welcome

Welcome to the Fairbairn Surname One Name Study (ONS) Project Diary.
Guild of One Name Studies (GOONS) registration has been applied for and
Companion web pages for the study are in the process of being created.
In the meantime, the dna pages continue to be fully operational and are an obviously complementary site for a study of a surname.

30th: Thick and fast

Results are pouring in thick and fast.
Another of our in progress kits has made it to 12 markers at least.
Supplementary pages updated to include F-27, the representative of the line of Robert & Elizabeth (YOUNG) FAIRBAIRN of Eckford.
At just 12 markers it is obvious that he fits somewhere in Lineage 1 "clump 2".

29th: Full results in for F-22

Michael(SIMPSON) F-22's full results are now in, and his page has been updated to include the Genetic Distance (GD) calcs.
Supplementary pages overall result grid also updated as is a preliminary attempt at joining him into the Lineage 1 "clump 2" dna signature chart.
Busy chap the FAIRBAIRN at the top of that tree.
A review is needed to check that the % calcs and generations to Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) are all still in synch, and will be done when time permits.
Basically he is closest to our IRWINs, and to John (F-17) descendant of John and Jessie (JOHNSTON) FAIRBAIRN, and it is beginning to look as if a small subset of FAIRBAIRN descendants may share CDYb=39.

28th: Lineage 1 "clump 2" grows apace

Michael(SIMPSON) F-22's 1-25 marker results are in (well the 38 thru 67 are also there, but the 26 to 37 panel is still in progress).
We have a new member of Lineage 1 "clump 2", fairly close to modal (so far anyway, the really interesting bits are in the yet to be provided 26 thru 37 panel) for "clump 2".
His page on the supplementary pages has been updated to include the Genetic Distance calcs Family Tree DNA provide for his 25 marker results, and the overall result grid also updated.

The Lineage 1 page has been tweaked to shift all of "clump 1" to their own Lineage 1, imaginatively entitled Lineage 1 "clump 1", rather than as they were previously ,simply as individuals.
This is primarily as we can have a fairly good shot at figuring out how these families may link, unlike the much more disparate "clump 2".

Once the current round of results have all been received, the analyses pages will get their probably overdue revamp.

27th: Another kit made it to the lab

F-29 is now in the queue at the lab, so fingers crossed for a set of results matching Lineage 1 "clump 1".

24th: Haplogroups confirmed

A couple more of the haplogroups have been confirmed, unsurprisingly, both I1.

Summary result page updated to reflect this update for Mike IRWIN(F-24) and our new ELLIOTT(F-32)

ELLIOTT update

Some day soon we may end up with more ELLIOTTs than we have FAIRBAIRNs!

The ELLIOTT match reported the other day has joined the project as F-32, and his results have been added to both the Summary and Supplementary pages.
No pedigree information available as yet, but he's a very good match, at 67 markers, to the existing IRWIN and ELLIOTT outliers, with the nearest FAIRBAIRN match being Joe (F-10) at GD 2.

20th: Another ELLIOTT match*2

Don't yet know anything about his pedigree, but another ELLIOTT has just turned up as a 67 marker match to two of our FAIRBAIRNs, Martin (F-1), at GD6 and slightly closer to (F-8), at GD4.
Further information hopefully will be provided in due course if he agrees to join our other ELLIOTT and IRWIN outliers in the project.
Patriarchs page has been updated to include links to/from the summary and detail pages for the IRWIN results.

And another kit is on order, bringing our total to 31.

More lines added

The Patriarchs page has been updated to include the lines of the nurserymen of Clapham, which line is about to be represented, if all proceeds to plan.
Supplementary pages have also been updated with this line, and the Wanted! page had a bit of a tidyup.

News that another of our kits is on its way back to the lab, so let's hope that this time results are as expected.
Summary results table has also been republished to reflect the current status.

14th: No match

Full results are now in for Michael (F-23), and he officially joins Neil(CARTER) F-4 as our two participants with absolutely no matches anywhere in the Family tree DNA database - yet.

Result grid, and notes etc on the Supplementary pages all updated.

More research, and more participants, both needed to tease out the implications for this part of the FAIRBAIRN jigsaw.

13th: One more in/result overview

The third of our three recent kit orders has now hit the lab, representing the line of Robert & Elizabeth (YOUNG) FAIRBAIRN, Robert being a surveyor for the Duke of Hamilton in the parish of Cambuslang, Lanarkshire in 1849, with the 1851 census showed him as (42, 52 or 62, bit unclear, but ancestry indexed him as 52), civil engineer, born Eckford, Roxburghshire (although he was a bit hard to find on ancestry, having been indexed as Robert Facobaion, and his birthplace recorded as "Eclford, Robeburghshire").

The summary result pages have been updated to include F-23's 12 marker results, and update the kit status summary.
With results in (1 only partial to date) from 21 kits, 2 at the lab and 1 still missing in action somewhere, we can see a clear pattern that most of the Borders Fairbairn families are related to a greater or lesser extent in haplogroup I1 (15 of the 21, plus 4 non-FAIRBAIRN (IRWIN and ELLIOT) names who match).
Four of the 21 are in haplogroup R1b, with two matching, those of the Fife and Irish/Canadian FAIRBAIRN/FREEBORNs.
The remaining 2 kits are one with an as yet unassigned haplogroup, which looks like it will be R1b but may or may not ending up matching one of the other R1b participants, and one a J2 which looks like a question to be answered by his ancestors somewhere.

Another pedigree : George & Jane (LAW)

The Patriarchs and Wanted! pages have been updated to include another outline pedigree for a line where a participant, or two, would be most welcome to aid in piecing together the jigsaw of Scottish Borders FAIRBAIRNs.
George and Jane (LAW) FAIRBAIRN married at Nenthorn (his parish), with Jane being of Melrose. Family spread to England, the States, Sth Africa and Australia.
Somewhere amongst all those countries there must be someone interested in showing where this line fits, and if so we'd love to hear from you.

Out next set of preliminary results (12 markers) aren't due until 13 Feb (batch 341).

Result update

Preliminary (12 marker) results are in for Michael (ROWLAND) F-23, and although it is a little too early to tell definitively, look more like a match to those in Haplogroup R1b rather than all the more usual Lineage 1 in Haplogroup I1 he was expected to match.
Most definitely need more lineages represented to help tease the answer to this one out, given it was/is thought that this is the line of William, schoolmaster of Bowden and Galashiels.

It will be interesting to see how the 10/12 match to Stan (F-15) develops at more markers.
(Next set of markers not due until mid Feb).