A report by Thomas Corey
August 5, 2007
Recap
In the past, most Corys in America believed they were descended from one of the three Cory progenitors who arrived from
England about 1635 to 1640. The three progenitors were John of Long Island, New York, William of Portsmouth, Rhode Island,
and Thomas of Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Some even speculated that the three were brothers and had come over on the same ship.
In July of 2002 the Cory Society along with 7 volunteers established the DNA project. Six of the participants had good documentation to believe they were from a particular ancestral line. The seventh, Dr. Arthur Corey, the project coordinator, believed he was a descendent of William, but was unable to document it. Three of the participants believed they were from the William of Portsmouth line. Two individuals believed they were from the John of Long Island line. And one person was from the Thomas of Chelmsford line.
Testing was performed by Relative Genetics with the following results:
- Three individuals DNA verified a common ancestor in William of Portsmouth.
- The two individuals from John of Long Island had DNA that matched close enough to establish a profile for the John descendants.
- Further, it was shown that Dr. Corey was actually from the Thomas line. Later analysis has shown that the Thomas line migrated from North Hampton and Dr. Corey's DNA is an exact match to Colin Cory, resident of Harpole, England.
- The DNA testing also solved the riddle; ?Is John the father of William?? The results of the testing showed that John could not have been William's father, the DNA from these two lines is vastly different.
- The DNA profiles established set a base of Y-chromosomal haplotypes for the three Cory/Corey lines from early immigrant ancestors. As a result many Cory/Corey men, that could not prove with documentation which line they descended from, have subsequently been able to determine their line by comparing heir haplotypes to the haplotypes from the original testers.
At present, 56 individuals have submitted samples to verify or establish their line. Of those tested seventeen men's haplotypes show they are descended from the William line. Six men show they are descended from the John line. Eleven men show they are descended from the Thomas of Chelmsford line. There are eight men that have the R1B Haplogroup the same as the William line, but there haplotypes are enough different that they probably are not of the William line. The haplotypes are close to the William line, enough so that they probably descend from the same ancestor that William did, just many more generations removed.
New Problem
A new problem has emerged. As of August 1, 2007 Relative Genetics will no longer do DNA testing. They have chosen to move all of the DNA samples and profiles from participants that opt in to Ancestry.com. The following email was sent to Relative Genetics Customers and explains the goal of the project and asks people to contact them if they have any questions or would like to opt out.
Dear Relative Genetics Valued Customer,
Relative Genetics is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with Ancestry.com, by way of our parent company, Sorenson Genomics. This new partnership will combine Ancestry.com's unrivaled collection of online family trees and historical documents with Sorenson Genomics' precision ancestral DNA testing.
The powerful combination of these three major pillars of family history research - historical records, DNA and family trees - will revolutionize family history and add meaningful tools to assist you in your family history research. Ancestry.com currently has more than 14 million users and the world's largest collection of online family trees. In the coming months, Ancestry.com will release technology that captures DNA test results and integrates them with the historical documents already in their online family trees. This integration paired with the ability to collaborate with the Ancestry.com community gives you the ability to add branches to your family tree in one vast, ever-expanding online location.
DNA testing and select genetic genealogy services formerly provided by Relative Genetics will soon be offered exclusively through Ancestry.com. At that time, your Relative Genetics information will migrate to Ancestry.com. Before this happens, you will receive an e-mail with more details regarding this transition.
We are excited about the unprecedented possibilities this combination of historical records, DNA and family trees will provide for your family history research. For more information about the benefits of this exclusive partnership and to view our FAQs, please visit Relative Genetics News. Should you have any further questions, please e-mail Relative Genetics at info@relativegenetics.com or contact a member of the Relative Genetics customer support team at 1-800-956-9362.
If you would like to completely exclude your DNA test results, contact information and surname project data from transferring to Ancestry.com, please contact Relative Genetics prior to July 15, 2007, by clicking on the link below:
Relative Genetics Login
Oh behalf of Relative Genetics, it has been our sincere pleasure to work with you, and we thank you for your support.
Best regards,
The Relative Genetics Team
This pretty well stops our project as it stands. Another problem is that many of the men who have submitted samples to Relative Genetics have not posted information on how to contact them. From what I understand, the DNA information will be transferred to Ancestry.com if the person that submitted the sample does not opt out. I wrote to Ancestry.com asking for further information, this is the reply I received.
Dear Thomas
All DNA profiles and information in the Relative Genetics database will be automatically transferred to Ancestry.com unless the individual has requested to opt out. If a person opts out of the transfer to Ancestry.com their information will remain available on the Relative Genetics website until the Relative Genetics website is phased out. For more information on the Ancestry.com partnership please view the news release through the following link: http://www.relativegenetics.com/relativegenetics/news.htm#acrg.
If you have any further questions, please let me know.
Thank you
Natalie Bradford
Client Support Supervisor
Relative Genetics is going to close their website access within the next few months. When this happens, we will no longer have access to the profile analysis of the men that submitted samples. I have not learned whether Ancestry will let us continue our project with them or not. My suspicions are they are going to create a large database of the acquired DNA profiles for others to compare against. I do not know if they realize that the Corey project identified particular immigrant ancestors and set a DNA profile for those doing research.
There initial response was:
Your project will not be altered as the change from the Relative Genetics site over to the Ancestry.com site. Your information will be moved over, and you can view your test results there, and compare to other test results. You will continue to have access to your information on the Relative Genetics site, until the information is moved to Ancestry.com, and we will inform you spefically [sic] when that will take place. I apologize, our partnership with Sorenson Genomics is just beginning and more information will be provided in the near future.
They also sent the following helps, but does not completely answer our questions:
All surname projects currently managed through Relative Genetics will continue to be supported on the Relative Genetics Web site throughout the transition to Ancestry.com. Ancestry.com plans to begin hosting surname projects beginning fall of 2007. At that time, surname project information will be migrated and all surname-project coordinators and participants will be contacted. The additional resources and expansive network that is available on Ancestry.com will add powerful tools to help your surname project further their research.
When I learn what is going to happen, I will inform every one.