Chase / Chace Surname Y-DNA Project

Welcome to the Chase / Chace Surname DNA Project web site, a site developed to assist members of surname Chase or Chace male family lines in obtaining genealogical paternal dna testing and in displaying the results in order to facilitate the identification of common paternal line ancestors and assist in the research of ancestral family lines.

INTRODUCTION

This project started with members of the [email protected] group. E-mail discussions of the group often centered on which of the early Chase settlers a member descended from.  Using standard genealogical research techniques, some individuals had been able to trace their family line for a dozen or more generations back to one of the three documented first Chase settlers in America. Others were not so fortunate, and could identify their ancestry for only a few generations, and thus were unable to know if their ancestry was linked to any of these first three Chase settlers, or to other Chase immigrants who arrived in American in later years.

The three earliest Chase immigrants in American were:

·    William Chase -- Emigrated from England with Governor Winthrop in 1630 and settled first in Roxbury, Mass.

·     Aquila Chase and Thomas Chase – brothers, who show up in the records of Hampton, NH (then Mass. Bay Colony) in 1648.  While no documentation has ever been found indicating from where they emigrated (or who their parents might be), it is presumed that they came from England with other Hampton settlers. 

 DNA TESTING

 

The use of dna testing of current Chase/Chace individuals to identify genetic patterns was suggested as a way to help approach several questions that had been raised: 

1.     Are William and Aquila/Thomas related by a “recent” common ancestor? Some unsubstantiated genealogies have suggested that they might even be brothers.

2.     Are Aquila and Thomas actually brothers?  Our assumption that they are is based only on a comment in the Hampton records that Aquila sold some land to “his brother, Thomas”.

3.  Are Aquila and Thomas related to the Chases of Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England as a number of unsubstantiated genealogies show?

4.  Can the results of a test can help those Chase descendants who are unable to trace their family line back more than a few generations focus their genealogy research in the right areas by comparing their dna with known William or Aquila descendants?

We have had positive results with respect to questions 1. and 4. The results of dna tests on current proven William and Aquila descendants have conclusively shown that their respective dna patterns are significantly different, and the two lines have no possible common male ancestor for at least many dozens of generations.  Individuals uncertain about their male lineage have compared their dna results with those of known William or Aquila line, and many have been able to establish at least to which family line they belong and proceeded accordingly in their research, and a few now know at least that they descend from more recent Chase immigrants.

 

With respect to questions 2. and 3., we have to date been unable to identify a known Thomas descendant, nor a documented descendant of the Chesham Chase line for testing.

DNA TESTING

 

The Chase / Chace dna project has used FamilyTreeDNA for tests.  Male Chase/Chace surname individuals who are interested in participating in our project may contact the Project Administrator, Dick Chase, email: [email protected] for further information.

 

 

Click here to see dna test results of individual project participants.