Phipps and Fipps Surname Y DNA study

Project Background

There are a large number of Phipps and Fipps families in the American Colonial period in the Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina areas. There was also a prominent Phipps family in the New England states.

Any male with the Phipps, Fipps, or variant surname is welcome to join the study.

Why use DNA testing?

If you are stuck at a brick wall with your research, DNA testing may match you to another family you can share research with to find your common ancestor.

Finding your genetic match will help you to focus your research on families you have a connection to, instead of researching all the families with the same name in the same area. This should save you money on research materials.

Reasons not to use DNA testing:

If it would bother you to find out that you are not a genetic match to your family, don't do DNA testing.

It is also recommended that you do not test several members of the same immediate family if finding out they do not match would cause you problems.

Who should test?

You should test your oldest living direct line ancestor in either your paternal (Y DNA) or maternal (mtDNA) lines.

What tests should be used?

The Y DNA test is for finding your paternal line ancestry. Only males can be tested since only males have a Y chromosome. The mtDNA test is for finding your maternal line ancestry. Both males and females can be tested since you get your mtDNA from your mother. Only females pass their mtDNA on to their children.

If you imagine that you are at the top of a triangle, then your paternal line is the right side of the triangle, and your maternal line is the left side. All your other ancestral lines are between those and can be found by testing direct line descendants of your ancestors.

There are other tests, the CODIS test used by the police, and X chromosome tests, but these are not yet appropriate for genealogy. They can help with siblingship or paternity questions.