For a detailed example, see The Mumma Surname DNA Project. For a fascinating example of what can be learned by testing the DNA of the Y chromosome, see the book by Brian Sykes called (in Britain) "Blood of the Isles", or (in the USA) "Saxons, Vikings, and Celts."

In Old English 'fyrhpe' (frith, woodland), the character p stands for the runic Anglo-Saxon character 'thorn' similar to 'th.' In Old English the sound of the 'thorn' character could be unvoiced as in 'thick', or voiced as in 'the.' (The Y in 'Ye' --as in Ye Olde Pizza Shoppe-- is actually a Middle English representation of 'thorn.' Middle English 'Ye' is pronounced 'the'!)

Reaney and Wilson's Dictionary of English Surnames (which however does not cover any Scottish, Irish, or Welsh origins) states that English names deriving from the word fyrhpe include Firth, Frith, Thrift, Frid, Fridd, Fryd, Freeth, Freed, Vreede, Frift, Fright, Freak, Freake, Freke, Firk, and Firks. The Welsh toponym Ffridd is also related. The exact form of the surname thus depended on the local dialect, and on the listening and spelling skills -or lack thereof- of the census-taker or parish scribe.

In the book 'Surnames of Scotland' by George Black, the name Thrift is said to have derived from the common meaning of the noun 'thrift' (which the Oxford English Dictionary relates to the verb 'thrive,' also spelled with a thorn). James Thrift was a reidare (minor cleric in the Scottish Church) at Collace, a parish near Perth, in 1574.

Other origins have also been noted, most obviously from the place name Firth. (Firth and Frith have often been interchanged not only in surnames, but also in place names, as in The Pentland Frith.) One very intriguing variation is the surname Evilthrift, found near Hertfordshire (and later in Australia), which in some cases may have evolved into Thrift (example). (I would offer a wild guess that this surname may be derived from Aethelfrith King of Bernicia (Northumbria), d. 616.) For more on Firth /Frith /Thrift surname origins see
http://members.tripod.com/firth_home/surname.htm
www.4crests.com/freak-coat-of-arms.html
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/FRITH/2007-08/1187849538

(It is worth noting that in the British Isles, surnames were generally adopted after 1000 AD, and, in places like Wales, as recently as the latter part of the 18th Century (see Origination Of Scottish Names, Norman History, and Welsh Names and Surnames). Tracing a surname can only take you back at most 30 generations or so, though descendants of nobility may be able to trace back a bit before the establishment of the surname.)

Richard Frith was named in The 2nd Charter of Jamestown VA, 1609, and invested 25 pounds in the Company for Virginia. (Although most interested parties assume that because he was an investor, therefore he was a Jamestown settler, this does not seem to be established. He is not named in other lists of original settlers. Still he is of great interest.) In 1635 Robert Frith, age 23, came to Jamestown from London, England on the ship Assurance, and a week later Thomas Frith, age 17, came on the ship Elizabeth.

One of George's daughters, Jane Thrift Frizel, testified for Robert T. Flanagin at a court proceeding against George's estate while another sister, Mary Thrift Minor, testified against Flanagin. Flanagin prevailed. It is suggested by some that this case was to claim an inheritance, but the court records are lost. Flanagan was involved in several suits just before this time but then disappeared from view. It is further suggested that after receiving this inheritance he changed his surname to Thrift; this is not universally accepted. The first trace of Robert T. Thrift in Georgia occurs about 1802; he received a commission from the Governor of GA. on Sept. 11, 1804. The 1820 Washington Co, Georgia census shows that Robert T. Thrift lived adjacent to Jane Fizzle (claimed by some to be evidence that Jane Frizel moved from VA to GA with Robert). Three children of Robert T. Thrift of Georgia appear to be named after members of George Thrift's family. However George Thrift and wife had a son named Robert (no middle initial), who stayed in Virginia with his own descendants. Therefore if Robert T. Thrift of Georgia was also a son of George Thrift, then Robert T. is presumed to be "baseborn." Circumstances are detailed here. Much of the above is speculative, but can be addressed by DNA testing.

If you wish to order a kit from FTDNA to join the project, you may use this link for a discounted price (the order form is at the bottom of the page):
https://www.familytreedna.com/surname_join.aspx?code=H58271&special=true
It is suggested that you NOT purchase an FTDNA 12-marker test. This is a matter of statistics and cost. Although 12-marker tests are useful for ruling out relationships in some cases, to demonstrate real relationships one needs AT LEAST 25 markers, or, if you are in the R1b haplogroup, at least 37 markers. (Being R1b is like being named JOHN SMITH; additional identifiers are required. Since by far, most people with British or Western European ancestry are in haplogroup R1b, you will likely need more markers to clearly distinguish your family from others not related, and to clearly show your own real relationships.) It is much cheaper to order a 25, 37, or 67-marker test initially than it is to upgrade to that many markers after starting with a 12 marker test.

If you know you are in a branch of one well-known family, but wish to determine how your branch fits into the whole (i.e. at which generation your specific line branched away from the others) you will probably need a 67-marker test both for yourself and for people in the other branches of the same family.

As an example, looking for matches for Jeremiah Thrift's DNA results, it is reasonable to expect that related families will have similar DNA with a few random mismatches. In the FTDNA database there are over 650 entries that match Jeremiah at 12 markers with two or less mismatches, and there are 142 near matches at 25 markers. All of these have unrelated surnames; it is likely (based on evidence from additional markers; most of these matches have tested 37 or more) that NONE of these 12- or 25-marker matches are in fact closely related to Jeremiah. If any matches were found with a related surname, we would encourage all possibly-related matches to upgrade to testing 37 or 67 markers, which would show much more detail about the closeness of the relationship. In the FTDNA database there are only 2 near-matches to Jeremiah when comparing 37 markers. This is far fewer false positives than when comparing 12 or 25 markers. The two closest 37-marker matches to Jeremiah have 4/37 (11%) mismatched markers; again, neither of these has a related surname. (A rough calculation can be done that shows the Most Recent Common Ancestor for 4 mismatches out of 37 markers was probably at least 400 ago, most likely around 700 years ago or more.) This illustrates that it is helpful to test as many markers as possible; it also shows that one can't expect to "luck into" finding matches already in the database. We need to seek out distant relatives and people with related surnames, and urge them to be tested in order to establish relationships by DNA testing.

There is an additional benefit from testing more markers. With more markers it is sometimes possible to ascertain that a family derives from a particular subclade of their haplogroup. For instance with 12 markers it is not certain whether Robt T Thrift is in the Norse subclade of I1a or the "ultra-Norse" or Anglo-Saxon or other subclades; with more markers this should become clear. Among R1b's ("Pictish /Celtish")it may be possible to tell whether one is a member of Northwest Irish (a descendant of Niall of the Nine Hostages) or a La Tene Celt.

On the other hand, in certain cases, valuable results can be shown with only 12 markers tested. This usually occurs when two families being considered turn out to have two different haplotypes, resulting in mismatches in several markers even with only 12 markers to compare. As described below, even with only 12 markers it is clear that Robt T Thrift is quite unrelated to either Jeremiah Thrift or John Frith.

If you can't afford to be tested by FTDNA, a FREE alternative is available at SMGF, a research foundation. The tradeoffs for the price are that SMGF results are VERY slow (it may take two years or more) and are more difficult to understand, but I would be glad to help interpret your SMGF results. Further, SMGF currently seems to only test 18 markers. This is enough to get started, but not enough to give definitive answers. (They do test a few markers that FTDNA doesn't test; this is a benefit, and is a good reason to submit a sample to SMGF in addition to FTDNA. Also, SMGF includes for free a test of your mitochondrial DNA, showing your mother's mother's line; this costs quite a bit at FTDNA.) SMGF is still well worth the price! Do one or both! If nothing else, PLEASE use the free research organization, SMGF, to be tested and get your results into this project.

If you wish to submit a sample to SMGF, use the following link to order the kit from SMGF:
www.smgf.org/pages/request_kit.jspx, AND then contact me (Richard Thrift, the Thrift /Frith /Firth DNA Project administrator) to let me know.

In the table below, the column "Haplo" shows the testee's haploGROUP. The columns labeled "393" etc (DYS numbers) are distinct markers. The whole set of markers for a given individual is called that person's haploTYPE. (Haplogroups are different from haplotypes, although often one can be predicted by the other.) For each marker, an individual has a testable number of repeats (called STR's, short tandem repeats). The number of repeats is indicated in the table. Although these are usually passed down from father to son without change, the repeat numbers at a given marker occasionally do change (mutate) by plus or minus 1; these mutations DO happen within historical time, and the rate at which these mutations occur is a constant which is known approximately. (If there were no mutations there would be no point in studying these patterns; everyone would be identical.) The mutation rate for the STR markers is about 1 per marker per 300 generations; if a whole set of 60 markers is monitored, this predicts roughly one change will be detected per 5 generations, on average. (Remember, the STR's of the Y chromosome are special regions of DNA and are not genes; mutations in actual genes occur by a different mechanism and are much more rare than this.) If two people have 37-marker (or more) haplotypes that are identical, the two people are very likely related (12-marker haplotypes don't provide enough information to be able to say this). If the two people differ by at most 1 or 2 units out of 37 markers or more, they are still likely to be related, but a mutation has occurred in the time since their Most Recent Common Ancestor, thus they are likely to be more distant relatives. Markers shown in red tend to mutate faster than markers shown in black, thus if two people have a 1 unit difference in a red marker, the Most Recent Common Ancestor may be a bit more recent than if there is a 1-unit difference in a black marker.

The wording of the section "DNA Test Results (Alleles) for Project Members" may be a bit confusing; it is set by FTDNA & can't be changed: