Project News
Dear Cook Group Participants,
Our Holiday Season promotion will bring back the discount that we offered this summer for the Y-DNA37, since this has been requested by many of our project administrators.
Y-DNA37 – promotional price $119 (reg. price $149)
Y-DNA67 – promotional price $209 (reg. price $239)
mtDNAPlus – promotional price $139 (reg. price $149)
SuperDNA – promotional price $488 (reg. price $665)
Orders for the above tests need to be placed and paid for by December 31, 2009 to receive the sale price.
IMPORTANT: since this promotion will run through the months of November and December, we encourage you to spread the word starting now, as the natural tendency is for people to order at the last minute, and we will not extend it beyond 12/31/2009. You may use our bulk email feature to notify existing project members about this holiday sale.
In addition here are the newly released permanent prices for the Full Mitochondria Sequence:
New kit (mtDNA Full Sequence) … $279
Upgrade from HVR1 … $229
Upgrade from HVR2 … $209
mtDNA Full Sequence after testing Y-DNA … $249
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NEW RESULTS PAGE:
http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/c/cook/results.html
With the help of Terry Barton and "World Family Network", we have re-evaluating the Sub Groups and have created a new page.
NOTE 2:
Please take a look at your ancestors on the Y-Results Page.
IS IT CORRECT?? COMPLETE???
If not, email me, OR:
Go to "MyFTDNA" [your personal results page];
Click on "User Preferences";
Scroll down to "Paternal Side";
Correct or update your data in the field;
Click on
The info you put in this field will display directly to the new page. Be Advised: the space in the field is limited, so be brief and abbreviate where possible.
ALSO, don't forget to update this info to show on the new interactive maps!!
Jim Cooke, administrator
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DNA & Genealogy: A real-world example
So you are a genealogist, have encountered that inevitable “brick-wall”, & are at your wits-end. You’ve pounded your fists, raised your arms to the sky, and yelled “Cook(e)/Koch!? It may as well be ‘Smith’! What now!!??” I’ve been there. And then I found “Y-Chromosome DNA”.
The great thing about Y-Chr. DNA is that it parallels our genealogical paper trails. Like the records you’ve poured over, Y-Chr. DNA passes from grandfather to father to son, just as genealogy follows the paternal surnames. But, practically speaking, does it work? YES!
Example #1: Adding Further Proof of Paper-Trail Theories: John Cooke died in Cumberland County, VA in 1775. I had long suspected that William Cook(e), a neighbor & fellow patentee of 24 March 1740, was a relative, a brother, of my John Cooke. I had ample deed & land grant evidence for each, plus I had accounts from the records of the store of Thomas Partridge, Hanover County, VA, that listed “William Cook”, “your brother John Cook”, & “your son Claten”.
I found Edgar Forrest Cook of Louisiana. He was descended, he believed, from a “Clayton Cooke” of Virginia. He was tested, I was tested, and, VOILA, we matched! Further, we added additional evidence through the test that our assertion that Abraham Cooke married Martha Clayton, & that William & John were sons, was probably true.
Example #2: Different Surname Matches-
Michael Williams was tested in the “Williams DNA Project” and his results were posted. I was tested in the Cook(e)/Koch Project”, and my results were posted (Group 2, John Cooke). FTDNA contacted the two of us by email: we matched. However, a disclaimer was also posted (paraphrased): “matches between different surnames likely represented a Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) before the emergence of surnames, about 1000+ years ago” Not very useful in common genealogical pursuits, huh?
Let’s face it: we ARE related to other males with differing surnames. 1000+ years ago, Thomas the millwright of Green Acres had 3 sons: John, the “cooper”, Robert the “blacksmith”, & James “the cook”. Potentially, Thomas “MILLER” had sons John COOPER, Robert SMITH, & James COOK. But there was more to the Williams-Cooke match than meets the eye………
After further digging, and much correspondence, I learned the following: Michael Williams was descended from Jacob Marion Williams, eldest son of Phillip Williams & Catherine Miller. The couple resided, for a short time, in Botetourt County, Va. “Botetourt? (pronounced ‘Bot-e-tot’)”. That sounded familiar, somehow. So I learned more. Jacob had brothers, and descendents of those brothers were also tested in the Williams DNA Project. HOWEVER, their DNA results did NOT match Michael’s, though they did match each other’s. The same male did NOT father Jacob as these brothers! I visited the Botetourt courthouse. I found Millers, Williams, and a few Cooks. And then it hit me: William Cooke of Prince Edward County, VA was listed on a deed, ca1830, in which he deeded his interest in his father’s estate to brother John Cooke III. On that deed, William was listed as “OF BOTETOURT COUNTY”! (William’s father was John Cook, Jr (d1801). And this John Cook, “jr” was a son of MY John Cooke, “Sr” of Cumberland County, VA).
No, the DNA results do not prove relationships (cousin, brother, uncle), but they DO prove relatedness. Did William Cooke of Prince Edward father that first Williams child? Did the Williams family adopt “Jacob”? We may never know. But chances are very good that Michael Williams is a “Cook(e)”.
The Cook(e)/Koch DNA Project has connected me with 3 Cooke cousins, a Williams cousin, and, very recently, a “Johnson” cousin (his father was adopted - he, too, is a Cook). We haven’t sorted the paper trails, yet, but we are much closer to expanding, greatly, this Cook(e) family tree. Further, we know from mismatches in the Project (lines that do not match ours) that following this line or that is now fruitless: “we aren’t related to THAT line of Cooks!” Think of the times you’ll save!!
Jim Cooke, Asst Admin, Cook(e)/Koch DNA Project
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Genealogists will tell you that there were 4 major Cook(e)/Koch lines that settled in Virginia in the 17th & 18th centuries:
1. Cookes of Gloucester, VA-progenitor, Mordecai Cooke of “Mordecai’s Mount”
2. Cook(e)s of Isle of Wight-Surry, VA- progenitor, William Cooke, Sr.
3. Cook(e)s of Loudoun-Fairfax, VA- progenitor, Dr. Stephen Cooke
4. Kochs of Germanna, VA – a German line whose settlement was established by Gov. Alexander Spottswood of VA.
Other lines also existed, certainly, and many lines passed through Virginia, but the above 4 lines tend to be those from which others try to prove descent. Some of these other lines include (earliest “father” shown):
Shem Cookes & John Cook(e)s of Amelia County, VA (brothers) - shown on the Cook-Cooke-Koch DNA project as Group 19; (thought to descend from the "Gloucester" line of Mordecai Cooke)
Abraham Cooke, Sr. of New Kent-Hanover (believed he married Martha Clayton) & the Cookes of Cumberland County, VA – shown in Group 2. (although descent from a particular line was unproved, most paper trails seemed to lead to “Gloucester”).
Use of the DNA Kits offered by the Cook-Cooke-Koch DNA Project Site, and the posted results thereon, has helped to untangle these lines and to dispel much of the “assumption” that has occurred over the years in Virginia Genealogy. For example:
1. A descendant of Shem Cooke & a descendant of John Cooke were tested. Their results are shown as Group 19. These two participants are related, and the belief that John & Shem were brothers appears to be confirmed.
2. A descendant of John Cooke of Cumberland, VA & a descendant of Clayton Cooke were tested. Their results, shown as Group 2, confirmed their relatedness. It further confirmed the belief that (i) John Cooke & Clayton Cooke were related; (ii) appears to confirm the belief that Abraham Cooke married Martha Clayton and that John & Clayton were related to the couple.
3. A descendant of Mordecai Cooke (results shown as Group 12) was tested. Curiously, neither Group 2, nor Group 19, is related. Does this prove that the Cumberland Cookes and the “Shem & John” Cookes were not related to Mordecai & the Gloucester line? It certainly proves that the participants in the two groups were not related to Group 12’s participant. And, it appears to prove that these were 3 distinct lines.
NOTE: Because The Gloucester Line is well documented, and therefore a major line, many researchers set out to prove descent from Mordecai Cooke. It is always possible that the paper trail is flawed. More descendants are needed with good paper trails to set the standard for the Gloucester Line.
4. 3 descendants of Richard Cooke of Bristol, England, thought to be the English “father” of the Cookes that went to Isle of Wight-Surry, VA, were tested. Their results confirmed that two were indeed related to one another (Group 16), but one (Group 15) was not. AND, none of the three were related to the Shem & John Cookes, the Cumberland Cookes, or the Gloucester Cookes.
The Cook-Cooke-Koch DNA Project Site has yet to identify a descendant of Stephen Cooke of Loudoun-Fairfax, VA. He married Catherine Esten of Bermuda. From this line come such notables as:
Ø General Phillip St. George Cooke, USA cavalry
Ø General John Rogers Cooke, CSA infantry
Ø John Esten Cooke, CSA & author
Ø Flora Cooke, daughter of General P. St. G. Cooke, and wife of General James Ewell Brown “JEB” Stuart, CSA cavalry
Jim Cooke, Assistant Administrator, Cook/Cooke/Koch DNA Project
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An invitation to all G Haplogroup Cook/Cooke/Koch DNA Project Members
(Email from Bill Van Hemert)
Dear Cook/Cooke/Koch DNA Project Members -
My name is Bill Van Hemert, and I am assisting our Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) Haplogropup 'G' Project Administrator, Peter Christy, with membership.
We believe that surname projects and haplogroups are two sides of the same 'DNA coin'. I believe that a surname project teaches us all about our known, recorded history while our haplogroup helps us to discover our unrecorded, unknown history as part of the human family.
We have identified a possible candidate for the COOK Surname Project as a member of our haplogroup. We would be happy to share that information with you.
I wonder if it would be possible to notify all your 'G' members of the existence of our Project ?
Since it's possible to belong to more than one y-DNA project at FTDNA, I would hope that membership in both Projects would add to your members' knowledge of DNA genealogy and add to the value that they received from their testing.
IF they are interested in the project, they may seek additional information:
http://www.familytreedna.com/public/G-YDNA
IF they are interested in joining, this is the procedure:
"Any FTDNA or National Geographic Genographic Project client who had their Y-DNA tested to predict or confirm that they are a member of Haplogroup G is welcome to join.
IF they know their FTDNA Kit Number and Password, go directly to the public page at the above link and click "Request to Join this Group", on the left-hand side of the page, enter the FTDNA Kit Number and Password, and finally click on the "JOIN" button.
They will receive an email confirmation from our Admin.
If they have questions or problems, please have them email me at wgvh2@yahoo.com.
Thanks for your time,
Bill