Kerchner Surname Genetic Genealogy Y-DNA Project

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Group Administrator: Charles Kerchner

Background

Project Surnames:

C625	C626	K625	K626
Kaerchner	Karcher	Karchner	Kariger
Karriger	Kartchner	Kercher	Kerchner
Kergner	Kerkner	Kerschner	Kershner
Kircher	Kirchner	Kirkner	Kirschner
KRXNR

Project Background:

The Kerchner, Kirchner, Kercher, Kircher, Karchner, Karcher, Keicher surname YDNA project was one of the first surname projects in the world conducted by a genealogist. Its purpose is to determine the unique Y-DNA chromosome markers for various unlinked male lines with the same or similar sounding (in English) germanic surname family groups in the USA and Germany, and to determine if any of them share common male ancestor in Germany in the last 400-600 years, and if possible to find their respective home villages or regions in Germany.

The project's first specific goal when started in February 2001 was to determine if there was a direct male line genetic relationship between individuals such as myself Kit 577 in the Y Results table link above, as a descendant of the 1741 immigrant ancestor Adam Kerchner, and the descendants of another early immigrant ancestor who arrived in 1751 named Frederick Kirchner, represented by Kit 581 in the Y-Results tables. The early immigrants Adam Kerchner and Frederick Kirchner lived near each other in Berks County PA in the 18th century. They also named some of their children with the same given names. For example, Adam named a son Frederick and Frederick named a son Adam. While no paper trail records in history have been found to conclusively prove or deny a relationship, based on the traditional circumstantial evidence available it has often been theorized that these two immigrants may have been related. The Y-DNA testing of descendants of these two immigrants proved they were related. This was the project's first success story.
http://www.kerchner.com/success.htm

For more success and progress stories see the Results link above.

We continue to look for the ancestral home village for these two immigrants by testing German natives and other immigrant families to the USA with the same or similar surname. If we can find a match with our haplotype, and that other male line knows their ancestral village of origin in Germany or some German speaking region of Europe, then likely we will have found our village of origin and we can then focus our paper trail research in that area of Germany/Europe.

The project has been expanded to test any male with a similar sounding surname to determine which Kerchner, Kirchner, Kercher, Kircher, Karcher, etc., families are related on the direct male line and which are not. We have successfully linked up several male lines in the USA with each other and also with their distant cousins in Germany. Click on the Goals, News, Results, and Y-Results buttons/links above for more details.

WHO CAN JOIN: Kerchner (or similar sounding or spelled) surnamed males or someone sponsoring a Kerchner surnamed or similar sounding/spelling surnamed male. Only males can be tested for this project since only males have Y-DNA.

HOW TO JOIN THIS PROJECT: At this time you must have been tested either directly via FTDNA or indirectly via FTDNA via the NGS Genographic Project to join this project. Genographic Project customers must first do the free transfer of their results from the NGS database to FTDNA's database. See the "Learn More" link at the bottom of your Genographic Project personal page for how to do the free transfer of your test data to FTDNA or call FTDNA for assistance in doing the transfer. Once you have a personal account page at FTDNA, to join this Kerchner project sign/log in to your FTDNA personal account page and click on the blue JOIN button in the upper left part of your personal page screen. Find the "Surnames" projects section. Click on the letter "K" category. Then click on the Kerchner project link. You will then see a description of this project. Scroll down to the bottom and click on the small white join button at the bottom of the Kerchner project join page. You can add a comment too if you wish. That is all there is to it. If you have not been tested before either by FTDNA or the Genographic Project and want to join this project you need to order a YDNA test kit. Click on the Request to Join This Group link in the upper left hand corner of this screen to contact the Project Admin and arrange ordering your test kit.

For helpful information and resources regarding how YDNA Genetic Genealogy works see my DNA Info help page:
http://www.kerchner.com/dna-info.htm

Project Background, Goals, Results and News
Copyright (c) 2001-2008, Charles F. Kerchner, Jr.
All Rights Reserved

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All Contents Copyright 2001-2004 Genealogy by Genetics, Ltd.
Project Background, Goals, Results and News are copyright of the specific Surname Project

Project Goals:

A genetic genealogy surname project to determine the unique Y-DNA chromosome markers for various unlinked Kerchner, Kirchner, Kercher, Kircher, Kerschner, Kirschner, and similar sounding (soundex codes of K625 and K626 in English) germanic surnamed family groups in the USA and to determine if these various descendants of various immigrants have one or more common male ancestors in Germany in the last 400-600 years and if possible to find their ancestral home villages or regions in Germany.

WHO CAN JOIN: Kerchner (or similar sounding or spelled) surnamed males or someone sponsoring a Kerchner surnamed or similar sounding/spelling surnamed male. Only males can be tested for this project since only males have Y-DNA.

HOW TO JOIN THIS PROJECT: At this time you must have been tested either directly via FTDNA or indirectly via FTDNA via the NGS Genographic Project to join this project. Genographic Project customers must first do the free transfer of their results from the NGS database to FTDNA's database. See the "Learn More" link at the bottom of your Genographic Project personal page for how to do the free transfer of your test data to FTDNA or call FTDNA for assistance in doing the transfer. Once you have a personal account page at FTDNA, to join this Kerchner project sign/log in to your FTDNA personal account page and click on the blue JOIN button in the upper left part of your personal page screen. Find the "Surnames" projects section. Click on the letter "K" category. Then click on the Kerchner project link. You will then see a description of this project. Scroll down to the bottom and click on the small white join button at the bottom of the Kerchner project join page. You can add a comment too if you wish. That is all there is to it. If you have not been tested before either by FTDNA or the Genographic Project and want to join this project you need to order a YDNA test kit. Click on the Request to Join This Group link in the upper left hand corner of this screen to contact the Project Admin and arrange ordering your test kit.

For helpful information and resources regarding how YDNA Genetic Genealogy works see my DNA Info help page:
http://www.kerchner.com/dna-info.htm

Project Background, Goals, Results and News
Copyright (c) 2001-2008, Charles F. Kerchner, Jr.
All Rights Reserved

Project News:

Aug 2001: Adam Kerchner 1741 immigrant to Pennsylvania line, represented by kit 577, linked to Frederick Kirchner 1751 immigrant to Pennsylvania line, represented by kit 581.
Feb 2003: Confirmed the traditional paper trail research (and onomastic and etymology knowledge) that the Kerchner family in the USA represented by kit 577, and the Kerschner family in the USA represented by kit 7049, are completely different Germanic family surnames and that they are not related to each other despite frequent confusion of the two families in public historical records in the USA due to spelling errors over time.
Mar 2005: Kerchner family in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, represented by kit 30528, linked to Kerchner family of Baltimore MD USA and thence to the Freudenberg, Baden, Germany, line of Kerchners.
Jul 2007: Kircher family of Schwabisch Hall, Wuerttemberg, Germany, represented by kit 80470, linked to Kircher family of Maryland and Delaware in USA and another Kircher family in Texas.
15 Jan 2008: Mr. Kyker of TN, kit 47405, joins the project. A separate sub-group is created for the Kyker/Kiker/Keicher lines.
19 Jul 2008: Project reaches 50 members mark.

For more details about the project, analysis and conclusions based on the test results, and the latest project news view the "Results" and "Y Results" section of this website and visit the project's additional independent website at:

http://www.kerchner.com/kerchdna.htm

To contact the project coordinator visit this page:

http://www.kerchner.com/contact.htm

Project Background, Goals, Results and News
Copyright (c) 2001-2008, Charles F. Kerchner, Jr.
All Rights Reserved

Project Results:

Aug 2001: Adam Kerchner 1741 immigrant to Pennsylvania line, represented by kit 577, is linked to and shown to be related to the Frederick Kirchner 1751 immigrant to Pennsylvania line, represented by kit 581. See the separate Success Story page for more details about the initial trials and tribulations in pursuing this goal and the process of working the problem, planning the testing, and proving this conclusion beyond any reasonable doubt.
Feb 2003: YDNA testing confirmed the prior traditional paper trail research (and onomastic and etymology knowledge) which surmised that the Kerchner family in the USA represented by kit 577, and the Kerschner family in the USA represented by kit 7049, are completely different Germanic family surnames and that they are not related to each other despite frequent confusion of the two families in public historical records in the USA due to spelling errors over time. This put to rest conjecture over many years by some researchers that the two families could some how have been related on the male line a few hundreds of years ago in Germany. Such is not the case. The two lines are in completely different haplogroups and thus do not share a common direct male line ancestor. At least not in the last 10,000 years. Long, long before recorded history and/or before surnames were even contemplated. Thus from a genealogy research perspective we can say they are clearly not related in a time frame of genealogical relevance. See the Y Results table above for more details showing the two groups completely different haplotypes and haplogroups. Such is the power of YDNA testing to resolve long standing genealogy theories.
Mar 2005: Kerchner family in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, represented by kit 30528, linked to Kerchner family of Baltimore MD USA and thence to the Freudenberg, Baden, Germany, line of Kerchners.
Jul 2007: Kircher family of Schwabisch Hall, Wuerttemberg, Germany, represented by kit 80470, linked to Kircher family of Maryland and Delaware in USA.

37 Marker Results Table for Project Participants
A Brief Description of the Ancient Origins of the R1b yDNA Haplogroup and other yDNA Haplogroups.

The Y-DNA test results combined with the prior traditional research indicates that the two early immigrants Adam Kerchner and Frederick Kirchner, represented by their respective direct line male descendants who are kits 577 & 784 and kits 581 & 8670, were probably related. See these websites for more details.
Kerchner Surname Project Success Stories Page
Kerchner Surname Project Testing at Multiple Labs LabMerge Page
Kerchner Surname Project Kerchner.com Home Page

Project Background, Goals, Results and News
Copyright (c) 2001-2008, Charles F. Kerchner, Jr.
All Rights Reserved