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Description
This project aims to ideally facilitate genetic relationships of the various Saint John lineages across the globe.
Official website & tree for ongoing St. John research: www.stjohngenealogy.com
St. John History
[Last Updated 9 Jan 2024]
This Ancestry and DNA project was initiated by the descendants of brothers Sir William St. John, knight (1561-1638) and Thomas St. John (1564-1625) of Highlight Abbey, Glamorgan, Wales beginning in 2001. Following King Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries, in the 16th century, Highlight Abbey had been shut down and the village gradually depopulated. Highlight Abbey had been a Knights Hospitaller Abbey of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Depopulation of Highlight can be seen in various records that have survived into today. As part of this depopulation event the St. Johns and their nearest kin moved to London to join Parliamentary affairs and ultimately following the Anglo-Spanish War where in June 1605 a peace treaty was signed, Colonial America. The financial gains, the British acquired from this war, financed the expeditions of the Virginia Company of London (Jamestown) and of Plymouth (Popham). The sons of Christopher St. John, Esquire of Highlight (1547-1616) provide the most information for how the St. Johns, descendants of Knights Hospitallers, founded and relocated to what has become America. Acreage acquired by these Adventurers were passed down to their descendants following the hereditary customs of being from an aristocratic and gentry social class of St. Johns in Normandy, England, Wales, and Ireland. These descendants, of William and Thomas St. John, who later helped found the Connecticut Colony were classified as freemen, who had citizenship and land ownership rights based on their birthright. Thomas was the Master on the Popham Colony's ship, The Richard, that was taken captive by the Spanish off the coast of Florida. He bribed a guard for his freedom and returned to London a year later. His brother, Sir William St. John, Knight was a founder of the Jamestown Colony, 1st English Governor of the African Colony, and a Vice Admiral in the English Royal Navy. Two other brothers, Captain Nicholas St. John and Lt. Alexander St. John were killed at St. Lucia Island while trying to colonize it for England. These brothers were direct male descendants of Sir John St. John, Knight and 1st Baron St. John of Lageham, who descended from the first St. John, Ralph, of St. John at the end of the sea in Normandy.
In 2020, the identity and origin of Ralph of St. John (c. 1036-1122) was discovered. Ralph descends paternally from the nephew of Rollo the Viking. Descendants of Mathias St. John (1601- Nov 1669) and his cousin Mathew St. John (c. 1580 - d. Dec 1669) have primary records for every generation proving their descent from Ralph of St. John by way of the St. John family of Highlight, Glamorgan, Wales. Historians have merged the St. John family of Highlight with the de Port-St. John family of Fonmon and corrupted their ancestry. These errors have been corrected at www.stjohngenealogy.com using primary documentation and YDNA results.
TERMINAL SNP: R-CTS649
Y-DNA CONFIRMED MRCA: Christopher St. John, Esquire (1547-1616)
de Port-St. John History
[Last Updated 8 Jul 2021]
The de Port-St. Johns paternally descend from Adam de Port. Adam's wife was the great-granddaughter of Ralph St. John above. In the mid-16th Century Herald, Richard St. George began merging the St. Johns of Highlight Abbey with the de Port-St. Johns of Fonmon as one family. Since that time, a lot of corrupted and confused lineages have been alleged. Attempts to make sense of St. George's corruption have only led to partial fixes or more drastic merging errors. Suzanne St. John began requesting the primary records from around the globe related to St. Johns and was able to unmerge St. George's errors by omitting him as a source and ignoring all his claims. The lineages are now correct on the website: www.stjohngenealogy.com and show two distinct families with their own Y-DNA signatures.
TERMINAL SNP: I-FT243354
----matching ancestral terminal SNPs I-FT242094
Y-DNA CONFIRMED MRCA: John de Port-St. John d. 1525
Other NPE-lines secondary to these two families are currently being evaluated and hopefully their unique histories can be discovered and documented here as well.
Requirements
A Surname Project traces members of a family that share a common surname. They are of the most interest in cultures where surnames are passed on from father to son like the Y-Chromosome. This project is for males taking a Y-Chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) test. Thus, the individual who tests must be a male who wants to check his direct paternal line (father's father's father's...) with a Y-DNA12, Y-DNA37, Y-DNA67, or Y-DNA111 test and who has one of the surnames listed for the project. Females do not carry their father's Y-DNA. Females who would like to check their father's direct paternal line can have a male relative with his surname order a Y-DNA test. Females can also order an mtDNA test for themselves such as the mtDNAPlus test or the mtFullSequence test and participate in an mtDNA project. Both men and women may take our autosomal Family Finder test to discover recent relationships across all family lines.
Surnames In This Project
de Port, Saint iohn, Saint John, Sangin, Santken, Sension, Sention, Serre, Serre dit St. Jean, Shention, Sinclair, Sinclaire, Sinclare, Sinkler, St Clair, St Claire, St. Clair, St. Claire, St. Jean, St. John