This name has several variants, including Sone, Soan, Soan(e)s, Soon etc. The origins of this name lie in the Medieval English "Sone" (or le Son), meaning "son".  It was probably originally used to distinguish a son who shared the same given name as his father and first appears in Warwickshire in 1203 when one John Sune was named in the Pipe Rolls. Early recordings include: James le Sone (Middlesex,1275), while the Subsidy (ie tax) rolls of 1327 include: Willo le Son (Suffolk),Thomas  Sonne (Derbyshire) and William Sones (Worcestershire). As the name was adopted by several separate families living in different parts of the country it is likely that there are several  genetically different families which still use this name today. 

The Sones of Suffolk:Although all people wih the name of Sones are invited to join this project, of particular interest to the Project Administrator are those male line descendants of the various East Anglian branches of the family.  The name (Willo le Son) is found here as early as 1327 and one William Soon, a miller of Wantisden in Suffolk, who was mentioned in land transactions around 1400. His descendants flourished here throughout the fifteenth Century and by the early sixteenthCentury, if not before, were considerable landowners and had achieved gentrystatus. Of this family, Francis Sone (c1518-1561) was MP for Orford three timesbetween 1 545 and 1559. It is possible that the later family were related tothis branch although by no means proven.

Some branches of the family are more prolific than others.  There are, for instance, numerous branches of descent from Anthony Sones (1721-1784) of Chediston in Suffolk who was himself,  a direct descendant of William Soans (1618-1696), yeoman of South Elham All Saints. Although there have been several suggestions for the origins of this William, there is strong evidence for identifying hm with the William Sone, son of Anthony Sone (1576-1638) of Shaddingfield, whose father, Robert Sone (d1621), was one of several sons of one Thomas Sone (died 1572) of the Suffolk parish of Somerleyton, which lies close to the Suffolk/ Norfolk border. We do not know when or where Thomas was born, although the date is likely to have been between circa 1510-30 as his sons were old enough to marry by the mid 1570s. He may have been a relative of the Wantsiden Sones although, almost certainly, this relationship would have been distant, for Thomas described himself in his will of 1572 as a ‘husbandman’, or small tenant farmer.  From Somerleyton the descendants of his five sons spread out into outlying parishes in both Suffolk and across the Norfolk border.  Amongst most of the direct descendants of this Thomas, the spelling Sones became commonplace but there are undoubtedly other branches of the family such as the group around the Lowestoft and Corton area, which have retained the name Soan(e)s to this day.

It is hoped that this project will encourage as many individuals who share the surname or one of its variants to undertake DNA testing to help  shed light on whether these distinct branches are connected and help put individuals into their correct branch of Sones tree. In some cases it will confirm paper research, in other cases it will help someone who has not managed to get backvery far to identify the branch they are likely to belong to.

How does DNA testing work

Along with abrief explanation of how DNA testing can help us achieve this projects aims Ihave included below links to other websites that provide a more in depth and informative explanation of how DNA testing works.  It is still a young, if very fast moving, science and there is still an immense amount that we simply haven’t yet discovered so this information will change somewhat over time.

This project will rely on testing the Y- DNA which is passed down from father to son along with (usually) a surname.  The Y-DNA contains two main types of ancestral markers:

• SNPs (singlenucleotide polymorphisms) which allow us to track ancient or deep ancestry. Thesestable markers change very slowly and are used to divide ancient populationlineages and determine which anthropological ‘clan’ or population group(Haplogroup) we belong to

• STRs (shorttandem repeats, aka microsatellites) change at a much faster rate than SNPs andallow us to track recent ancestry ‘within the genealogical time frame’ iewithin the time of written genealogical records (typically 100 years to 1000years).

DNA testing relies on mutation – if mutation didn’t occur, everyone’s DNA would be the same and so useless for genealogy.   By testing the combination of SNPs and STRs in our Y-DNA and comparing results to others, we can gain information on our paternal ancestry, ranging from ancient history (thousands and tens of thousands of years ago) with the much slower mutating SNPs, to recent history (100-1000years ago) with faster mutating STRs. 

How many markers should I test?

The more markers tested the better understanding we have of how closely people are related. Family Tree DNA offers testing from 12 to 111 markers.  At 12 markers an exact 12/12 match to another individual could be a coincidence; similarly, close matches at 25 markers could be coincidental. In both cases closely matching individuals may not be related and would only know this for certain by testing SNPs to establish that they belong to the same Haplogroup or by increasing the number of markers tested to rule out coincidental matches.   A close match at 37 markers, for instance, is a stronger indication, but I would urge everyone who tests to test at 67 markers as a minimum.

As an example: The first member of the Sones Project to test has been tested positive for the SNP L20 which is a marker underneath R1b1-P312.  Even though another individual who tests and may have an exact STR match of say 12/12 or even 25/25, unless they share this L20 ancestral SNP they could not be related through the paternal line. As this project member has a proven descent from William Sones of South Elham All Saints 1618-1695, the first of the Suffolk family from whom this this branch can prove a line by line descent, one would expect all others descended from this man to share this defining marker.  In addition, as William was, almost certainly,the great grandson of Thomas Sone of Worlingham in Suffolk (d1572) who had at least five sons who reached maturity, I believe that many other people with the name Sones or Soanes who have an East Anglian descent will share this L20 marker.  

Informative websites:

For those who are interested in the subject of DNA testing the following are excellent public sites

http://www.genebase.com/learning/article/11  - out of date in some respects but very informativeoverview . This section deals with DNA and the R1b group.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogical_DNA_test#Y_chromosome_.28Y-DNA.29_testing

http://www.isogg.org/tree/ - this is the2013 Haplogroup tree. Please note that DNA nomenclature can be very confusing, particularly because new discoveries are happening so fast and because different testing companies don’t all use the same names.

http://www.familytreedna.com/faq/   FamilyTree DNA’s own FAQ page

For detailsof early instances of the surname see: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Sones#ixzz2fdRETgBM