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Pace DNA study—accomplishments and future direction

John Pace of Middlesex

The first accomplishment of the Pace DNA study was to settle the question of the ancestry of John Pace of Middlesex.  That came about when Gordon Pace of Canada matched 25/25 with John of Middlesex descendents, and in the 37 marker test, 35/37 with Donor 6739.  FTDNA estimates that there is an 85% chance the common ancestor of Gordon and 6739 occurred less than 350 years ago. Since John of Middlesex and Gordon’ ancestor George Pace were contemporaries and were adults 300 years ago, that means there is an 85% chance according to the DNA results that the common ancestor was their father.

But DNA can only point, it cannot prove, and one of its most important functions is to point to sources that need to be checked.  Gordon Pace did this and found the following in the English Parish Records:

 It takes only a glance at this information to see that the parish records support the DNA evidence.  Five matching given names in the two families are too much to be coincidence. (Parish records have Jane; John's will has Joane, a difference of spelling only.) John of Middlesex must be John of Shropshire, brother to George Pace. 

In addition, John of Shropshire disappears from the parish records of that locale after his christening, giving added strength to the supposition that he emigrated and was indeed John of Middlesex.

And if this isn’t enough, Gordon has tracked other Shropshire names such as  Barnet, Picken, Cotterell, Harrison, Maddocks/Maddox, Groom and other surnames, and found them in the precise areas of Virginia where John and his descendents are found, but less often in the other areas.

It should be emphasized that it was documentation that finally provided the above evidence; DNA alone cannot do it.  Gordon’s documented ancestry from George, and the documented ancestry of the other submitters to John of Middlesex, are the cords that linked the DNA evidence together.