The purpose of the study will be to determine possible relationships between different Pace family lines (worldwide, not just the US including variant spellings of Pace). Although the study was initiated by the Pace Society, which consists mainly of Paces of English descent (and some of German descent), we are interested in Paces of all nationalities.

Surnames: Pace, Pais, Pacey, Pacy, Paice, Paise, Pass, Peace, Pees (German, pronounced like Pace and often transposed to Pace on entering the US), or any other surname that sounds somewhat like Pace.

1: To assist Paces (and variant surnames) of all nationalities in locating possible common ancestors.

2: To assist Paces, not sure of their lineage, to determine which group or nationality they might fit into. (Our original top priority.)

3: To test whether there may or may not be a relationship between the JOHN PACE of Middlesex – and – RICHARD PACE of North Carolina lines.

This was formerly our first goal.

  • It has been realized;
  • DNA submitted by descendants is entirely different, so they are NOT related.

4: (Original second priority) 

To determine possible relationships between other Pace lines of British descent (including those in the British Isles and other countries).

Sub objective:

To seek evidence as to which English line(s) of Paces the early Virginia Paces might have belonged.

COMMENT:

We have identified a large group of descendants of Virginia/North Carolina Paces who are clearly related. These Paces believe they are descended from Richard Pace of Jamestown, and the evidence seems to point in that direction.

(It must be emphasized that at its present stage of development, a DNA study is not very reliable at determining relationships less than 8 generations back, and even at 8 generations can only show a 50% probability.)

The Pace surname has two main points of origin: England and Italy. The Pace Society of America currently is composed mostly of Paces of English descent, with a few of German descent due to name changes after immigrating. There is no German surname of Pace. However, there are Americans named Pace who are of German descent because their ancestors changed their name to Pace from Pass, Pees, or other similar sounding names. There would be no common ancestry between these Paces and those of English descent. However, there is the possibility that some Paces who believe they are of English descent might actually be of German descent. Therefore, submissions from German Paces are welcome. 

This study would also welcome submissions from Paces of Italian descent and would be happy to add them to our chart or set up a special chart should submissions become numerous.

There are also other possible origins of names similar to Pace. For example, the name Pais (variations Paes, Payes) is said to be of sephardic origin. This is a term applied to the Jews who lived in the Basque area of the Pyrenees, most of whom left during the Inquisition. Some may have converted (at least nominally) to Christianity. We welcome submissions from persons of this surname.