The Eaton Families Association
DNA Project Press Release
February 2008

Contact: Douglas MacMillan
First VP/Family Genealogist
The Eaton Families Association
Email: dougiemac@comcast.net
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE





DNA EVIDENCE REWRITES HISTORY
Seven Eaton Lineages Become Five

William and Jonas Eaton of Reading, MA and John Eaton of Dedham, MA
are genetically indistinguishable

For many years William and Jonas Eaton of Reading, MA have been described as brothers or father and son. They arrived on the same ship (Jonas being listed as a servant of William), both settling first in Watertown and then in Reading, where they lived next to each other. Yet, there has never been hard evidence to prove the relationship and, as a result, most New England genealogists treated William and Jonas Eaton as separate lineages. DNA evidence now has proven that Jonas was either William's brother or close cousin, sharing a common ancestor not long before the migration. (DNA results cannot distinguish between brothers and close cousins.)

The Eaton Families Association began its DNA project under the direction of Dr. Philip Converse in 2005 with seven Great Migration patriarchs to the US during the 17th century: Francis of Plymouth (1620); John of Dedham (1635); William of Reading (1637); Jonas of Reading (1637); Theophilus of Connecticut (1637); John of Salisbury and Haverhill (1639-40); and John of Radnorshire/ Philadelphia (1684). With sufficient Eaton male donors, by 2007 we were able to validate genetic signatures for these seven lineages.

This DNA evidence also proves that John Eaton of Dedham, MA was also a close cousin of William and Jonas, which is an entirely new concept and reduces the original list of seven main Eaton lineages to five. The DNA evidence for John Eaton, who was a resident of Dover in Kent, and William and Jonas Eaton, who resided in Staple, a village in Kent about ten miles north of Dover, is so nearly identical that paper-trail genealogy must now be used to establish whether current descendants stem from John, William or Jonas.

Because the DNA entanglement between the three lines mentioned above is particularly close, more data from additional DNA donors is always welcome. If you are an Eaton male who has an unbroken list of Eaton sires (or are a female nee Eaton with male Eaton relatives), we invite you to have your own or a surrogate's DNA tested to see if it matches any one of our five signature patterns. In addition, we are adding new signature lines everyday, so please feel free to use the information below to contact our DNA coordinator.

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For scientific data, please contact pconvers@umich.edu
For more information or to participate, please go to DNA Project

The Eaton Families Association