Date: Sun, 24 Jul 2011 10:11:54 -0230 (NDT)
From: David Pike 
To: pike-dna-l@rootsweb.com
Subject: A new result for Group 1



Hi everybody.

In early June we received the DNA results for Stephen (kit 196644) who 
tested 37 markers.  We did not know in advance which group (if any) 
Stephen would fit into within our project, so it was gratifying to find 
the he is a perfect 37-marker match with Ross (131446) and Richard 
(144111) in our project's Group 1, who trace their Pike ancestry back to a 
John Pike who was born about 1697 in the village of Hungerford in 
Berkshire.

To review some of what else we know about Group 1, it accounts for almost 
a quarter of all of the participants in our DNA project.  It also includes 
some prominent historical figures such as Zebulon Montgomery Pike (after 
whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named, as well as a US General who fought 
in the War of 1812) and Albert Pike (a notable freemason, as well as a 
General of the Confederacy in the US Civil War).  Of the several Pike 
lines within Group 1, those with known origins in England have tended to 
congregate in Berkshire, Wiltshire and Hampshire, although we have also 
encountered a lineage from Group 1 in London in the 1600s.

To return to Stephen, his lineage can be traced back to John Baxter Pike 
who was born in London in 1745 to parents Thomas Pike and Mary Baxter who 
married in 1743.  This might be where this email bulletin were to end 
except for an interesting account of the ancestry of John Baxter Pike that 
was published in The Monthly Magazine in February of 1810 and which could 
potentially shine some light on the early origins of our Group 1.  The 
full account can be seen online, starting on Page 21 at

http://books.google.ca/books?id=7LQRAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA562&ots=lq4a25Jv6P&dq=%22monthly%20magazine%20or%20british%20register%22%201810&pg=PA25#v=onepage&q&f=false

Allow me to quote some of what was written about Dr John Baxter Pike in 
the magazine by one of his acquaintenances:


    "In those early days, he gave me the particulars of his family
    history; he told me that his ancestors lived first at Marlborough,
    and then at Lavington, in Wiltshire; that they were country
    carpenters for several generations; that they had a small
    inheritance at Lavington, and lived comfortably.  That his great
    grand-father went up to London in 1667, and was engaged for
    several years in rebuilding the city after the great fire: that
    some years afterwards, this great grand-father, when repairing
    some houses which he had at Portsmouth, died suddenly, being
    found by some of his workmen dead and stiff, in an attitude of
    prayer, on his knees, and leaning against a window seat.  His son
    remained at Lavington, and had a numerous family, one of whom was
    the late Doctor's father.  Dr. Pike's father came to London at
    about the age of twenty.  He was already married, and he soon
    engaged in business in the parish of St. Ann, Westminster.
    His wife died in a short time; and in 1743 he married again to
    a Miss Baxter, by whom he had several children.  The Doctor was
    the second, and was born in King-street, in September, 1745.
    His father died when he was scarcely four years old; and when the
    family affairs were settled, the widow found herself left in very
    narrow circumstances.  This might have been fatal to the plan
    which the parents had intended to adopt for their son -- but
    genius will force its way.  His father was one of the first
    adherents to the methodists, (then a new sect); and had he lived,
    it would have been his highest ambition, and dearest delight, to
    have seen his son a flaming methodistical declaimer.  But herein
    he would probably have been disappointed; for as soon as the boy
    began to think, he began to doubt about their peculiar tenets, to
    hold religious whimsies in dislike, and to be disgusted with
    every thing that was enthusiastic."


This biography of John Baxter Pike goes on at some length and begins to 
conclude several pages later by offering the following speculation about 
earlier generations of his Pike ancestry:


    "Before I conclude, I must mention further, that I am in
    possession of some letters, and other old papers, by which it
    seems to me, that I know more of his family and descent than he
    ever appeared to know himself, as he never mentioned his
    ancestors beyond his great-grandfather.

    John Picus, the celebrated Earl of Mirandula, a lordship in
    Italy, who was a very remarkable man in the fifteenth century,
    and whose life was partly translated from the Italian by a
    Thomas More, (I suppose Sir Thomas,) could trace his descent on
    the paternal side, from a nephew of the Emperor Constantine.
    Be that as it may, he was born anno 1463, and during his youth
    was most remarkable for his intense application to his studies,
    and rapid acquisition of all learning.  He was not entirely
    prudent in the government of his inclinations, for, (as my
    papers say) before he was twenty years old, he had a son by a
    young lady, to whom, it was believed, he was privately married,
    notwithstanding he was intended for priesthood.  She died, and
    the marriage was never owned.  Soon after, there appeared a
    wonderful change in his disposition and conduct.  He forsook all
    splendour and voluptuousness, and became a rigid relgionist,
    according to the notions of those days."


and a bit later on:


    "At length he died near Florence, in 1494.

    I learn from my papers, that the son above-mentioned, was
    afterwards brought to England; and, after many changes of
    fortune, and much difficulty to subsist, he engaged himself
    with a carpenter at Marlborough, in Wiltshire, and followed
    that trade during the rest of his life.  I believe his death
    is to be found in the register of that town, about the year
    1565.  He left several sons, one of whom followed his business.

    There is such a coincidence of circumstances in this little
    history, and Dr. Pike's account of his family, that I cannot
    but think these were his ancestors.  And if so, his descent
    was what the world calls a great one.  But he would not have
    set any value on this, if he had known it, for no man ever
    held mere aristocracy in more complete contempt than he."


The "John Picus" mentioned above is better known by his Italian name: 
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, with "Pico" being the family name and 
"Mirandola" being the place where the family is from.  If we are to 
believe the speculation of the acquaintance of John Baxter Pike, then the 
lineage of Stephen Pike (kit 196644) would extend back to the Pico family 
in Italy.  Moreover, this would have to be the origin of all of our DNA 
project's "Group 1" cluster.

What isn't yet clear is whether there is any truth to this speculation.

Whether Giovanni had a son is open to debate, but the rest of the Pico 
family from Mirandola is fairly well documented.  The family branched out 
to include the family of Scipion Pic de la Mirandole (who lived at Blaye, 
France in the 15th century) and likely also a Huguenot family in Ireland 
that spelled its surname as Pic and/or Pick.  As yet I am unaware of any 
descendants of the Pico family having done a Y-DNA test... if a genetic 
match were to be found with our project's "Group 1" then that would be 
truly fascinating!

- David.