Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 19:58:32 -0230 (NDT)
From: David Pike 
To: pike-dna-l@rootsweb.com
Subject: a result for Group 16



Hi everybody.

Bobbie (kit 280259) ordered a 37 marker test for one of her male relatives 
and when the results came back from Family Tree DNA, they were a 36/37 
match with some of the members of our "Group 16" which consists of 
descendants of Robert Pike and Anny Anderson who were married in 1791 at 
Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania.  As yet we do not have pedigree 
details for Bobbie's lineage.

Something that can be mentioned about the family of Robert Pike and Anny 
Anderson is that there is a webpage authored by Ginger Tomsen with some 
information about their family at: 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kyestill/family/pike/pike02.htm

On this webpage is written the statement: "On a Bible record of Robert 
Perry Pike, father Francis Marion Pike, Grandfather, Hibert Pike, Great 
Grandfather Robert Pike from England."

This statement isn't quite a complete sentence (notice the lack of a 
verb), but it can nevertheless be understood to mean that Robert Pike from 
England had a son Hibert Pike, who had a son Francis Marion Pike, who had 
a son Robert Perry Pike.

While I was trying to help somebody at the Pike reunion that took place in 
July, we came across a family tree at ancestry.com that appears to have 
taken this statement completely the wrong way, by supposing Robert Pike 
(who married Annie Anderson) was the *son* of (instead of the father of) 
Francis Marion Pike, that Francis was the *son* of Hibert and that Hibert 
was the son of a Robert Pike.  This tree also claimed that the father of 
Robert Pike (who married Annie Anderson) was a Francis Pike of Poole, 
Dorset who died in 1758.

My own Pike line hails from Poole, and so this piqued my interest.  Upon 
closer inspection, this tree at ancestry.com posed several puzzling 
questions to us.  For instance, Robert's descendants are in our "Group 16" 
whereas the Pikes of Poole carry a different DNA profile and fit into our 
DNA project's "Group 2".  Also, there is no record of there having been 
anybody named Hibert Pike at Poole, nor is there any record at Poole of 
there being a child named Robert born to a father named Francis Pike.  It 
was also curious that this tree showed Francis Pike being baptised in 1734 
and then getting married just seven and half years later.  The tree also 
shows that Francis died in 1758, which would at least be consistent a will 
that was proved in January 1759 for a Francis Pike from Poole, except that 
the Francis who wrote this will only mentions his father (also named 
Francis) and no other family members, suggesting that he was a bachelor; a 
transcription of this will can be found on my website here: 
http://www.math.mun.ca/~dapike/family_history/pike/Wills/PikeFrancis-Poole-1757.shtml

As you can understand, this tree had us confused for a while, until we 
realised that what had likely happened was that the creator of this tree 
had (1) misread the meaning of the abovementioned Bible record, and then 
(2) upon looking for a suitable Francis to be the father of Robert, found 
a prospect at Poole and then added him into the tree.  Unfortunately the 
contents of this family tree now appear to be getting copied into other 
trees by people who may not suspect that the tree's contents are 
questionable.

To the best of my knowledge, the true origin and parentage of Robert Pike 
(who married Annie Anderson) remains unknown.  Hopefully in time we will 
find a genetic match with some other branch of Robert's family, and we may 
then obtain some clues and insights.  In the meantime, this serves as a 
lesson to carefully evaluate what is available on the internet.



Changing topics now, Family Tree DNA appears to be making an effort to 
encourage its customers to upload GEDCOM files with their pedigree 
information.  This is a good idea, and to reward people who haven't 
already done so, Family Tree DNA is distributing coupon codes to people 
who upload a GEDCOM file to their account on the FTDNA website.  The 
coupons can then be used for upgrades and/or purchases of new DNA kits.

- David.