John Back, Revolutionary War Soldier
I’m looking for Back or Bach relatives descended from Eastern Kentucky Back or Bach who are interested in DNA testing for genealogy.John Back, Revolutionary War Soldier, who is buried in Monroe County Indiana may be related to these families.
There has long been several theories as to the ancestry of the Backs of Eastern Kentucky.We all agree that they came to Kentucky from Virginia.We also believe that all of them are of German ancestry.But beyond that, there are several different stories.There could be several different lines who settled in Kentucky, or maybe just different information.It’s very possible that we just need to pool our information in order to see the big picture.
Testing the male YDNA has become a very good tool for solving such mysteries.I am a co-administrator of another surname project and have just started one for our Kentucky/Virginia Back/Bach line(s) named “Bach to Back.”The link for the webpage for this project is
http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Bach_to_Back/default.aspxhttp://www.familytreedna.com/public/Bach_to_Back/default.aspx
or you can link direct from www.FTDNA.com and searching for either Back or Bach.
Test subjects would need to be from an all-male Back line.In order words, they would have to a Back or Bach male, as well as their father, grandfather, great grandfather, etc.There can be no adoptions in the direct line.That is because YDNA is only passed down by males to males. There are other DNA tests for women but they are not effective for determining surname roots.There is a lot more information posted on the Family Tree DNA website, FTDNA.com.
We already have two participants who have completed testing and are a match to each other.Those results will be explained later in a separate posting.
The ultimate goal is to locate Bach participants still living in Germany or recent immigrants to the U.S., who would be expected to be a match to our line.According to the existing theories, those persons could be from Thuringia or Freudenberg or possibly an area that has not yet entered the picture.This project would also be helpful to folks descended from the Garrard,Madison, or Wayne County Kentucky Backs and to anyone who is uncertain whether or not they are descended from “The Old Backs” who came into Kentucky from Virginia around 1800We would love to see participants still living in Virginia who are allegedly of German stock, descended from pre-American Revolution immigrants.
Please let me know if you have any interest in participating in this project.Because women cannot be the actual test subjects, they often recruit and order tests for their male relatives such as a brother, father, cousin, or nephew.
Karen Back Simmons
Descendant of John & Catherine Back of Breathitt Co KY
Project Administrator
Bach to Back DNA Project
[email protected]