MORE DETAILED EXPLANATIONS

1)  The East Midland Keeps (including John Keep of Longmeadow):  The Green Rows

While there is a great deal of testing to be done by male participants with the last name Keep, our project has in its early stages discovered the ancestral connection of John Keep of Longmeadow, Massachusetts, USA, d 1676, with Walter Kep, born ca 1230, Astwood, Buckinghamshire, England.  It is evident now that John's family lived in England and that he did not change his name upon arrival in America, ending speculation about that.  This connection had been sought for over 300 years without success, but DNA science has enabled the Keep Family DNA Project to accomplish it very quickly.

The descendants of John Keep of Longmeadow are shown at rows 1, 2, 5, 6, 12, 13, and 14, and all show similar numbers to those of Walter’s English descendant at row 3, which provides the proof of the relationship between the two families that has for so long been sought.  This evidence clearly demonstrates that the ancestral lines at some point during the 1600s merge into one line back to Walter Kep of Astwood.   See the family trees below.

Our initial tests involved Marcus Floyd Keep, row 1, and his father, Charles Russell Keep, Jr., row 2, direct descendants of John Keep of Longmeadow, and John Keep, currently living in London, row 3, a descendant of Walter Kep. (See their ancestral lines on the lower part of this page.)  Marcus and his father’s DNA results provide the benchmark against which the other tests were initially compared. Those familiar with the nomenclature of DNA results will understand the column headings in the table.  Others should simply look at the Marker numbers beside the Participants tested, which will allow you to see the matches in the columns.  In the case of Marcus and his father, we have an identical set of Marker numbers, which is to be expected and added veracity to the research. This test confirmed that the non-recombinant or "junk" DNA of the male Y-chromosome contains our ancestral footprint, which is passed from father to son.

If you now compare the American results of Marcus, row 1, Charles, row 2, and Paul row 6, to the results of John of London, row 3, you can see the Marker numbers for all three are identical up to Marker No. 43.  In the remaining Markers to 67 there are three one-off differences, indicating that a common ancestor exists between them.  Similar results were obtained for Donald Bruce row 5, Philip row 12, Scott row 13, and Jonathan row 14 (Marcus’ brother). By achieving an identical match to another participant, the probability of sharing a common ancestry exists.  The greater the number of matches in the number of Markers tested the degree of probability increases. Consideration must also be given to variants in respect of Markers that may appear in the test results, which may be caused by change or mutation of the Y- chromosome.  A factor of one would still indicate a common ancestry, but any higher variation would suggest that there is a lesser probability of a link.

The Testing of Donald Bruce Keep, row 5 and Philip Richard Keep row 12, are significant results, because, like Marcus they can trace an unbroken line back to John Keep of Longmeadow, but their results out of the 25 markers tested, 24 match when compared to Marcus’ results, but one varies by a one-off difference. With the science still in its infancy, Donald and Philip’s results poses the question of the rate and frequency of variants in Markers caused by change or mutation of the Y- chromosome. The more participants we attract to the project the greater our understanding and interpretation of the results and variants will become.

It should be noted that the test results of Scott row 13, however, have further strengthened the established link, because they differ by two one-off differences to those of John at row 3, and as such has established a new working benchmark.

2)  The Wessex Keeps:   The Blue Rows

A major breakthrough in our knowledge of the Keep families has come with the testing of Nicholas Keep row 7, David Keep row 8, William A. Keep row 10, George Edward Keep row 11, Simon John Keep row 15, John William Keep row 17, and Alan Ernest Keep row 18.  All but row 17 results are very close matches. William and George have mismatches that indicate the common ancestor of this group is probably further in the past than the common ancestor of the others, as is Simon row 15. What is interesting about William's and George’s results is that according to a longstanding paper trail genealogy they are linked to the East Midlands Keeps, but the DNA test results came out of the blue and shows that they are part of the Wessex Keeps, which clearly indicates that we should not take earlier family research at face value.     

While John Wm. row 17, and David row 8, are more closely related than John Wm. is to the others, the common ancestor is also further in the past because of mismatches.   However, you will note that this group does not match those of Marcus et al, and we now can say with some certainty that there are at least two separate and unconnected Keep families. When these results are considered against those for Peter Ronald Keep row 4, and Allen Keep row 9, there is a strong possibility of at least four Keep clans.  We will only be able to answer this question by encouraging more male Keeps of all family groups to participate. 

3)  The Middlesex Keeps:  The Yellow Row

Peter Ronald Keep, row 4, relocated to America from England during the 1960s, and was born in 1935 at Hendon, England. He is descended from Walter Keep of Islington, Middlesex, England, who was born in 1762. His test result alerted us to the fact that there exists more than one Keep family group. Only two of Peter’s twelve markers matched Marcus’ results, and therefore, we could not establish a common ancestry. The importance of Peter’s test is that it clearly demonstrates that a shared family name does not confer a shared lineage or a genetic link.  For convenience, Peter’s family group is now referred to as the “Middlesex Keeps”. Because of the expanded scope of our project, Peter's results are important as further testing of Keeps world wide may well reveal additions to his family line.

4)  The Enfield Keeps:    The Tan Row

Another stand alone participant is Allen Keep row 9 of Bristol, England, who can trace his family line back to Richard Keep of Enfield, Middlesex, England, born 1757.  Allen’s test results do not match the other participants so far, and again point to the need for more male Keep participants to join the project, and undertake a test. As more testing is done, it is hoped that other Keeps will discover their own family genetic links. We have called this line the Enfield Keeps

5)   The Keep/Stilmans:  The Purple Row

The test results of Rowan Keep at row 16 are significant, because they have confirmed that Stephen Keep baptized 3 Feb 1771 at Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, England, was the illegitimate son of Ann (Bates) Keep. This was always alluded to in the Parish register, which noted Stephen as “Ann Keep’s boy” or just the “Keep boy”. Ann married Thomas Keep, a descendant of Walter Kep, but Stephen was born some three years after Thomas’ death. It is purported that the actual father was a Richard Stilman, and as stated above we hope to be able to establish Stephen’s father in the future, providing a match is found along the way.

Much has been published and broadcast about the pitfalls of DNA Y-chromosome research as a tool in genealogy, but these pitfalls centre around the use of the science to determine our deep ancestry or Haplogroups, i.e. who our ancestors were over 10,000 years ago.  Whilst this is an interesting aside, it cannot detract from the tried and tested reliability of the marker comparisons that are being used here.

Many other projects provide detailed commentary about the tests and in depth explanations of the results, but we have elected to keep this section relatively understandable.  If you wish to find out more, we would recommend that you do so.  We are not professing to be experts in this field, and until we started this project had very little knowledge of what it entailed.  However, in a relatively short period of time we have achieved some exceptional results, far beyond our original expectations and have created a sound platform on which to advance the project to meet our set aims and objectives. We cannot emphasis enough that our success is dependant on more Keep males participating in the project. If you are interested please contact Bob Warner or John Keep for further information or assistance.