A member of family group 39 has kindly agreed to do a DNA test. The test kit has now arrived at the laboratory at Family Tree DNA, and assigned to the PASK DNA study.
The results will take approximately 6-8 weeks. So hopefully by late October we should have the results.
What will it tell us? Optimistically it will match with one of the other family groups. This will give us a direction on where to focus to find documentary evidence. With a name like Thomas, it is difficult to distinguish which Thomas this may be - especially as we currently don't know where he originated.
A conclusive test will enable us to identify the origins of several of Thomas & Martha Pask née DENT descendants, like (to name a few):
Sergeant Major John Pask (1884-1963), who served in the 2nd Battalion Kings Regiment in Bengal, where he married Marion Tristram in 1917.
Edgar Henry Pask (1879-1959), who married Evelyn Clara Flowers in 1901. In the 1911 census, he was listed as a Captain of a Private Yacht.
Edgar's great-great niece Naomi Pask, who lives in Gibraltar. We met her, and her family, in March earlier this year.Edgar's great-granddaughter Clare Pask, has provided information on his descendants.
Walter Pask (1876-1908) who died at the age of 32; He was killed in a railway accident, leaving his wife Jane Annie Chester, with four children. This included Arthur Pask (1905-1991), who together with his brother Walter, and his grandmother and Aunts Nelly and Kate, immigrated to Melbourne Australia in 1912. Arthur was a very talanted man. He played the cello in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, he was an accountant, and also the Team Manager for the Australian Archers in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany.
Arthur was the father of keen family historian Yvonne Pask. We have been in correspondence with Yvonne since 2009 and she has provided extensive information on both this family and other Pasks who lived in Australia.
Isaac Arthur James Pask, M.C., DSO., R.G.A. (1881-1916), who was a Captain in the Royal Field Artillery, 28th Brigade. Isaac was killed in action on 1 September 1916, fighting in World War I in the Somme, at the age of 35.
James Morton Pask (1848-1930), who joined the Royal Navy as an Instructor. Whilst serving on the H.M.S. Druid, he took part in the Ashantee war led by Sir Garnet Wolseley in Oct 1873-March 1874. James had in his possessions two skulls shaped into drinking cups, that were taken by King Hama-dikky (King of Dixcove). These are now deposited at the British Museum.
If you are a Pask, Paske, or Pasque male, we encourage you to take a DNA test. To date, we have tested 23 men, and this has helped us considerably with the Pask One-Name Study. Alternative if you are a Pask, Paske, or Pasque female, we ask you to encourage your fathers, or brothers to do the test. More information on the process, cost, etc., are available from pask@one-name.org.James' great-great nephew John Morton Cross, who we met at the Pask Family Gathering in 2008, and who has extensively researched this family and provided detailed narratives.
