The country of origin of Aaron Stark has interested many people. Several hoped that the Y DNA testing in conjunction with The Genographic Project would help provide a clue to his birthplace. The chart above indicates the percentage of men with perfect 12 marker match to the descendants of Aaron and their stated ancestral country of origin. I am using only 12 markers since that is what most people in the Genographic project have requested, and therefore more data are available for this comparison.

The highest number of matches was to men whose stated their ancestral country was part the United Kingdom, particularly England. The second highest number of matches came from men whose ancestry traced to Germany. Both of these were on our "suspect" list!

Alternatively, if one considers the proportion of matches, this analysis suggests that Great Britain, and in particular the Isle of Man. The second highest correlation is to Luxembourg. Although neither percentage is high, they are substantially higher than any other country. Note that countries in the same color were grouped to obtain the Total Percentage.

At least some Stark settlers, such as Aaron Stark, had reached North America by 1650. The map at the left shows the areas of settlement and the country of origin of the majority of the settlers in that area. This map also illustrates that there was no distinct border between the U.S. and Canada. Although the land bridges between the countries are evident, it is also clear that settlement was primarilly in narrow areas along the coastlines at this time. Travel was primarily by ship.

By the end of the American Revolutionary War, there were 13 colonies in the United States. Although some of these colonies, such as New York, Virginia, and Massachusetts, bear the same names as some states today, the boundaries have altered in the interim.

A great animated map shows the shifting boundaries and addition of new states.