Articles of Organization

The TURK Surname Society
Guild of One-Name Studies - TURK #3130
A Category Level A  within the Guild of One-Name Studies.
Organized 3/25/02 - Updated 11/13/05

PURPOSE

The TURK Surname Society gathers into a single integrated database the worldwide genealogical record of anyone with the surname TURK or any surname with TURK as a root. This includes phonetic variations and translations. Currently 474 surnames have been identified that fall within this broad view. Parallel to the genealogical record, the Society manages a Y-DNA TURK Surname Project.

GOALS

• Facilitate genealogical research for those with the TURK surname and its variants.
• Group those with a variation of this surname into genetic families.
• Determine the multiple origins of the surname for the various genealogical/genetic families.

·         GENEALOGICAL GOAL – The TURK Surname Society is dedicated to collecting, organizing, connecting, preserving and sharing the genealogical record of all individuals worldwide, who bear the surname TURK or any identifiable spelling variation. Full names, and dates and places of birth/christening, marriage, and death/burial are collected. This extends to the non-TURK spouse and to non-TURK children of all TURK-surnamed individuals. This is inclusive of all with this surname, regardless of ethnicity, race, or religion. The assembled record is available to all interested researchers online at http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=turk-guild . Customized reports are available upon request from trturk@earthlink.net .

o        SOURCES

§         All identified primary record sources are collected as the first priority. These include vital records of birth, christening, marriage, death and burial. Other primary records are probate, property, census, and contemporary periodicals. All identified secondary records are also collected. These include published and unpublished manuscripts and individual genealogical records.

o        FORMAT

§         All collected records are integrated into a common database built around the Personal Ancestral File (PAF), which is available as a download from www.familysearch.org . All source documentations are tagged in the notes for each entry. Each source that makes a contribution to the improvement of the record is cited. Records of the living are not publicly posted.

·         Y-DNA GOAL – The TURK Surname Society maintains a public website for its YDNA Project at http://www.familytreedna.com/public/turk%2Dguild/ . Participants in the Y-DNA TURK Surname Project are provided with periodic detailed comparative updates. Additionally, participants are assisted in connecting their genealogical record with their Y-DNA matches. All interested TURK and variant spelling surnamed males are invited to become participants. They may do so through the following link: http://www.familytreedna.com/surname_join.asp?code=E71701 .

·         ORIGINS GOAL – The TURK surname has multiple independent origins – some of which are Turkic, but many are not. The name is found in the British Isles. Two independent origins have been identified in Scotland – one of which is closely connected with the MacGREGOR clan and a second is a clan unto itself, i.e. the MacTURK clan. TUREK is a variation that probably derives from the town and region of Turek in Poland. TUREKs have also morphed into TURKs of various spellings through an autochonisitc cultural submersion in the eastern Germanic border regions. Germans in the western part of that nation tend to more commonly use the TURCK spelling. The name is found with various spellings in the Benelux and French nations, including DE TURCK and LE TURQUE. TURK is a common surname in the Balkans. The name is encountered in the Mideast. The surname is found among African-Americans. Many with a Jewish heritage also share this surname.

WEBSITE MANAGER

Nancy TURK, nturk@sears.com , is the webmaster for www.turkgenealogy.com . The goal of the website is to arrange links, facilitate and archive communications, and organize all things TURK-related into a user-friendly format. All users are invited to give feedback and recommendations. She also maintains a list of interested TURK researchers and distributes a regularly published newsletter of updates via email.

DATABASE MANAGER

Toni Turk, trturk@earthlink.net , is the database manager. All TURK researchers are invited to submit their records for inclusion in the main TURK database. Records may be submitted in any format; however, GEDCOMs are preferred. Corrections to the existing records are actively solicited. Details on the living are not published to the website. Updates to the main database are made at the beginning of each month.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS – By definition and invitation all interested TURK researchers are members of the Board of Directors of the TURK Surname Society. As such they are entitled to give input and direction to the evolution of the activities of the Society. They may submit and/or request data according to the extent of their interests. These could include genealogical, e.g. “all TURK descendants of …,” or “all TURK ancestors of …”, or geographic, e.g. “all TURKs from a specific region,” or genetic, e.g. “all TURKs from a specific Y-DNA family,” or racial, e.g. “all African-American TURKs,” or ethnic, e.g. “all Jewish TURKs,” or any other way of defining the data or other efforts of the TURK Surname Society. Nancy TURK maintains the current listing of all those who have indicated an interest to be kept informed of the activities of the TURK Surname Society.

PRESENTATIONS

Gatherings of TURK researchers are encouraged. Upon invitation, effort will be given to publicize and support gatherings of TURK-surname groups. Scholarly research papers are solicited and published electronically. Opportunities for scholarly discussions of TURK research topics are sought.