This project is largely centered on the testing of the male Y-DNA from any Childress, Childers or similar sounding surname. While maternal mt-DNA tests are available from FamilyTreeDNA, the results of these tests are not of great practical use for tracing the surname histories. FamilyFinder tests (autosomal) also are available, but once again, the Y-DNA test results are the "gold standard" in DNA genealogical searches This surname project is used as a filtering system for a sub-project titled "James River Viking Childers/Childress Y-DNA" project. About 90% of all U.S. Childers or Childress males who have taken the Y-DNA test possess the same Y-DNA "signature" and are believed to be descendants of two mid-17th Childers immigrants from England. If a male Childers or Childress wishes to join the sub-project, they must first have their Y-DNA tested under this main Childress surname project. Depending on the results, that male individual will be invited to join the James River sub project. There are occasional occurrences of Y-DNA matches between the Childers/Childress, et. al. surnames and Y-DNA results from non-Childress surnames and we welcome those individuals as well. We'll do our best to help all participants to sort out the tangled webs of genealogical links using current DNA technology.