The original Elliott project has been discontinued, but if you go to this website, you can still read the contents.

https://web.archive.org/web/20220128154422/http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~gallgaedhil/genealogy/elliott_border_reivers_dna.htm

This item appears in the  Telegraph (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Friday 31 July 1931)    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/180695277
 ELLIOTT

The Elliotts believed in rationalisation before the word was in everyday speech. There  have been Elyots, Elotes, Ellets, Ellots, and others all very ancient, but there has been a wholesale process of amalgamation 
and most of the inheritors of the surname are Elliotts now. It began with a baptismal name. Some of the first Ellots were the sons of Ellas, others were the sons of Ellens. But that ls going a long, long way back,
or it is impossible to say when Eliot first took its place among names. We can certainly go hack to the days of chivalry. If you turn to "Morte d'Arthur" you will find that at the great feast, that King Park made for
joy that the Sessions were put out of the country, came "our harper that night Eliot'," to sing the lay that Dlriadln had made. 

There was a Christopher Eliot who was a Warden of London Bridge in the days, of Henry VII. The first English book on moral philosophy, called "The Gouvernour,"' was the work of Sir Thomas Elyot, who was born in
Wiltshire in the fifteenth century, was an ambassador to Charles V, and' sat in Parliament for Cambridge. Eliot is the family name of the Earl of St.- Germans and this great Cornish family goes back to Sir John Eliot,
who in the seventeenth century stoutly resisted arbitrary taxation and helped to force the Petition of Rights from Charles I, and spent the last three years of his life in imprisonment in the Tower. The earldom of Minto 
goes back to Gilbert Eliot, who nearly three hundred years ago was in Parliament for Roxburghshire, was clerk to the Privy Council, and a Lord of Session. His grand son, who had represented Selkirk and Roxburghshire
before succeeding to the title, filled the offices of Lord of the Admiralty, Treasurer of the Chamber, Keeper of the Signet, and Treasurer of tho Navy. George Augustus Eliott also belonged to this line. His defence of Gibraltar
was held to rank as one of the most memorable achievements of British arms and he was made Lord Heathfleld, Baron of Gibraltar,
Ebenezer Elliott; was the famous Corn Law poet. George Elliot was, of course, a pseudonym adopted by Mary Ann Evans, who made it the name of one of our most illustrious women novelists. 

The present Earl of Minto is V. G. L. Garnet Murray-Kynnynmond Elliott, and he was a captain in the Scots Guards.
Granville John Eliot succeeded his cousin and became the seventh Earl of St. Germans nine years ago. Major Walter Elliot Elliot, M.C., was member of Parliament for Lanark for five years and now represents the Kelvingrove
division of Glasgow. He was Parliarnentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland in Mr. Baldwin's last Admlnlstration.

Updated 18 April 2014

Through a series of unexpected events, this dedicated project (although it continues to operate) is acting in conjunction with the very large 'Border Reiver' Project, of which the ELLIOTTs
make up a large section of that project.

You will see this and all the haplogroups and haplotypes of all the Elliott families, both separate and integrated, by just clicking on this link below
http://www.familytreedna.com/public/border_reiver_dna/

(Set your page to show "3000").

Updated 20 June 2013
Contact Gail Riddell at    gailriddelldna@gmail.com

• Y Chromosome testing enables genealogists to verify their father's father's...father's paternal ancestry.  (The molecular (aka genetic) ancestry overrides the surname ancestry).
  
• Molecular ancestry information can be very powerful when combined with traditional paper trails and can uncover family secrets!

This project is keen for people from the United Kingdom, all the countries of Western Europe (which have strong numbers of RIDELs and similar spellings),
Northern and Eastern Europe, the United States of America, Canada, the Caribbean, South America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa
(and anywhere else I have missed when I considered the countries in which the surname exists...) to please join it.

Like all surname projects, this one is intent upon proving connections using DNA. But it is NOT just surname ancestry.  It is molecular (or as some prefer it, genetic) ancestry.

The best articles I have found to date for understanding just what 'DNA' is and how the results of testing can help you with your genealogy.

http://dna-explained.com/2012/08/19/autosomal-results-the-basics/

http://stevemorse.org/genetealogy/dna.htm

http://stevemorse.org/genetealogy/beyond.htm

Here is a hint for you if you have tested Family Finder (Autosomal DNA).

Once you (or anyone) joins a project, you can go to your FTDNA Home Page and scroll down to "Advanced Matches" . Check the FF box and select whether you want to see your matches in either the full data base, or just in the specific projects that you have joined.

Because it is a pain switching from one window to another, I have three browsers, so that I can get the same person’s Home page up showing different reports for the same tester all at the same time.

If you are reading this, then it is assumed you are hunting for details about your ancestors and extending your knowledge about your particular line.

DNA testing will certainly aid you in a number of ways but you must still have a paper trail if you want to name that ancestor when you find you have a match! 
DNA testing will also inform you whether your paper trail is correct.  (My favourite 'hobby-horse' is to tell you not to rely on the work of someone else UNLESS they have supplied you with references to enable you to check these for yourself).