In the implementation and management of the Henderson Surname DNA Project, the following goals are established.  These are far-reaching goals, intended to stretch our effort so that one day we can claim success in their completion.

Goal # 1:  Establish Henderson Ancestry – A primary goal 0f the Henderson DNA Project will be to offer project members reasonable proof of their relationship to one of the original, pre-15^th century Henderson Scottish family groups that settled in the areas of Glencoe, Caithness, the Shetlands, Upper Liddesdale and the Middle Marches, and finally Dumfriesshire where the family Henderson was established as a barony at Fordell.  Here’s an example of how it will work:  A male with ancestry traced back to the Hendersons of Fordell through traditional paper research agrees to release his unique DNA family signature to the project for purposes of comparison with DNA results of other project members.  In theory, a perfect Y-DNA match with a new member at the 37-marker level would indicate a relationship with the ancient Henderson family of Fordell.

As a bit of background, the five geographic origins in ancient Scotland named in Clan Henderson’s history are based on documented concentrations of Henderson bloodlines thought to have settled in these regions.  Here’s the take-away that everyone should understand. —- It is improbable that there was an original, single Henderson bloodline at any one of these locations.  For this reason, several unrelated Henderson bloodlines may claim their family origin at the same location identified in clan history. To date, over 50 unique male bloodlines have been identified in groups of members. There are also a number of members for which family groups await additional testing of new members of the project.

Goal # 2: Confirm Relationship Among Project Members – Another goal of the Henderson DNA Project will be to offer members who suspect a relationship with another participant the opportunity to compare their DNA test results to confirm the relationship.  In these cases, a 37-marker Y-DNA match would leave virtually no doubt that two participants are either not related or they are related within a given number of generations. Knowing their common timeline, the two members can use other information collected by conventional genealogy research to determine who their common ancestor might have been. To be clear, it is impossible to pinpoint a specific common ancestor from DNA test results, but with a proper paper trail, one will be able to identify with some degree of probability the linear generation of the common ancestor.

Goal # 3: Identify Member’s Haplogroup – Project participants will learn something of their ancestral origin that could be integral to their family research. Using a range of tests available, clan members will learn about the ethnic origin of their direct line being tested based on placement of their unique DNA signature within one of the known Haplogroups on the phylogenic tree of Homo Sapiens. The number of unique branches on the human haplotree continues to grow. The advent of the BigY 700 test has greatly increased our ability to identify the timing of links between individuals in each family group..