The goal of the Rankin Family DNA project is to supplement traditional “paper research” by using Y-DNA to help people identify their lineage and find a common ancestor. This will help researchers eliminate or confirm family relationships, focus research on related families, and prove or disprove uncertain paper trails. 

One obvious way to help accomplish this is to make the project website more informative. Accordingly, we will try to make it easy to identify your Rankin lineage based on ancestors and location, and provide charts and other information to make that possible.

A second important way to accomplish project goals is to expand the base of Rankin Y-DNA participants. For example, there are a number of Rankin participants who currently have no Rankin match in the project. There are several possible reasons for this, including the relatively small sample size. Also, some of the current sub-lineages have only one or two descendants who have tested. Additional testing is needed to prove that the Y-DNA and the paper trails truly "match." Other issues also require additional testing in order adequately to address them.

If you are a male surnamed Rankin, or have a male Rankin cousin, please persuade him to test and to join the project. We will all benefit from every additional Y-DNA participant – no matter which lineage he may be – simply because our knowledge of the Rankin family will be enhanced. If you don’t have a male Rankin relative, or know a Rankin researcher, please consider helping expand the project by making a donation to the general fund.

Meanwhile, happy ancestor hunting!