The goals of the Vance DNA Project are to encourage deeper DNA testing to:

• determine the independent origins of the Vance surname,
• support investigation and understanding of the origins and migrations of our Vance ancestors,
• assist those related to Vances or with the Vance surname to identify common ancestors, paternal lineages and ancestral origins through DNA,
• and to help members make sense of their own DNA results.

All those with a Y-DNA test taken by a Vance male or by a man directly descended in the male line from a Vance male are invited to join (while we welcome participation in the project's goals by both men AND women, Y-DNA is only carried by men so women who are descended from Vances need to find a male Vance relative - brother, father, uncle, cousin, etc - to test!).  

In support of these goals, we organize members' DNA results into related subgroups based on patterns of STRs (Short Tandem Repeats) or validated SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms).  For each of these subgroups we then try and build the most logical phylogenetic tree, meaning the tree of Vance ancestors that connects the members of the subgroups.  To build these trees we use DNA results (both STRs and SNPs) and traditional genealogy information.  

While our main focus is on the relationships between DNA and ancestors with the Vance surname, as part of our investigations into the origins of those DNA lines we also look at older origins from before surnames or in some cases other surname project groups who may be closely connected with a Vance DNA subgroup.  

While this project works independently from the Vance Family Association (VFA), we make use of their extensive traditional genealogy research collection related to past Vances and we also report our findings back to the VFA.  Those who wish to join the Vance DNA Project should be aware that by joining you are granting visibility to your data and the associated analysis both to project administrators and other members of this Vance DNA Project as well as to current members of the VFA for the purposes of furthering the goals of this project.  

We also plan in the near future to develop a DNA results webpage accessible by VFA members which will contain more information about the Vance ancestral lines drawn from the VFA's pedigree database.  For those interested in that information, we suggest joining the VFA which is separate from the Vance DNA Project at a cost of only $15.  Instructions for joining are available on the VFA's website.  

This web page and the project overall is geared towards genetic genealogy as a hobby and should not be considered a platform for forensic, legal or academic research. FTDNA policies apply.