About us
Updated 20 February 2015
Use the menu bar to the side of the project page to navigate to any page of the project website. To post to the forum ("Activity Feed"), make sure you are signed in as a member.
But you will not be able to invite members to join in - any new member must first join the project. (mtDNA; Y-DNA; atDNA makes no difference).
Updated 18 April 2014
Use the menu bar (including the drop-down menus) across the top of the project page to navigate to any page of the project website.
Surname DNA testing is the the best "add-on" tool available to genealogists! The many advantages include:-
-
Surname tests (Y-DNA) enable 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!
Like all surname projects, this one is intent upon proving connections using DNA. But it is NOT just surname ancestry/genealogy. It is molecular (or as some prefer it, genetic) genealogy. This means if you match genetically, you are welcome. Meaning, I shall not turn you away just because you personally do not carry that surname.
If you are a newbie, 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 is just below. To get a VERY basic animated overview, you may find value in watching this set of animations.
http://www.smgf.org/education/animations/mutation.jspx
http://dna-explained.com/2012/08/19/autosomal-results-the-basics/
http://stevemorse.org/genetealogy/dna.htm
http://stevemorse.org/genetealogy/beyond.htm
If you are reading this, then it is assumed you are hunting for others with whom you are genetically connected 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).
Here is a hint for you if you have tested FF.
Once you (or anyone) joins a project, you can go to your FTDNA Home Page and hover your mouse over the FF Drop-down menu visible in the blue tool bar. Then select "Advanced Matches" from that menu. Check FF 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.Update 16 March 2014
As of today, Gail Riddell has taken over as administrator for this project. It will no longer be hosted on the World Families website.
Changes are in process.
You can contact Gail directly at riddelldna@gmail.com
While a surname itself may give us incomplete or misleading or, at best, only general information about the origin of a family, DNA-testing can give us concrete evidence for identifying and separating family lines. Y-chromosome DNA testing is especially helpful because the male Y-chromosome is handed down, father to son, unchanged through the generations, except for rare mutations which, in themselves, can be helpful indicators of branching. The accessibility and affordability of family DNA testing is doubtless the greatest technical advance in the history of genealogical research because -- at long, long last -- we have a tool to break down those brick walls!