This project is Dedicated to John E Skillman III founder of the Skillman DNA project, who passed away June 10, 2014. An Amazing Man whose accomplishments cannot be easily counted. He was a good friend to so many and will be Greatly missed. While I will take over the Skillman DNA project like you wanted, I can never replace you John.

Jay Skillman

John's words:

THE SKILLMAN DNA PROJECT was established in July 2009 at Family Tree DNA, among the earliest and now the largest genealogical testing company. The testing process is simple, painless, affordable, and completely confidential. When you join the Skillman DNA Project and order a test kit, it will be mailed to you by Family Tree DNA. You will take two simple cheek swabs, which are placed in small vials and mailed back to the testing company. Your Y-chromosome DNA will be compared with the Y-DNA of over 200,000 men (including seventeen Skillmans) in the Family Tree DNA database. Exact and close matches will be reported to you, along with the probability that you and those exact and close matches share a common ancestor and how many generations ago. For complete confidentiality, you will only be identified by your test kit number and the name of your earliest known ancestor. Skillmans who are descended from Thomas-1 and Thomas-2 Skillman, are identified by their respective 3rd generation son of Thomas-2 in order to distinguish among the five lines of Skillmans in the US.

Additionally, Family Tree DNA will predict your Haplogroup,* which defines the route followed by your ancient ancestors as they migrated tens of thousands of years ago.
The Project Administrator recommends a minimum of 37 markers to firmly establish kinship and distinguish between family lines. If your budget allows, the 67 marker test is better for distinguishing your Skillman line from others who have also completed the 67 marker test. Only males carry the Y-chromosome, so females wishing to confirm their Skillman lineage must have a brother, father or other male Skillman surnamed relative participate on their behalf.**


The Project Administrator has been a family genealogist since 1967 and he is a 7th great grandson of Thomas-1 Skillman. He is not paid by, not an employee of, and not affiliated with Family Tree DNA. He is a member of the International Society of Genetic Genealogy, the National Genealogical Society, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, and the Guild of One-Name Studies.
                                                                                                                                                                                                     

*Please note that words and phrases in blue are hyperlinks and, when clicked on, will take you to an explanatory website. Click your back arrow to return to this site.
© 2009 http://www.familytreedna.com/public/skillmandnaproject. All rights reserved. LAST UPDATE: 10 March 2014
**Update, the Family Finder and the equivalent Ancestry DNA tests can be taken by anyone, however they do not provide the same results as Y-DNA testing, and are hit or miss at showing ancestry as far back as the nine or more generations back to the first Skillmans in America.