Link: mailto:swaitela@att.net

We are very excited to announce the creation [finally] of the Addison County DNA Project!

Unlike the Y-DNA Surname Projects you might be familiar with, the Addison County DNA Project is for both Y and mtDNA matching and analysis. As anyone who has ever engaged in research in Addison County has discovered...there are very few vital records or town records available for use today prior to 1850. Unless you are fortunate enough to find your ancestor living with or in close proximity to their parents in 1850 you are likely having a very difficult time identifying who their parents may have been. This is where DNA testing can help.

Follow up:

The Addison County DNA Project has been established to create a database of information on both the male Y-DNA signature and the mtDNA signature of both males and females. It is our hope that by establishing this database, persons who have not been able to make progress with their traditional paper research may find clues as to their lineage through DNA testing.

In order for the testing to be most effective we are looking for individuals whose line can be traced back at least to 1850 in Addison County and who:
1. are male and whose direct paternal line (father, father's father, father's father's father etc.) or their surname line can be traced back to an Addison County resident. So, if your surname is Hightower...your last [or lost] Hightower grandfather would have resided in Addison County. This is Y-DNA testing.
2. are male and whose direct maternal line (mother, mother's mother, mosther's mother's mother etc.) can be traced back to an Addison County resident. This is mtDNA testing.
3. are female and whose direct maternal line (mother, mother's mother, mosther's mother's mother etc.) can be traced back to an Addison County resident. This is mtDNA testing.

Since this program is so new, I have not yet written the pages which will detail the "science" behind this study but if I may, I'd like to refer you to the Waite/Wait DNA Study and the FTDNA website where you will find much information on the process. In addition you may want to take a look at the Waite/Wait results for their Y-DNA study. This will give you an idea of how results will be reported for Addison County participants and the type of information you will receive.

I will be happy to answer questions for anyone who would like more specific information so please write!

FINALLY...if you have already had some DNA testing completed please let me know. If your testing was done through FTDNA you can have your results reported to the Addison County Project by simply clicking the Join Project button in the upper left border on your personal page and then scrolling down to "Dual Geographical Projects"...clicking "A" [for Addison County] and then clicking on the Addison County link. Voila...you're now a member of the Addison County Project.

If you've tested at another lab...please contact me. FTDNA has some very inexpensive alternatives for converting your results to FTDNA and then joining projects.

I am very excited about what we can learn in this study and hope that many of you will decide to participate. The more persons who join...the better the chance that all of us may finally move beyond Addison County.