Family Tree DNA winter sale

Family Tree DNA have announced their winter sale which runs from now until the end of December. Full details are given below.

Dear Project Administrator,

2009 is coming to a close and we're finishing it off with an end-of-the-year promotion!

First, though, let me thank you for helping us make our recent Full Mitochondria Sequence sale a resounding success. Despite the challenging economy this was the most successful promotion in our company's history.

Our Holiday Season promotion will bring back the discount that we offered this summer for the Y-DNA37, since this has been requested by many of our project administrators.

Y-DNA37 – promotional price $119 (reg. price $149)
Y-DNA67 – promotional price $209 (reg. price $239)
mtDNAPlus – promotional price $139 (reg. price $149)
SuperDNA – promotional price $488 (reg. price $665)

Orders for the above tests need to be placed and paid for by December 31, 2009 to receive the sale price.

IMPORTANT: since this promotion will run through the months of November and December, we encourage you to spread the word starting now, as the natural tendency is for people to order at the last minute, and we will not extend it beyond 12/31/2009.

In addition here are the newly released permanent prices for the Full Mitochondria Sequence:

New kit (mtDNA Full Sequence) … $279
Upgrade from HVR1 … $229
Upgrade from HVR2 … $209
mtDNA Full Sequence after testing Y-DNA … $249

Thank you for your continued support. We appreciate your contribution to the sustained growth of the Family Tree DNA matching database, the best genealogical matching tool of its kind.

Bennett Greenspan
President
Family Tree DNA

These special prices only apply to orders placed through surname or geographical projects. Anyone with the surname CRUWYS, CRUSE, CREWES, CREWS, CRUISE, CRUCE, SCRUSE, SCREWS or any other similar variant is invited to test through my CRUSE/CRUWYS DNA project. I am also looking for people to join my new KENNETT DNA Project. If you have proven ancestry from Devon you are invited to join my Devon DNA Project.

Family Tree DNA have the largest genetic genealogy database in the world and at the time of writing the company have 168,589 Y-DNA results and 101,218 mtDNA records in their database. They host 5,638 surname projects and a large number of geographical projects. Even if your surname is not currently included in a project it should be possible to test with one of the many geographical projects instead. I have compiled a list of all the available geographical projects for the British Isles which can be found here. There are numerous other geographical projects for various European countries and a number of regions in America. A full list of projects can be found here. If you want to learn more about DNA testing then I recommend that you read the brief article I wrote for the Berkshire Family Historian which is now available online. If you have any questions about which test to take, which project to join or DNA testing in general do please get in touch.

Honiton District marriage certificates

I've received a lovely collection of eight faux marriage certificates from Guild Member Des Gander as a result of his Marriage Challenge for the Honiton Registration District in Devon. The Cruwys marriages all relate to the Mariansleigh tree, and I have passed on copies to the relevant researchers.

Rather fortuitously Jan Ennis in New Zealand has just been in touch with me about the line of James Cruse and Georgina Crute whose marriage certificate was included in the collection. I've been working with Jan on her tree over the last few days, and was able to send her a copy of the certificate. Jan's line goes back to James Cruse and Maria Shepherd who married in 1830 in Burlescombe, Devon. We've not yet been able to find a baptism for James. He was born c. 1807 either in Devon or Somerset. In the 1851 census his place of birth is given as Milverton, Somerset, but in the 1861 census his birth place is shown as Crediton, Devon. By 1871 James Cruse and Georgina Crute had settled in Barking in Essex.

Outline details of the certificates are provided below. Copies can be provided on request.

- 1858 The Parish Church, Honiton: James Cruse, blacksmith, son of James Cruse, blacksmith, and Georgina Crute, daughter of John Croot, shoemaker. (James Cruse and Maria Shepherd line)

- 1864 The Parish Church, Sidmouth: Thomas John Pincombe Crews (widower), cabinet maker, son of Joseph Crews (deceased), baker and Eliza Ann Cowd, daughter of William Cowd, tailor

- 1869 The Parish Church, Honiton: Robert Eastmond Cruwys, farmer, son of Robert Cruwys, farmer, and Frances Henrietta Pinney, daughter of John George Pinney, surveyor. (Mariansleigh tree)

- 1873 The Parish Church, Honiton: William Cruse, servant, son of John Cruse, labourer, and Jane Radford, daughter of John Radford, quarry man.

- 1899 The Parish Church, Escot: Reginald Levieux Daniel Cruwys, son of Robert Eastmond Cruwys, farmer, and Bessie Annie Baker, daughter of Jesse Thomas Ward Baker, farmer. (Mariansleigh tree)

- 1903 The Parish Church, Feniton: Ada Fanny Cruwys, daughter of John Steer Cruwys, retired farmer, and Willie Douglas Stevens, a railway clerk from Dorchester, the son of Joseph Stevens, an innkeeper. (Mariansleigh tree)

- 1906 The Parish Church, Feniton: Sophie Kitty Mary Cruwys, daughter of John Steer Cruwys, retired grocer, and William Edmund Berry, photographer, son of George James Berry, schoolmaster. (Mariansleigh tree)

- 1901 The Parish Church, Payhembury: Kate Maria Pinney Cruwys, daughter of Robert Eastmond Cruwys, and Frank Griffin, farmer, son of Thomas Griffin (deceased), farmer. (Mariansleigh tree)

Haplogroup U4 project

I wrote back on 7th June 2008 about my mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) test and my rare U4 haplogroup. At that time I joined the mtDNA haplogroup U4 project at Family Tree DNA, but the project was very quiet and I received no communications from the group administrator. It therefore came as no surprise when the admin announced at the end of August that he was stepping down. William Allen, who runs the new U4 blog, has taken over as the group admin, and I offered to help out as a co-administrator. We are joined by Ron Scott, who is an expert on mtDNA and has done a considerable amount of work on the phylogeny (the family tree) of haplogroup U4 and all its subclades. Inevitably the project took up far more time than I originally envisaged, and I have been somewhat preoccupied in recent weeks, hence the lack of postings to this blog. I spent a lot of time updating the U4 project website, and have been busy recruiting new participants from Mitosearch, the public mtDNA database. My efforts were rewarded by a considerable boost in membership from 160 participants when we took over the project on 25th August to 280 as of today's date. The project is continuing to grow at a steady rate. If you have had your mtDNA tested either by Family Tree DNA or the Genographic Project and you belong to haplogroup U4 then I do hope you will join our project. It is free to join, and no further tests are required.

Mitochondrial DNA has always been somewhat neglected by family history researchers, largely because fewer mutations occur and, with the standard HVR1 and HVR2 mtDNA tests, people can often have large numbers of matches, the majority of which will be of no genealogical significance. In 2005 Family Tree DNA introduced a full-genomic sequence (FGS) test, which can refine matches in a genealogical time frame, but the test has always been very expensive, and beyond the reach of the average researcher. However, earlier this month Family Tree DNA announced a special promotion for their existing customers with the offer of a substantial reduction in the cost of the FGS test.

Dear Family Tree DNA customer

I am pleased to make a very special announcement about our Full Mitochondria Sequence test.

As you know, this test has continually dropped in price from its initial introduction at $895 in 2005. These price decreases were related to volume and workflow, translating productivity into economies of scale that allowed us to reduce prices to those customers interested in testing their full mitochondrial sequence.

Now Family Tree DNA is doing it again, but this time we are going to take advantage of new technology that will allow us to run more samples in less time, and the savings are substantial. We expect that this price decrease will hearken a new era of Full Mitochondria Testing for the entire Genealogical community!

We will jumpstart this new era of complete mtDNA testing with an aggressive price in order to build the comparative database to the levels genetic genealogists require to answer precise ancestral and geographic questions.

So now on to the news that you've been waiting for. A new price for the mtFull Sequence test will be introduced in November but until then we are offering our current customers a promotional price through October 31st, 2009...

Depending upon the time that it takes to process these upgrade orders using our new hardware, we may experience a back order or lag time in November. If this occurs we expect to resolve the backlog in December.

The promotional prices for existing Family Tree DNA customers are:

- US $229 (was $439) for first time mtDNA test takers
- US $179 for those who have already tested HVR1 and HVR2
- US $199 for those who have already tested HVR1

The new price from November has not yet been announced but will no doubt represent a considerable saving on the current project price of $439, and will finally make the FGS test an affordable option for anyone wishing to use modern DNA techniques to aid research into their direct maternal line. Family Tree DNA are currently the only company to offer the full-sequence test. No doubt other companies will follow in due course, and the FGS test will eventually become the standard test for matriline researchers. It will however take time for the database to reach critical mass. Nevertheless, despite the fact that the test was previously so expensive, Family Tree DNA already have a considerable advantage over their competitors with 6,180 full-sequence tests in their database. We have had a large number of upgrade orders in the U4 project, and I have also ordered the upgrade for myself. No doubt other projects will have seen similar sales volumes. It can only be a matter of time before the FGS database grows to a sufficient size to answer some of our genealogical questions.

DNA article in Family History Monthly

The October issue of Family History Monthly is now on sale in the UK. It is a DNA special with a four-page article by yours truly on DNA testing. There is also an interesting article by Chris Pomery on the use of DNA in the Dr Crippen case, and a competition to win a free DNA test from Family Tree DNA. I am currently the project administrator of three DNA projects at Family Tree DNA. I have two surname projects for the surnames Cruwys/Cruse and Kennett. I also run a geographical project for the county of Devon. I would be delighted to hear from anyone interested in joining these projects.

DNA Projects for the British Isles

I find that I am increasingly spending time advising people on which geographical projects to join at Family Tree DNA. I always recommend that people should test within a surname project wherever possible as you are most likely to have a match with someone with the same surname. (For a basic introduction to DNA testing please read my article here.) However, there are many surnames for which no projects have yet been established. The prospect of setting up a surname project might well be a daunting task for some people. If you are hoping to get an elderly relative to take a test on your behalf you will want to ensure that his or her DNA is stored before it is too late, and there will not necessarily be time to wait until a suitable DNA project has been established. A useful alternative in such situations is to test with a geographical project. In this way you can benefit from the discounted project pricing and the free 25-year archival storage provided by Family Tree DNA. Some geographical projects focus on both Y chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Others focus specifically either on Y-DNA or mtDNA. Geographical projects can be a particularly useful repository for mtDNA results as you are most likely to have a meaningful match with someone from the same location. Family Tree DNA have an alphabetical list of geographical projects on their website, but it is a time-consuming task sorting through the list to see if there is a project for a particular area of interest. I have therefore compiled this list of geographical projects relating to the British Isles for the benefit of UK researchers. Once you have tested with Family Tree DNA you can join as many other relevant projects as you wish. There are some overlapping projects and it will usually be possible to join both projects. I have excluded from the list some projects which no longer appear to be active. If you know of any projects which are missing from the list please get in touch and I will be happy to include them. All the projects at Family Tree DNA are run by volunteer administrators who decide on the criteria for joining their projects. Some projects have very specific requirements, whereas others are very broad.

English DNA Projects
There are currently very few English geographical projects, and a number of the projects in this list, including my own new Devon project, have only been set up in the last six months. There will no doubt be many new projects established in the months and years to come as more people from the UK get their DNA tested. If anyone is interested in running an English county project and would like some idea of the work involved please get in touch. I would be particularly interested in hearing from anyone who might be interested in setting up a Somerset project as I have a number of people who have expressed an interest in joining such a project. The following is a list of all known active projects for English counties and regions:

Birmingham and West Midlands mtDNA Project
Project members must have a paper trail back to Birmingham or those areas close by in the West Midlands (Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire). Only those people who have taken a high-resolution mtDNA test (HVRI and HVR2) are eligible to join.

Cornwall mtDNA Project
This project is for anyone with an ancestor on the direct maternal line who lived in Cornwall.

Devon Y-DNA and mtDNA Project
My new Devon DNA Project was only established in March 2009 but has already attracted over 60 participants. The project is open to everyone with a direct paternal or maternal ancestral line from Devon, and participants must have a documented paper trail to Devon. The project specifically excludes deep-rooted lines from America where the only connection with Devon is in the 1500s or 1600s, as these pedigrees are prone to error and are very difficult to verify. There is also the possibility of a non-paternal event leading to the introduction of non-Devon DNA.

East Anglia Y-DNA and mtDNA Project
The East Anglia DNA Project is for anyone whose paternal or maternal line can be traced to East Anglia. For the purposes of the project East Anglia is defined by its historical boundaries, which include the counties of Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, plus northern Essex and southeast Lincolnshire. Although the bulk of the participants have been tested at Family Tree DNA the project is hosted on an external website and is therefore able to accommodate results from other testing companies.

Hampshire Y-DNA Project
The Hampshire project is open to anyone with a direct paternal line from Hampshire.

Northumberland Y-DNA and mtDNA Project
This project is open to "all with any association with the county of Northumberland".

Irish DNA Projects
The Ireland Heritage Project is the largest country-specific project in the world with almost 3,500 Y-DNA participants and nearly 600 mtDNA participants. The project has its own website with background information on the project and tips and resources for researching in Ireland. The Y-DNA and mtDNA projects have separate project pages at Family Tree DNA:

Ireland Heritage Y-DNA Project

Ireland Heritage mtDNA Project

These projects welcome respectively those with paternal or maternal lines of Irish origin regardless of whether or not the county of origin is known.

Ulster Heritage Y-DNA Project
The Ulster Y-DNA Project aims to "further the study of Ulster surnames, families, clans, and tribal affiliations of the people of Ulster and their descendants throughout the Diaspora". The project is open to anyone with Ulster ancestry which includes "Ulster families of Native Irish, Hebridean Gael, Ulster Scot and English Settlers, Norman, Welsh, Frisian, Manx, etc., origins".

Ulster Heritage mtDNA Project
The Ulster Heritage mtDNA Project is open to all men and women who have Ulster ancestry.

Irish clans
There are in addition a number of projects devoted to the various Irish clans. A listing can be found on the Clans of Ireland website.

Scottish DNA Projects

Scotland Y-DNA and mtDNA Project
The Scotland DNA project "welcomes all with direct Scottish Y-DNA or mtDNA heritage".

Scottish Clans Y-DNA and mtDNA Project
The Scottish Clans Project was established in October 2001. It was one of the very early geographical projects, and is now one of the largest with over 1,700 members. The project is very broad and accepts anyone who has "some indication of a Scottish, Irish, British and even Scandinavian background". The project is also able to accommodate results from other testing companies, and maintains its own private database which is accessible only to project members.

Border Reivers Y-DNA Project
This project has been set up to test the Y-DNA profiles of members of the families found along the Anglo-Scottish Border who are collectively known as the Border Reivers. A full list of surnames associated with the Border Reivers clans can be found on the Electric Scotland website. The project is also open to descendants of 'transplants' to Ulster, the United States, Canada, Australia, and around the world.

Isles of the Hebrides Y-DNA and mtDNA Project
This project is open to those people whose ancestors in either the direct paternal or maternal line resided on one of the Isles of the Hebrides.

Shetland Islands Y-DNA and mtDNA Project
The Shetland DNA Project is "only open to those who can show with genealogical records that their ancestor in either the direct paternal or maternal line resided in Shetland in the 1800s or earlier". In addition the ancestor's name should appear in the Shetland families database. A patronymic naming system was common in the Shetlands among Norse families until the 1800s and DNA testing will help researchers to make genetic connections further back in time.

Individual Scottish clan projects
There are numerous individual Scottish clan projects, many of which will inclue a variety of different surnames. The Clan Donald DNA Project is now "the largest family-based genetic genealogy project in the world" with in excess of 800 project members. A listing of Scottish clan projects can be found on the Scotland DNA Project website.

Welsh DNA Projects

Wales Y-DNA and mtDNA Project
The Wales DNA Project is attempting to collect the DNA haplotypes of as many persons as possible who can trace their Y chromosome and/or mtDNA lines to Wales. Project members are required to submit an ancestral chart.

The British Isles Y-DNA and mtDNA Project
If there is no surname project for your surname and none of the geographical projects listed above meets your requirements another alternative is to test with the British Isles DNA Project. This is the largest geographical DNA project in the world with 4,327 project members at the time of writing. The project is very broad in its scope. It "is open to persons whose family history or surname indicates a paternal or maternal lineage originating in the British Isles, or who have a family tradition pointing back to the British Isles". Participants can therefore join even if they have not identified an ancestor who lived in the British Isles.

Other geographical projects
There are many other geographical projects for other countries and regions, and it is not possible to provide details here. There is however a very useful listing of DNA projects with 50 or more members on the World Families Network website where most of the large geographical projects can be found. DNA Ancestry is the only other testing company which hosts geographical projects. Their website does not have a public listing of geographical projects. The majority of Ancestry projects are however very small and are mostly duplicates of existing projects at Family Tree DNA. If anyone knows of any other geographical projects for the British Isles do let me know and I will add them to my list.