DNA pedigrees

I have been busy revamping the DNA project website and preparing outline pedigrees for the participants. The pedigrees can now be found on the website, and can be located by clicking on the results tab at the top of the page. Some project members have only just started out on their research, whereas other project members have been researching for 30 years or more. I have done extensive research on some of the lines, whereas others, and in particular the American lines, are completely new to me. The length of the pedigree does not however always reflect the time devoted to the research. Some lines are lost in London in the early 1800s whereas others go back for many centuries. The American research is particularly problematic because so many records were lost in the Civil War, and the records which are available are not as informative as their British counterparts. It's interesting to see the results in outline form because you can see at a glance how the surname has evolved over the years, often in different ways in different counties and countries. In one line in Wiltshire Cruse changed into Scruse, in two of the American lines Crews changed to Cruse, and in Newfoundland in Canada, Cruse changed to Crews. There is also the unusual Cruwys spelling which was only used from the late 1700s onwards to conform with the spelling used by the family at Cruwys Morchard in Devon. To complicate matters further the Cornish branch of the Cruwys Morchard family predominantly adopted the spelling Crewes. No doubt other evolutions of the surname will come to light as research progresses.

When I started the DNA project back in September 2007 I really had no idea what to expect, but the response has been most gratifying. We now have an astonishing 44 project members, far more than I ever anticipated. We've made some very interesting discoveries with matches linking together trees which were not previously known to be connected. We still have a number of people with no matches, and I hope that as more people come forward for testing they will get matches in due course which will enable them to progress their research. There are also a number of kits still being processed, some of which could potentially provide some interesting results. Do check out the pedigrees and if your line is not included do get in touch.