Dear Brown/Browne/Braun/Brun Researchers: The Brown & Allied Surnames DNA Study continues to expand. We now have some 60 participants -- which means the project has grown almost 20% in the last six weeks. If we continue to grow at this rate, the project will soon reach our goal of becoming the genealogy community's largest DNA surname study. To make it happen, we sincerely welcome the help of all genealogy enthusiasts in the "extended" Brown/Browne/Braun/Brun family! (FYI, there are now 500+ surname studies underway worldwide. The first project is believed to have been the Mumma-surname study -- which only started in April 2000. So it's clear that the entire field of DNA genealogy has undergone truly impressive growth in the last few years.) Our project has two main goals: (1) To use DNA test results for bringing together researchers whose families share a common Brown, Browne, Braun and/or Brun ancestry, especially in cases where researchers have been unaware of relationships between their lines; and (2) to allow researchers who think their lines might be related to confirm (or refute) their possible kinship, by means of first-rate, professionally responsible DNA science. Like all surname studies, our project relies upon tests of the Y chromosome. This DNA is carried only by males, and it is passed down from father to son with little or no change over hundreds of years. Therefore, uniquely among all known types of DNA, the Y chromosome "tracks" surnames very closely. The upshot is that all test participants in our project are males who descend (or are thought to descend) in an unbroken male-to-male line from a male ancestor who carried the surname Brown, Browne, Braun, Brun or a common variation thereof. (Note: Women do not carry the Y chromosome, nor do they influence the Y-DNA "signatures" of their offspring. Therefore, given the present state of DNA science, women cannot be test participants in any surname study. Many women do participate very actively in our study and other surname projects, however, by recruiting male relatives for testing. And women genealogists have also been active in starting and managing a number of DNA surname studies.) The following nine members have joined our project recently: -- Frank Harvey Brown of Montgomery AL -- Kenneth Lee Brown of Birmingham AL -- Michael James Brown of Collinsville IL -- Barry Brown of Prescott ON -- Eugene Brown of Selma NC -- Joseph Carroll Brown of Summit MS -- Rodney R. Brown of Sacramento CA -- John William Brown of Agawam MA -- Dan W. Brown of Wellington NZ -- Samuel Scott Brown of Wildwood NJ Among these nine new participants, Dan Brown -- who is an American living in New Zealand -- becomes our "geographically most distant" member. And Barry Brown becomes our second Canadian participant. Thumbnail genealogies for these new members will be available at our project's web site when their DNA test results become available, expected to be within a month or two. And speaking of our project's web site, you're invited to visit us for more information at: http://www.questgenealogy.com/dna-brown.htm Best regards, Jim Brown (James Armistead Brown, Jr.) Project Co-Administrator Brown/Browne/Braun/Brun DNA Study