I find it fortuitous that the topic of DNA analysis as used by genealogists has been raised in this forum. I am the administrator of the COBB surname project at Family Tree DNA, and work closely with the administrator of the much larger Ancestry project. So far, we have only had participants from the US, and have found around nine main family lines using the COBB name. We can trace six or so lines back to English immigrants, all arriving in the 17th century (see http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cobb/). I believe that I can trace my own ancestor, one Joseph COBB, of Jamestown, Virginia, back to the parish of St Bartholomew the Great of West Smithfield, just outside of London (http://one-name.org/profiles/cobb.html) After emigrating, Joseph and his descendants grew tobacco in Virginia and later in North Carolina. There is a record on (http://www.londonroll.org) of another Joseph COBB, tobacconist of St Bartholomew the Less, apprenticing a son William as a cork manufacturer in 1799. This William can be traced through the UK Census of 1841 and 1851, living with a grandson Charles. Thanks to the help of a collateral family member who posted a family tree to Ancestry, I believe that the grandson of this Charles is alive and living in Marks Tey, Colchester. Thanks to 192.com I was able to find an address, and will try writing a letter to see if he has any interest in participating in our DNA project. I am so glad to DNA analysis appears to be gaining traction in the UK. If anyone on this list knows of a living COBB, it would be much appreciated if this were passed along! Best wishes for a happy, healthy, prosperous 2013. On Mon, Dec 31, 2012 at 2:51 AM, Liz Jones <esjones@btopenworld.com> wrote: > Hi > > My name is Liz Jones and I have > started a Denman DNA Project at Family Tree DNA. I have been researching > the > history of the Denman surname since 1999. Through my research I have > become very interested in the history of the Denman name and its origins, > as > well as tracing my own Denman line. I know from the censuses that Essex > has one > of the earliest mentions of the Denman surname. > > > A Surname Project traces members of a > family that share a common surname. The project is just getting started, > and we > expect to have many exciting discoveries. Participating is an opportunity > to > uncover information not provided in the paper records, which will help with > your family history research. We will also discover which family trees are > related. As the project progresses, the results for the various family > trees > will provide information about the evolution of the surname. Are all people > with the surname Denman related? Where did the name originate? I can’t > promise > you the answers to these questions but by contributing to the study we > will all > learn more about the name. > > Early indications are that there are at > least two lines of origin of the Denman surname. > > The Y DNA test tells you about your > direct male line, which would be your father, his father, and back in > time. You > must be male to take this simple cheek swab test, and you should bear the > Denman surname, although if you believe there is a Denman or variant in > your > direct male line, despite having a different surname, you are also welcome > to > participate. If you are female, you will need to find a direct line male > Denman > in your family tree to take the test and represent your tree, such as your > father, > brother, uncle or cousin. > > Tests ordered through this project are > charged at the special group rate which provides a substantial saving on > the > standard FTDNA price. By the way, I don’t work for Family Tree DNA, nor do > I benefit > financially – I’ve just volunteered to start and administer the Denman > project > in the hope that it will be of help to Denman researchers. > > Further information is available here: > https://www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=Denman, or if you > have any questions please don't hesitate to contact > me using the same link. > > Kind regards > Liz Jones > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message