This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Claxton, Clarkson, Clarkston Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/3h.2ADE/1937 Message Board Post: We are pleased to announce the Clarkson, Claxton and Clarkston DNA surname project. Please consider participating if you are descended from any of these lines. The census indicates that there were Claxtons in this county in the 1880 census. We have also received information that some Clarks and perhaps Clayton’s are also related. Our goals initially identified for this project are as follows: 1. To determine if the Claxton, Clarkson, Clarkston, Clark or Clayton lines are connected. 2. To connect the various lines with their ancestors and to differentiate between the lines. 3. To determine if Jeremiah Claxton is related to James Claxton progenitor of the Wright Co., Missouri Claxtons and one line of Tennessee Claxtons. 4. To determine if Thomas Clarkson of Lee Co Virginia and James Clarkson/Claxton of Claiborne Co. Tennessee were in fact brothers, and if so, if George Middleton Clarkson, executed in the State of Franklin in about 1785 was their father (if possible). 5. To determine if the Claxton families of Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee, and Georgia are related. 6. To determine if the Tennessee, Virginia and Pennsylvania lines re related. 7. To identify our immigrant ancestor(s) if possible. 8. To determine our Clarkson/Claxton/Clarkston native homeland. 9. To break down those brick walls. If you descend from any of these lines, please, please consider participating. You can be the representative descendent from your line. We need participants and you will hopefully connect with other lines since the advent of surnames. You will also find out about your own deep ancestry, before surnames were used, and where your ancestors originated. In order to participate in the testing, a linear male descendent is required. Many females who cannot themselves participate successfully find a male relative bearing the last name being tested and have their “cousin” represent their line. A linear male is required because the portion of the DNA being tested is on the Y chromosome and only males have the Y chromosome. It is not intermixed with the mother’s chromosomes, since females doesn’t have one, so therefore it is passed from father to son intact, not intermixed with the mother’s DNA. Because of that, and the fact that mutations occur very slowly, we can use it to determine if various descendents come from a common ancestor. The testing is painless, a simple cheek swab. You can obtain further information about the DNA testing process by viewing the web site of the company who will be providing the testing at www.familytreedna.com. You can sign up for the testing by typing Claxton, Clarkson or Clarkston in the search box at the top right of their web page. On the page that is returned, click on the name and an ordering page will be displayed. Please order at least the 25 marker test, as the 12 marker test often does not provide enough different markers to determine lineage and the participants wind up upgrading to the 25 marker test anyway. After your test results are returned, Mary Ann Claxton and Roberta Estes, your project administrators, will assist you in understanding your results, compare your results to others who have tested, establishing family groupings, and will be glad to answer questions you may have. We will in the future create web space to provide information about the DNA project and results. If you have questions, please feel free to contact us at: Mary Ann Claxton - claxtonm@k12tn.net Roberta Estes - restes@comcast.net