2008 involved lots of progress in the Kincaid DNA Project with 17 new Y dna participants and a slew of upgrades plus several mt DNA tests and a variety of other advanced tests. We now have 9 different spellings of Kincaid represented in the project, several countries and 8 non related Groups identified to date. Sue has carried the big load of work for the administrative team and deserves many thanks for the considerable time she spent on the charts and vetting process and lineage work in general.Ruth has provided invaluable advice and did a fair share of the work while also serving as the Kincaid List administrator. The many contributions by list members have been invaluable over the years to helping with lineage of our DNA participants. For the history buffs, I cajoled a time line out of Peter A. Kincaid who started off the Kincaid Surname DNA Project and served as the single administrator for several years. It is as follows: Peter A. Kincaid timeline of Kincaid Surname DNA Project: Heard of technology from a genealogy friend named Gertrude Urquhart Sent message June 4, 2001 to Kincaid list and got great interest Set web page on June 30, 2001 outlining project and addressing main issue; privacy Had 13 people who initially agreed to participate. Put out call for money July 15, 2001 Ordered kits August 8, 2001 for nine participants as we had stragglers/dropouts. Sent 6 kits to Family Tree DNA on August 29, 2001 Ordered three more September 3, 2001 Ordered two more kits October 4, 2001 Sent three kits to Family Tree DNA on October 5, 2001 First 6 kits sent to lab by Family Tree DNA on October 13, 2001 Sent 2 kits to Family Tree DNA on October 16, 2001 Sent one kit to Family Tree DNA on November 5, 2001 Results back for first 10 participants on November 22, 2001 We thank Peter for his foresight, time and expertise on the project and appreciate his willingness to contribute valuable material and guidance. A while back I wrote to let you know about a reporter from the L.A. Times who wanted to do a story on the Kincaid DNA project. The story appeared Sunday in the L.A. Times. The link is: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dnasurprise18-2009jan18,0,5045230.story The article is pretty good over all, but as a typical reporter, Alan Zarembo took a few liberties with his story. I am quoted as saying things I did not say as he twisted some of my words. Some stories told to him by others probably should not have appeared in his article, but he included them for shock value/interest. The headlines were atrocious! On a positive note, this story will hopefully increase the interest in DNA as it applies to a surname project. One of the positive things is that Sunday afternoon a radio show producer from New Zealand called asking for me to be interviewed on New Zealand radio on Sunday night so we did and are hoping to get at least one dna participant from new Zealand. The producer did a phone search and found there were 17 Kincaid's listed in New Zealand. We have also received emails from several folks who read the story asking for further information so we gladly sent them a copy of the Kincaid DNA results chart done by Sue and gave the the link for the Kincaid DNA Project. Several genealogy websites have put the story on their websites with the first I saw being Pasco County in Florida. Today I saw that is was posted on a website for China! I also noticed it was posted on a MIT science weblog and with a comment that the headlines were bad. Thanks to those who talked to the reporter and helped do the story! We look forward to an even better 09! We welcome suggestions on ways to improve the Kincaid of all Spellings DNA Project. I will be attending the Family Tree DNA Conference in March in Houston, TX. We will also attend and display the Kincaid DNA results chart at The Gathering of the Clans in Scotland this Summer and look forward to the Kincaid Tour planned by Clan Kincaid in cooperation with Arabella Kincaid of Kincaid who will be our host and lead the 100 or so Kincaid's on the march down the Royal Mile at the festivities. Joan Kincaid, Dick Kinkead and others will also display the results chart at Highland Games in Canada and the USA. Thanks to Dick Kinkead for printing another large DNA chart to be used for display in 2009! Yours aye, Don Kincaid for the admin team