Hello Everyone, This message is an attempt to locate any living male persons with the surname Coons, Coonce, Coontz or any of the other derivative spellings who would be willing to participate in the FamilyTreeDNA testing program. My research partner and distant cousin, Scott Coonce, and I have our line traced back to Martin Coons, born circa 1775. Martin Coons married Mary (Polly) Locke in Jefferson County, Kentucky, April 5, 1796. We have been attempting to make a connection with the correct Coons/etc. line for over ten years. For those not familiar with the DNA projects, they can help sort out families who share a common ancestor and those that just share a surname. When descendants of several men with the same surname and location are tested, you can see which ones have the same DNA pattern and which ones aren't close. It can eliminate possible connections so that you don't research unrelated family as well as confirm that two lines are related. When you see the results from just one individual, it is just a string of numbers. Any participant of this project must be male. For many years as we followed our line back, we were positive 'our' Martin Coons was the son of Jacob Coons who married Elizabeth Hanbach in Montgomery County, Kentucky and died September 22, 1807. DNA testing has proved that to be untrue. Therefore, the search goes on. We would very much appreciate contact from anyone who is interested or has any questions regarding this program. To see the names of the numerous participants in the Coon surname group, please visit www.Familytreedna.com/public/coon. You are also invited to send a message to: Scott Coonce at scottc@alaska.net with any questions or concerns. Thank you very much. We look forward to hearing from you. Sharlene Coontz Meyer