Hello everyone, The DNA project has attracted over one dozen participants to date, representing as many families. There have been as many, if not more, responses from individuals who unfortunately cannot participate as they either were not male and/or not a Payne. It's wonderful to receive so many responses from so many interested people, regardless of their surname! This is great news and I would like to thank all of those who have responded thus far. One of the continuing questions I am getting is why females cannot participate. So I'm going to give a *very* brief biology lesson which should clear things up, and perhaps the details will entice some other Paynes to join the project. We desperately need to have representation from descendants of the early Payne families. Those with a known connection to the Paynes of Virginia and New England, for example. Those families are the key to the whole project as they will form the baseline Y-chromosome markers for the rest of us who suspect a connection to them. I'll get into this a bit more in a moment. Males have one X and one Y-chromosome, and they produce both X and Y chromosome's in the reproduction process. Women have a pair of X-chromosomes in their DNA. During reproduction, if the egg is fertilized by an X-chromosome, it produces a girl. If fertilized with a Y-chromosome, it produces a boy. This Y-chromosome is passed virtually unchanged from father-to-son, and it is for this reason that the chromosome can be studied over very long periods of time- many generations- but only in the male line. If the male line is uninterrupted by things like adoption or marital infidelity, the Y-chromosome in each generation will be the same, or nearly so. This isn't "Jurassic Park" or "Cloning" stuff! It's basically the simple comparison of a portion of our DNA, which is collected by swabbing the gums. The Y-chromosome is unaffected by exchange or any other influence of the X chromosome that came from the mother. It is the only nuclear chromosome that escapes the continual reshuffling of parental genes during the process of sex cell production, which makes it particularly useful to genealogy. Thomas H. Roderick, PhD, Center for Human Genetics, states that "a male has a Y chromosome essentially identical to that of his father, and his father's father, and his father's father's father, and so on back indefinitely through all ancestral generations on the Y chromosome line, more succinctly called the Y-line. (For a recent more complete discussion of the Y line see this author's article: The Y chromosome in genealogical research. Nat. Geneal. Soc. Quart. 2000, Vol. 88, No.2, pp.122-143). But rare changes or mutations in the Y chromosome can occur over time. Therefore, over many generations, we develop altered molecular sites in our Y chromosomes. Some of these changes survive, and once they happen can persist over many generations or indefinitely. Thus, for genealogical research, we are fortunate that molecular variants in the Y chromosome occur, but that they are relatively rare. Without the inherited variants (similar to being without variations in surnames) we could not derive or comprehend separate lineages. With the inherited variants we can provide evidence for genealogical relationships over a few or many generations. Very common molecular change or mutation would permit us only to identify connections between closely related families. Rare and unique changes, on the other hand, make it possible to identify connections into great antiquity well beyond historical records. Fortunately we have both kinds. Let's take a specific question that might confront say the hypothetical Humpke Family. There is good evidence that those with this name came from only two different immigrating founders in the 17th century. Their European ancestry is expected to be German but is not known, and there is no evidence that they were in contact with each other after migrating to North America. But the Humpke Family Association, which admits members descending from both immigrants would dearly like to know if they are related, and if the Humpke name in these two families derives from a common male Y line ancestor. If all Humpkes come from one male who took the name as a surname, then we say the surname is "monophyletic," another useful term for genealogists. So we contact one of the few commercial companies analyzing differences among Y chromosomes and obtain kits that provide a cotton tipped stick for one to take a swab of tissue from the inside of the cheek. A good scraping, which does not hurt, is sufficient for the company to make the analysis over several polymorphic sites. The Humpke Family Association gets three or four males of the name from one Humpke immigrant and three or four males of the name from the other immigrant, to get an inner cheek (buccal) sample, pays the money, and waits for the results. The results come back saying all eight men have identical or nearly identical molecular Y patterns (called Y haplotypes), thus confirming that all eight and thus including the two early immigrant Humpkes derive from the same Y line in relatively recent time. The conclusion is that the name is indeed monophyletic. The Y haplotypes are identical among these men or nearly so, and depending on closely they match, an estimate of the genealogical distance between the two Humpke immigrants could be made." This hypothetical Humpke family has a lot in common with our early Paynes. We know, for instance, that William Payne of Boston and Ipswich (proprietor of the Saugus Iron Works), had interests on VIRGINIA'S Eastern Shore in the 1640s, where he conducted business with Col. Edmund Scarburgh, who had been close friends with John Neale and William Eltonhead. William of Boston had to dispatch his "loving friend" Capt. William Kendall, to collect a debt from Scarburgh, as he could not make the journey himself [see Whitelaw, "Virginia's Eastern Shore,"; "Northampton County Wills and Deeds," Frank Walzyck; and Alison Games, doctoral thesis, "Origin and Migration of the English Atlantic World," Princeton University Press, 1999]. William Eltonhead should be a name immediately recognizable to the PAYNES of Virginia [and Maryland too for that matter]. Although Eltonhead was initially from the Easter Shore of Virginia (across the bay from John Payne in Westmoreland County), and thereafter settled in St. Mary's County, Maryland, his sister, Martha Eltonhead, was the grandmother of Elizabeth PAYNE, the granddaughter of John Payne, the immigrant [Paynes of Virginia]. William Eltonhead and his wife, Jane Gerard, owned a slave by the name of Francis Payne, who negotiated his freedom in 1649 from Eltonhead! [ Northampton County Wills and Deeds] All coincidence you say? Well then... Add in the fact that Col. Richard LEE, the immigrant (m. Anne Constable), was often found in early Virginia records with Florentine Payne [Cavaliers and Pioneers, vol. i]. Col. Lee's son, Richard II, married Lettice Corbin, daughter of Henry Corbin by Alice ELTONHEAD, another sister of William! William Payne (d. 23 Feb 1697/1698), in his will dated 1 Jan. 1697/8, names "his loving friend Richard Lee of Lower Machotique as guardian of his children. He instructed his daughter Anne to go immediately to Col. Lee's house." [Paynes of Virginia] This daughter Anne (b. ca. 1689), married Vincent Cox, Jr. (d. 1712), and her sister-in-law, also named Anne, married John Redman, who received a patent with John NEALE of Accomack, for Smith's Island ["Virginia's Eastern Shore"; Paynes of Virginia]. Capt. Kendall's (later Col. Kendall) daughter Mary, married Hancock Lee (1653-1709) ["Virginia's Eastern Shore"]. That's all I'll get into for now [I don't want to give away to many highlights just yet!], but I believe it is evident that there is good sound reason to pursue this project! There are several other questions that can be answered as well. Brooke Payne cited several reasons for believing that there had been a connection between other Virginia branches within his Paynes of Virginia. Yet he never got around to the 2nd volume he eluded too. Now we have the opportunity to see if he was right. By combining the results of this project, with Brooke's and our own research, we can not only determine these connections if they existed, but stand a very good chance of identifying the generation the relationship occurred. With that, we may be able to identify the common ancestor's name. We just need descendants of these families to participate in the project. I've never been great a the PR game [I'm a Payne afterall!'], but I hope that the information I have provided is of interest enough to encourage members of our mailing lists to become a part of this project, whether it be as an active participant, or by simply informing others of it who might become one. I'm happy to answer any questions or concerns. The project page is located at http://home.earthlink.net/~ppayne1203 , which I am keeping updated. Regards, Patrick