Hello Everyone, I thought it was time that I make another update on the 2nd round of DNA testing after receiving a couple of requests for test kits to be mailed- which I am not prepared to do at this time. We currently have 13 people who have indicated an interest in the testing. Of these 13, here is a rundown on their ancestry as far as I have them: 1) Two descendant's of John Payne b: Abt. 1623 in England d: Abt. 1668/9 of Cople, Westmoreland Co. VA; wife Millicent ___. John MAY be a son of Richard Payne and grandson of the immigrant John Payne. 2) A descendant of Henry Payne of St. Mary's County, Maryland d. 1692/3; wife Mary Assiter. 3) A descendant of George Payne of Culpeper County, Va., circa 1780. 4) A descendant of Ralph Pain b. ca. 1655 of Rhode Island. 5) A descendant of Joseph Payne of Bedford County, Va., circa 1775; wife Phebe ____. 6) A descendant of James Payne of Rowan County, NC., b. ca. 1810 d. 1863 7) A descendant of Littleton M. Payne b. 1822 of Franklin County, Ga. Although we have 13 on the list, only these 7 have provided any detail on their genealogy. I would ask that if you have indicated an interest in the testing and you DO NOT see your ancestor on this list, please contact me with those details. I feel that it would not be beneficial for us to move on to testing at this stage since we only have 13. In the last round, we had over 30 sign up initially and it was based on that number that we were given a discount on the testing. We ended up paying $150.00 instead of the usual $245.00. I am sure we would not get that discount with 13 participants. Also, at least one person was under the impression that the test cost $99.00. I don't know where that number came from, but I can almost guarantee that the price won't be that low for quite a while! $150.00 is probably the lowest amount we can expect to pay (if the number of participants increases) and $245.00 would be the upper limit (if the number of participants does not increase). So for now, I intend to wait until we stand a better chance of getting the price down to a more acceptable range for most people. If you do not wish to wait, you can always contact Relative Genetics independently to request a test kit, pay the $245.00, and have your results compared to the 1st group of participants if you'd like. I will be happy to provide you with contact information if you chose that route. I cannot say how long it will take before we can kick this next round of testing off. Several announcements have been made to the mailing lists at this point, and while folks are still trickling in from that resource to participate, I don't think we will be able to rely on it to get the number we need to get the cost down. That means looking for other ways to find participants. I can think of a few methods that might turn up more participants, but the single most effective way I can think of is word of mouth. Between the two Payne mailing lists there are probably 800 or more subscribers. If some of these folks will help get the word out by encouraging Payne's on and off the lists that they are in contact with, we might reach a testing stage pretty quickly. It would also help me out tremendously as I will otherwise be spending an awful lot of time on it myself- which I am not prepared to do this time around. I have taken another position at work that is going to prevent me from spending the amount of time that I have in the past on these things. So this time I am going to have to rely more on help from others. When it becomes apparent that we've received all the participation that we're going to get, I'll start contacting labs to see what prices I can arrange and let everyone know. At that point it will be up to individual participants to decide if the price is right for them. One other thing that I promised I would bring up this time around is sponsorship. Several individuals dropped out of the testing last time because they could not (for whatever reason) come up with the $150.00 fee. In one case, someone came forward to sponsor a participant by covering the cost of their testing because they could not participate themselves. Recall that this individual simply stated that if someone from a particular line (in this case their line) came forward wishing to participate and could not cover the cost of the test, they would be willing to do so. Others also expressed that they might consider sponsoring someone. Therefore, I felt that I should at least float the idea by the list to see what kind of response the idea receives. The only suggestion I would make to anyone wishing to sponsor a participant is that payment not be made to the lab until they are in receipt of the DNA sample. This will prevent the need for arranging a refund should the participant drop out for some reason. Other than that, I am completely indifferent. If anyone wishes to sponsor someone, please let me know and I will let it be in known under any conditions you wish. That's it for now. I will keep everyone informed as things progress. Regards, Patrick