Hello List, As most of you know by now we recently sent off a list of over 25 names of Paynes who have elected to participate in our DNA study. Recently, I was contacted by an anonymous benefactor, who could not participate, who has offered to sponsor someone for the project by covering the cost of the testing for them. This was a very kind and generous thing to do! For any MALE PAYNE descendant that would like to make use of this generous gift, please read the details below. Preferably, the participant would be a member of the PAYN family of Jersey. Alternately, a descendant of Ralph PAYNE (b. ca. 1620) of Middlesex County, Va., or his son, Thomas PAYNE (1664-1698), of Virginia. Thomas married 24 Oct. 1682, Mary Montagu (1665-1743). Ralph and his son had been neighbors of John Payne (d. 1689/90), the subject of The Paynes of Virginia, and they are thought to be descendants of the Jersey family. Should no participant meeting the criteria above be located, then the gift will be offered to anyone that would like to participate. However, we would most like to include a descendant from one of our early American PAYNE lines that is either not currently represented in our test, or a line that is not represented well. [the list can be viewed at http://home.earthlink.net/~ppayne1203/page5.html] For example, we currently have two representatives who are descendants of Thomas Paine and Mary Snow and one representative who descends from Stephen Paine and Rose Adcocke. The line from Kent, England, who also settled in Massachusetts, is not represented at all. Therefore, a descendant of that family would be preferable to the others. However, should no one come forward from that line, the next choice would be a descendant of Stephen Paine to bolster that representation which currently stands at one. Next choice would be a descendant of Thomas. This is an EXAMPLE of the process we will use in making our selection determination. ALL PAYNE LINES will be considered- the selection will be made from ALL lines, not just those used in the example. Therefore, I am asking that anyone who would like to participate (again, you must be a male and descend in an unbroken line from a PAYNE/PAINE/PAYN etc...) to respond, via e-mail to me, with the following TWO pieces of information: 1) Your Name and Mailing Address (if selected, you will be assigned an Identification number for privacy) 2) Your line of descent (this can be as simple as a name, dob/d, spouse, or a full pedigree if you wish) IMPORTANT: Since we have already sent our list to the lab and test kits have begun mailing, we must place a TIME LIMITATION on responses to this request. Submissions will be accepted UNTIL TUESDAY, 15 JANUARY, 2002, 1200 EST. A selection will be made from the responses received by that date/time ONLY. Should you know someone that would like to participate, but they do not have access to e-mail, I will accept submissions on their behalf from those who do- but you must be sure that they have agreed to participate! I wish that I could reveal the identity of this very special person, but they have requested to remain anonymous. Still, I'd like to publicly thank this anonymous person for being so generous! Regards, Patrick