Herb and Carol, I have been reading this exchange with great interest as I had an uncle do a test 2 years ago to see which line of Whitts the upper SC Whitts originated from. At that time I was encouraged to do the 12 marker which showed kinship to the Virginia line. After looking at all the tests one can chose from and being completely ignorant to the test meaning, which test of the ones listed would provide the most family knowledge? I would like to get as much knowledge about the my Whitt family line as possible from another test. My uncle is 78 and his sister is 90 so should I include both of them just to make sure I preserve family data? They are the last of my family line living except for my generation. Elaine Elaine Hunt 864-646-4519 hunt@scra.org

As the co-admin. of the SIZEMORE surname DNA project I'd like to suggest anyone that is interested in DNA testing should subscribe to FTDNAs *free* Facts & Genes monthly newsletter. You can sign up here: http://www.ftdna.com/fgregister.asp Another site that should be consulted is the International Society of Genetic Genealogy: http://www.isogg.org/ When our project started in 2002, 12 markers was the then standard. The results did *confirm* the marker signature for the surname in America. As time has progressed and more markers became available, we have upgraded some of these results to 25 & 37 markers and now suggest new participants use the 37 marker test if *financially* possible. Basically, the more marker results you have, in combination with the genealogical research, the closer you come to being able to separate the individual lines in a meaningful genealogical time frame. Joy King Co-admin of the SIZEMORE surname DNA project Home page: http://www.genpage.com/sizemoreDNA.html Results page: http://www.genpage.com/DNAindex.html Earliest research: http://www.genpage.com/history_surname.html

Dear Elaine, DNA testing and Family Lineages tell you nothing when you have only one person involved. You have to have someone to compare to not only in DNA testing; the DNA profiles; DYS#s and their Allele numbers; but with family lineages; does your great grandfather have a brother and who was his wife and family, etc. It is only through a comparison of one family lineage to another that you suspect kin. In the DNA testing it is a little better in that you know you are in the same family but it does not tell you who your great grandfather is. The lineages from both families support this. So what am I really saying? You need what we call a data base. This data base is a collection of people with their DNA tests and with family lineages. Combining the knowledge of family with the DNA results you begin to group families. It is simple, nothing stands alone. Collectively you begin to answer questions. My great grandfather Smith told me things that my grandmother Hendricks did not know and vica versa. Combining the information from the two you end up with a complimentary picture of your family. When you do research; census, land deeds and wills this is a complimentary process. You begin to put together the pieces of the family. DNA is the check of all of this to me. When I started collecting family information, I ran into a lot of wanabee connections that lead to blind alleys. Not every one does his homework and certainly we have people out there that want to connect prominent people to their family with out evidence. In upstate SC I found this to be quite true of the old timers. Now days data bases show that you can search and point out the fallacy in a lot of these old time records. I spent 25 years overcoming 105 years of misinformation on our Major Family of VA. Why? We had people who wanted to connect to prominent families in VA. They didn't go to VA to research the family. Our real John Major was a Patriot and was connected to a prominent family but the track proves it. One of our rich oil relatives in TX hired Leonardo Andrea, Genealogist Emeritus in SC, to do research on our Hendricks and Major Family. Leonardo never got to VA and the stuff he fed Mary Lee Robbins was rewriting VA Major family history. If Leonardo had gone to VA he would have found a 1915 publication by James Branch Cabell which would have helped right his thinking. However modern times make it easy now to see the wrongs that have been fostered on many a SC upstate family. It does not come easy but it is there if you are willing to work. If you insist on copying Rootsweb-L postings you make the same mistakes of the past. Many who post there just grab and paste to fabricate a family history. So to be sure do your own homework. Who knows your family better than you? DNA testing has the element of truth that keeps people honest because they cannot change the DNA profiles that are part of each person. I tell a lot of our people if you do not want to know the truth about your family don't do DNA testing. In our Hendricks families we have had many disappointments. We have many thrilled to get a family connection back to 1617 in which they had no idea they were connected. This particular case the family only knew of connections back to 1790. We had another case where a group found their relative by research back to 1700s in Bertie Co., NC but the DNA test showed the family came from MA and were connect to the Daniel Hendrick b 1617 m 1642 Dorothy Pike daughter of Robert Pike, a Mayflower passenger. Talk about thrilled, one of a kind. So it takes work and help of many to really find out your kin. The males pass their genes through the Y-DNA testing as the original family name from father to son to grandson forever. mtDNA testing is another story. If you want this I will send it to you under another cover for it is quite long and a lot more complicated but more expensive but doable. I have an article coming out in the Old Pendleton District Newsletter which shows a real life case of a Pickens Co., SC Hendricks family and what they have to do to find who Susanna Hendricks was (maiden name). Unfortunately this process is not a guarantee just a probability based on the DNA data base for her mtDNA profile. God Bless. Herb Hendricks Retired NASA Physicist Hendricks DNA Project Group Administrator Secretary Hendricks Family Association Herb_316@MSN.com<mailto:Herb_316@MSN.com> 1210 Long Meadow DR Lynchburg, VA 24502 434 832 7246 Major/Smith/Hendricks http://www.ftdna.com/public/hendricks/<http://www.ftdna.com/public/hendricks/> ----- Original Message ----- From: Elaine T. Hunt<mailto:ehunt@ces.clemson.edu> To: SCANDERS-L@rootsweb.com<mailto:SCANDERS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, February 17, 2006 9:02 AM Subject: [SCAnderson] DNA participant question Herb and Carol, I have been reading this exchange with great interest as I had an uncle do a test 2 years ago to see which line of Whitts the upper SC Whitts originated from. At that time I was encouraged to do the 12 marker which showed kinship to the Virginia line. After looking at all the tests one can chose from and being completely ignorant to the test meaning, which test of the ones listed would provide the most family knowledge? I would like to get as much knowledge about the my Whitt family line as possible from another test. My uncle is 78 and his sister is 90 so should I include both of them just to make sure I preserve family data? They are the last of my family line living except for my generation. Elaine Elaine Hunt 864-646-4519 hunt@scra.org<mailto:hunt@scra.org> ==== SCANDERS Mailing List ==== Anderson County, South Carolina SCGenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~scander2/index.html<http://www.rootsweb.com/~scander2/index.html> ============================== Search Family and Local Histories for stories about your family and the areas they lived. Over 85 million names added in the last 12 months. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx<http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx>