September 25, 2006 Dear list members, We don't usually discuss the Sisson DNA project onlist, in consideration of the privacy of the participants. However, there are some recent exciting breakthroughs, so it's probably time for a general update. The Sisson DNA project was initiated at the 2002 Sisson gathering in Kansas City, using the lab services of Family Tree DNA. Most of the participants fall into the lineages of three early North American immigrants: Richard, Robert, and Thomas. One of the goals of the project is to find a match for each of these groups in England, in order to target British research most efficiently. Two of these three lines have found their match in England. Robert Sisson was born in the 1630s, probably in England, and died in the 1690s in Virginia. A DNA match indicates that his point of origin in England was in the area of Sutton-cum-Lound, Nottinghamshire. Previously, at the 2000 Sisson gathering in Cincinnati, a voluntary English Research Fund was established, to hire a British genealogist to do research on the ground in England when we had well-defined tasks to request. Some of this Fund will be used to try to find Robert in the Sutton-cum-Lound records in the mid-1600s. If you would like to contribute to this Fund, please contact the treasurer, David Martin, at davidchina_2000@yahoo.com. This is an exciting development for this lineage. Some branches are known to use the spelling "Sissons" with final -s. The "Thomas" lineage of the US Southeastern states has a DNA match in England that indicates that this lineage originated in the area of Penrith, Cumberland (now Cumbria), England. A private sponsor has initiated additional research there. The branching point for the North American immigrant has not yet been uncovered there. The lineage of Richard Sisson of Rhode Island has not yet found its English match. More participants in the project are welcome, especially participants from American lines from later immigrants from the 1800s and 1900s; participants from Canada, England, Ireland, Holland, France, Australia, and New Zealand, and elsewhere. For more information on the Sisson DNA study and a link to the application form, go to http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~dasisson/sissondnaproject.html. You are eligible if you are a male named Sisson, Sissons, or Syson. Women born with the Sisson name can participate by encouraging and/or sponsoring a male relative also born with the Sisson name. Women who married a Sisson can participate by encouraging and/or sponsoring husband or son or some other Sisson man. DNA testing can't tell us everything we want to know about our lines. But Y-chromosome testing is ideal for helping people find which Sisson lineage they come from, and for determining where that line originated. We hope to have more breakthroughs to report on! Carol Sisson Regehr Sisson-L list mom -- cregehr@phys.ksu.edu