Dear All: There is an emerging interest in looking at the possibility of developing a database of the DNA markers for the Scottish Clans and Septs. The Scottish clans are very unique in that the Clans have been identified and family relationships tracked for hundreds of years. Some Clan family have documented histories stretching back to before 1000 AD ( and some back to 500AD) . So this leads to some interesting possibilities of identifying current clan and sept family members and determining if the Scottish ancestry line can be identified. Some have cautioned: be careful because you may find out that you are not who you think you are :-). Non-paternity events were as frequent then as they are now. There is also an interesting mailing list here on Rootsweb : [email protected] It turns out that a couple of factors make this a very interesting study for the Clans to be involved in. A: The mtDNA passes down from mother to daughter only. So the matriarch of the family becomes clearly identified and traceable. Scottish history is one of the few in the world where female lineage was often documented. Note that non paternity events don't occur in this DNA since obviously the mother knows her daughter is her offspring. B: The Y DNA passes from father to son. There we can again provide a clear line of potential coordination between the written documentation and the DNA markers. There are some other fine points of the DNA identification and you can find out a lot more in the archives of the mailing list. Anybody that is really interested in participating should please reply to me at the email address below or reply to this message post. We need about 6-10 people for each group to make it meaninful. I will made arrangements to have this study posted as well. Please send or list only your surname , contact info and potential Clan association. I don't want to clog up the archives with a lot of "me too" emails and board posts. :-) Any comments or questions are appropriate to post. Someone will then contact you for further details and how to proceed. Please note there will probably be cost of some amount for the DNA test. I don't know what that amount is for the test but it is probably about $250. My initial survey indicates that we will want the 23 marker DNA test to get some definitive answers. I expect to get more details next week. Please feel free to pass this message along to other mailing lists and boards that may have a high per centage of Scottish Clan or Sept descendants. Should be an interesting database over the months and years :-) Was that my Chief ??? Best Regards John A Hansen [email protected] Clan Board and List Admin