Ralph - My project is still new and very small, but I have intended to do this. I obtained permission from a local history association in the area I'm most interested in to post on their messageboard, but at the same time I got negative feedback from people in the US who've recruited UK participants. Hearing that men would/might expect to be paid something in addition to the free Y67 test made me wonder if I could really afford to do this on my own. My plan was to find one person with our surname who was interested in family history and ask if there is another family they've wondered if they were related to - then offer to test both. There's also something that you alluded to - more than one person told me I needed to be very careful about how I worded the offer to avoid offending prospective participants. I haven't totally given up on the idea, so I'd like to hear any success stories people have to offer. Sharon On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 4:52 PM, Ralph Taylor <rt-sails@comcast.net> wrote: > Are other surname projects having difficulty in getting significant > participation in their names' countries of origin? Have any cracked the > nut? > > > I'd be interested in observations & ideas on the subject. > > In Taylor Family Genes, we have only 5 members from the UK out of 374 > total. > For a (mostly) British-origin surname, that's embarrassing. We'd like to at > least reduce the level of embarrassment. > > We also have a few in Australia, Canada & New Zealand -- along with a > smattering of other countries. > > I imagine our present members would be thrilled to connect with their > British cousins and trace their ancestors to their origins. (But, the > feeling may not be reciprocated. See below.) > > Corresponding with the English representative of FTDNA help lay out some > difficulties: > > 1. English Taylors are less interested in connecting with American cousins > than their British ones. Getting British connections would be possible only > with greater UK participation -- a "chicken-and-egg" dilemma. > > 2. They are more suspicious of DNA testing than Americans seemingly are;; > it's seen in a negative -- or at best, neutral -- light. Perhaps, "genetic > genealogy" doesn't appeal to them as much. > > 3. DNA testing costs more than other aspects of genealogy and this may be > more of an issue in the UK. Subsidizing at least part of the cost was > suggested, but our project fund could buy a few tests at most -- as I > suspect other projects' funds could. We'd need a fund-raising effort. > > What wasn't mentioned is that, perhaps, our American attitudes and > approaches are ill-suited to the British culture. (I thank him for his > politeness.) > > It was suggested that posting on British genealogy forums could help. Have > any tried this? Did it help? > > Any thoughts? > -ralph > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > Y-DNA-PROJECTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Sharon, I'm not certain I understand what the negative feedback was about. Can you explain further? As for approaching strangers re testing, I agree that must be handled carefully. My solution is to put out offers for testing -- on my project web sites and the various genealogy message boards -- then wait to get a taker. I've waited years in many cases, but I have gotten some takers this way. If genealogy takes patience, DNA testing for genealogical purposes takes a *lot* of patience. Diana > -----Original Message----- > From: y-dna-projects-bounces@rootsweb.com On Behalf Of Sharon Fontenot > Sent: Friday, July 02, 2010 6:31 PM > To: rt-sails@comcast.net; y-dna-projects@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [Y-DNA-projects] Country of Origin Participation > > Ralph - > > My project is still new and very small, but I have intended > to do this. I > obtained permission from a local history association in the > area I'm most > interested in to post on their messageboard, but at the same > time I got > negative feedback from people in the US who've recruited UK > participants. > Hearing that men would/might expect to be paid something in > addition to the > free Y67 test made me wonder if I could really afford to do > this on my own. > My plan was to find one person with our surname who was interested in > family history and ask if there is another family they've > wondered if they > were related to - then offer to test both. > > There's also something that you alluded to - more than one > person told me I > needed to be very careful about how I worded the offer to > avoid offending > prospective participants. > > I haven't totally given up on the idea, so I'd like to hear > any success > stories people have to offer. > > Sharon >

Hi Diana - What I meant was that for every success story I heard (*I really did hear one or two*), there were several stories of frustration, miscommunication, and failure. Even though I'd thought I had a workable plan, it made me realize that I may not yet have the skills necessary to pull it off. This point you brought up in your previous post is something we simply have to realize and accept: *People living in Europe know **where they came from (may still be living in the ancestral regions), so feel no **need to test**.* The harder part is figuring out how to interest someone in DNA testing when they already know their family history for hundreds of years back and take that knowledge for granted. I always expected to pay for several tests. Sharon On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 12:04 AM, Diana Gale Matthiesen <DianaGM@dgmweb.net>wrote: > Sharon, > > I'm not certain I understand what the negative feedback was about. Can you > explain further? > > As for approaching strangers re testing, I agree that must be handled > carefully. > My solution is to put out offers for testing -- on my project web sites and > the > various genealogy message boards -- then wait to get a taker. I've waited > years > in many cases, but I have gotten some takers this way. > > If genealogy takes patience, DNA testing for genealogical purposes takes a > *lot* > of patience. > > Diana > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: y-dna-projects-bounces@rootsweb.com On Behalf Of Sharon Fontenot > > Sent: Friday, July 02, 2010 6:31 PM > > To: rt-sails@comcast.net; y-dna-projects@rootsweb.com > > Subject: Re: [Y-DNA-projects] Country of Origin Participation > > > > Ralph - > > > > My project is still new and very small, but I have intended > > to do this. I > > obtained permission from a local history association in the > > area I'm most > > interested in to post on their messageboard, but at the same > > time I got > > negative feedback from people in the US who've recruited UK > > participants. > > Hearing that men would/might expect to be paid something in > > addition to the > > free Y67 test made me wonder if I could really afford to do > > this on my own. > > My plan was to find one person with our surname who was interested in > > family history and ask if there is another family they've > > wondered if they > > were related to - then offer to test both. > > > > There's also something that you alluded to - more than one > > person told me I > > needed to be very careful about how I worded the offer to > > avoid offending > > prospective participants. > > > > I haven't totally given up on the idea, so I'd like to hear > > any success > > stories people have to offer. > > > > Sharon > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > Y-DNA-PROJECTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >