I have run into the same situation in my projects. People living in Europe know where they came from (may still be living in the ancestral regions), so feel no need to test. We are the "displaced persons" looking for our roots, and he who wishes to call the tune must pay the piper... In almost all cases where we have Europeans tested for my projects, we have sought them out and the project has paid for their testing. And we have standing offers to test more, for example: http://dgmweb.net/DNA/Carrico/CarricoDNA.shtml#Subsidies Far from resenting that these individuals are having their testing paid for, my members are eager to see Europeans tested -- the origin of American CARRICOs remains a mystery -- so the General Fund usually contains enough donations to cover at least one 67-marker test. When it doesn't, I pay for the test. In two cases, I have had members take kits with them on European vacations where they sought out people to test -- and got takers. FTDNA will give you kits "on spec" without charge to take on your travels or to reunions, etc. The kits have a long shelf life until they are actually used. The charge is not incurred until the kit is returned -- it must be paid for before they will process it. But the bottom line is, yes, it's difficult to get European participation. In most cases, you will have to actively seek out individuals and pay for the tests. Diana > -----Original Message----- > From: y-dna-projects-bounces@rootsweb.com On Behalf Of Ralph Taylor > Sent: Friday, July 02, 2010 5:53 PM > To: y-dna-projects@rootsweb.com > Subject: [Y-DNA-projects] Country of Origin Participation > > 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 >