The goal of all of this is to inititally come up with (collectively) at least two male-line descendants of each identifiable Houghton or Haughton "founder," (i.e. Ralph or John Houghton of Lancaster, MA, John Houghton of New Jersey, Alfred Haughton, Joseph Haughton) preferably through at least two different sons of the founder. Assuming that the DNA test results agree for the documented descendants of the progenitor, we can "reconstruct" the haplotype (DNA pattern) for that progenitor and then compare against the haplotypes of other progenitors to see if they were related. (For an introduction to the field of DNA-assisted genealogy, visit Chris Pomery's DNA web page.) Consider, for example, the two Houghtons (John and Ralph) who came to Massachusetts in the 1600's and settled in Lancaster, MA. Many people have assumed that these two were cousins (or are related to the Hoghton Tower Hoghtons), but noone had any genealogically valid proof of this relationship. The current DNA project has given preliminary evidence that these two Houghtons were in fact not related. Genetic testing has moved the whole question from the realm of speculation to the realm of fact.