The scope and purpose of this Geographical DNA Project is to offer help to those reseachers who can either trace their ancestral roots to, or currently live in what was the former Principality of Lippe. Although there is a German DNA Project, the Lippe Detmold Project is designed to offer a more confined geographical area of research. Currently Lippe consist of roughly 481 square miles, this is walking distance. I originally started a DNA SURNAME PROJECT, which I still administer. Due to the German practice of changing surnames with the transfer of real-estate, either by purchase or inheritance through a female spouse, this project made sense to me. Historically Lippe has existed as a country since 1123 and was once an independent state within the Holy Roman Empire,later, it was incorporated into Prussia. Lippe was elevated to the satus of Principality from 1789 to 1949, it is now part of the state North Rhein-Westphalia. In the 19th Century 20,000 people from Lippe emigrated to the the Americas, mostly to the United States and Canada. Those of you who want to join, please contact Dave Nicolson at NicolsonCrawford@gmail.com [Group's background image shows a portion of "Externsteine in Teutoburg Forrest near Horn-Bad Meinberg" by Daniel Schwen, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Externsteine_pano.jpg]