One of the main goals of the Maxson surname group is to research and identify the common markers on the Y-DNA of Maxson men who are a direct male to male descendant of Richard Maxson and his only verified son John Maxson (1638 to 1720) of Westerly, Rhode Island. The Y-DNA is passed directly from father to son without any input from the mother which makes it great for surname studies like this one. So, hopefully we will be eventually be able to help those identity the mutational changes that have occurred since John and his three sons so that those having a harder time researching their Maxson line can idindentity which branch they are most closely related to and narrow down their research of potential candidates in breaking through their brick wall. For those that do not understand please see the difference between Y-DNA versus X-DNA and autosomal DNA for more understanding.