The BELL DNA PROJECT - Results

THE BELL DNA PROJECT currently has Y-DNA results on 132 participants.
Please visit our website: http://home.earthlink.net/~bell.ancestries/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The BELL surname is said to have origins in the Scottish Clan Bell. If so, then results of some participants of THE BELL DNA PROJECT suggests that blood relatives who associated with Clan Bell were not a majority of the clan. With over half the Bell participants having no close matches to anyone else in our study, we can be sure that the Bell surname was adopted by numerous families, each having very different origins. Here is the link to a website where you can check out the various Scottish clans, and learn something of their hectic past:

http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/clanmenu.htm

All participants with SCOTTISH or UK origins (known or suspected) should provide their test results to be compared on the SCOTTISH DNA PROJECT. They have a method of making the comparisons of test results, much the same as when you post your results to Ysearch and Ybase data bases! Their websites are at:

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Scottishdna/index.aspx

http://www.brigadoon.net/scottishdna.htm

http://www.scottishdna.net/index.htm

No login required .... information is public.

You can send your test results to:

DNACLANS@brigadoon.net or to Marsha - rms54549@tca.net You are also welcome to attach a copy of our Excel Workbook - be sure to indicate your privacy code in the email message. Marsha will then convert your row of alleles to the standard format for her database.

The Haplotype is the sequential listing of the recorded repeats in your alleles (markers) that were measured during analysis at the testing lab. The likelihood that a person shares a recent common ancestor with another person diminishes rapidly as fewer matches in the markers occur in two haplotypes. Accepted DNA protocol in interpreting test results has determined that males with the same or similar surname, who match each other exactly on a 25 marker test share a common ancestor. If their Haplotype differs by only a single +/- one-step mutation on a single loci, they still most likely share a common ancestor. However, the belief that two participants with exact 12-marker matches are closely related, is no longer supported. Unless both individuals have the same surname and their ancestries are supported by traditional genealogical research and geographic location, a close relationship is not likely. Recent findings in DNA research -- on the topic of rare and common surnames -- suggest that a common surname will likely have many 12/12 matches around the world. Relationships among them could be in a very distant past, but not as recent as previously assumed. In other words, the 12-marker test is great for identifying families of the same surname who are not related!

Participants should upload their test results to the free Y-search database from their FTDNA personal pages. Y-search is sponsored by FTDNA, and contains over 23,000 records of Y-DNA test results, with excellent searching tools. Customers of all Y-DNA testing laboratories are welcome, and encouraged to add their Y-DNA results to Y-search and search for a potential match. YSearch at: www.YSearch.com

DNA Heritage also sponsors a free world-wide database of Y-DNA test results (similar to Y-search) called Y-base. Visit DNAH with link to YBase at: www.DNAH.com