About us
The Dement Surname Project was started in November of 2003 by Dr. Oman "Gene" Dement. He had been interested in DNA since his early medical school days. He had also been involved with his own genealogy hobby since his early teens. The pairing of the two lead to his early involvement in the infancy of a new tool that utilized DNA to break down brick walls in genealogy research.
In the original background statement written in 2003 for this page Dr. Gene explained his reason for the founding the project. He said, "It has been an awesome journey and I have met many wonderful people and enjoyed many wonderful stories. I have corresponded with many Dement lines over the last 40 years, wondering how we all fit together. I have been corresponding with John M. Dement of Huntsville, Al for over 30 years. Since my family was in Morgan County Alabama in the early 1800's we have felt sure that we were related but have not been able to make that connection. Now through DNA, we think we are on the track to proving the relationship. We match exactly at the 25 markers. We are off by 3 at 37 markers. This means we most likely have a common ancestor with in the last 300 years. Now we hope to document other branches and roots."
Unfortunately medical issues prevented his continued guidance of the project. But thanks to his for sight in starting the project, as well as providing a firm foundation by personally funding many of the original tests, the project has continued to grow and is carrying on his dream of finding answers to the way we are all connected.