Fairweather DNA Project- Background

Background

The Fairweather DNA Project welcomes all participants. We encourage you to join today!.

Our project is just getting started, and we expect to have many exciting discoveries.

Participating is an opportunity to uncover information not provided in the paper records, which will help with your research of your family tree. We will also discover which family trees are related. As the project progresses, the results for the various family trees will provide information on the evolution of the surname.

Most of the surnames in this DNA Project are researched as part of the Fairweather one-name study. You can learn more about this significant research, and the associated family trees, by visiting the one-name study web site, or contacting the Group Administrator.

http://tinyurl.com/WorldwideFairweather

Fairweather@one-name.org

In addition to the variants of Fairweather, the current variants of the name Fouweather and the name Faithweather have been added to this study. While Fairweather and Fouweather are probably separate, there are several times in census or other online data where one of the names has been transcribed. Often this one transcription is the only one that mixes these names but I thought it would be helpful to include both names in the study.

The Y DNA test (a painless cheek scraping) tells you about your direct male line, which would be your father, his father, and back in time. You must be male to take this test, and you should have one of the surnames shown. If you believe there is a Fairweather or variant in your direct male line, although you have a different surname, you are also welcome to participate. If you are female, you will need to find a direct line male in your family tree to participate and represent your tree.

We encourage males who order a Y DNA test to order 37 or 67 markers, if possible. If you order fewer markers, you can upgrade later, though this costs a little more. The 12 marker test is not very valuable for this type of project. 25 is better than 12 but still much less helpful in determining subgroups.
Both males and females may also be interested in learning about their direct female line, which would be their mother, their mother's mother, and back in time. Both men and women inherit mtDNA, although only women pass it on. You would order a mtDNA test. For matches in a genealogical time frame, order the mtDNA Plus test.

Family Tree DNA now has a test called Family Finder which will lead in some new directions. Check it out on the Home page.