Welcome to the Beckwith Project, which aims to establish lines of descent from common Beckwith ancestors, both those who emigrated to North America and those who remained in England/Europe. Any Beckwith (or variant spellings Backwith, Beckwerth, Beckwourth, Beckitt, etc.) who has taken a Y-DNA test is encouraged to join the project, including those with different surnames but a known (or newly discovered) paternal Beckwith line. In addition, individuals with Beckwith ancestry who have taken a mitochondrial (mtDNA) test are included in this project. Test results are posted just below the Y-DNA results. Although not officially part of the Beckwith Project, FamilyTreeDNA autosomal test results will appear in the “Family Finder” matches. Autosomal tests from other companies may be uploaded as well. For North American Beckwiths, the project’s goal is to build lines back to the original English immigrants: William (Virginia, 1607), Mathew (Connecticut, c. 1635), George (Maryland, 1648), and somewhat later Marmaduke (Virginia, c. 1700). A further goal is to connect these original settlers with their English ancestors in cases where that is not already established. Mathew Beckwith, through his four sons, probably has more descendants than any of the other early Beckwith immigrants. Starting around 1760 these mostly 5th generation Connecticut Beckwiths began spreading out across the country, with many initially resettling in Nova Scotia, New York, and Ohio. The Beckwith Project takes a particular interest in connecting participants back to Mathew. Project Administrator Suzanne Hallstrom, an experienced DNA genealogist, has organized project participants into groups based on genetic distance (GD) and can answer DNA specific questions. In addition to managing the Beckwith Project, Suzanne maintains several Walker and Hanks surname projects. She is also the creator of the “Genetic Lincoln” website https://geneticlincoln.com which, among other things, explores the Beckwith/Lincoln connection. David Beckwith, who has been researching his Connecticut Beckwith line for some years, recently came aboard as co-administrator. He will attempt to assist with genealogical questions, using the available Beckwith sources.